stevetheangler

Monday, September 4th, saw Liz leave for a 5-day break with a friend of hers to Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset which meant that I’d the a few days to myself … so, after dropping Liz at the local Metro station around 0800 to start her journey to Birmingham New Street to meet up with the friend and then onwards to Burnham via Bristol, I headed off to the tackle shop to collect bait and bits and pieces for the week’s fishing I’d planned ahead … plus a trip to Sainsbury’s to collect some Meal Deals for my fishing day lunches…

LEARNT: Don’t collect sandwiches with a ‘wet’ filling. I picked up ‘Tuna Mayo’ and ‘Egg and Cress’ baguettes but after a day or so in the fridge the bread was a bit too damp … still edible though.

Tuesday, 5th September, the first of my planned outings, was to the River Severn at Ladyham, between Kidderminster and Worcester (I think), a Birmingham AA controlled stretch – https://www.baa.uk.com/where-fish/severn/ladyham/ setting off from home about 0545 and arriving around 0630.

Its been some time since I river fished and even longer since I did so on the Severn. Not that I dislike it really but just that the more local parts of the river (Bridgnorth, Hampton Loade,…) have pretty steep banks and, being unsteady on my feet (numb due to diabetes and painful due to fasciitis) and weak in the legs/knees these days it can be a real struggle to just get down to the water even without tackle… but I was told that Ladyham was better and so I thought I’d head down there while I had the chance. So, it was a first visit to this venue.

Well, steep banks still but not as steep and the swim I chose to fish was probably one of pegs 23-25. Looking at the Image Gallery via the web page link its hard to discern the actual one as the pics were taken just after the steps had been created and in the meantime had overgrown a bit – and in the photos seem wider and deeper than they actually are. Also when I reached the fishing platform I found it was actually 7-8 feet above water level – maybe the river was low but the River Gauge web site indicated normal summer level when I checked a few days previous to the visit.

Quite a picturesque location too… river slow running.

So, having arrived I tackled up the 12’ feeder rod (Ron Thompson EVO2) with 8lb line, size 6 hook and a cage feeder.

The feeder was loaded with a crumb/particle/maggot mix and an approx 24” tail allowed twixt feeder and hook with baits of bread, cheesepaste and meat tried..

I wish I could report that the river fished as well as it looked but unfortunately it didn’t and not even on slightest nudge of the tip was seen during the whole time I fished.

1230 I decided to call it a day and return home to prep for the following day when I planned to visit my club’s tench/bream pool which entailed a complete switchover of tackle and bait needs and it actually took most of the rest of the day and evening to do the switch over. So, come 2100 I was off to bed in order to arise at 0500 for the next day’s session.