The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

Today saw me fishing the River Severn for the first time. This was the latest LAS event at Ham Island. The River produces big fish of all species but it was the prospect of catching zander that most excited me about the venue. They are not present in waters close to home so I rarely get the opportunity to fish for them. The Uk record, a fish of over 20lb, was caught in this part of the river.
I went armed with one of my medium outfits a G.Loomis GLX able to cast lures up to28g paired with a Shimano curado loaded with 30lb braid as I had been warned the river is strewn with tackle hungry snags.
After the usual cark park antics the assembled anglers made for the bridge across the Avon which leads to the island. As we crossed the bridge it was clear that everyone wanted to fish at the weir pool at the top of the beat so when they all turned right - I went left heading for the deeper water.
I tried a few swims on the largely overgrown banks of the Lower Lode but the river was so low I pressed on heading for the confluence of the Avon and Severn at the downstream end of Ham island. After a good walk and thrashing my way through the jungle only to find no fishable swims I was wondering if my decision to go it alone had been wise! I eventually found the first swim with room to fish and clipped on a shad. I tried a few different lures changing colours and styles in an attempt to work out what the zander might want.
First fish of the day was an over ambitious small pike, the lure at 7'' was probably half the length of the pike!

I fished a few of the swims moving upstream towards the weir. I did have a few nips from zander but couldn't make anything stick. I came very close on a couple of occasions as evidenced by charteristic

 slashes in the tails of my soft plastics. By early afternoon I found myself at the weir pool. The fast frothy water just screamed chub so on went one of my trusty crankbaits - within a few minutes the mission was accomplished.

With time running short I decided to spend the last couple of hours in the swims where I had contacted the zander. I had seen some perch attacking fry in the same area so decided to cover both species with a drop shot rig. I didn't have all my drop shot tackle and the rod isn't the ideal tool for this technique but I managed to cobble together a few bits and attached one of my favourite Lunker City 'Ribsters'. I managed to catch a few small perch and had another bite from what felt like a zander, which again didn't hook up.

 I ended up with a grand slam of sorts and came close to four species in a session which would have been a first for me. I really enjoyed the day exploring on my own and felt satisfied that by changing approaches I had winkled a few fish out on my first visit. I had the dubious honour of winning a prize for the best chub with the only chub caught on the day! Many thanks once more to Roy Goddard, the LAS events organiser and to Savage Gear who sponsored the event.

The good, the bad and the ugly!

The prizewinners.