Charman’s Challenge – River Test
Nursling.
Date – Friday 5th
December 2014
Venue fact file –
Nursling Mill Beat, Mill Lane,
Nursling, Southampton, Hants SO16 0YE
www.upstreamdryfly.com
Tickets £25-00
Tel Nick on - 07876100095. (Coarse,
game and grayling syndicate available)
Stock – Predominantly a game
fisher’s paradise but the stretch offers superb grayling fishing
along with some chub, a few roach and dace as well as pike, bream,
hybrids and carp.
Conditions – An overcast start
with occasional shower at midday but eventually giving way to clear
skies and a brilliant sunset. Temperature only 4 degrees on arrival
and 4 on departure rising to a max of just 7. Atmospherics high at
1026mb and luckily very little wind. River clear fast and dropping.
For one reason or
another it’s been a while since myself and good friend Mel had
managed to get out together. Mel contacted me a couple of years ago
with the view of increasing as many personal best as possible, ones
that were at least 50% of the British record. Since our adventures we
have managed to complete many of our goals but a couple of species,
in particular Catfish and Grayling had always eluded us, so with a
window of opportunity presenting itself we grabbed the chance with
both hands and headed to the river Test at Nursling. Unfortunately
I’m not allowed to guide on this stretch so we both bought a day
ticket with the view of exploring the beat along with myself helping
Mel to improve his centrepin skills.
I could have quite
easily placed a feeder rod in Mel's hands but to me this isn’t
grayling fishing so resisted the easy option and stayed traditional.
Maggots and worms are banned here in an attempt to protect the salmon
par so it was an all out sweetcorn attack; however a few slices of
bread were in the van just in case we thought there was a chance of a
big roach. Having never fished this particular stretch before it was
an adventure for both of us; however I’m familiar with the beat as
friends have fished it in the past and painted a near perfect picture
of it.
Nick the river
keeper was already next to the river when we arrived and quickly gave
us a brief of where the best chance of a two-pounder was, upstream of
the pool, something I already knew. We decided to head right to the
top of the beat on the left hand bank which extends to just above the
M27 bridge and borders the Broadlands Syndicate beat. Above the
bridge is very shallow, not the best area for a couple of rusty
centrepin anglers and after no action came we headed downstream to a
worn swim that screamed fish.
I’d decided to
set Mel up with an identical rig as myself, a 4.5g 2.5swan loafer
float with a 5lb hooklink and a size 14 Kamasan B525 hook. We were
both using 15ft rods, pins with 6lb mainline, basically tackle that I
used when I started grayling fishing many years ago which accounted
for loads of big fish on the river Itchen. By doing this I knew that
if it wasn’t working for me then it wouldn’t be working for Mel,
however although the end tackle seemed fine it was our centrepins
that were causing us a few problems. I had lost the main screw
holding the drum on my Okuma pin a few days before and decided to use
a new pin that I reviewed a while back, however I noticed that it
didn’t spin as freely as I would have liked and put this down to
being new, yet after struggling on for a while soon realised that
something was seriously wrong with it, a dud probably! Mel's float
was pulling in to the bank and holding back and the problem was soon
found as he had spooled up with too much line, an easy mistake to
make, and it was this that was bedding in, so with some removed it
started to perform better as the day progressed.
Forgetting my
fishing I started to feed while Mel trotted down a couple of times
and probably on the third trot down and after deepening the float
slightly it disappeared and he was into a good fish. I have to
apologise to Mel as I probably sent his legs to jelly as I
momentarily saw the grayling which looked massive and excitingly gave
him a running commentary on taking things easy. In the net the size
of the fish dropped somewhat and although a great fish to start the
day it didn’t beat our goal of 2lb, in fact it didn’t beat his
best of 1lb 12oz. Working our way back to the car Mel caught steadily
with plenty of grayling around 12oz along with the occasional bigger
one of around 1lb 8oz along with the odd sea, brown and rainbow
trout. I managed the odd fish even with a pin that needed a helping
hand which included grayling, a couple of sea trout and a chub.
Back at the car we
had some lunch before trotting down to the Mill. This produced plenty
of trout along with a few better grayling but the star of the show
was a twenty-pound plus salmon that sat at out feet in the swim.
Heading upstream
on the opposite bank we came across a syndicate member who informed
us that the roach were now very scarce as were the dace and that this
year there had been a big increase in the numbers of grayling along
the beat but these were much smaller than the previous season, great!
He was trotting bread down river and was getting beaten up by trout
after trout so at least the sweetcorn approach was selective and
avoided these to some degree.
Heading back
downstream we had to try the whirlpool and once again just caught
grayling after grayling but nothing bigger than a pound, great sport
but we both would have rather had far less fish but a bigger stamp.
Id swapped my pin to a back-up Okuma and was now realising the
difference between a good pin and a bad pin and was able to control
the float perfectly below the salmon run but all this produced once
again was modest grayling. Grayling are very strange, some years the
numbers seem well down yet the size of fish is big. I experienced
this on the Itchen when one year two anglers could catch nearly a
hundred fish in a day but none made two pound, yet the next you would
struggle for maybe a dozen grayling but two or three would be
two-pound plus! Nursling, as well as the Broadlands beat above is
full of grayling this year and without a doubt two and three-pounders
are there yet singling these out is going to be very difficult.
Nursling is a
fantastic stretch of river, without a doubt the best piece of the
Test I’ve fished. It may come at a cost but it’s so refreshing to
know there are still places to go where bites are non-stop and
anglers almost nonexistent. After trying a short club stretch of the
Loddon last week and working around three other anglers, all of which
hadn’t had a bite it was just the tonic I needed and I will
certainly make the pilgrimage south to experience the fantastic
fishing Nursling has to offer far more often.
As for the
two-pound grayling the search goes on but I already have the next
venue up my sleeve!
Here are a few
words from my good friend Mel –
Hi Duncan,
Thanks again for a
most enjoyable day.
The fishery is
picturesque and apart from one other angler we had it all to
ourselves.
As usual you were
totally unselfish in ensuring I had the best possible chance of a PB
grayling. We certainly had the numbers so we rally gave it a good go.
In addition catching pristine rainbow, brown and sea trout was a real
bonus. I am so grateful for your patience in helping me improve my
skills with the centre-pin. I feel much more confident, in what is
something of an art, as a result.
Seeing a 20lb
salmon lying in touching distance under our feet was such a pleasure.
Looking forward to
continuing my quest for PB’s with you.
Kindest regards,
Mel.
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