A brace of two's

The River Frome at Wareham is famous for big roach having produced several in excess of three pounds in recent years. This stretch of river is tidal and is particularly unusual in that it has four high tides a day, something to do with the position of Poole Harbour in relation to that of the Isle of Wight.

At last some cloud cover, although still cold I decided to try for a big roach with the possibility of a sea trout for the species hunt. Luckily the river was back within it's banks, heavy rains at the start of my holiday combined with a spring tide meant that the water had been in the car park.

There were a number of anglers already fishing so I opted for the far end of the quay. I arrived at 1pm with the first high tide expected at 3.42pm. There was a distinct crease with a slacker area downstream of me on the inside.

I set up a pair of light quivertip rods to fish blockend feeders. A couple of maggots on a size 18 hook to a 3lb co-polymer hooklength completed the rig.

Before I had even cast out my second rod my inside rod was away. I am always nervous playing big roach as they have a tendency to come off! Like many roach this fish which weighed 2lb 1oz showed evidence of an earlier encounter with a cormorant. Just after 3pm the quivertip on the outside rod pulled round and again I felt the distinct nodding of a big roach. This one went 2lb 2oz on the scales, only the second time I have caught a brace of two pound roach in a single session.

I must take this opportunity to recommend two new drennan products that I have been using recently. Firstly the new vari-weight blockend feeders which are flattened at the bottom and enable you to balance the feeder to the flow, just perfect for river fishing. I can also recommend the new drennan red maggot hooks to nylon which are tied  to a co-polymer line, these offer great presentation and I particularly like the fact that the hooks are fairly fine in the wire and have fish friendly micro-barbs.

Although I fished until half past eight I only added a salmon parr and a decent dace to the bag.

I returned the following day, however the bright sunshine was back. I fished for several hours and blanked.