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Photos of river scenes

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Fished a weir pool on upper Thames over the weekend.
 
Graham Elliott said:
Hi
We're you after barbel or did you fish for the chub with bread at all. They are generally feeding well this time of year.
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I was targeting the barbel, but with a big piece of luncheon meat on the hook, I’d expect the chub show up as well. But not a sign.

You are right the chub should feeding well now, and I caught some good chub in this stretch last year, but this year, I am still searching for them.
 
Another walk with my wife along the river Lot yesterday afternoon. Got to the weir swim where I caught barbel last in November 2019, I must try it again!

Weir 2a.jpg


I still have not bought a thermometer to check river temperatures, that water "looks" too cold to me though!

There are barbel to be caught above the weir, and carp in summer. Immediately downstream of the weir is a complicated snag pit, I have given up fishing that!

But you can get your line in downstream of the landing stage and there are barbel to be caught.

Weir 2c.jpg


Further downstream the banks are well overgrown, access very difficult. The one swim I have fished is also the launch point for canoes, fortunately I would only fish this shallow stretch on a fine summers evening. The French holiday visitors are creatures of habit, this usually means they are at dinner by then!
 
The thing I find about weirs in winter is that they can act like a giant mixer tap. If there is a long stretch before the weir and the sun is shining the upper level will be warmer than the lower level. After the weir the water is mixed up so it is a good place to fish for bottom feeding species on a sunny winter day.

The other thing I look for is warm spring water. These places sometimes can be located by looking at place names. Anything with 'chaud' or 'chauffe' in it could indicate warm springs. I took the dog for a walk along the Charente while out working yesterday. The whole region looked like a Christmas card except for the mid Charente valley. The limestone carries warm aquifers and along the river bank are caves that were used from neolithic times because of the natural central heating. They are called 'Grottes du Chaffaud' or caves of warmth. Before I rearranged my Wednesday route I would stop off here for a couple of hours at lunchtime to fish. The water never freezes and is always several degrees highrr than the Vienne.
 
Clive Kenyon said:
The thing I find about weirs in winter is that they can act like a giant mixer tap. If there is a long stretch before the weir and the sun is shining the upper level will be warmer than the lower level. After the weir the water is mixed up so it is a good place to fish for bottom feeding species on a sunny winter day.

The other thing I look for is warm spring water. These places sometimes can be located by looking at place names. Anything with 'chaud' or 'chauffe' in it could indicate warm springs. I took the dog for a walk along the Charente while out working yesterday. The whole region looked like a Christmas card except for the mid Charente valley. The limestone carries warm aquifers and along the river bank are caves that were used from neolithic times because of the natural central heating. They are called 'Grottes du Chaffaud' or caves of warmth. Before I rearranged my Wednesday route I would stop off here for a couple of hours at lunchtime to fish. The water never freezes and is always several degrees highrr than the Vienne.
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Wow! Clive - you absolutely nailed the conditions for this weir!

Above the weir is a 90 metre wide stretch of largely shallow water, this catches the sun from probably 9 am until 4.30 pm even on the winters shortest day. There are swims midway to the next weir upstream which have large back-eddies that catch the sun as well.

Probably why this short stretch of about 1k holds some of the biggest carp in the river. You can generally catch a barbel here during almost any month of the year.

So far I have failed in December! Following your advice I will try that swim below the weir again, before the month ends. 👍

The village opposite has info signs about the geology. Yes, there are springs coming from the high Causses behind! These underground "rivers" will have a temperature well above the Lots winter temperature.

What a wonderful set of circumstances for a river angler!
 
Steve Arnold said:
Following from my comments above, guess where I will place my bait?

View attachment 17319
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If it were me I would make sure that it goes in the water! :p

There is a short pound (that is what I call the lengths between the weirs) close to where I live. No more than 300 metres long, yet it produces far larger fish on average than anywhere within 10km either side. It benefits from the sort of winter warming that you describe.

The bit of the Charente that receives warm spring water in winter is a dead zone in summer as the springs are colder than the ambient temperature. Once the river gets much above 12C the effect is reversed.
 
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Clive Kenyon said:
If it were me I would make sure that it goes in the water!
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Just off the bushes that drop into the river is where the fish usually hang. The flow from the weir is strongest just a few feet off that point.

In the summer there is only a couple of feet of depth there, probably about 5' just now. In summer the barbel start biting just as the light fades, I think they are too wary of the damned cormorants in bright conditions!
 
That looks like the seam where the water from the weir meets the still water downstream of the lock gates.
Steve Arnold said:
Just off the bushes that drop into the river is where the fish usually hang. The flow from the weir is strongest just a few feet off that point.

In the summer there is only a couple of feet of depth there, probably about 5' just now. In summer the barbel start biting just as the light fades, I think they are too wary of the damned cormorants in bright conditions!
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Graham Elliott said:
I would pop it level with the point of the pontoon at right angles just inside the main flow
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Place the bait about 30 yds further downstream and you might get away with that. You can only spot it at very low summer conditions but there is a continuation of that outer lock wall under the surface. It was probably put there to divert the flow off the boats entering the lock.

If you follow the main flow from the end of the wall that you can see on this map, for about 20 metres, you will avoid the snags. Well, mostly!

Weir plan.png

 
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