stevetheangler

Monday September 19th – and as my last waterside outing was almost one month ago on 23rd August I had been really looking forward to this one … but it was awful despite the photo looking so good!

And here begins the tale of woe… :)

I departed the house at around 0630 with a severely minimised tackle load – just a rucksack with a few leads/feeders, hooks, other angling bits and pieces, a bag of baits and my 3-rod quiver containing my barbel and feeder rods plus banksticks and landing net pole with a lightweight camping chair and landing net strapped around it.

My destination was the Birmingham AA stretch of the River Severn at Knowle Sands near Bridgnorth parking and fishing at where sections 3 and 4 of the fishery meet as the access to the river bank from the car park is fairly flat and an easy walk – unlike that from the start of section 1 which is definitely an easy downhill access to the water but the return back to the car would be a challenge to even a mountain goat!

I arrived at around 0715 after an easy drive, parked up, unloaded the car and walked the tackle to the top of the river bank – so far so good!

The next step was to find a suitable place to get down the bank into an accessible swim … after a few minutes wander about I decided the best swim was literally the nearest peg to the car … and proceeded to get down into position – which took a good 15-20 minutes (possibly more) to get down the 10 yards or so from the top of the bank. Having diabetic feet (loss of some feeling leads to balance issues on steep slopes) and having a few minutes drizzle just before I arrived didn’t really help but with the assistance with a willow bush to hold on to I eventually managed to reach a flat area. However, that area was cramped and I was unable to set up my chair and so had to tackle up whilst sitting on the ground on my towel as padding.

After various contortions the feeder rod was tackled with a swimfeeder, size 10 hook and a worm for bait. Line was 8lb BS Daiwa Hyper Sensor per usual.

I cast out to just outside the overhanging willow bush you can see in the photo to the right.

90-120 minutes pass, and I’m just not feeling it at all. My backside is aching from sitting on the ground, uncomfortable generally, and having not had one touch I decide to call it a day.

There’s no room to easily tackle down on my peg so I have to transport rod, net and other tackle up the bank as is – another 30 minutes or more of struggle involving at least 5 trips up and down the bank.

Once the transportation has been completed the first thing I do is set up my chair so that I can at least have a bit of comfort whilst tackling down – and that goes acceptably well – and the walk back to the car is fine.

1030-1100 I’m back home having coffee…

 Oh well, I think for me that may be my last trip to the River Severn and that I’ll be sticking to my pools and the Warks Avon and several smaller flowing waters that provide more comfort… :)

PLANS

Thursday, 22nd, I’m planning a trip to a club water I’ve not visited for a few years … a carp water that holds good tench and perch and one solitary 10lb bream … and eels I’ve had there before.