Summer Sessions...... or fishing with Dad

It is Summer and the River is running slow and clear. Although at first view it may seem there are too many weeds to fish properly a few tricks up your sleeve can bring dividends. There are two or three main successful methods for good results.

The first is to fish a light waggler trapped by two AA and just a couple of dust shot down the line. Your hook will want to be small so it falls slowly down to skim across the top of the weeds with a single bronze maggot on it. In places it will tumble off the weed bed down deeper to quality gleaming roach waiting below in the security of the weeds broken light. Small chub and dace may be a nuisance but persistence with trickling in just half a dozen maggots via your catapult will draw bigger fish into the swim.

Our other favourite method, particularly good on the tidal reaches above Beccles, is to fish into the holes between the weed beds holding the bait still with the pole, having almost two grams to get your bait down past the greedy mini fish. Bread can be lethal but do not put much groundbait in and no balls bigger than a walnut. Worms will often bring you finely coloured perch up to a pound and do not be afraid of using a size 14 hook for this method.

A third and more skilled method is the caster on a size 18 or 16 hook, with the 2 BB stick float, spead out as six number sixes and a terminal tiny number 9 shot. Then the rig on the 2 or 3 lb line is held back and eased into the deeper runs. This is the method which landed this bag for forty-year old Greg Gladwell of Hethersett fishing on a day TICKET out with his Dad, and returning to the River after a break of ten years. Ten Bream between three and-a-half and four-and-a-half pounds is a great result from Shipmeadpow in late June taking just three hours to put together (see photo above)