Clan-Fest!

Had plenty of bites on the two-day Clan-Fest competition on the Upper Thames at Clanfield at the weekend. This river is alive with fish at the moment. I’ve been watching perch smashing into shoals of bleak and minnows all weekend! It’s made actually catching perch difficult and the pesky minnows tuck into any chopped worm you feed like it’s spaghetti bolognese! It’s also been sweltering hot and the river is much clearer now that the algae blooms seem to have gone…

Day One I was on peg 56 in B Section. A comfortable peg, once I’d pruned some overhead branches and removed a couple of pole rigs I found up there! I’ve had a busy match catching mostly tiny dace and gudgeon for 4lb 13oz. A half-decent weight for Clanfield, but sadly only halfway in the section with a level 7lb winning it. All the weights above me included some chunky perch and that really seemed to be the difference. Still scratching my head as to how you target them on this river! 

Day Two I drew a nice looking peg 98, which was 2nd in section the previous day behind end peg 100. I’ve quickly learnt that you always need depth and flow on the inside on this winding river (or a big chub bush if you’re very lucky!). 

I’ve fished maggots, hemp and casters over groundbait (Sonubaits Black Roach, Deep Water and soil) at 5m and 10m for a really enjoyable match. Lots of very small roach, three slightly better ones on hemp and a few dace for 5lb 15oz. That was enough to win the section and was surprisingly 3rd overall on the day. The river had clearly fished a lot harder in the heatwave conditions. 

River ace Paul Passmore won the day with a trio of chub, and that helped him win the trophy with two sterling performances and 3 points. Matt Herbert was 2nd and Tony Hobbs was 3rd. All in all it was a really well run and friendly event with some nice food laid on afterwards. I’m slowly getting to grips with this very testing river. 

Oh, and I got a slow puncture somewhere between the river and the results, so the winnings will go towards a new tyre!