Friday 28th and Sunday 30th - The River Glen

Friday 28th January

I read with great interest the results of the Bourne winter league match on the River Glen as there had been a number of double figure weights from the section near the Ship Inn. I decided to book Friday off work as I wanted to get in on some of the action I had read about. After the half hour drive from my home I arrived at the venue and it looked in real good trim with both colour and flow.



The River Glen at Pinchbeck



I decided to sit 2 pegs from the road bridge as it was a feature peg with a tree growing out into the water from the far bank. As the match winner had caught over 17lb of Roach on the punch that was going to be my opening gambit and with 7ft of water at 7 and 9 metres I cupped in a ball of liquidised bread with some hemp and a few Casters in it. After half an hour I was concerned at not getting any bites and after an hour and 20 minutes I gave up.On the way home I thought I would have a quick look at the tiny French Drove drain at Thorney, there was an angler sitting below the old pump and he had just had a small Roach so I decided to have a go for an hour to try and save the day. I sat just above the old pump house as it was sheltered from the biting North wind and as is normal in the winter the level of the drain is dropped some 18 inches, after plumbing up I had 2ft of water. I set up a 4x10 Drennan Pinkie float and cupped in a small loosely squeezed ball of bread and within a couple of minute I was into my first micro Roach. I was getting a bite most put ins and even managed a bonus Roach of about an ounce but after 1 hour called it a day as there were Pike crashing through the shoals of small fish every couple of minutes. Anyway I was glad to have had some bites and caught a few fish even though they were so small.



The old Pumping Station an the French Drove Drain



Sunday 30th January
That evening I had a phone call from Graham my fishing pal, he wanted to know how I had got on as he was keen for us to visit the Glen again on Sunday and after a lengthy discussion it was decided that we would have another go on Sunday.
When we arrived at the river on Sunday it looked in good order and even had a little more colour than it did on Friday and after driving the whole length we decided to fish just below the footbridge at West Pinchbeck as this was the only place we had seen any fish topping.
On plumbing up we had about 5ft of water and it was also a little bit narrower at this point and we had small fish topping all the time we were setting up. With the extra colour I decided to start with a couple of balls of grounbait containing a few squatts, Pinkies and Casters at seven metres, I set up a 0.8gr float with a bulk and a couple of number 10 droppers to fish over this line. I also set up a 0.5gr rig to fish Hemp another section out as I was going to loose feed Hemp over the top.



River Glen at West Pinchbeck

 

Graham sitting below me on the Glen


I started with a Pinkie on the hook and soon had small fish coming every few minutes, Graham had started on bread and was catching odd fish but not as frequently as me. After 20 fish I switched to Bronze maggot in the hope of getting a few better samples. I topped up with a ball of groundbait after the first 20 fish and then changed this to a very small ball every 10 fish as well as flicking Hemp over the top with a view to having a go on it later in the session. Graham had sterted a far line based on a regular introduction of a few casters every 10 minutes so it would be interesting to see how the session panned out.


Bait for the day although I didn't bother with the Casters



Groundbait for the session was Dynamite baits Canal and Lake 1/3 River 1/3 and 1/3 Frenzied Hemp (Black)

After 3 hour I had a look on the seed and had a couple of tentative bites so decided to stick with it for 10 minutes or so, then the float slipped away and I was in. It turned out to be a half ounce roach so that was it back on the maggot as I would rather catch at a quicker rate. At this point I decided to set myself a target of 150 fish to aim for although I did intend to have a another go on the seed in about an hour. Graham was getting odd better fish on the Caster but it was very slow going, my secong look on Hemp was another wasted 10 minutes and so I got my head down for the remainder of the session to try and reach my target.

The last half hour was looking touch and go so I decided to change the feeding pattern to a nugget of groundbait every 2 fish and this did the trick as my catch rate improved and the last of the groundbait was used on the last 2 fish of the session.

Well that was it 5 hours, 150 small fish but I had only just done it though, I estimated my catch to be around 6lb and that was a good guess as on the scales it went 6lb 4oz.

Graham had a lot less fish but did include one of about 6oz and a couple more at 4oz which suites him as he is not really into catching lots of small fish.



6lb 4oz of bits with only a couple of perch @ 4oz each



Well that kept me busy its just a shame they didn't average 3oz each

After the disaster on this river on Friday this was a very welcome catch and one that I am sure many anglers would have been happy with so I have no complaints what so ever.