Free stretches...... :-)

Just recently me James.O and briefly young "lure Guru in the making" Jamie have been seeing what the local free stretches have on offer! with mostly chub and perch in mind we'v managed some good results, one of the most comman comments i hear on stretches of water like these are "you aint going to catch anything decent there mate" we lets hope this short report and pictures spurs you into having a venture on you local free stretch.

heres James with a chunky chub on one of our recent outings just touching 4lb and taken while stalking fish in gin clear water, none of this sitting there and waiting for it to happen, when your fishing these type of venues you gotta make ya own luck and getting out using water craft and reading the swims is key to successful fishing we knew these fish were here it was a case of setting the trap and going for it, remembering to keep off the skyline and keep out of the chubs crafty view and bingo this was one of twelve fish over 3lb mostly 3-4lbers one under the 3lb mark! not bad hay for a "useless water"

heres the biggest from that session at 4.5lb a cracking scrap as i was in the usuall snagged up chub swim "hold on tight" with light gear as they dont half pull, you gotta have ya witts about you when near cover as chub know there homes better than we ever will! all you need is a good pair of polaroids we wear Costa Del Mars which are pricey but they are the best you can get leading the way in the fishing glasses scene! http://www.costadelmar.com/ and some nice dark clothing as you can bet your last quid the fish will see you before you see them! we bumped into to a couple fairly large perch some 2lb plussers but we couldnt get any to play but hayy Danny knows where you live now!!

we fished today on another free stretch me and Jamie with some cracking results..... the sun was beaming kids were climbing the trees and jumping in it wasnt what you would call my kind of scene while our light lure fishing but i wanted to get out and show jamie some nice local fun fishing! now iv done very well here before and have had perch to over 2lb and chub well over 5lb here but to the locals its just a "roach bashing" venue with tiny perch, roach, gudgeon crawling the river bed, i often get asked how iv caught such big fish here as its just not seen as a big fish venue. but if your willing to put the effort in and sculk around looking for the features there is plenty of whoppers here, just most of you spook them before you get a chance to see them! after a hour of tickling out half a dozen small perch on texposed kalin grub i get to my banker swim :-)

second cast with a pepper pearl Kalin grub tex rigged on a decoy offset hook weightless chucked over a raft of weed where i could see 4-5 2lb plus chub and this beaut of a chub, i let the lure sink and started my retrieve and bank the biggest nails it! after a spirited fight under all the weed and snags i managed to get it up on the top. with anglers line wrapped around my braid i was worried this chub was going to snag me up but after some crafty netting by young Jamie and it was ours :-) weighin in just over 5lb proof is in the pudding this fish and many other was no more than 20yards from spots where other anglers sit on bait nearly every day of the week! this fish didnt have a mark on it, no hook damage and yet again it is another big chub from the venue that "aint got no decent fish"

i also managed to whip out two pike from the same swim this little bugger Jamies holding and one of about 6lb also. which Jamie actually has attack his savage gear grub again on our way back! just showing these aggressive little chaps are here for some fun on light gear even if its only a hour after work. we ended this session with 10 perch 3 pike and a decent chub all on the same stretch of river not far from exeter, cant complain it was awesome seeing the smile on jamies face every time i called him over to show him another fish :-) jamie also had 2 pike on but they came off and lost a coulpe small perch too he was beaming with smiles which makes me a happy bunny as i remember being his age and catching pike and perch, i wouldnt be the man i am today without those experiences. tight lines to next time

Danny