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Tackling a new swim

No personal thing against Paul whatsoever. My view is always tempered by the fact I fish smaller rivers like the Kennet and the Loddon rather than the wide flows of the Thames and lower Severn or the Amazon. On the smaller rivers the thought of such a thing here would, well for me, take all the fun out of it. Technology designed to make our lives easier often does, but that isn't the whole story... tis good to get away from the gizmos sometimes. Goalmouth technology... well that's another story.
 
Nick Clark said:
No personal thing against Paul whatsoever. My view is always tempered by the fact I fish smaller rivers like the Kennet and the Loddon rather than the wide flows of the Thames and lower Severn or the Amazon. On the smaller rivers the thought of such a thing here would, well for me, take all the fun out of it. Technology designed to make our lives easier often does, but that isn't the whole story... tis good to get away from the gizmos sometimes. Goalmouth technology... well that's another story.
Click to expand...

Yes Nick and like you, I am a Kennet man so couldn't see that as part of my armoury. But I reckon I could explore with a lead more (even if it just helps validate what I can tell from the surface of the river so it just comes down to confidence).

All the best.
 
For getting to know a smaller river below the surface, I reckon wondering around rolling a bit of meat is a good way of finding out what's going on... or getting arrested.
 
One of the best things on the old forum was the swim analysis part. I really think Andy & Co should bring it back. It was really insightful hearing how different people would take different approaches.
 
Hi Paul,
I also fish the Thames around Wallingford and as you say it's a big river. At times with little or no flow, so it can be very hard to read from the surface alone. This is why on my recce to a new venue i try and map as much of the river bed as i can before i start to fish it. The Wallingford stretch is around 4 miles long so fish can move quite a distance. some areas can be void of any fish. Ie bloody hard. But well worth the effort and hard work.
 
Ps I would never use this on any of the smaller rivers i fish such as the H Avon, Kennet, Thame, Windrush, Evenlode etc as these are much easier to read.
 
I got my smartcast years ago, caught me loads of fish, a quick recce can be very revealing especially on the Thames, watch out for pike though, had a few have a go, so the thing is rigged with a 100lb mono leader, just in case!
peter
 
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