Dew Point South

Hello again and a hearty welcome back to fishing for memories.


I have not had quite so much time recently to get some fishing in,but managed to get out last week in midweek for a short and unusually for me non overnight session.

The day was far from ideal and coincided with high pressure and light cold snap we were having in the South of England,nighttime temperatures the wrong side of the dew point and as low as 4.7c,which from my experience is low for the end of September compared to what I have experienced in these global warming fueled recent years,This along with a very stupidly low river for Autumn did make me concerned.

But there's no bad time to go fishing and I decided to head off down to my stretch of river in anticipation of some Barbel,Chub or Carp.

The trees are now shedding their summer clothing and rusty leafs were spread on the ground, the Balsam was looking quite forlorn and turning a limey green,Autumn is a beautiful time to be out fishing,with the trees varying in colour and hawthorn bearing its luminescent yellow autumn berries.


I got to my swim late evening and planned to fish until 1am,that was if the conditions stayed blue and cloud did not make an appearance,I cannot say that I felt as optimistic as I usually do,it was one of those feelings you get use to having as an angler,where you feel the conditions are not prime and the fish are not going to play ball.


I opted to place both rods out on 15mm boilie,one halibut and other Shellfish,in my rush to get out I had misplaced my pack of ready filled pva bags,this was not going to help proceedings and I could have kicked myself for being so woolly headed.

Luckily I did have some free offerings to spare at the bottom of my rucksack and these were hastily placed round both rods,which were fished to near margin and far margin gravel gully's.


The days draw in swiftly now and darkness at around 7pm was soon upon me,I sat listening as the owls started prowling about and a couple of bats clipped my rod tips from time to time.It began to drop in temperature pretty fast,but this did not stop the crayfish activity and they gave my boilies a light chewing,not quit as malicious as they can be I can tell you.


Fish activity started at 7.40 with the halibut boilie picking up a couple of Bream of usual size for this area I was fishing 6 of 7lb mark,this then slowly faded and recommenced later in the evening on the shellfish boilie with another two Bream of similar size.

I was beginning to wonder if this would be the first time this season that I would not bank a Beautiful Barbel and sure enough this did turn out to be what happened.The temperature was by now 5c and it was heading the wrong side of 11pm,earlier in the evening I had had what I felt were the usual tell tale knocks from Barbel but these did not materialize into anything more.


By now I was feeling my umbrella and it was getting soaked in dew,my heart sank,heavy dew and lack of bites are for me synonymous,I stole a look at both rods which had beads of dew hanging from them like diamonds,looking at the sky I could not see a single cloud for miles,not even a hint of some faint wisps.


By now it was getting on for 12am and the heavy dew and lack of cloud sealed my decision to finish up around 1am.

My left Halibut boilie rod let out a fast beep and the swinger smacked against the rod and went slack and lifeless,I was thinking "hmm Chub",which would be nice,as the area I was fishing has some clonkers in it.

The rod fell silent for 20 minutes before it took off and ran downstream,I was into a sprinting fight and under the headlight I could see a solid shape and broad back of a Chub,it was still showing signs of some summer leanness but looked a good fish,once in the net I felt its weight and guesstimated it around the 5lb mark,the scales merrily tipped round to 5lb 8oz. No Barbel but I was certainly not complaining in the least with a lovely Chub which along with the Bream had cheered me up nicely.







This was the end of my short session and at just gone 1am with the dew getting ever heavier and the river still and silent,I headed off back home.


Until next time from myself on fishing for memories,may your Autumn fishing be grand and your weather system cyclonic.

()><(((º> Litter Louts <º)))><()

After spending this evening down my local stretch of river litter picking,I feel a need to have a rant about so called "anglers" who bring their rubbish be it food,drink and bait packets and cannot be bothered to take their rubbish home once finished with,these muppets for want of another word then dispose of items in hedges and bushes surrounding some of the most beautiful unspoiled stretches of river,I spent the evening gladly clearing the rubbish up and filling two black bin bags full of their crap which included Stella Artois Cans and Cider Cans and excessive amounts of toilet roll,which had also been dumped into the side of the river.


It saddens me terribly to see such shit being left behind,you are not anglers,you are not welcome to grace the banks of such water and you are not welcome in my presence and it is the minority like you that give the Anti Brigade extra ammunition and also sully the reputation of decent thoughtful anglers.



there is one word for this type of angler and that is SCUM,if you can bring something then you can damn well take it home.


That is my rant over.

()><(((º> Final Tears Of Summer <º)))><()

Hello again and welcome back to fishing for memories.



I managed to get out for the first brief overnight session of September on the river last Friday afternoon,in what I can only describe as very windy weather indeed and rain,but you will not catch fish trying to wait for the perfect weather system.


I think too many anglers try to look for the perfect weather for fishing and whilst this can be good,far far too much time can be spent and wasted on such contemplation,do not let yourself become a slave to this way of thinking,try to be spontaneous with some of your decisions and do not end up becoming stale,unimaginative and a stick in the mud.


Just lately on the river having spoken to a few anglers,it has been a bit harder going,they put this down to a lack of rainfall and are finding the bites coming later and later into the night and more warily.I have found this at times,but I have been very lucky to not have blanked yet this season,but I am sure I have now tempted fate by mentioning.


I got to my chosen swim very late afternoon,the Blackberry bushes looking very ripe and the bird life was having a field day with them,the Balsam was looking a bit tired,but still with many flowers swaying about to and fro in the gusty winds catapulting the remaining bees about. The sky had taken a heavy Autumnal look,the clouds were low,moody and racing by,I was also greeted by the lovely sight of Red Kites hovering effortlessly on the wind,whilst scouring the ground for some prey.





I opted due to the shallowness of the swim in question to fish both rods on fluorocarbon hook links of 10lb,with both rods set as low as the bushes would allow,rather than fishing both rods on boilie as I had intended,I decided instead on 15mm Halibut pellet and given the added wariness of this swim,I did not use any pva at all and lightly lowered both rods into position on to gravel runs.

As the evening drew in there was the odd rattler on the rod tip from smaller fish which resulted in a kamikaze Gudgeon being hooked on my size 8 hook,they never fail to give a good bite.The taps and knocks on the rod tip slowly disappeared and the most massive full moon I have seen reared its huge head across the river,the wind had pushed all the cloud away and I was sat basking in the bright light of the moon,in fact I could have sworn it was daytime it really was incredibly bright.







The dew was now showing signs of becoming heavy and the droplets glistened on my rods like rows of diamonds,I always feel my chances lessen when a heavy dew builds.All was quiet and it was getting late,it did cross my mind that I might be in for a blank,but when your in such beautiful surroundings blanking is well worthwhile,I sat and commenced to nibble on my pack of Hob Nobs,whilst taking fleeting looks at the skyline,I was rather hoping for some cloud cover to roll in from the southwest but this did not look like happening,the moon big,bold and sky dotted with stars,I thought to myself "it truly is a good night to be an owl out hunting",their calls began, later on a Barn owl flew over my head and perched on its usual tree upon the far bank.

My rods remained still,some weed and other bits of junk passed by me,the water looked wonderful,its ebb and flow caught from different angles by the full moon,the water activity was silent but for the odd sign of Mink diving in further downstream.

It was late,I sat and pondered a change to mussel boilie on one rod,but for some reason I felt my best chance would still be on the pellet.

My left rod which had been like the other so very silent did not bother to signal its intent with a single warning bleep but instead tore off downstream from the marginal gravel run and I was met by the resistance of a superb fighting fit Barbel,I tightened the drag of the tiny Exage reel in my effort to halt the fishes run to its chosen destination "snag land".

Slowly bullying it I brought it to the bank side and there it nestled in the net it's back glistening in the gaze of the moon,a wide smile broke upon me,the happiness the fish had bestowed by gracing me with its presence shone through.

It felt a nice well shaped fish with a distinct pink spot above its left gill cover. The scales did not disagree as the needle flicked round to a healthy 10lb 8oz.







It was early morning 5am or thereabouts when I decided to pack up and pad my way home,one very happy bunny indeed.



I have put together a little video of this fishing trip,I am by no means a professional at video editing so please forgive me any errors.







Once again as ever and until next time,tight lines from myself at Fishing For Memories and may your landing nets and weigh slings be forever wet.