Being a strong believer and observer of the close season I look forward to the glorious 16th with all of the anticipation of a youngster on Christmas Eve’.
I have typically spent the close season fishing only for trout on my local lakes and rivers such as the Itchen and the Test but when the late days of May roll around I find myself back in the garage sorting out rods, reels and tackle bags for the beginning of the new coarse season.
I got back from a week’s vacation on Crete just before the off this year so my preparations were somewhat later than usual, nonetheless I was ready for Sunday the 16th and, despite opening day being on a weekend this season, I still suspected that I would see very few people on the river.
Unlike many, or is that most other anglers, I do not fish stillwaters or canals during the close season; I simply believe that it says a lot about us as anglers and conservationists to give the fish and the banks a break.
It is a topic that I have argued many times in the past, but now I simply, and privately, observe the close season in relative silence not wishing to argue that particular toss any more.
This year, like many of the preceding years it will be back onto the Hampshire Avon, more for the atmosphere rather than the best chances of catching to be honest. There are still a good few large roach and a growing number of dace as well to be taken providing you know where to start looking, so those are my early targets.
That said I still love to be out on the late afternoon of the 15th on a lake getting ready for a midnight start for the tench, carp and bream and getting the bivvy set-up in the hopes of experiencing that wonderful “tench-fisher’s dawn” that we sadly only seem to read about rather than get to see these days.
On the Avon the areas below Salisbury and above Downton still hold good dace and a day on the river there followed by a beer at The Bull before driving home is still a great way to spend a day. That old pub has a long and varied angling history with the likes of the Taylor brothers and Walker staying there when fishing the river.
I also belong to a small syndicate on the Hampshire Avon bit will leave fishing there until late Autumn for the chub in particular, but the river at Ibsley is still available to me so I’ll be often found wandering about down there, but trying desperately to avoid the ‘aquarium’ swim if at all possible, and if the fishing is not up to much, then a wander to the village and maybe a look at what remains of the old WW2 airstrip that backs onto Blashford Lakes nature reserve will take an hour or two of my day. Interestingly the old control tower actually doesn’t have any windows, so it is a bit of an odd design but well worth the hike if the fish are not obliging. During the war they flew fighters, both British and American from there, but it was closed down in 1947 (date?).
By mid-July I’ll be more or less exclusively fishing on the rivers but hope to get time for a few gatherings on the lakes in the south with old friends; typically we ‘shoal-up’ in early August for a weekend or two but those are really more of a social event than any serious fishing. I also hope and expect to fish a few matches before the winter sets in again.
Having spent most of the 90’s match fishing I truly do miss it, a lot, and although I cannot dedicate the time to seriously being in contention I still get a huge ‘buzz’ from the competitive element, sadly as one grows older and less able to tote around all of the necessary kit I fear my match days are coming to an inevitable end.
To be honest I have not seriously fished for barbel for many years, there was just something about all of the ‘fuss’ made over the poor beasts that really turned me off of targeting them; rather akin to the carp boom of the 70’s and 80’s, although I participated in that, a lot.
Also, the lack of many of the old fish in the Hampshire Avon also helped me to concentrate on the smaller species, and I have to say that I really love a day river fishing for roach and dace; trotting a stick float down some my local stretches of the Hampshire Avon is still a huge fishing magnet for me.
However, I have recently been thinking a lot about old Barbus barbus to the point where I will have to dig out by Greys Prodigy rods and see about a trip or two.
I always try to get a winter day fishing the old Recreation stretch at Fordingbridge as it is not a summer venue due to the numbers of kids and mums who use it as a paddling pool. However, in the winter it changes its purpose and can still provide some great trotting with maggot or caster, so it is a day I always target whenever I can.
I rarely fish below Ringwood unless it is an arranged trip the same goes for the Stour which is a little further for me to travel, but will happily do so if it means a day with the likes of Neil Maidment or Mark Wintle, although I will always set aside one or two days to fish the Royalty at Christchurch again, this is not so much for the catching potential but more for the nostalgia of just fishing the Bridge or Parlour Pool or just a day to wander among those famous old named swims.
My winter fishing these days is more or less concentrated on the Hampshire Avon between Britford and Fordingbridge but I do have a heck of a problem with blockages in the arteries in both legs so I am not able to wander about as much as I either like to or used to do, hopefully that will be operated on late this summer to the early autumn, so it is a case of fingers crossed on that one.
So, that will be my new season for this year, quite similar to those in the recent past with the exception of maybe trying for a double figure barbel as it has been many years since my last one of these.
