Ide aren't a fish that are necessarily associated with river fishing in the UK but that didn't stop angler Chris Darke, targeting a group of fish he had spotted on his local river, leading to the capture of a fantastic brace of ide on opening day.
The stretch Chris has been targeting is private fishing from the bank so he decided to buy a small boat so he could access the fish he had spotted whilst walking the river.
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"I had spotted a group of fish on my local river and just had to have a go for them," Chris said.
"It’s private fishing from the bank so I bought a boat on there to access the fishing, It’s shallow, weedy and gin clear so not easy fishing."
Chris walked the stretch a few times prior to the river season opening to track down the fish and work out how best to fish for them come the 16th of June.
"The group of ide were in a spot where I had seen and caught them before, I knew if I could be stealthy a bite or two should be on the cards."
"I put a free-lined Lobworm past them and immediately had a take."
"Shortly after landing that fish I placed it in a retainer and went to set up the camera gear, when I came back the fish had regrouped and were back on the spot!"
"So on went another Lobworm and another instant take resulting in a nice brace."
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It is not the first time Chris has caught ide from this particular stretch, with him catching fish to over 7lbs last summer. The fish do very well in Europe and are native to rivers so there is no reason they won't thrive in our waterways and with the amount of fisheries stocking them, they eventually find their way into flowing water.
"They’re such interesting fish, it took me a couple of seasons before I started to catch them fairly consistently."
"They generally leap clear of the water like a tarpon when you first hook them."
"I’ve no idea where the original stock came from but they obviously do well in the river, a couple of fish I’ve seen in the group really stand out from the rest I’d comfortably put them at 8lb+," Chris concluded.
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A PAIR OF THE BEST FISHING BOOTS TO ENABLE YOU TO WALK THE BANKS OF THE RIVER SAFELY AND COMFORTABLY.
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