River Huntspill Pleasure Session.

Now with the official Fishing Season" in full swing I fancied a change of scenery from the normal commercials opting for a days fishing back on the river Huntspill, I planned to travel light with just my bag, bucket & the one rod which wasn't the case when I went to pick up Lewis Jones who was joining me for the day who had all his kit shrewd all of the pavement! We soon broke it down after I told him the area I planned to go was a bit of a hike & not ideal for todays modern trollies'. We stopped of for some micro barbed' hooks as I don't tend to carry many & the normal breakfast before parking up on the Withygrove Section but I fancied the quite long walk to the section below the motorway which has been known for bream for as long as I can remember but with nobody fishing here since last years' Superleague & no bait going in we didn't really know what to expect. We both found a nice spot about 20yrds apart roughly approx. six pegs up from the Bridge between permanent pegs 264-265 on the north bank. We needn't have worried about the seat boxes as it was just right to sit on the edge of the bank only a couple of feet of the water so the box of bits' & the feeder rod were soon assembled. Their was a breeze on the water but the forecast for it to pick up I decided not to chuck to far opting for a line about 2/3rds across where I set up a 20g cage feeder on 5lb main line to a 4ft length of 0.13 hooklength & a size 16 B611 hook. We had decided to have a £5 side bet between us to give it some interest with the competitive edge', I noticed Lewis was about to pre-bait his swim before we agreed to start so agreed to have a few casts each with just the feeder to get some bait out before starting, I chose just to feed some dead red maggot & some chopped worms through the feeder as the pint of pre-packed caster I planned to use were a bit stinky when I opened them but then they have been in the fridge a couple of weeks" I had around a dozen chucks before adding the hookength which Lewis hadn't noticed I had prepared so had a head start'.

I started the day on three dead red maggots & within seconds of the feeder settling & Lewis still tying his hookength I was playing my first fish which turned out to be a bream of 3lb plus" That's the sort of start you want! Lewis was soon up & going still me stick as he wasn't ready Lol, I expected another bite straight away but it didn't happen, It was about another 10mins before I got another indication which was a drop back just as I answered the phone to the wife, I did feel it but it soon bumped off right over my baited area which I didn't want' It wasn't long after Lewis had his first, Then another, Then another" I felt the fish had just moved up slightly so had another five quick chucks to get a bit more bait out to hopefully grab their attention, It seemed to work as I added a couple more to catch up with him, After a while I started to switch hook-baits & found it best to fish a small segment of worm on the hook topped with a singe dead red maggot, It wasn't hectic but I was adding the odd fish enough to stay ahead of Lewis, He told me he was stuggling to catch on the worm but was getting small fish on the maggot which suited me' Lol.

The little trick I was using was to break the other segment of worm in half I wasn't using on the hook, Putting it through the feeder with just a few dead reds each cast, After a couple of hours I was up to about six fish before it clouded over slightly & the wind picked up. This seemed to spur a few more on to feed as were both seemed to be adding the odd fish at more regular intervals, He soon seemed to catching quicker than me but with him facing away from me I managed to sneak the odd fish in without him knowing" We had a right good bit of banter between us as we were nearly fish for fish come the end. It turned out to be a good choice to venture here & after nearly six hours we called it a day, Lewis got his nets out first for some photos beaming as he though he had enough to take my fiver" ending the day with 17 bream for well over 50lb but it turned out my net contained 19 slabs between 2lb -5lb to finish with over 70lb.

 Proper fishing"

 

This was just the tonic after some horrendous matches so far this year & anybody who says the rivers don't produce don't know what their missing" It was a simple day with just the one rod & minimum amount of kit so well worth the walk & Ile be heading back again soon, We both also had a mix of smaller fish which were mainly smaller hand size skimmers which is a good sign. I think it does us all good to have a change so why not go try it sometime. We have the Southwest Superleague here in a couple of weeks & this is a section I wouldn't mind drawing but we will see".