Angling is a sport that has produced some exceptional writers. Ernest Hemmingway transported us to the azure blue waters of Cuba and an epic battle with that mighty marlin in Old Man and the Sea. Chris Yates turns a trip to the water’s edge into mystical prose that reminds us that there’s more to fishing than simply catching fish. Like many lifelong anglers I have devoured a fair chunk of the writing that enhances our obsessive pastime. Amongst the millions of words there are a handful of phrases that have stuck firmly in the back of my fishing brain. One of which came to the fore on the very last day of this year’s coarse fishing season which saw us experiencing yet another winter of record floods.

I was on the banks of a swollen, brown and angry River Thames trying to scratch out some roach and bream from a deep slack in one of the few vaguely fishable spots on the river between Reading and Oxford. Sure I caught a number of self-hooked roach by resorting to using a heavy feeder and braid but it was not how I hoped to end the season. It was then that the wise words of the great countryman and writer, the late Fred.J.Taylor, came to mind – “I shall be glad when I’ve had enough of this” he wrote of a particularly brutal day. I certainly had, and so reeled in only to find a bonny little gudgeon hanging on the end of the line. This was the signal I needed that it was time to bring the season’s proceedings to an early close.

The winter of 2023/24 saw months of flooding in the Thames Valley making fishing ‘challenging’ to say the least.

Living where I do in Reading, with the Thames and it’s tributaries on my doorstep and the Avon, Test, Itchen and Stour not much more than a hour or so away it’s a rare day not to find a bit of river somewhere that is in reasonable condition no matter how much rain has fallen. But this winter was undoubtedly the most challenging for a long time. Obviously the tribs run off first and depending on the catchment length and size these are where the first fishing opportunities will present themselves after a flood. And if all fails there’s always the perch of the good old Kennet & Avon canal to fall back on – assuming of course you get actually get down the bloody towpath!

The summer was pleasingly wet and mild and as a result the barbel fishing was pretty good due to the absence of low flows and scorching temperatures. But then the rains arrived with a vengeance in October and there was barely a week in the following six months when the Environment Agency website was not showing a flood warning somewhere. I think at one point there were no fewer than 240 of those little red triangles, lighting up the screen and telling people to move themselves or their belongings to higher ground as the nation’s rivers burst their banks, turning the surrounding countryside into a series of giant lakes.

Winter Plans on Hold

I had hoped to be spending much of the winter chasing those big Thames chub interspersed with the occasional trip down to the middle reaches of the Hampshire Avon to bag a few on the float. As it happened my trip to the Avon in November proved to be the last as for the rest of the season the only way to get to the swims was a wade through chest high floodwater and I’m just too old for that nonsense anymore. Chalk rivers like the Avon, Test and Kennet behave differently to spate rivers like the Thames, Trent and Wye. They are slower to rise in a flood but much slower to fall once the aquifer is full – and goodness me was it full this winter. Groundwater flooding became an issue like never before leading in many cases to the overwhelming of the inadequate, ‘creaking and leaking’ water company sewerage systems. In the Berkshire Downs raw sewage flowed down the streets and into the once sparkling River Lambourn. In Hampshire the Angling Trust, Test & Itchen Association and local river keepers on the River Test organised a substantial protest outside Southern Water’s failing Fullerton Waste Water Treatment Works following weeks of discharges into England’s most famous chalkstream.

Hampshire River Keepers protesting with the Angling Trust over Southern Water dumping sewage into the River Test

Of course there’s no pleasing us anglers as we hate to see our rivers low and lifeless and recognise that a good winter’s flush through is nature’s way of refreshing these beautiful places. However, you can certainly have too much of a good thing and the winter of 2023/24 will go down as one of the most challenging I’ve ever fished through. When it wasn’t raining it was either freezing or blowing a gale and those conditions we all long for of a falling and clearing river coinciding with settled and mild temperatures simply didn’t happen. I felt particularly sorry for my friends who enjoy river match fishing as in some parts of the country almost no competitions were held for best part of four months.

These days I only work part time and I’m fortunate enough to be able to organise much of these duties on days which I feel will offer me the least favourable fishing conditions. Consequently, the winter months see me spending an unhealthy amount of time checking medium range weather forecasts and almost every relevant river gauge within driving distance of my home. Even with all these advantages at my disposal decent fishing opportunities were hard to come by. Plans for a big dace from the Test were quickly abandoned and by the end of February I’d only chub fished the Thames on four occasions. The big perch that I’d been catching from a Thames backwater became harder to track down and eventually impossible to reach as the river overwhelmed the surrounding fields.

Roach to the Rescue

If there’s one fish that tends to favour high and coloured water it’s the roach and luckily for me I knew of a couple of places that are just the job when everywhere else is unfishable. One little Thames tributary that I hadn’t fished since I was a kid had been throwing up some impressive bags of roach in recent winters, including the occasional two pounder. I suspect these were fish that had migrated in from the main river once the floods arrived and given that the Thames had been in flood more or less constantly from October onwards it seemed sensible to take this trip down back memory lane. It turned out to be a good choice as in four trips I only once had less than double figures and my best roach was a pleasing 1.07. My little 11ft Drennan Ultralight rod coupled with an Abu 507 closed face reel was the perfect combination in such a small stream and every fish came to bread punch under a lightly shotted stick float. Being one of the few fishable places west of London the stretch was getting a fair bit of pressure so I was keen to find somewhere else to target roach in the high flows.

Quality roach from a small stream on the stickfloat – what’s not to like?

Thanks to the great work of the Avon Roach project, led by Trevor Harrop and the late Budgie Price, the Hampshire Avon has once again become something of a Mecca for us river roach nuts. The Christchurch AC stretch at Winkton is now so rammed with roach anglers that people are arriving at 3am and kipping in their cars in order to bag a decent swim. Much as I admire this level of dedication I’m afraid such shenanigans aren’t for me anymore so I decided to explore further up river away from the crowds. The upper Avon around Salisbury was handling the extra water far better than the Ringwood area so I decided to concentrate on a new stretch with a reputation for producing decent bags of both roach and dace with the outside a chance of a specimen of both species. Much as I love catching big roach I’ve all but had my fill of flogging a hard piece of river for hours on end in the hope of one bite at dusk, possibly from a fish of a lifetime but more likely from a stupid trout. My idea of winter perfection these days is trotting a nice glide in a swift flowing stream and steadily building the swim as the roach respond to the feeding. If I’m netting more than I half my fish I’m halfway to heaven and if a couple make it over the magic two pound mark then I’m there.

No monsters but a very pleasing haul of prime Avon roach when most other rivers were unfishable

One of the great advantages of working for the Angling Trust is the people you get to know and my Avon network proved invaluable in sorting out the tactics for this particular stretch. The presence of minnows and small dace meant that maggots were out of the question for anything other than hookbait. If you started feeding bread straightaway there was a danger of pulling in too many trout and spooking the roach shoals. The favoured method was to start off by lightly feeding hemp and casters and putting a few dace and the odd rogue trout in the net until the roach showed up. Then I would begin pitching in the occasional golf ball sized ball of liquidised bread, stiffened with dampened white crumb to ensure it got down to the fish. After a couple of hours I could usually switch from double caster on a 16 hook to an 8 or 10mm piece of punch on a 14. The size of the roach would start to increase with some beautiful pound plus fish making an appearance and the dace beginning to average nearer to half a pound rather than the smaller samples that were around at first. I would keep trickling in the hemp and casters with the bread and if the action slowed for too long a change of hookbait would invariably produce some bonus fish.

Just a couple of ounces short of the magic two pound mark but a very welcome catch in a tough winter

In five trips I was lucky enough to break the 20lbs barrier on three occasions and although I never quite got that two pounder it was hard to be disappointed with roach of 1.08; 1.10; 1.12 and 1.14 and dace to at least 10ozs.

A little video clip of the best of my catches from the Avon this winter

Given that most of the rest of the country’s rivers were a foaming mass of brown floodwater I counted myself fortunate to be catching such fine hauls of quality fish from a clear, if swollen, chalkstream.

Some big chub at last

I love chasing those big, brassy Thames chub in the winter. Whilst there is little doubt that the river holds fish in excess of the current British record of 9lbs 5ozs my ambitions are far more modest. I expect to catch fives, hope to get a few sixes and if I’m fortunate enough to land a seven pounder then that really is the icing on the winter cake. Perhaps an eight pounder will come my way but I’m just happy knowing that chub of a size that I could only dream of as a youngster are now a realistic prospect providing the river is in some sort of decent shape. And of course for most of this winter just gone it was decidedly ‘indecent’ as far as us chub anglers were concerned.

My go to Thames tributary for chub when the main river is still too high is the charming little Evenlode in Oxfordshire. It’s not an easy place but by roving around it’s usually possible to winkle out a few fish in the three to four pound class with the occasional five pounder. In fact last winter my good friend Paul Tolman managed a brace of fives from a single swim along with a couple of fours. This a rare on a river where one or two chub from every third swim fished is the norm. Anyway, this year we were restricted to just a couple of trips during the cold spell in January when the floods had temporarily subsided. The Evenlode was in fine winter nick following the mother of all flush throughs the previous month. It had a good flow and that lovely green tinge that all chub fishers like to see. Unfortunately, after two sessions that saw multiple catches of chub in a day, with none of them much over two pounds, I could only conclude that the floods had moved the fish around like never before. Swims that were previously bankers for good sized chub were just throwing up ‘chublings’ from 12 to 20ozs – obviously good news for the future but hardly our targets.

The Oxfordshire Evenlode was in fine shape for a while but the floods seem to have moved the fish around and it was a job to find a chub over two pounds

Nothing lasts forever and eventually the rains subsided and Thames began to drop just long enough for some of my favourite spots on to become fishable. There’s a tight swim I know under some trees just inside the crease line that always holds some nice roach and chub when the river is running hard. Due to the tree canopy I usually fish it with a sturdy, 11ft Drennan tip rod loaded with six or eight pound line that I have ready made up in a sleeve. Imagine my horror on arriving at the swim to discover I’d picked up the wrong sleeve containing my small river stick float rod and closed face reel with just four pound line. Luckily I did have another, lighter tip rod in the quiver but only the one reel. I wasn’t about to go home so made the best of it landing a few nice roach and a couple of chublets on breadflake before switching to my favoured cheesepaste and crust combo on a bigger hook. After a short wait the tip gently pulled round and I found myself attached to something more substantial. I played what was obviously a decent chub a lot more gingerly than usual and was pleased to be able to keep it out of the snags that line either side of the swim. At 4.15 it was my first decent Thames chub of the winter and I’m not sure I would have been able to cope with anything much bigger on that light gear. The January weather only allowed for one more visit to that spot but at least it gave me a five pounder before they opened the weir gates forcing us to beat a hasty retreat.

A pleasant perchy interlude on the Kennet & Avon canal while waiting for the floods to subside

With Thames still out of sorts much of February was spent after those lovely Avon roach with a single trip to the K&A for a bit of canal perching. I revisited a favourite spot upstream of a confluence with the main river that is usually productive in these conditions. A bit of intel from a match fishing friend put me in an area that had being showing a bit of perch form so I arrived with a pot of worms and plenty of confidence. I only travel light and just use a short bomb rod to catch these canal perch as it enables me to easily move on if I don’t get a bite within an hour. After feeding the far side of the boat channel with chopped worm and dead maggots and flicking out half a lob on a no8 hook I settled down to see if I was in the right spot. It took a while but eventually the tip pulled round and the rod bent into the first of 15 bonny perch from 17 bites in a little over four hours fishing. With nearly every fish a netter, and several weighing over two pounds, I reckoned that wasn’t a bad interlude from my somewhat indifferent chub fishing.

As March arrived the Thames finally started to drop and clear. It was still hammering through but at least the inside swims would be fishable as the water clarity increased. Two trips were pencilled in with a couple of friends and we were hopeful that some decent chub would finally come our way. The first day was hard going but I put my mate Sean in a new swim I had recently trimmed out and he promptly extracted a fine looking four pounder on cheesepaste from the edge of the crease line about 20 yards from the bank. With no further action he moved down to the tight swim that had produced for me back in January. Sean had never fished this spot before and told to him to watch out as the bites can come quickly in these conditions. It wasn’t long before my phone rang and I was photographing a lovely 5.08 chub for my friend. I was so pleased as poor health had kept him from the river bank for much of the winter and now he could at least end his season on a high.

Sean Geer with a lovely 5.08 Thames chub from a falling river

With Sean leaving early to miss the London traffic I had the bottom of the stretch to myself as my other friend Paul was fishing further upstream. I decided to have last hour of daylight in the ‘new swim’ that had produced earlier. With the river level still high the fishing position was on top of the bank but with a mass of brambles, bushes and trees downstream you had to slide down to the waters edge in order to have any chance of keeping a big fish out of the snags. I cast my bread feeder and trusty cheese and crust hookbait down and across to the crease line. A few casts later there was a slight indication that a fish may have found the bait. I waited a couple of minutes and was rewarded with a firm pull round and a screaming clutch as a decent chub powered off into the flow. I was a bit slow getting into the playing position and to my horror I realised that my line was threaded through the trailing branches of the nearside bush. I pumped the chub back upstream under heavy pressure hoping that the line would ping free but it was not to be. Pretty soon we were at stalemate as a big Thames chub, clearly well over five pounds, wallowed on my snagged line under the bush and just out of reach of my landing net. I phoned Paul who kindly came down and hung on to my rod as I edged along the narrow ledge and into the bush. I couldn’t get the net to it but after much prodding and pushing the fish slipped the hook and powered off none the worse for the experience. The same could not be said for my terminal tackle which needed completely replacing.

I had to wait until March for my first six pounder of the season

Unsure as to whether the swim was ruined I re-tackled and cast out again to await results. A few minutes later I was in again and this time everything went to plan and soon a lovely chub of exactly six pounds was safely in the net. It was a happy drive home as I’d caught my target fish but there was still one day left to try and do it again. My companion for this final chub session was Steve who had never fished this part of the Thames before. The river had dropped further overnight changing the nature of some of the swims that had produced the day before. The morning passed uneventfully but by the afternoon Steve had found a deeper, steadier spot that gave him a brace of four pounders and some quality roach. I was still blanking and the temptation to revisit yesterday’s swim was too hard to resist. Nothing happened until the light began to fade and then I missed one of those ‘unmissable’ bites that only chub can give. By now Steve had packed up and Michael, another fishing friend, had come down for a chat. Feeling just a little pressure from the gallery I cast out again and held the rod with the line crooked over my forefinger. The seconds ticked by and then out of the blue came a tap followed by a steady pull. The rod went immediately into full battle curve and I was at water’s edge before I knew it. This was a heavy fish and even once under the rod tip she didn’t want to give in and kept boring and powering away towards the nearside snags. I was glad to be on a seven pound hooklink and everything held firm until she was ready for the net. Like so many of these big Thames chub the fish was so broad across the back she looked like pit pony but not particularly long. Fin perfect in every way she went 6.05 on the scales and was the very best way to end a tough, wet winter’s chub season.

And like buses another one comes along – my second six pound chub of the winter caught the very next day from the same swim on the same bait.