Prospects & General Comments:
Coarse Fishing Report By Adam Fisher October 2015 This month was marked by extremely low river levels for the time of year and a lack of any real cold snap that we would expect with the change of season. Although the leaves have changed colour beautifully, much earlier than my records of previous autumns, the chill just hasn't quite been in the air to get the predator juices going for me and October is a month when the traditional predator season starts. What actually happened was barbel appeared to go through another "finicky" stage like the ones they have in summer, when high pressure accompanies low flows and leads to them shoaling up, only to come onto bait as dusk falls or if there's a flood. There was a way around it, however, and this was to fish for them on the float i.e a moving bait. Although this is enjoyable in the summer (wading is a good way of keeping cool!), I have never really done much of it in the autumn specifically targeting barbel. Usually October is a month when the trotting rod comes out, but really only to get a mixed bag together to get an idea of stocks. Dace, roach, bleak, perch, minnow, chub are all welcome and make for an enjoyable day stood waist deep in the river before it gets too cold. In the past I have also caught small barbel this way but after venturing into deeper water looking for some larger chub this month, a few larger barbel surprised me. The more maggots were sprayed, the more they fed, and so now I can't wait until next October for the "barbel on the float season"! Joking aside, what's been learnt is that when the fish became finicky to static bait, even late in the summer and into autumn, then a moving bait seems to be an unexpectedly productive alternative. Even though I've done a fair bit of guiding for barbel on the float, I took great pleasure in sending a few mates on their way for them to work it out themselves - what they considered to be one of the more difficult disciplines to master for any fish became suddenly easy, and the smiles on their faces said it all.In October maggots were the reported choice of bait for a feeder and although you can run corn or even pellet under a float at barbel, a constant rain of white grubs is hard to beat. However, the fishing was generally finicky throughout the month and although I never pay much attention to the barometer unless pike fishing on the river, high pressure is the excuse I offer for the patchy sport. How patchy? Well, while 3 anglers were blanking on Sugwas Court, down river at the Creel 2 anglers caught 14 barbel on the same day. This was a similar story throughout the river as anglers on some beats did brilliantly whilst others struggled. The feeding patterns of barbel will now start to slow down as the colder temperatures set in, and maggots should continue to be a go to bait.I made my annual pilgrimage to the upper Wye and her tributaries at the end of the month. October is the start of grayling fishing with bait on many rivers and is a wonderful time of year to be on the Upper Wye catchment. The leaf colours are breathtaking and with the low, clear water you can get an up close and personal experience of how wild the rivers are up there. Boulders are as big as armchairs, made smooth by flows strong enough to move them about and round them off. Little patches of gravel are deposited behind each one and the slack flow allows fish to shelter behind them as food is also deposited here. There are big slabs of bedrock, with sheer drop offs into deep water. Such bedrock is lethal to wade over without the right soles on your waders - it too is polished clean with very little weed growth for standard rubber soles to grip to. The deeper runs are usually very deep, but also gravel-filled and this is often where the grayling are. During the day it was still warm enough for grayling to rise to blue winged olives and pale wateries, and this makes trotting bait difficult. Often the grayling will boil where your maggots hit the surface. As you release your float to the stream you invariably get bites before everything is in a straight line and you have the space to strike. Although satisfying once the fight is under way and you've landed them, it can be frustrating not to get the whole experience of long trotting the float and waiting for it to disappear before giving a sweeping strike.During the middle of the month I spent some time with Martin Bowler helping out on a feature for grayling, which will be upcoming in Angling Times in the next few weeks. He caught plenty of grayling, including a few decent ones, and it was a pleasure to see how someone who lives for fishing is still so passionate and dedicated to producing such interesting material for other anglers to enjoy. It should make good reading so look out for it on shelves soon.

Catch returns indicated that the big catches of barbel had slowed down. Not only does this happen as it gets colder but, as mentioned, the high pressure and low conditions certainly had a role to play this October. That said, Fownhope 5 yielded 18 to DSH from Berks on the 9th , and 12 to A from Didcot on the 22nd. The Creel produced 16 barbel to CM from Moreton in the Marsh on the 17th and Backney gave up 15 to PN from Ferndown on the 21st . Good to hear a positive report from Lower Ballingham once again, JD from Fulham catching 12 barbel on the 7th I mentioned last month that a few more anglers brave the Perryhill beat at this time of year. As the vegetation starts to die back then access becomes easier. CC from Cwmbran described the fishery perfectly in his catch return saying it was "Bushes, Barbed Wire, Bullocks and Barbel" the latter of which he caught 8. Some good perch were spotted by other anglers too.

As highlighted, maggots are great bait in low and clear conditions and NS from Basildon proved this with 10 barbel and 4 chub from Sugwas Court. This is a great fishery, never failing to surprise me with the captures there, especially the big perch. There is the odd complaint about the top part being overgown. Well, I suggest those anglers put the waders on and get out in the shallow water between the willows. Some of the best fishing on the beat is up here. The reason? Because it is left wild and effort is required to get the best from it. For those preferring not to put so much effort in, there is a mile of river to go at and plenty of swims. Again, we have the "one man's meat is another man's mutton" cliché with the below reports ..