Scousers Teme Up!

The 2005 venue was the much smaller but irresistibly attractive River Teme, near Worcester. I had made a few enquiries on FM and elsewhere as to the recent form of the river in that area. Generally the responses were not encouraging: the river was low (I knew that) and few fish were coming out. “Fish the Severn,” said two prophets of doom. However, I made contact with Dave Mason whom I had met at a Barbel Society event in Preston earlier in the year and he was much more encouraging – fished the right way we would catch he assured me – thanks for your time and advice Dave, it was much appreciated.

The lovely River Teme

Sunday afternoon, Rob, Tony and I set off for a week after the ‘Tigers’ of the Teme, in two cars so that we wouldn’t have to restrict the gear we carried by too much. A steady three hour drive got us to our destination and we peered over a bridge to see a river that looked so inviting (don’t they always?).

We decided upon a leisurely approach: no running off as soon as we got there, a stroll to the pub an excellent meal, accompanied by some local beer and cider and some not so local wine, sent us back to our holiday home with a warm and full glow – which was just as well because the road was inky black with the lack of glow from streetlights nor even a glow from a city sky (Worcester being about 10 miles away).

A Laid-back Monday

Monday morning too was to be a laid back affair getting up at 7am and getting to the river around 8.15. I headed upstream whilst Rob and Tony set off in the opposite direction. My plan was to walk the stretch looking for likely swims – areas with 2 or 3 foot of depth running steadily under overhanging trees, to bait up with a few pellets where I could and, just to wet a line, bounce a worm around the middle and far side of the river in the hope of a chub or two.

By lunchtime I had yet to find an accessible swim that really met my criteria and along the way I had lost three chub on the worm: one decent fish that took mid-river but came off fairly quickly, one good fish that swam past my feet and turned to grab the worm I dropped on it’s tail – the worm had wrapped over the hook point, and a small fish that managed to unhook itself in the vegetation at my feet as I struggled to free my landing net from some brambles! A text message from Rob confirmed that he and Tony weren’t doing much either.

After lunch I finally found what I was looking for: a nice glide which was overhung just downstream. Not only that but this swim was comfortable and there were very attractive looking willows on the opposite bank. I fed a small handful of pellets to the nearside swim and then baited up with a fresh worm and cast to the middle of the stream. After a couple of runs through the line suddenly straightened and I connected with a solid fish which proved to be a chub of about 3lb. Blank saved but no barbel even seen as yet, I fed another dozen pellets to my left and cast another worm, this time upstream and towards the far bank, it drifted slowly downriver helped by the occasional twitch and just as it got opposite to me the line straightened again. I struck and was surprised to find myself attached to something jet propelled: not the expected chub but a barbel of about 5lb.

Two fish in 20 minutes was encouraging, and I had yet to try the pellet swim but given the commotion caused by my second capture I decided to give the spot a rest for a while. I had a walk and listened to the call of a buzzard overhead and the hammer of woodpeckers in the trees on the opposite bank and all the time trying to get access to a mobile phone network – the Teme valley is not good for reception.

A 7.10 for John

Returning to my swim just before 3pm I threw in a few more pellets, baited my hook again, this time with a 14mm Halibut pellet, and gently swung my light leger into place, put the rod on its rest and wedged the butt end against my chair leg, just in case. Five minutes later, as I was rummaging in my rucksack, I sensed rather than saw, a movement; I looked up just in time to see my rod tip pull round in a typical barbel bite. The fish I connected with put up a good fight, initially setting off for the far bank willows but when turned it motored up and down the middle of the river a couple of times. I brought it to the surface and it rolled, seemingly beaten, but as I drew it to the net it turned and, slapping the water with its tail, headed back to the middle of the river. This happened about three times before I finally managed to net it, a fish of a little over 5lb which after a few minutes recovery time in the net swam off strongly. I re-baited the swim and cast out another pellet and ten minutes later the same scenario was played out, this time the fish was measurably bigger and I weighed it at 7lb 10oz.

Again I re-baited the swim and cast out another pellet but all was quiet after the disturbance of catching the second fish so I went for a stroll, catching my first kingfisher sighting of the day as I went. No other swims produced anything so it was back to the apparent banker for the last hour or so (we had all agreed to meet up at 6pm). Just after 5 o’clock the tip of my rod was once again dragged around and another barbel of around 5lb performed a repeat of its predecessors’ fights.

Perhaps four barbel and a chub, plus three lost fish, was not an outstanding catch for a day’s fishing but I was more than satisfied considering the conditions and there was a week ahead of me to discover more about this lovely river. Back at the car Tony reported two chub and a barbel whilst Rob had just a 3lb barbel to show for the day, but they had seen more fish than I had and it was decided that we would all give the downstream stretch a fuller examination on the Tuesday. That evening we had an hour on a small coarse lake close to our cottage, catching small carp on floaters; Rob had four on crust, Tony three on cat biscuits using a fly rod whilst I had two on chum mixer, the best of which was pushing 7lb, a really enjoyable end to the day. Back at the cottage, Rob ‘made’ us curry, courtesy of Iceland Frozen Foods, and a mound of rice, washed down with beer and wine and this was followed by an early night as we intended upon an earlier start the next day.

Tuesday dawned misty

But with a promise of more warm dry weather, we intended an early start. I was only fishing 15 minutes earlier than the previous day. One noticeable change was that there seemed to be a touch more colour in the water, which puzzled us. I started off by baiting up a couple of swims that Tony had seen fish in the day before, while he and Rob fished further upstream. Whilst waiting for the barbel to get interested I again cast a worm about and picked up a nice chub of about 3lb 8oz at 10am. Then it was back to the baited swim where a couple of barbel were just moving away downstream. I threw in another small handful of pellets and then cast gently into the baited area, unfortunately just as the line left my finger one of the bills returned so that my cast spooked him and the swim went dead – seemingly for the rest of the day! At lunchtime Rob dropped into the swim I had fished initially whilst, feeling that I had thoroughly botched the job I wandered upstream to examine a few new swims. To keep it brief: I didn’t have another touch but Rob had three chub and two barbel, including one of 8lb 13oz from the swim in which I had had my chub. Tony had three barbel and three chub.

That night we again dined at the pub. I ordered another pint of the delicious, and very potent, local cider but it didn’t taste right – I put it down to me but I then spent part of the night in the bathroom and lost a lot of sleep.

A change for Wednesday

For Wednesday we had decided on a change and planned to set off for a carp pool we knew of but had not fished before. We had packed the night before to save time but on checking my rucksack I found that a mouse had eaten a hole through the top to get at some pellets I had put inside in a plastic bag and in my rather delicate state whilst re-sorting my gear I left my floats on the floor so when I arrived intending to fish one rod on a baitrunner whilst I floatfished corn and worms the only float I had was a small ‘chubber’ and I actually forgot the corn as well!!

Definitely not a crucian

Again the weather was warm and dry with light breezes and by the time we arrived I was starting to feel more human but the discovery of my shortages in the float-fishing department were a bit of a blow. Both Rob and Tony fished mainly on the surface with mixers and crust but I stuck as closely to my original plan as I could. A Dynamite Source boilie with a small PVA bag of broken boilies went out on my right and I set up the Chubber float to fish waggler style a couple of rod’s length in front of me using broken worms as bait. What followed was a really enjoyable day. By the end I had had six carp on the boilie rod, plus a few abortive runs and one fish lost, none was big but they all fought like stink. On the float tactics I had about a dozen roach and a skimmer to 8oz plus two carp to worm plus one carp on popped up dog biscuit. Rob and Tony had 29 carp between them, mainly on mixer and including a nice fish that Rob thought might be his biggest ever Crucian but which we finally agreed was probably a brown goldfish.

Thursday, first carp and tench, then barbel

For Thursday it was agreed that we would fish some swims on the Teme in fairly close proximity to one another, start early afternoon and fish into dark. I decided that I would have a couple of hours on the local lake to see what I could catch on corn. I was going to use my Avon rod but Rob kindly offered the use of his Diawa Connoisseur Float Rod and I had a happy time catching 10 carp and a couple of tench, nothing exceptional but great fun on light tackle. After an early lunch of bacon butties we set off for the river with high hopes.

Fish of the week and a PB for Rob at 11.10

No one was in the swims we had identified and Rob slipped into the most promising with Tony next door and me about 75 yards upstream. The bank here was very steep and the swim not too comfortable but it looked promising with overhanging trees both below me and opposite. However, despite my optimism I blanked – just one slight movement of the rod tip in 8 hours! My gloom however was lifted (or made worse depending on how you look at it!) by Rob’s capture of the fish of the week – a Barbel of 11lb 12 oz, a new PB and a magnificent fish. He had another two bills and Tony took a barbel and a chub, but it was hard going and we packed up earlier than we had planned at 9pm.

One issue that did arise in this session was ‘bite-offs’: Rob had one, Tony two. The culprits may have been chub of course but the incidents recalled the thread I posted on FM a few weeks back. In discussion the common factor in all three cases may have been that we were fishing light rigs – a couple of swan shot or a quarter ounce bomb was all and in the case of my Ribble experiences a light cage feeder – maybe the fish just weren’t feeling sufficient resistance to make them drop the bait or run – I don’t really want to move to bolt-rig tactics but it needs keeping under review.

So! Just a single chub in the next two days on the Teme had followed a good start for me on the Monday.

What plan for Friday?

It had to be back to the swims I fished on the first day, whilst Rob and Tony headed in the opposite direction once again. Rain was promised for the first time on Friday but I got settled into my main swim before the heavens opened so I was fishing comfortably and felt confident with my pellet approach. Five minutes after the rain started my rod tip pulled around slowly and what I initially thought was a barbel turned into the best chub of the week at 3lb 12oz, then just 20 minutes later I hooked another jet-propelled beast – this time a barbel of 7lb 8oz. It carried on raining for most of the morning but the fish stopped biting, so once the rain cleared up I began wandering the banks again, but to no avail. The most thrilling moment of the day was to hear a buzzard’s call and look up to see four of the birds circling above me.

Just before 3pm I was back in the favoured spot and again had an almost immediate response, this time a smaller chub of about 2.8. The week ended with one last barbel: a smaller fish of about 4.8 just as I was about to pack up at 5.55pm. Tony had managed two barbel to 6lb and had lost two whilst Rob’s day was a touch anticlimactic as he had just one chub of about 1.8!

Kenny couldn’t be with us. He was hunting pussy on the Ebro

Like many others who have read about the river we were certainly captivated by the Teme and will undoubtedly return. The fishing is of a completely different style to that of the Ribble. Our verdict on the Teme ‘Tigers’ was that we have had fish that fight as hard, but they certainly gave us good sport in hard conditions. It would be good to try them when there is a bit more water in the river. Those who remember our previous ‘classic’ adventures may be wondering what happened to Kenny this year? Well he ‘teamed’ up with a few other mates for a trip to the Ebro and caught a couple of catfish – but that’s probably another story!