Langport & District Angling Association
Fishing News
River Parrett
River levels
The Angling Trust has put a useful website on the internet for finding river levels; one I use when planning a fishing trip on the river.
The web address is www.fishinginfo.co.uk.
Click on the 'Find A River Level' tab and enter 'Langport' in the search box.
This will show a map of river level measuring stations in the Langport area.
I find the 'Monks Lease Wq' at Combe and the 'Oath' at Oath Lock locations give meaningful levels for the river.
Beware the level at 'Westover' which is the river side of the Westover Pumping Station opposite Cocklemoor in Langport. When the river is low, this measuring station shows a smooth horizontal line which suggests the level sensor is probably above the current water level and so not showing the correct level.
I hope this site is of some use to you.
Thursday 4th October
Fran, Mike and I fished a morning session on Stuckies today. After a misty start, the sun appeared and it was a very pleasant, warm day. There was a light, warm, downstream breeze and some flow from the Westover pumping station. The pump stopped later in the morning leaving very little flow.
We all fished 6 metre whips. We loosefed hemp and caster with either maggot or caster on the hook. We tried hemp, tares and urid beans on the hook but they weren't interested.
Mike had roach for a total of 3lb 10z.
Fran had roach, bleak, chublets and bleak for a total of 6lb.
I caught roach for a total 4lb 4oz. I also hooked and landed a small jack pike of about 3lb which had been making a nuisance of itself in the swim. He was put back in a few swims downstream and told not to come back until I'd packed up!!!
I fished the same peg as last Friday's session, determined to get to grips with the cabbage growth on the bottom. I guessed the better fish would be under the cabbages so I pulled all my shot, on the 1.5 gram whip rig, down to 6" above the hook, to try get the bait underneath. I also buried the hook in a caster so it wouldn't snag on the cabbages. This achieved a smooth, slow movement through and resulted in a succession of reasonable roach. At one point, the float slid under and I thought I'd hooked the pike which had been causing trouble in the swim. After playing it for a few minutes, I managed to get its head up and got big surprise when it turned out to be a very nice tench!
It took the scales round to 4lb 8oz; a nice bonus fish!
Thursday 18th October
Fran and I fished a short session on Stuckies. It was a bright day with a light north-easterly but quite warm in the sun. There was little flow until Westover Pumping Station switched on a few times.
Fran fished a 6 metre whip with caster on the hook over loosefed hemp. He caught roach, rudd and a small skimmer for a total of 3lb 8oz.
I was trying out a new 17 foot rod so I settled for a waggler rig. I fished maggot, tares or Urid beans over loosefed hemp and tares to catch roach and bleak for a total of 2lb 2oz.
Thursday 25th October
Fran and I fished Stuckies on a day when the weather had just turned colder overnight.
The mist burnt off by mid-morning to give a sunny day. An upstream breeze started around midday. There was very little flow. With a water temperature of 11.7°C, bites were a bit sparse.
Fran fished a 6 metre whip with a waggler float rig. He fished maggot over loosefed maggot and hemp. He lost four fish to pike attacks but managed to catch roach for a total of 2lb 4oz.
I fished a long rod with a centrepin reel and a light stick float. Fishing maggot over loosefed maggot, hemp and tares, I caught a couple of small perch, a chub and a few roach for a total of 1lb 10oz.
Thursday 15th November
Fran and I fished a couple of pegs on Stuckies, just below the Town Bridge.
After the recent rain which brought the river up about four feet, the level had dropped back to normal, but now with a bit more flow.
It was a day of low cloud with a south-westerly breeze. On Stuckies, this resulted in a downstream breeze which also blew into our faces.
Fran fished a whip with a stick float rig. He fished mainly caster over loosefed hemp and caster.
Fishing a bit further out than I did, in a depth of about ten feet, he found some better quality fish. As usual, a pike made a nuisance of itself and took several roach, necessitating new hooklengths.
He caught roach, skimmers, perch and the odd bleak for a total weight of 9lb 12oz.
I fished a long rod and centrepin with a wire-stemmed Avon float. With a centrepin, you can only trot the float in line with the tip of the rod, so I was fishing closer to the bank in only five feet of water. Fishing maggot on the hook over loosefed hemp and maggot, I was a catching a much smaller stamp of fish than Fran. I also had a pike in the swim but he didn't affect the fishing, too much.
I caught roach, bleak, small skimmers and a perch for a total of 3lb 4oz.
Combe Lake
Please make sure you shut the gate securely in the otter fence when entering and leaving the lake.
If you are fishing Combe Lake, why not let me know what you caught; photos of your catch would also be appreciated. We'd love to know how it's fishing for our members. Email me.
Saturday 17th November
We spent the morning fixing the ropes across the lake again to deter the cormorants.
When they're full of fish, cormorants need a long takeoff. The ropes get in the way of their takeoff and so deter them from entering the lake in the first place.
We know a carp angler took down some of the ropes, earlier in the year, as he had to cast to the opposite bank to fish. We ask that none of the ropes be interfered with as they are helping to keep the cormorants out as one of our fish protection measures. We can all fish within the confines of the ropes. If someone feels they need to remove a rope to fish, DON'T; just go somewhere else to fish.
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