I headed to the old Lea today with me old mate Jules, to have a bash at the ‘Green’. The Lea is hosting some of the Olympic events from Friday onwards and I might add that the roads are already chaotic.
With the temperatures soaring to 30c I was in no rush to get to the river and after a late night in London watching Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths in Neil Simon’s play the Sunshine Boys, which was such a rare treat to see two such superb actors in full flow, I certainly wasn’t going to be going early. We arrived around 3pm in the sweltering heat. We wandered along the river, checking out a few swims and found a couple that we both fancied for the evening.
So to start we decided to both have a go at rolling. I struggled. The water was unusually coloured and it was difficult to see where the weed was, especially without polarised sunglasses. So after about 90 minutes and sweating buckets in the blistering heat, I decided to move into my chosen swim a little earlier than expected.
I had picked a swim where shallow water dropped down into a much deeper section. The swim was only around 3-31/2 feet deep with loads of far bank cover. Directly above me was a shallow, weedy section. On a warm evening like this I could envisage the babel heading up to this area to feed…..well hopefully.
So after slowly moving the remainder of the gear into the swim I popped down to Jules’ swim for a cuppa and a lay down in the shade and waited for the temperatures to abate. At around 7.30pm I went back to my swim and tackled up. I opted for an Andrew Witham feeder from cagefeeders.com and plugged some small mixed pellets with a little groundbait. I fished a couple of large elips pellets on the hair. I recast every 30 minutes onto the edge of the trees and into an area of smooth water. As dusk approached I started to get a few knocks and taps and then had a persistent tap, tap, tap. I decided to strike and it turned out to be a reasonable roach but it fell off near the net.
Darkness soon enveloped us and still nothing had happened. Just as the light was fading I saw a flash of iridescent blue as a Kingfisher hurtled past. I think it was in training for the Olympics! Time was passing quickly and we had decided to call it a day at 10.45pm. About 10.30 the rod top kicked a bit and then arched violently round. I was quite taken aback but soon grabbed the rod, which was resting on my chair. The fish pulled back a little too hard to be anything other than a barbel. I called down to Jules that I was in. He came up to net the fish….well hopefully. At this stage I couldn’t quite decide how big it was but then it turned on the surface and we saw the size of her and she looked a good double. The fight lasted longer than I thought it would but we soon had her in the net.
On lifting the fish out we both thought it was a mid double. She was long and looked quite plump. The scales read 12lb 10oz and although not a PB (although it is from the Lea) was my Olympic gold. She was stunning. Long, fin perfect and an absolute stunner. I took a couple of quick snaps and got her back in the river. After a few minutes she was fighting strongly in the net to get away and she powered off upstream on her release.
It makes those blank here all worthwhile when you get a result like that. Wonderful.
Well done Nathan, a superb fish from a very difficult stretch of river!
I’d honestly say Fishers Green is the hardest venue I’ve ever fished. Any barbel from there is a real result.
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Thanks Ben. It’s a beautiful bit of river but just so tough. That certainly beats my previous best from there which was an 11 pounder quite a few years ago. Do you fish it much?
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I had a Cemex ticket between 2008 – 2010 and fished it perhaps 15 – 18 times. I didn’t manage to tempt a barbel or big chub during the time I was on there! I did lose a chub that still haunts me. It wasn’t particularly long, but the depth on that chub was something else, it was like a common carp! I’d got it away from the snags and it was almost within netting range when the hook popped out…
It is a magic place though. Do you fish on the Green often Nathan? Have you ever fished for the chub there?
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Hi Ben, I used to fish there for chub about 5 or 6 year ago. I didn’t manage any of the real monsters but did get some decent ones to 6lb 6oz. I always seemed to catch the smaller ones and had quite a few around the 3.8 to 5lb mark and a few 5lb+ fish too. A bit like yourself I had one of those moments that leaves you scarred for life. I had been feeding a big chub for a while and eventually flicked out a freelined lob worm. There were 3 or 4 good chub but one was a monster and well over 7lbs. One of the smaller chub (probably a good 5) went straight for it but the biggie barged it out of the way and engulfed the bait. In the excitement I struck too early and pulled the bait straight out of it’s mouth!! Doh! The only chub I’ve seen bigger than that one was at Throop on the Dorest Stour. I never managed more than a handful of barbel in that time but the day I had the 6lb 6oz chub I caught an 11 pounder, so not a bad day.
I am going to fish it as much as possible this winter. I would really love to catch a 7. At the moment I am just going to have a few summer sessions. That was the first one, so don’t think I’ll be topping that one. Do you still fish it Ben?
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Hi Nathan. I don’t fish it anymore as I relocated to south Wales in December, so it’s a bit far these days! I have the Wye close-ish which is a decent consolation prize…
I must admit I ended up fishing a slightly more prolific stretch of the Lea a bit upstream, simply because I found the Green so tough. You’ve obviously had some super fish from there. A 6.6 chub is a monster in anyone’s book and together with an 11lb barbel – what a day! I photographed a chub of 7.9 for a guy who tempted it on float fished casters. He said it felt quite hollow as well – what a fish that could be if it’s still around… And as for Neil Stephen’s equal record last season – a truly unbelievable chub!
I look forward to reading how you get on Nathan. Good luck!
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Yes sorry Ben, I had forgotten you had moved to South Wales (I read it on your blog. A great read by the way, thanks). I guess when you say upstream you mean Marford? If so, yes that’s a little easier! Great fun there though.
So you’re within spitting distance of the Wye? Now I am jealous. What a great place to be based. The grayling fishing is sensational too. We’re up there again in November for 5 days after the grayling. You’d be more than welcome to join us for a day, if you wanted.
As for Neil’s chub, well that blew me away to be honest. What that must have looked like in the landing net….!
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It wasn’t Marford, though I would have liked to have fished there! I was mainly fishing a stretch near Welwyn Garden City that had some good fish.
Yes, I’m close to the Wye now. What a river. There’s simply so much water to go at and so many species to fish for. I’m looking forward to getting to know it a bit better over the coming months. I must admit I didn’t know the grayling fishing was good. Thanks for the kind offer as well, that sounds fantastic! Let me know near the time and, work/family commitments permitting, I’d be delighted to come and say hello!
Tight lines Nathan.
Ben
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