Today’s new season river thoughts and plans are shared by Will Barnard:
We all state that the waiting for the start of the river season is akin to a child waiting for Christmas this is certainly true for me and even after the dust settles I’m still ripping up the wrapping paper and crashing into the sweet wrappers that are the options available to me on my local rivers.
The main thing I miss during the break is fishing for perch on the River Kennet, I know that most anglers feel that the start of the season and summer months are the most unproductive times for the stripey ones but it’s the main opportunity for me to fish for myself and since I’ve spent most of my winters recently fishing for grayling and roach, my traditional perch fishing has seen a slight decline.
In addition to my summer perching I will also be doing a lot more barbel fishing this year as my sponsor, Bait-Tech, have just launched what I consider to be an exceptional barbel bait that has proved itself considerably to my stable mates Dave Harrell and Justin Beale during the worst of conditions last season – the ‘Hybrid Barbel Hookbaits’. I plan to focus my attentions on some of the less-pressurised sections of the Kennet available on the Reading and District AA ticket, with a few trips to the Loddon and Thames thrown in for good measure.
Once November comes, I’ll be back on the River Test after the grayling and roach with a concerted effort for some big dace on a small, under fished stream in west London too.
To start however I’m looking forward to meeting up with some good friends at Geoff Maynard’s stretch of the Middle Wye – Llanthomas Fishery – the venue you can get a chance to fish in FishingMagic’s current competition. I’ve been helping Geoff get things rolling there and it’s proving to be very popular with anglers who are now after bigger fish on this beautiful wild river.
So, with the early season gathering of good companions just outside of Hay on Wye you could say the start this season will be very much like a child’s Christmas in Wales…Will it be twelve fish in two days or two fish in twelve days?
