Venues Report
As we move into the time when bigger fish become our main quarry, be it a big Barbel, Pike or Chub on the rivers. We feel it is worth just reminding anglers that they should be properly equipped for the fish they are liable to catch. This means suitable sized landing nets and unhooking mats for all species. Make sure that your main line is up to the task of holding the fish you catch and that you use a lower breaking strain hook-length so we don’t have fish running into snags or trailing long lengths of line behind them.
If you are pike fishing make sure you have the necessary equipment for unhooking your fish safely. Also be especially careful when returning these fish always give them plenty of time to recover before fully releasing them. All these measures will help preserve our precious fish stocks and ensure they are there for future anglers to enjoy. Take a few minutes to read the relevant sections in your handbook and if you require advice you can contact us HERE and we will do our best to help.
River Rother
We are still without significant rain and the Rother remains low and slow and whatever rain we do have barely has an effect on the river. However, it still continues to fish well. It is also significant that Barbel are coming out of all of our Rother stretches at the moment and we mustn’t forget a new Rother and club record fish of 19lb 3oz.
Coultershaw
A good range of species have been coming from Coultershaw, obviously Barbel and it is good to hear that a number of smaller fish in the 6 – 8lb bracket have been coming out. The Pike are very active at the moment and seem to have developed a liking for luncheon meat. One Barbel angler told me that he had given up using meat as all he caught on it was Pike! Good sized Bream and Chub have been reported and there are still plenty of silver fish for the float angler using small baits such as maggot and caster.
Shopham & Coates
I have heard of at least six Barbel coming from Coates over the last few weeks and there are plenty of Chub around. Now is the time to think about mashed bread for Chub and the Coates section is particularly suitable for this approach. Travel light and feed bread into half a dozen or so likely spots. Look for overhanging trees or rafts on the water, these always seem to hold a Chub or two. Fish with a big piece of flake and you will almost certainly find a few. Most of them seem to be in the 3 – 4lb bracket but you might strike lucky and find one of the bigger 5lb plus ones. The Roach and Dace are still responding to maggot on the stick float. There are a few Grayling coming from the top end of Shopham up using the same tactics. We are also just coming into Sea Trout time so don’t be surprised when what feels like a record breaking Chub turns out to be a Spotty Tourist.
Fittleworth
Still plenty of Gudgeon around, not the most exciting species but very reliable if you just want to go out and catch a few fish, there are also plenty of Roach and Dace on the float. One angler had six Chub to 3lb in a short session fishing bread. You can read more about this on our FACEBOOK PAGE. There has been a lot of Pike activity at the top end of Fittleworth, most of them are in the 5 – 8lb bracket and are pestering float anglers. There might be some bigger ones around for those that are interested in targeting them.
River Arun
Watersfield
The last report from Watersfield that I have said that the fishing was much slower than it had been although people were catching the average fish size was smaller and numbers were a bit down, however, it could just have been the conditions on the day. One member reported seeing what he thought was a sizeable shoal of Bream towards the lower end of the stretch. He was just walking the river at the time but was certainly going to have a go and promised to let me know the results.
Stopham
The weed at Stopham should be starting to die back so it is time to go back up and catch a few of the big Roach that are resident. This is also a favourite time for Pike angling at Stopham and if my summer experiences are anything to go by there are plenty there!
STILLWATERS
Hurston Lane
All three lakes have fished incredibly well this season and it is good to see that the weed is well under control. As the temperatures drop then fishing at Hurston does seem to slow down more than our other waters. The Match Pond is still good for a few fish; however, it is best to choose days when the overnight temperature does not drop too much. The Middle Pond is still producing Carp but the Roach, Bream and Rudd have gone a bit quiet, I suspect a few warm days will encourage them to feed again. It is still possible to get the odd Tinca from the Tench Pond but as previous winters this does slow down markedly as the temperatures drop.
Walberton – Stemps & Cart
Stemps has been producing really well over the last few weeks and fish have been coming from some of the less renowned swims. At the last Three Counties match we had two mainly Carp weights of close to 40lb from pegs 7 and 10 and a magnificent S
kimmer catch of in excess of 20lb from peg 13.
Cart pond has undergone a transformation with the work that Dave, Nelson and the team have done round the island. It has taken us a little bit of time to get this started but once they got the green light they have really done a lot.
Many thanks to all those that have given up their time to make this possible.
Chichester Canal
The section upstream of the bypass bridge including the basin is now available for fishing. This section is always good for a mixed net of Roach and Skimmers. Where the Roach and Skimmers are the Pike will follow and the basin is particularly productive for Pike anglers at this time of year. I have also heard rumour of a couple of big Perch coming out.
Petworth Park
After a very good year, the fishing at Petworth Park is beginning to slow down, although if the weather is warm with a nice south westerly breeze it will still yield a decent net of bream. This is also another venue for our Pike anglers and it would be interesting to know just how big the Pike are here.
The Granary
We have had a fantastic year at The Granary with good Carp and Rudd weights from virtually any swim. Not many anglers seem to go there once the weather gets a bit colder, if you do go for a session there please let us know how you get on.
Please don’t forget to fill out the log books at our venues; it really helps us in compiling these reports. If you have any photographs of your catches that you would like to share please forward them to us HERE.
We have recently received THIS from the EA with regard to illegal fishing. Please take a couple of minutes to read it.