Venues Report
RIVER ROTHER
Despite the bursts of heavy rainfall the general water level in the Rother remains on the low side and flow is a bit sluggish
Coultershaw
A couple of early season barbel have been reported from Coultershaw and some good mixed bags of roach and dace to the stick float and maggot.
Shopham
Some good dace catches to the float and some grayling as well
Coates Castle
Decent silver fish catches to the float all along the stretch with a few trout showing as well.
Fittleworth
For those that like to trot a float some good bags of dace, chublets and roach have been taken from Fittleworth and some of the roach have been of a good size.
There have also been a few chub coming out to either static or trotting methods.
Also of particular note in with the roach and dace has been the number of gudgeon that have been caught. Although a humble little fish gudgeon are always seen as a sign of good water quality so it is good to see them.
RIVER ARUN
Levels in the Arun are fairly standard, the meadows at Watersfield have yet to be cut so access is not the easiest, although there are already well worn paths to the favoured swims particularly in the top section.
Watersfield
I hear that at least a couple of barbel have been caught and the occasional bream and chub are also falling to barbel tactics. Plenty of silver fish to the float with some good sized roach coming out
Stopham
Good silver fish and perch bags, particularly to light feeder tactics.
STILLWATERS
Hurston Lane
Despite all our efforts last season and a good early season session on the weed we still have issues and we will be looking to organise some raking in the near future.
Mick who changes the dips at Hurston did a recent count of the carp in the match pond on a recent walk round and he put the number in excess of 70. He also noted that the bream which have for some time been sitting up at the top end of the lake seem to have split into two distinct shoals, one at each end; whether this was just when he was there we don’t know. There have been some very good mixed pleasure sessions recorded and the water.
Although it started quite slowly things have picked up in the tench pond although weed here is an issue as well. If you are thinking of fishing the tench pond it is worth considering taking a rake with you and giving your swim a 10 minute session before you tackle up. If you don’t have a rake, go and see Tim at Arun Angling who has rakes in stock.
Stemps Wood
These ponds continue to perform brilliantly, no matter what peg you are on you can put together a decent bag of silver fish and have a good chance of a carp. The best carp bag that I have heard of recently was 20 in a session from Cart Pond
Chichester Canal
I have varied news from the Chichester Canal. The recent match which was fished at Hunston was abandoned early with no one having a bite. There seems to be a definite resurgence of the carp in the canal with them being seen in various places and in particular on one particular occasion when about 50 were seen in the shallows at Donnington, presumably they were spawning. Finally I have heard of one person who has had a reasonable bag of silver fish from the depth marker area, although these were all roach with no sign of any skimmers or bream.
Petworth Park
Although fishing here started slowly over the last month we have had reports of good pleasure sessions and the latest match produced some good bream weights. There are also plenty of smaller fish showing and in particular lots of perch. If someone were to concentrate on the perch and target catching bigger fish I would not be surprised if some good sized perch were caught. It could be a good water to try drop shotting.
The Granary
Those that fish the Granary are reporting excellent carp catches the best I we have heard of was 13 in one session with the best being around 10lb.,There have also been an increasing number of crucians reported and it would be really useful to see some pictures of these to confirm whether they are true crucians. A couple of perch have been reported and seem to have put on weight as they are getting on for twice the weight that they were when they were put in.
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