River Blackbourn and River Lark producing pleasing results despite the hot weather

Last week the close season for river fishing came to an end – and our local river anglers had to deal with one of the hottest days of the year, though I doubt many would have been put off by the weather.

The River Blackbourn and the River Lark are the two closest rivers for anglers in the area.

These are relatively small rivers but can be very productive for anglers and some of the settings are stunning.

I spent many days in the school holidays in the early 1960s fishing the Lark (Coal River as it was regularly called) near Mildenhall Road in Bury.

I also fished the Blackbourn between Euston and Honington when it was a Bury Angling Association water, mostly during the 1980s.

I was therefore very pleased to receive a delightful fishing report from local angler Chris Oakley on his June 16 (last Thursday) exploits on the Lark and the Blackbourn, albeit on different sections of these rivers to my past experiences.

He wrote: “I started the morning fishing the River Blackbourn at Ixworth, a section controlled by the Ixworth Angling Club.

“The river was low and clear so a careful approach was needed to avoid spooking the fish.

“I fished a small waggler float with maggots and caught perch, roach, chub and gudgeon – a good session in difficult conditions.

“By 11am the heat of the sun had made the fishing more difficult and it was time for a change of venue.

“I headed over to the River Lark to fish a section controlled by the Lark Angling and Preservation Society. The Lark was at its normal level but also very clear and weedy.

“I could, however, see lots of rudd, roach and chub in the clear patches in between the weed beds. The overgrown banks made for good cover to avoid spooking the fish.

“I started fishing the margins catching small roach and rudd fishing shallow with waggler float and maggots. After catching a few fish it was time to move along the river and I found an area clear of weed in the middle of the river with bigger rudd feeding.

“I then hooked into a much better fish that turned out to be one of the biggest rudd I have ever caught, but unfortunately I did not have my scales with me to weight it.

“A very good start to the river season on a very hot and sunny day and it just goes to show local rivers still contain fish with some to specimen size, they just need a bit of effort to find them.”

Meanwhile, Ixworth Angling Club is open to residents of Ixworth and surrounding villages within six miles. More information about the club and how to join can be found at the club’s new website: www.ixworthangling.onesuffolk.net.

The Lark Angling and preservation society is open to all and joining details can be found at www.lark-angling.co.uk

Another pleasing report was received last week from 15-year-old Jake Brown following a very successful session at Bury AA’s Barrow Lake.

He wrote: “What a fantastic day of fishing on Barrow Lake, a lake that I’ve only fished once before and never caught but this time I had to make sure I did.

“And yes I did manage to land six carp and a bream, the biggest being a stunning 14lb 6oz and the other weights were 13lb 1oz, 12lb 5oz and 8lb.

“I also did lose one so a great day’s fishing and I definitely will be visiting Barrow again. All caught on the legacy’s carabean crunch pop ups and plum chilled wafters.”

Also on June 16, the Bury AA veterans held their weekly match at Barrow Lake and despite the very hot weather and low water level there were six carp in the leading weights.

Bob Martin had two carp, a skimmer and a couple of roach in his winning return of 22lb from peg 3.

The ever consistent Grant Humphreys fished peg 19 and came second with three carp for 21lb 8oz. Dave Tobin weighed in 11lb 10oz for third place on peg 7.

Phil Southgate had a brief afternoon session in the sunshine at Bury AA’s Middle Reservoir recently and landed a beautifully condition 20lb 6oz common carp.

Phil deployed a zig rig fished a couple of feet below the surface using 12mm milk toffee pop ups.