MORE Free Fishing on the Wey.

I’m starting to really like this free fishing lark, last week free fishing on the river Itchen, this week we were going to spend a few hours on the river Wey in Farnham.

As the darkness now hangs around for longer in the morning it means not quite so early starts, which is nice, so I picked Steve up at 7am (which is late for us) and headed for Farnham, Steve had fished here before so had an idea on parking which was handy as I had only driven over the bridge before.

About 7:30 we was parked and a whole £2 parking later we set off the river, its quite a thin section of the river and quite shallow in places but looked great, we walked over the bridge that I have driven over many times and cast in just beyond it. On the second trot through I had a nice little brown Trout, then all went quiet so we moved up to a nice stretch in front of a park, there was loads of fish here, every cast was either a Minnow, Dace, Chublett or Trout, it was fantastic fun, and as soon as the fishing slowed we just moved up a hundred yards or so and carried on, this is why we had to travel light, just a rod/reel in one hand a net in the other and a rucksack on my back with all I need in. We walked up and down the river and caught loads of fish but the most surprising thing for me was the quality Dace fishing to be had, and for free, we had fish to 8oz, I had one to 7oz and most over 5oz, great fishing.

Free Fishing on the Itchen.

This fishing session we was going to be fishing the River Avon in Salisbury but due to a rising river and flooded banks we decided to give it a miss and try some free sections of the River Itchen.

I was up at 6am and the car was soon loaded, I was travelling very light as there was going to be allot of walking, a rucksack with tackle and bits, rod and net, that’s it. I soon arrived at Steve’s and set off to pick up Pilchard (shock horror).

Steve was armed with the maps etc. to show where the sections of the river are and which bits are free. Our first section started in central Winchester, and cost a whole £2 each for parking, turns out this stretch was huge and had all types of river fishing in one section, nearer the centre of Winchester it was quite thin and very fast so we decided to leave and walk down river. We stopped in a few spots for a fish with not much happening, the odd Minnow but that’s about it. This section was quite dark and silty and only about 2-3ft in depth. We walked all the way up to the road bridge with next to no luck, I cast under the bridge and let it trot down, as I pulled the float back I realised I was in, only a small Perch but I was happy. With the fish back I decided to change my set-up a bit, I was using a centre-pin reel with 4lb line to a 2lb 8oz hook link and a light stick float, not sure if its just my eyes or the conditions but I was struggling to see the float most of the time, so I changed to a chubber style float, still used in-line, the bigger tip made life easier, also I fished the line straight through to a size 16 hook to help with tangles.

We crossed over the bridge and continued walking up, we saw next to no fish except Pike, there was loads of little Pike about 4-8oz, so we turned round and headed back up, searching for fish as we did.

Steve spotted a few Roach on the way back but they did not seem interested or move out of reach of the Centre-pin cast range. We reached a section near a sports club which deepens off quite a bit, we was on the other side of earlier so we decided to have a go there. Me and Steve walked up and spotted a couple of fish in the depths, I had no idea what they where, I decided to put a worm on and cast in, it floated over this fish then the float dipped under and I was in, to be honest I thought it was weed to start with as it just seemed to rise up, but quite heavy, then it kicked back so I thought maybe it was a Trout, as it hit the surface it was a Grayling, I started to literally shake as I had never caught a Grayling before and this looked a good fish, as it came over the net I was over the moon, I walked the few paces down to an area wide enough to weigh the fish and have a look, during this time Steve also had a Grayling, I put the fish in the net in the margins to rest whilst I got sorted.

The fish went 1lb 9oz on the scales, much bigger than the average, I was so happy, after a few shots I rested the fish then let it go, one of my most memorable moments in fishing.

We headed back to the car for the next section of the Itchen.

A couple of years ago Steve used to work with me and we stopped all the time at Rivers and lakes to have a look, we once came across a river with some really nice looking Grayling in but thought it would be highly private and had no idea where it was, that turned out to be the next FREE section.

We set off down the river looking as we went, I saw a reasonable Grayling in the middle so I stopped to have a go whilst Steve and Pilchard headed up river. I put a few maggots in then cast behind, I was soon into minnows aplenty, and thanks to a set of polariods I watched a Grayling munch the maggot, it went 15oz, nice. After another small one I walked up to see Pilchard and Steve further up the stretch who also had a few.

When the action slowed we headed back to the car for the final section of the Itchen in Southampton.

We parked the car and walked over to the river, it was really pushing through, I dropped the float in and the pin started spinning straight away, it was far to fast for the stick float, so we headed down stream stopping at all the likely spots with no results, we stopped and the end of the run, had an ice cream, fished for about another half hour right at the end of the run then headed back, this section did not produce today but was assured by people fishing that it can, it was just carrying allot of extra water, but looks a great winter Pike venue.

All in all a great days fishing a few Grayling including my first ever and PB at 1lb 9oz and all it cost was 2 pints of maggots a bit of diesel and £2 parking, an absolute bargain.