Wintle’s World of Angling – Southern Specimens

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 column.

Bob Robert’s recent article in Coarse Fisherman concerning tench and how difficult it is to get a genuine six pounder in Yorkshire got me thinking. Behind Bob’s reasoning there seemed to be the implication that anyone living down here in the South of England only had to turn up to pull out a succession of double figure tench.

If only.

I’ve often wondered if Yorkshiremen have special lessons at a very early age to establish in their minds that whatever they’ve got, no manner how good or bad, it is somehow superior provided Yorkshire is taken into account.

But, this article isn’t about Yorkshire; I haven’t been there since 1968, and know little about it. But to keep our Yorkshire reader’s attention just substitute Yorkshire wherever you see the word ‘Dorset’ and you’ll be fine.

So what’s all this got to do with fishing? If you read Bob’s article in Coarse Fisherman you’ll find that what he is stating is that to catch a genuine Yorkshire six pound tench is a very difficult challenge. Yet in other parts of the country such a catch is not exceptional at all. In other words where you live, and fish, has much bearing on what specimen fish that are available, unless you are prepared to travel. I want to increase some of my own personal bests, and would derive much more satisfaction from doing so from my local waters than travelling to the latest ‘in’ water. And this is where Dorset comes in.

So where is Dorset, apart from where I live? What fishing does it have that is special, and what does it lack in terms of specimen fish? Geographically, it is South of Wiltshire and sandwiched between Devon to the West and Hampshire to the East. Back in 1974 there was a local government reorganisation. What this meant is that the county borders as far as administration were changed. What most people don’t realise is that the geographical borders should have remained the same. But the maps were redrawn anyway, and locally Bournemouth and Christchurch were annexed into Dorset much to the residents’ chagrin.

This placed practically the whole of the Dorset Stour within Dorset, and we even got a bit of the Hampshire Avon, including the Royalty. Previously Throop had been in Hampshire.

So from a coarse angling perspective, we’ve got one river, the Stour, a bit of another, the Avon, plus a few bits of the Dorset Frome (the greater majority of which is preserved for game fishing). We’ve got plenty of small fishing lakes, though nothing of any great size, and many of these have been dug for the purpose in the last twenty years or so, a continuing trend.

What about different species?

I mentioned tench earlier. As in Yorkshire, a genuine Dorset six-pounder is a rare beast. I’ve never seen one though I’ve had several five pounders from various waters. Drive over the border to the Ringwood area and it’s a very different story with the possibility of fish to twelve pounds. There are six pound tench in Dorset. One water I know produces them every season, and one or two bigger ones as well, and I’m sure that a concerted effort on there for a summer or two would eventually see a six pounder on the bank.

You’d need far more knowledge of local carp waters than I possess but at one time we had the infamous ‘Herman’ at Warmwell (now incredibly badly stuffed!), a fifty pounder. There are twenty and thirty pounders here, there and everywhere, but again, cross the border into Hampshire and the prospects improve immediately. Certainly, if I wanted to catch much bigger carp that the relative tiddlers that I’ve had in the past I would head for Ringwood.

At least I hardly have to travel to catch big chub. The prospects for these in the Stour (and Avon) remain excellent, possibly difficult to surpass, and I see no shame in taking advantage of such a chance that might be long past some time in the future, especially when it’s on my doorstep. With two personal bests already this season, the big chub hunt is well and truly on! The best part about it is that I’m really enjoying my fishing, learning new methods AND catching what are for me big fish. With bonus fish of decent bream, roach and the possibility of some barbel, what could be better?

I’ve just mentioned barbel. The barbel explosion taking place in other parts of the country is passing us by. There are some big barbel in the Stour; even one or two as big as sixteen pounds. We just don’t have the fantastic possibilities of sport offered by rivers like the Trent, Severn and Wye. What does hearten me is that given perseverance a double remains an achievable possibility rather than an impossible pipe dream. Time will tell.

Perch caught by Mark

Now for an enigma wrapped in a mystery. Perch. Really big perch (fish over 4lbs) have always been rare creatures. The perch disease threatened them with extinction. And yet… There are pockets of big perch in the Dorset Stour. There have been authenticated fish to 3.10, and rumours of four pounders (the potential is there). Location is 99% of the battle, and their wandering habits make them hard to pin down. I have a horrible suspicion that the only way to really get amongst them would be for a group of serious anglers to target them for three or four years. With so few anglers fishing many stretches of the Stour, it is hard to get any worthwhile information on where they might be holed up. I have spotted some good fish this summer though no monsters – fish to about two and a half pounds. The good news is that they are widespread, all the way from Sturminster Newton to Christchurch. Sooner or later, I’m going to have a few cracks at them with lobworms.

Just to add to the mystery, the many small stillwaters have their perch populations. Most are nothing to get excited about but you never know? One lake of just 11/2 acres produced perch to 4.12 fifteen years ago. My personal best at 3.1 came from there. That peak has long passed but other waters have a similar potential.

Compared to some areas of the country, we really struggle in the big bream stakes. Again, cross into Hampshire and your prospects immediately lift. What would be a notable success, and very, very few have ever achieved it, would be a double figure bream from the Stour. They exist all right. One angling pal had a best of 9.14 on bread last winter. The pellet/boilie approach can tempt them that’s for sure though the half dozen or so I’ve had this summer have only been up to 5.12. I wouldn’t bet on not getting one or two better ones in time. Our lakes hold plenty of small bream. One water I’ve fished for decades produced them in the past to 8lbs, my best was 7lbs but five-pounders are rare there now.

Now for a fish much closer to my heart. Big Roach. The glory days of the Stour are long past. From 1984 to 1990 it was truly superb fishing, and culminated in the record roach. Then the bubble burst. Aging fish, cormorant predation, whatever the reason, the prospects for big roach continue to diminish every year. There are still three pounders in the Stour, but it seems ever harder to find fish over a pound and half, never mind two pounds that remains the specimen size. At least it’s still possible to have enjoyable roach fishing in the Stour even if a pound plus fish is to be celebrated. Yet in the late seventies the roach fishing was relatively poor. It was much more common to catch dace then. The dace declined, the roach took over. So, perhaps, the roach fishing will come back.

On stillwaters, prospects are slightly better. I’d love to see more fishery owners take what has been achieved at Sway Lakes as a lead and manage their roach stocks to the degree that really good quality roach fishing is available. One or two waters have very good roach fishing, though most are over-populated with stunted fish, with most anglers fishing for the relatively small carp that these waters hold.

Of the lesser species, there is the chance of a truly big dace on the Frome though sorting out a big ‘un from the lesser ones seems as difficult as ever. There are awesome (dreadful word but the only one for it) grayling in some very private stretches of the Frome. The quality of fishing has declined rapidly wherever there has been much fishing for them, but some privileged angler might yet break the current record.

I suspect that such a mixed picture is true of many parts of the country; some species to good size, others not so good. Whilst we have quality, we don’t have that much quantity, especially true in the west of the county. It is a case of doing your homework, understanding that the quality of fishing is never static, and that with a wealth of fishing around genuinely fantastic opportunities do arise from time to time.