The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

The inestimable Mrs. Ac. has presented me with what can only be described as "a bit of a special present" to cover both my birthday and our wedding anniversary this year.

I have been given three nights in a cottage on a farm on the banks of the river just north of Ross-on-Wye, to include 2 days fishing on said river, during the last week of this season !!! (Any suggestions that she is doing this in order to get rid of me for a few days ... please keep to yourselves.)

This will be my first time on a river of this size with 'traditional' tackle," and I hope to christen a rod or two on which I have worked over the past few months.

My intention at this point is to target roach and chub (though I dream of a National Gudgeon Record), and would welcome any advice which the members here could offer me.

The weather being what it has been in this past twelve months who knows what conditions I will meet. It could be anything from drought, through mild though inclement, to early April showers, to torrential downpours, to flooding of biblical proportions with hail and snow and plagues of frogs (please don't mention locusts and boils !!!) ... but whatever comes I shall be there.

I'm thinking of a mixture of trotting and link-ledger, with bread flake, maggot, worm, and home made cheese paste as baits.

My current tackle ideas are a choice from :-

Rods ...
Allcock's 'Lucky Strike'
Edgar Sealey 'Floatcaster Deluxe'
Marco 'Test'
Marco 'Arun'
Hillward's 'Avon Rex'

Reels ...
Allcock's Match Aerial
Grey's Bewick
Mitchell 440 (not Match), or 300
Intrepid Prince Regent

Floats ...
A set of Avons ordered from Stuart (Fat Fish Floats) in 5BB/7BB/9BB sizes.
Perhaps an 'antenna' or two if the wind demands.

Am I near the mark with the above ?

Any members in the area who would care to join me for a chat, glass of port, and a slice of cake on the evening of Monday 11th March. prior to my 2 days of blanks (!!!!!) would be most welcome. Please PM me if you'd like to drop by.

AC - you have far too much tackle to make a sensible choice. Therefore I would suggest you alleviate yourself of such a burdensome task to make a terribly difficult decision by sending me a random selection of the tackle on your list.
The decision will then be much simpler to make

Julian wrote:AC - you have far too much tackle to make a sensible choice. Therefore I would suggest you alleviate yourself of such a burdensome task to make a terribly difficult decision by sending me a random selection of the tackle on your list.
The deciion will then be much simpler

Peshaw !!!

Julian wrote:AC - you have far too much tackle

Wash your mouth out, Sir ... I'm trying to persuade Mrs. AC. I don't have enough !!!!

I faced similar predicaments a couple of years ago AC. I booked in at the Red Lion for the last week of the season and planned to fish the Mocha's fishery stretch of the Wye with hope to catch my first Barbel.
Fortunately for me Dave Burr bailiffs the stretch and was most useful in such dilemma's. You would be advised to pm him or he may just pop in this thread and interject if you're lucky! You won't regret it.

Which stretch are you fishing? I am in Ross myself. What I would suggest tackle wise is: bottom rods-8lb line, maggot feeders. You'd want something that is something like 11/12 foot long with a bit of strength (barbel!)! Ledger wise I tend to use weights between 3/4 and 1 1/4 oz n the winter- A useful thing to do is to let out a few yards of line as soon as the weight hits the deck, seems to stop it bouncing about so much. Erm... Trotting. Wizard or lucky will be perfect for the chub (I wouldn't hold out for a roach) and massive bits of bread flake or big bunches of worms. 4lb line should be ample. In the winter I usually trot with a size 8 and as many worms as I can get on it! If you like pike the wye has some absolute wackers. Anything else I can help.with just ask. It's a lovely river, and still quite wild. I assume you are in the horwithy area. It's stunning. St.

St.John wrote:Which stretch are you fishing?

Stand on the A40 bridge over the river and look north ... the bank on the left, Sir.

Ahhh ha, lovely.

St.John wrote:Ahhh ha, lovely.

Hurrah !

AshbyCut wrote:

St.John wrote:Which stretch are you fishing?

Stand on the A40 bridge over the river and look north ... the bank on the left, Sir.

The left bank from the A40 bridge upstream for the best part of a mile belongs to Ross AC. You must be a bit upstream of that then, unless the place you are stopping has some agreement with Ross to fish their bit ? Like St John says, not a great deal of roach in that area, your best bet is chub in low, cooler conditions (bread, cheesepaste etc) or have a go for barbel if it's milder with a drop of floodwater in the river. Travel light, don't bog yourself down with loads of gear.

Whichever, enjoy it !