WHERE TO FISH
You can jump across it in places, but this tiny backwater is a winter roach angler’s paradise
MANY river anglers will have had enough of the recent wet weather, which has turned their favourite venues into unfishable, churning torrents of tea-coloured water. Understandably, the fish can refuse to feed – hardly a glorious end to the season!
Yet there is still somewhere you can get your fishing fix, coming in the shape of the backwaters, brooks and tributaries that run off the main river. These tiny waters act as a valuable refuge for all fish and, while they might not be worth a second look for much of the year, when the heavens open, they become invaluable. Hen Brook is one such water, a small backwater off the mighty Great Ouse in the Cambridgeshire market town of St Neots. Throughout the summer it’s weedy and gin-clear, but after lots of rain and the arrival of colder weather it transforms into an out-and-out hotspot, especially for roach.
Millions of fish pack into the brook, even though it is barely 12m wide and a few feet deep. Catches to 50lb have been taken, and there are a few surprises on offer alongside the roach. The odd bream, rogue big chub and some chunky perch all add to the variety, along with the ever-present pike on the lookout for an easy meal.
So, if your end of season looks like being a washout, start investigating those little rivers and streams that you’ve driven over a hundred times and always wondered if there were any fish in them. Chances are, thousands of them are sat ready and waiting!
WHEN THE ROACH PACK IN
After the first autumn storms, the main river rises and becomes an untameable beast. This is when the fish begin to move into the brook and, for many of them, there’s no reason to leave, even when conditions on the river return to normal.
Hen Brook is small, with plenty of cover from trees and structures and plenty of food, be that natural or from the loaves of bread thrown in by visitors for the ducks and swans. Put simply, life is better for a roach here than out in the river itself!
Because of the intimacy of the venue, tactics are really simple. You could fish a little waggler or stick float, but for big catches, the pole and whip are unrivalled. Their precision and speed results in fewer bites missed, and there’s a chance of catching two or even three roach a minute when the fish are really having it.
Pegs ar
