Rib Valley fishing lakes – Hertfordshire 27 Dec ember 2020

After planning to meet up with an old friend at lunchtime I realised there was an opportunity to sneak in a mornings fishing at Rib Valley, only a few miles away. It would also be a chance  to give the latest acquisition, a switch rod, its first outing.

It was the morning after storm Bella and the forecast wasn’t great. It was slightly disconcerting that as I arrived 2 other fishermen were packing up to go, declaring the water to be “unfishable”. The overnight rain had added to already waterlogged ground and the lake had overtopped its banks, they didn’t fancy the mud, but with a bit of care it was fine.

The weather was much brighter than predicted and by mid morning there were blue skies. A slightly odd experience stood on one of the fishing platforms but still in 6 inches of water . . .

Although the water was a bit murky due to the flooding, a short session of 3 hours led to one fish on a cats whisker and some practise of both overhead and spey casting on the new rod.

Careful examination of the long shot of the lake from the access road shows the extent of the overtopping of the banks on the day.

Mark Robson 27 December 2020