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Borrowed Time III is the final chapter in the trilogy of films, whereby Alan Blair fishes at quintessential English venues in pursuit of some stunning carp. For this film for Nash Tackle, Alan heads to an established river estate on the Hampshire Avon in pursuit of an angling dream of many...to catch a river 30lb carp!
Following Alans campaign on the venue over three sessions leading to a short but intense summer campaign, where there is a combination of lows and highs, this film shows it all. Whilst carp where the primary target, Alan also found himself sidetracked by the wonderful array of species that share their home with the carp, and was able to enjoy some magical fishing in some of the most beautiful surroundings that the UK has to offer.
Described by Alan as the "Door to Narnia", this treasured river estate on the Hampshire Avon that Alan has elected to fish features 13 miles of river and associated streams and is well known for its abundance of species throughout its system such as Barbel, Chub, Roach, Bream, Trout and Salmon, which are known to grow to massive sizes.
However, what is less known, is the number of carp that can be found in the river, with carp to over 30lb being caught from these waters. Although not indigineous to the river, these carp are firmly established, but with low stocks over such a large amount of water, they are not the easiest to find, let alone catch!
With such a large stretch of water and several different features along its length such as wier pools, side streams, bridges, deep bends and shallow weedy glides. Fishing in the right places is key to success on a venue such as this, and although advice from anglers who regularly fish the venue is important, you sometimes cannot beat seeing the fish for yourself!
By surveying the water with a good pair of polarised fishing sunglasses and if possible paddling down with a boat to navigate areas that are inaccessible from the bank. By being able to identify areas that carp are likely to feed, and by prebaiting these spots, you will be able to see if there are any carp in the area as they will be quickly on the bait feeding.
After putting in the groundwork the day before the start of the river season, Alan elects to fish a spot on a deep bend below the big weir where he has seen four large carp throughout the day feeding on the pre baited spot. Waiting until midnight for the river season to start, Alan elects to start on large Scopex Squid Cultured Hookbaits, to try and exclusively target the carp and not the several bream and chub he has seen frequenting the swim.
With a biteless first night, at first light, Alan is about to reel in his rods when he creeps up to the rods and immediately spots a pod of carp feeding on the spot just off the rod tip. However, after waiting another hour with no bites, shows that these carp will not be as easy to catch when found as suspected.
Moving to a section named the “Carrier”, with a stripped down approach. Alan soon found a swim offering an overhang and cover from the rising sun. After feeding a combination of pellets and hemp, the swim soon resembles an aquarium with bream and chub feeding before the first carp ghosts in from the back of the swim.
Whilst watching a big orange carp feeding on the fed spot, the second rod in the swim bursts to life and after a spirited battle, Alans first carp from the Hampshire Avon, a chunky mirror, is soon in the net. Pitching up in the same swim for the night leads to a flurry of bites with 3 commons and a bream, ensures Alan does not get much sleep before his 4am alarm call to move back to the main river.
Rigs for this fishing may not be the prettiest, but with an abundance of snags such as weed beds and sunken branches, you need to make sure that when you hook a fish, that you have the best chance of landing it! Not only that, with an abundance of other species present that have a liking for boilies and pellets, such as bream, barbel and chub, larger hookbaits are needed, to ensure that you are not being kept up by not your intended target.
Alan's choice is the Nash Scopex Squid Cultured Hookbaits as they are large, robust and constantly release attractors in the water over time, or a tigernut when the carp will not eat somthing so big. To this, the rig features a size 2 Nash Twister Hook, to a durable Armourlink Hooklink. To decrease the likelihood of bream and chub being hooked, Alan uses long hairs on his rigs.
With a venue like this with so many species to go at, and with river carp feeding most confidently on shallow clear rivers such as the Hampshire Avon at night. There is always the opportunity to do something a bit different on these venues during the day to lift the spirits when the carp are not playing ball.
This is perfectly illustrated by Alan when he decides to set off with just a float rod, net and bait pouch, finding a shoal of chub hiding under the cover of a bridge. Fishing a chubber float and by feeding a combination of maggots and hemp, he's soon into the first of three chub, with the biggest tipping the scales at a whopping 6lb 6oz. Showing that these rivers offer everything to the angler.
Moving to a different stretch of the fishery, where the bigger carp in the fishery are known to reside. Despite not locating any fish when surveying the stretch for likely spots, Alan decides to fish a spot offering a shallow gravel glide under an overhanging tree, and opts to put all rods on washing line rigs, where the entirety of the line after from the business end of the rig is out of the water and is held by a clip attached to the far bank. This prevents any weed from the flow building up on the line and dragging it out of position.
After a frutiful night, apart from several chub that took a liking to a tigernut, Alan opts to stay put for a second night and despite another carpless night, at first light, one of the rods bursts into life with the charactersitic screaming take of a river carp. It may not be the 30lber that Alan was hoping for, but its a beautiful wood carving old carp, that would put a smile on any anglers face.
Moving back to the original stretch, in a last attempt to pursue an angling dream and catch that elusive river 30lber. Alan moves to a stalking approach, pre-baiting several areas downstream from the main weir pool, after another night session proves fruitless. By trying different swims, and with the ability to watch carp feeding over the baited spots, Alan manages to catch a flurry of fish over the day. They may not be the largest of fish, but each perfectly formed river carp is hard won and has its own story to tell.
As Alans time on the Hampshire Avon comes to an end and although that dream fish may not have become reality, Alan emphasizes that his time on this beautiful stretch of river could not be much better. With several carp landed, each hard won and likely never caught before, as well as a multitude of other specimen sized chub and bream, it has been a successful session in beautiful surroundings and is sure to be a venue that Alan will surely be returning too soon to try and make that angling dream a reality!