Osiers - First session on the Soar

I think it was November by the time I decided to have a go fishing the river Soar. I had a good look on google maps for the best looking stretches, and decided on 'Osiers', which is south of Loughborough, just before the river joins the canal at Pillings lock. 

I just wanted to try trotting a maggot along some nice swims and see if there were many fish in that part of the river. I took some castors with me as well; if the fish were feeding well I would go for a larger bonus fish with a castor and maggot hookbait. 

I started off fishing peg 12 shown below, as there was a large sunken tree giving cover and blocking the flow of the water creating a nice holding area for fish.

Osiers peg 12

This spot turned out to be a good choice, as I started getting fish every cast, mostly small roach and dace with the occasional perch. I even spotted a very young jack pike snooping around in the margins, and I bet the parents won't live too far away!

Casting just beyond the sunken tree on the edge of the slack flow seemed to produce the best fish, one of them being this nice dace:

Soar dace

 I decided to explore the venue a bit more and have a go at another more challenging peg. The area just after the railway bridge seemed to deepen up a lot, slowing the flow so I decided to fish there suspecting there could be a few chub and bream in the area. 

Peg 7 just downstream of railway bridge

The water in this peg is very well oxygenated, leading to shoals of bleak hanging around the surface, making it very difficult to get the hookbait to sink before one of them taking it. As a result I ended up catching mainly just bleak for the rest of the day, although a few of them were quite impressive size for their species. However, using the castor for a while managed to result in a few chub, although not very big. 

Soar chub

I also hooked a decent bream but unfortunately didn't have the line strength to get it away from snags and it managed to free itself. At least I know they are there - I'm still looking for my first ever river bream.

I love Osiers - I have been a few times since and it has never once disappointed. I also love how far away it is from anywhere - there are very few dog walkers which makes a nice change from the canal. It seems quite difficult to get too with lots of gear as well, so it isn't heavily fished and you can tell by the way the fish take a hookbait with no suspicions. 

If the river ever clears up - which it wont soon as its supposed to rain the next few days - I might just get back there. 

For anyone who is interested and want to know more, the Osiers stretch of the Soar is on the Loughborough Soar Angling Society ticket.