Durford – Sat 23rd Feb 2019
I finally took myself to Durford for a few hours, I’d meant to do it countless times before and apart from looking over the bridge a few times I had no idea what was in there. When I got there around 8am it was very foggy and I headed all the way to the top by the factory. There’s a little weir where the water goes through fast around a foot deep and empties into a large pool. I thought this would be the obvious place for Roach, Dace and Chub, not so. No bites came in the deeper water and only when I ran the float down the run-off at the end of the pool did I get a bite from a minnow, then another and then a Brown Trout around 2lb.
I moved to another couple of small runs and managed 4 Trout of from ½ lb to 1 ½ lb all to maggot on the float. Then on to a tiny piece about 10 feet wide and my first three trots all produced Trout. The sun cleared the fog and Durford looked really nice, lots of little runs, overhanging trees and snags. A few feet deep and prime Chub & Perch territory I thought, however the Trout were everywhere. My last swim was just above the road bridge, another pool about 6ft deep, nothing to the lobworm in the pool but 5 more Trout from the faster run leading into the pool.
Durford is an interesting piece of water, lots of shallow runs, deeper pools and trees everywhere. No place for a 14ft match rod and no place for those who want to get really comfy for a long time, however if you like poking about and fishing different swims then it’s worth a look. My next trip here will involve my 7ft drop shot rod and tiny lures to see if there are any Perch in there, it certainly looks as though there should be. It’s the sort of place you learned to fish as a child and then moved away from in search of comfort and bigger fish.
I took maggots just to get bites and to see what lives there, maybe Bread and feeding a few swims would have kept the Trout away (maybe not) this day they were everywhere. I only took one photo but next time I’ll get some more.
Simon Vicos.
27th Feb,The Pdac.
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