river culm first vsiit

[halfstoned]

As the title suggests had my first visit to the CFFC stretch of the Culm this evening. I only really went to find out how far it was from Yeoford, and to look at the access points but I took my gear of course. It's a lovely looking stream with a lot more weed than the streams I'm used to.


One of the reasons I joined CFFC this year was to fish the Culm and hopefully contact some larger fish than I normally encounter on the Okement or the top of the Yeo. To this end I set myself a modest target of catching a 12" fish this season from any of the CFFC waters. I may have to rethink this target though as the first fish of the evening was this fine chap of 12 1/2" that gave me a great fight on my 3 weight.

This fish was followed by a 11 1/2" trout to the klinkhammer and another 11" fish to the nymph.


Just when I was wondering about the average size for this river I caught my standard 4" tiddler and a little silver fish which I presume was a Dace. It's a bit of a drive from Yeoford for two hours fishing but it was well worth it and next time I will allocate more time and hope to find some rising trout ( there were a few black gnats about but nothing else hatching). Camera work could have been better, the sun was a bit blinding on the screen, in fact a note about fishing the left bank looking upstream in the evening on this stretch is the shadow you cast on the water, might be easier in cloudy conditions ( for the camera man as well!)

[yeoman]

Good result, glad you found a few.

[danw]

Great to see you had some success. I fished the upper half almost to the top of the beat earlier on in the morning. Didn’t see much rising but for the few hours I was there I did see one fish rise and after a few back hand casts took a klinkhammer however by my own fault I didn’t lift in time and I missed it.

[halfstoned]

May 14, 2018 18:39:39 GMT danw said:

Great to see you had some success. I fished the upper half almost to the top of the beat earlier on in the morning. Didn’t see much rising but for the few hours I was there I did see one fish rise and after a few back hand casts took a klinkhammer however by my own fault I didn’t lift in time and I missed it.

Hi Dan

If you were upstream of the Skinners farm parking I may have used your foot prints to find my way to the river, as this was my first visit I didn't really know where I was going so it was reassuring to see the pathways in the undergrowth.

How far up can you go, the description on the club website states   " The last section starts at the road bridge to the fence line above the leat on the left. This a mix of wooded and open sections, again mostly wadeable."  Is this road bridge the little hump back bridge above the parking section? It looks like the only bridge on the map. The map looks like the bridge bisects the beat but the description gives the impression of more fishing downstream ( I realise your a new member like myself so the question is open to any who read this).

[danw]

Yes that’s the side I stayed I haven’t ventured downstream yet. I’m on the look out for some waders before my next visit.
The last section is like you say the side above the small hump bridge going up stream. It starts in that first field then on through the gap in hedge/electric fence into the next (field which the cows were in on weekend) I made it up to the where the river splits but the map shows a bit more fishing up higher.

[yeoman]

From where the river splits,take the right fork, looking up stream, left fork isn't worth bothering with, you have about another 300 yards or so of fishing to the fenceline of the field.