The new coarse fishing river season is now a week old, so how has it been for you?

I’m only just back from a holiday in Cyprus, but I will be on the banks of the Kennet this coming Monday in search of some barbel.

Talking to Tony Wright at Predator and Tony Gee at Acorn Angling this week, it appears that fishing has been hard work so far.

Still, we have nine months to go and it will get better, that’s for sure.

One man who has had some success is local angler Jason Lowe, who enjoys catching chub on the fly from the Castle Mill Stream right in the middle of Oxford.

On his first outing of the new season, Jason was out before work and had eight chub, the best weighing 6lb.

Small Thames tributaries like the Castle Mill, Potts and Seacourt around Oxford really do hold some decent fish and are worth a try.

Meanwhile, travelling all the way from Hull to Linear Fisheries’ Stanton Harcourt complex, specimen hunter Tim Ridge made the long journey worthwhile when a session produced a 10lb tench, plus a couple of 8lb fish.

Tim, who is a member of Don Valley Specimen Group, used hair-rigged rubber casters fished with an in-line lead over a bed of groundbait, hemp and 2mm pellet. He ended the session with nine tench, plus a carp of 15lb.

l A six-day blitz by Environment Agency enfor-cement officers visiting wat-ers in the Thames region caught 83 anglers fishing without a rod licence.

Enforcement officers tar-geting well known hot-spots and areas of free fishing, visited 79 venues and spoke to a total of 1,378 anglers.

IF you have any news, views or photos, you can contact me on 01865 or email andrew@webber01865.fsnet.

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