swale at catterick

[mike]

hi everyone not yet a member although hoping to join in the new year, just wondering if anyone could give me some information on fishing the river there, i have fished it a few times on a day ticket and had good results with lots of grayling and a few decent trout up to 2lb but i have yet to catch any chub or barbel. i have heard of many chub and barbel to 8 lb being tempted from the stretch. So if anyone can give me any advice on pegs etc it would be greatly appriciated.....thanks

[gusgreaves]

Hi Mike,

Just before the start of the season young Stuart Sexton had been feeding a shoal of Barble by the fence end at our bottom limit however, on the first day of the new season they moved up steam above our length and down stream below our bottom limit, gutted!

The good news is that in the last two weeks they have started turning up in the middle of our length in the pegs by the gates at the entry to the lakes. A new members who had only joined the same week landed a 10lb 6oz barble from the sandy bay by the gate.
I also had a report of an angler hooking a very large barble on eight pound line and was unable to turn it. In previous years up to five Barble (to 7lb 12oz) at a sitting have been caught in the deep water (9ft deep) below the sand in an area the locals call 'The Aquarium'. Also there have been a few 40lb bags of chub from these three pegs and John Ledger (Angling Star) had 30lb of dace on the stick float with four over one pound. I have photo's of the catch.

At certain times of the year barble and chub congregate in two small pools below where the beck come in on the far bank 200 yards below our top limit.

As for chub there are many pegs on the length that have produced large chub, the most surprising is the flat wide straight below where the river forks round the back of the large island. The EA did a fish survey there three years ago and I was amazed just how many chub were in an area that I did not think would hold any, some were over six pound.

Just 50-yards above the sand hole there is large a fallen tree in the river on the far bank and there have been many chub over 6lb caught fishing above the tree and chucking down to it or, wading to the middle (quite sallow) and trotting a stick float down to it.

This is a long length over 1.5-miles and it would take me too long to mention all the pegs but I hope this is of some help to you. For me the best time is winter when the grayling start to feed properly and the minnows stop feeding. Last year a grayling was caught in the peg below the sand of 3lb 12oz (reported in AT).

Regards

Gus Greaves

[mike]

thanks gus, thats an exellent reply mate just what i needed.

[geoff]

Fancy having a go for the trout and grayling myself this winter on the fly. Any advice on location appreciated. Is it suitable for wading and is there casting room.