Tag Archives: stream

Barbed wire, stingers, flies & heat – summer river chubbing

18 Monday Jul 2016

Posted by in General fishing

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The first signs of a heatwave hit England on Sunday and I was in the West Midlands seeking to winkle out a chub from the river Mease, a tiny meandering river that can be fished on a Birmingham Anglers Association day ticket. The Mease flows past the village of Netherseal that sits in classic open english countryside just half an hours drive from Central Birmingham.
NethersealI fancied a break from my current search for large river Lea carp, the Lea sadly contains very few chub in it’s lower reaches and I felt that I needed to be re-introduced since my last chance meeting on the Kennet last winter. My approach of trotting with a heavy chubber float, keeping the bread flake low in the water took me on a good mile long walk along its meandering course, the water was low and I saw no sign of a chub despite my stealthy approach of keeping low, pushing back the stingers and opening up small gaps in the undergrowth to expose tiny swims. With no luck I started to turn back and fish the swims that I had previously baited with bread and maggots, finally I saw  a chub dart up and take a maggot, despite the sun getting hotter and brighter I knew there was a chance of a fish.

Barbed_wire

fishing_bagThe BAA do a great job in providing access over the barbed wire fences that follow the meanders of the river Mease but once over the fence you are right up to your neck in stingers, luckily stinging nettles push over quite easily and with a little care you can form an opening by placing your net and fishing bag down to create relatively pain-free platform.  I was now fishing the stick float on a slow drop using a button shirt shot pattern, I continued to trickle in the maggots and soon started to observe the chub darting out unable to contain their hunger for an easy meal. On my second cast I was into a chub of around the 3/4 pound, then another and another, each one getting a little larger.

stick_floatChub_1

Surrounded by stinging nettles and the temperatures increasing the whole experience was becoming quite intense, flies were becoming more persistent as they buzzed around my face, sweat dripped from my brow, there was no place to retreat unless I got back up the bank and over the barbed wire fence, this would have broken my cover and spooked the chub, so I stayed low and continued to fish. For the next hour I caught ten to fifteen chub, the largest no more than a pound and a half, but on a light line and stick float this was fun fishing that reminded me of my summer holidays as a lad fishing on the Sussex Ouse. Finally I dropped a chub amongst the stingers, I had no option but to bury my hand into a clump of nettles and quickly pick it up, the pain was bearable, I was after all fishing and very little could deter me, but as the heat rose further and the flies grew in numbers I finally called it a day.

Chub_2

stinger

The Bow Back Waters…remembered.

28 Wednesday Sep 2011

Posted by in The Lea Valley

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On the 6th July 2005 a hopeful crowd gathered in Trafalgar Square to hear the winning bid for the 2012 Olympic venue. At 12.49 BST, Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic committee announced that London would be the host.

Meanwhile back in the area known as Fish Island and beyond, in the East End, a sleepy forgotten patch of post industrial land lay quiet and untouched, a lone dog walker, jogger, cyclist or on some occasions an angler would pass through this quiet oasis, known as The Bow Back waters.

To explain the Bow Back Waters, where it’s borders start and finish is not easily defined and even after spending a few years wandering the network of flood relief channels, navigable canals and natural brooks, the footprint is ambiguous but I would say looking at a map, north of Three Mills to Old Ford Lock marks this area.

The history.

The Bow Back Waters originally called Stratford Marsh goes back to pre-history but in Roman times there was evidence of occupation here especially at the Ford Bridge which crossed the river Lea at low tide and allowed a passage to Colchester.

Throughout the next 2000 years the River Lea’s path has been diverted, blocked and widened. Alfred the Great drained the river at Leamouth to halt the advance of the Danes and prevent an invasion from the River Thames. By the eighteenth century industrialisation was taking place and many wharfs were created to accommodate the import of timber, chalk, stone, coal, and wheat. By 1821, the earliest proper dock named Stratford Dock, later called Meggs Dock was created just up from Bow Bridge but after 1920, the whole site had been filled in and was occupied by factories and workshops that didn’t depend on water access. Now the majority of these factories have been demolished for the new Olympic site.

Somewhere on the Bow Back Waters around 1900 (above).

The images below were taken around 2007…

Pudding Mill stream (above).

To the left of this image is the new olympics stadium (above).

Some local conservation work to preserve the banks of the Bow Back Waters and create nesting areas for waterfowl (above).

Remainders of a more industrial time (above and below).

Carp and bream were often found cruising along this stretch which still exists, up ahead is Old Ford Lock (above).

Shortly after the olympic announcement the Bow Back Waters were electro-netted and the carp, bream along with pike and plenty of silver fish were removed and put into the Lea Navigation, I believe Pudding Mill stream was completely dug out and filled in.

Three months ago I was invited onto the Olympic site and saw the work done on the original River Lea, which had been widened to take industrial barges containing the new steel for the Olympic build. The work was sympathetic but also heavily landscaped, now banks of wild flowers and regimented forests of silver birch will greet the excited sports fans. The Lea of old has lost its real wild and neglected appeal.

From my window the Olympic stadium stands just a quarter of a mile away, now a permanent feature. I am in favour of the Olympics and the Olympic park but I do sometimes miss that quiet hidden corner of East London, spending an hour casting a floating crust for the Channel Relief carp. On occasion I did hook the odd carp but never actually managed to get one on the bank, frustrating and now, never to be repeated.