Wintle’s World of Angling

Mark Wintle, an angler for thirty-five years, is on a quest to discover and bring to you the magic of fishing. Previously heavily involved with match fishing he now fishes for the sheer fun of it. With an open and enquiring mind, each week Mark will bring to you articles on fishing different rivers, different methods and what makes rivers, and occasionally stillwaters, tick. Add to this a mixed bag of articles on catching big fish, tackle design, angling politics and a few surprises.

Are you stuck in a rut fishing the same swim every week? Do you dare to try something different and see a whole new world of angling open up? Yes? Then read Mark Wintle’s regular weekly column.

As I write this, on the Monday after Christmas, it has been raining for fourteen hours. There was enough rain last Friday to put the upper Stour up four feet, and then it rained all Saturday afternoon. The drought is not yet officially over for the groundwater levels remain low in Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire, though most reservoirs have started to fill, but it is likely that we anglers will face flood conditions at least a few times this winter.

The river at Shillingstone at normal summer level (click for bigger picture)

So, what are floods all about? Should we fear them? Or welcome them? What makes them worse? What floods are okay for fishing and what ones ought to be avoided? And how do you go about getting some sport in a flood?

What is a flood? Originally, it meant that a river has broken its banks and flooded the nearby meadows. Nowadays, it is taken to mean that the river is significantly higher than normal due to heavy rainfall or snowmelt. A handful of rivers, and I’m thinking of the Hampshire Avon here, are capable of being in flood due to massive spring breakout long after the heavy rainfall that topped-up the underground aquifers.

You can expect much stronger flows, more colour in the water, possibly though not necessarily a drop in temperature. There are of course floods and floods. Even a small lift in autumn can bring down the worst of the accumulated filth from summer. Such conditions are best left alone. Yet, later in the winter, weeks of flooding may result in a very high yet clear river that fishes extremely well. My best roach bags from the Stour have been when the river was still five feet above normal though with only a tinge of colour.

The river at Shillingstone when well on flood (click for bigger picture)

During the summer, a lot of silt is filtered out by weedbeds and deposited in dead slacks. The tremendous flows of floodwater shift all of this muck and silt. In exceptional conditions, not only do riverbanks get eroded, but also the actual riverbed itself may be altered. Banks of gravel are removed and deposited. This was particularly apparent on the Hampshire Avon after the autumn 2000 floods where the topography of the river was altered. Some swims disappeared whilst other new ones appeared.

Knowing your river
Having spent thirty years fishing the Stour, I have some idea of how it behaves in floods. Yet, it can be full of surprises. Exactly what happens depends both upon where the heavy rain falls in Dorset and how saturated the ground is. Baked dry ground can be as bad as saturated ground. The upper river is clay vale and susceptible to colouring and rising very quickly. The middle river is chalk country with very clear water and the lower river around Bournemouth can turn black from road runoff especially during summer thunderstorms. There is no substitute for getting to know your local river.

A heron takes advantage of the floodwater at Wimborne

On some big rivers like the Severn, these brooks back up with eight or ten feet of water in a big flood. The fish cram in, and what was ordinarily just a foot of water is now full of fish.

On the Stour, the EA set up lots of flood gauges on the river near bridges. I use these to figure out how high or fishable the river is likely to be, and to judge whether the river is falling or rising. The nearest one to my home is about three miles away and visible at night so I can make a check the evening before a trip. This gives me a chance of judging the conditions though twenty miles upstream conditions are often very different. Heavy overnight rain can take many hours to come down from North Dorset, and I have had many wasted trips as a result. Earlier I mentioned snowmelt. These floods are surely the worst of all. The water often contains lots of gritting salt as well as being low in oxygen and freezing cold to boot. Just forget it.

Help, we need a boat! 10ft of extra water on the upper Stour at Stourpaine

Tactics
The key is finding the fish and presenting the bait. It’s no use fishing in such a way that your bait is constantly washed out of position, whether by debris or the sheer strength of the current. If you keep quiet enough the fish may be very close in to your own bank, and this can solve many of the problems of the torrent. There is much truth in the observation that many big fish have little real difficulty maintaining their position out in the main flow even in very heavy water. Swimfeeders and bait droppers are useful to keep your feeding tight. The heavy brigade tackle the Severn, Trent and Wye with leads up to eight ounces with strong lines and big hooks to suit. Forget quivertipping – these guys use carp rods. To me it’s more like cod fishing but it can produce the results with big barbel. You need confidence that there are fish in the spot that you have chosen. These conditions can be beaten provided there is not too much debris coming down such as leaves, weed, and branches.

There are times, many times, when I think you must consider what your chances are of sport in a dirty old flood. I’m not saying that you are doomed to failure, just that the odds may be heavily stacked against you. I have come away from a flooded river, having caught a roach or two of six ounces, and been satisfied knowing that I have made the best of a bad job. Floods can produce exceptional fish. But often the flood conditions make the fish both disinclined to feed and difficult to locate.

Baits
Smell is the key, especially meaty smells. The fish are expecting drowned worms in their millions so baits like worms, meat, cheese and maggots are most likely to work. Some take this almost to extremes, fishing with huge lumps of luncheon meat or double lobworm. At least the fish can hardly ignore it.

Summer floods
Though floods are rare in summer, one August I had a week’s holiday fishing the Avon. It rained heavily every night. At first the muck and duckweed came down and fishing was difficult and poor. But once the river held a tinge of colour and a strong flow the barbel went on the rampage. Certainly conditions to look out for and relish.

The best and the worst
When I match fished regularly, floods presented a special challenge. My most astonishing flood match catch was drawing next to New Iford Bridge, near Bournemouth on the Stour during a flood. This flood rose four feet during the day as the tide receded the same amount with the flow increasing dramatically, yet the level staying the same. My saving grace was a small area of slack water near the bank that became stuffed with bleak. It didn’t take me long to see the potential and get stuck in with a whip. 950 fish for 17-15 was easily enough on the day. The most prosaic moments were a spectator leaning over the bridge and remarking that I was catching at up to six a minute. I replied, “Yes, I know”.

A happy Mrs Val Wintle looks at the flooded Stour at Wimborne on Xmas day a few years ago when she realises that Mark has no chance of fishing on Boxing day

The second worst day (see below for worst) was a winter league above Longham when the floodgates were opened in a big snowmelt. My ‘slack’ turned out to be a submerged bramble bush. Nothing was feeding and the river started to cut us off after two hours, so we beat a hasty and fishless retreat. Yet three days later the nearby Frome yielded me the best week of big roach fishing I ever had.

Danger!
Always, (surely the only valid use of ‘always’ in angling!) take extra care when fishing flooded rivers. Undercut banks can collapse, and the banks are covered in a layer of slippery mud. The current is strong, and the water colder and deeper. Take Care! When the river is across the fields it is hard to know where the bank ends and the river begins – probably best left alone. Sadly, tragedy can occur in these circumstances such as the 1981 Thames Championship where one competitor slipped into a weirpool and was drowned (definitely the worst day).

Conclusions
As ever, it’s a case of getting to know your river. Sometimes it’s just not worth it as the chances of catching a fish, never mind a decent catch, are remote. Take advantage of summer floods, get to know your river for winter floods, and avoid snowmelt.

Postscript
Did all that rain cause a flood? Only a little one, a lift of about two feet with some colour, that’s all. Ten days later, when Graham published my article on the drought-stricken Avon, the heavens really did open, and the river became a dirty torrent.

Next week: ‘Profile of angling artist John Searl’