I decided not to bother, saving my opening day for the weekend

Things started badly however when I opened my curtains on opening day of the new river season to find the river up and coloured. The intention had been to have an early start on opening day but a walk along the river quickly revealed that all the anglers who had bothered were struggling. I decided not to bother, saving my opening day for the weekend. First match of the new river season saw me on peg 123 on the KDAA stretch of the Severn. It also saw my first failure, as I couldn’t get a bite. In fairness I did pack up early as I decided to have a draw on the afternoon match at Bridgnorth but I don’t think I’d have caught anyway, as the swim was bombing through and impossible to fish with the extra water. Bridgnorth wasn’t much better but I did manage a couple of fish… a small barbel and an even smaller chub. I hurried back home after this match to watch the England v Germany match. Great result – then came Rumania…enough said!My fishing week then got steadily better and better. I christened my new Matchtek “Severn Barbel feeder” rod in style with some superb fish just a short walk from my home in Bewdley on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. On one of the sessions Leeda Marketing manger Nick Young joined me and took a great fish on the new rod too. I can’t wait to get hold of some more rods when they become available next week. The rods are ideally suited for lines between four and eight pounds and are equally at home feeder or float fishing. They will also be good for method feeder fishing on big carp waters around the country. First match win of the new season came on Wednesday night at Bewdley. I drew peg 115 and caught 61.2.0 of barbel and chub on the feeder with white maggots as bait and really enjoyed the night.

Next day I was at the Leigh Sinton fishery near Malvern as part of the opening of the new lake there. The people who came along had a great time and it was good to see young and not so young anglers who had never caught a carp before doing battle with some lovely fish. Leigh Sinton is an excellent fishery, well worth a visit, and I would recommend it to any anglers wanting to catch a lot of fish. In addition to the carp there are a lot of big roach to be had and everyone I watched caught fish throughout the day. The fishery is situated off the Worcester to Hereford road off the B4503. For more details and to book matches telephone 01886 832305.