This month Tom heads to North East Wiltshire with his trusty whip to sample a variety of different angling opportunities
KNOWN, among other things, for its incredibly average football team, strong railway heritage and the wonderfully named yet terribly designed ‘Magic Roundabout’, Swindon is a town filled with angling opportunities.
While researching prior to a visit, you could be fooled into thinking that it is the most densely populated town from a tackle shop perspective. Sadly, the reality on the ground is that most of them have closed down in recent years. However, Wiltshire Angling is still flying the flag for independent fishing shops… its owner Mike is as friendly as he is knowledgeable, and not just on the local angling scene. When it comes to vintage tackle, this man and his shop are the essence of why we need to support local, independent traders as opposed to greedy online retailers.
Swindon, as it turns out, has something of an embarrassment of riches in terms of angling venues – whether you fancy a large mature estate lake, intimate shallow streams or mature ex-gravel workings, this town .
INNER CITY FISHING
Tom Humphreys is the Angling Trust’s Regional Angling Development Officer for the East of England. His goal is to inspire people to fish in an urban environment with a particular focus on promoting easy urban fishing, accessible to all – further, to utilise and promote local, independent tackle shops, fishing in locations as recommended by them and featuring the simplest fishing methods possible. On each session, he will actively engage with as many members of the public as possible and even get someone to catch their first fish ‘live’ for the article. something for everyone.
What with the Severn estuary a stone’s throw away and the upper Thames just a short hop north, Swindon might just offer one of the best locations from which to base yourself for an all-round angling adventure.
Plaums Pit
Starting off my mission is the wonderfully intimate Plaums Pit, a beautiful club lake of around two acres, situated within a mature woodland wedged wonderfully between industrial and housing estates.
Despite it being just metres from distribution centres and mechanics, you could be forgiven for thinking that you’re actually in the middle of nowhere, that is, if it weren’t for the gentle hum of traffic in the distance and clattering forklifts.
As ever, with time of the essence, I began feeding in the edge while preparing my trusty, recently re-elasticated 4m whip. When combined with a small pot of maggots, this method will catch fish in practically any situation and when faced with a la
