Honest I just cannot remember the last time we had any substantial rainfall. It must be at least 8 months, so right now I’m hoping it will continue and be continuous. The rain has to get into the ground first, then flood the rivers, that first big flood is life blood to the river and anglers alike. The river needs it to remove all the stale rubbish on the river bed, including silt, old weed and even anglers garbage. We need it because when the rivers are up a little the fish feed with abandon, often the water is carrying some sediment making it less clear and quicker in pace. Then fish have less time to inspect a bait and cannot see our rig as easy.
This window of opportunity is sometimes very short, maybe just a few days if we are lucky it can last several weeks if the rain keeps coming. Worst it keeps coming and coming and we have weeks of non-fishable rivers, it’s all down to luck.
In 2015 I managed to fish a little river just at the right time, the water was up and the fish were ravenous. I fished this one stretch for several days and took four massive chub, the best at 6lb 6oz all on the float, laid on in the margins. Bait was flake fished over mashed bread soaked in hemp oil. The fish is on the front page of this blog and while it isn’t my biggest fish, it has the best memories for me.
