15th November River Itchen and the Lady of the river

Colin, Alan, Tony and me had been planning this trip for a while on the Lower Itchen Fishery.

Alan and Colin had fished it before and were not rewarded with many grayling but this was a good few years ago and there were rumors of a fish kill etc. I fished it last year in December in the really cold snap we had and caught 49 grayling. Tony had never fished it before.

As we arrive and met in the car park it was evident that there was a frost. The grey slate roof of the mill was white. It was promised to be cloudy with a little sun. However right from the start to the finish it was clear blue sky.

We started fishing at about 8pm. Colin decided he would fish the swims by the fishing hut, while the other 3 of us walked up the beat to the top. You could see the frost on the nettles as we walked to the top limit.

Touch of frost on the nettles

My setup was a 15ft Hardy Marksman float rod with 3lb main line. then a 3bb avon style float and size 20 hook to a 2lb hooklink. The bait was to be maggots for the morning then sweetcorn later.

If I explained every swim I fished it would take me a month to describe them. The main method is to fire in some maggots every trot down and keep the fish looking for food.

In no time at all I had caught 9 grayling with the largest going to 1lb 1oz. Great fun in the fast current.

I’m not proud of this but under pressure from the Director behind the camera (Alan) I’ve had to include it. Gerrrrrr!

Alan and Tony were also catching grayling and trout in the swims above me. Luckily I had no trout until in the afternoon but that is another story for later.

As we made our way downstream leap frogging to the next swim as we did this the grayling were very obliging and came on a frequent basis to our rods. I fished one swim and had a good fish of 1lbs 7oz. Which did behave itself, well almost!

By 11am we were ready for lunch having got up early. A quick brew by the hut and picnic table gave us fresh tea and coffee.

Soon we were fishing again and in all swims we caught. I fished towards a bridge where there were loads of blokes in day-glow gear on a training exercise. I just landed a chub near 3lbs than 2 lbs and a bloke came over to Alan and me and said soon they were about to start an oil spillage and retainment simulation session that would involve much noise and commotion near my swim. I looked at Alan and said, well we nead some compensation here for this. You should have seen the look on the guys face. When I suggested a fish and chip super at 5pm would just about do it, I think he could see we were only joking.

Colin meanwhile was fishing most of the swims around the hut area and had caught a similar quantity of grayling and trout and was really enjoying himself.

Tony had caught some good grayling to 1lbs 4oz plus loads of trout. Alan had caught plenty of grayling and trout and was much happier then the 2 fish he caught last time. In-fact I thin we were all about level on the catch rate which is always good.

As the day wore on we settled into various swims where we had some good catches. I fished exclusively sweetcorn now hoping for a bigger fish and rewarded with more trout than ever. They do like the corn!

I lost a really big chub over 5lbs in one swim and I had the thing on for 30 seconds and thought I had it beaten. You could see it plainly in the clear water. However the 2lb hooklink broke as it tried to get into a snag and after a few choice words I left the swim.

I’m unsure exactly how many the others caught but I know it was over 40 grayling each and soooooo many trout.

My numbers were 63 grayling 1 chub 2.5lbs ish. About 15 or so trout.

A great days sport and good fun if you enjoy trotting.