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Autumn is best time of year for fishing. Most Carp anglers are now cleaning and putting away their gear for the winter and will spend the next 5 months gazing wistfully out of the window dreaming of warm nights camping under starry skies. I know some super keen Carpers fish all year round and there will always be a few out at weekends braving the elements tucked up in their bivvys watching TV with the heating turned right up but that’s not for me. Today I set off for an afternoons fishing in the pouring rain on the River Stour just north of Colchester.

Here’s a question for you. Have you ever been fishing without any bait? I don’t mean in a forgetful whoopsie left it at home way. No I mean I went today and I took just a rod, net and small bag of tackle and a flask………., NO BAIT!

At this time of year fish are often feeding well as they know that the slim pickings of winter are just round the corner. Luckily for them in certain fishing Venues as the trees shed their golden gowns and slowly display the true beauty of their structure something else happens – berries! Berries everywhere, lots and lots of berries. Elderberries, Blackberries, Rosehips, Rowan and many more.

These little morsels are often taken by our wild birds who have the same hungry mindset as the fish but some will fall to the ground ready to grow into new plants once the warmth of spring arrives or depending on the location sometimes into the river.

The Stour is an intriguing, winding river and quite wild in places as it snakes along the Essex/Suffolk border with no discernable footpath along the stretch I am targeting. It is a river that I am still getting to know but one that excites the angler at every deep bend and fallen, half submerged tree.

At this point I would like to tell you that link ledgered Elderberry is a little known method that I have perfected over my many decades fishing for Roach, but to be perfectly honest I can’t recall ever even trying it, so I rigged up a 2 SSG ledger slipped a berry onto the size 16 and swung it out while I went foraging for some worms to try and save the day

I decided to forget the worms and try again with the berries. This would have been mush easier, and less painful, had I not emptied them into the nearby nettles to make space for the worms!

I was onto a winner but my painfully retrieved berries were few and the foraging area was further downstream so I picked up my gear and trudged back to replenish my supplies with more Elderberries and Haws. Freshly stocked up and ready to recommence I picked a cracking looking swim where a large fallen tree blocked half the river and pushed the flow to the near bank.

There were a couple of areas of slack water that I felt sure would hold some good roach and maybe a bonus Chub. The Elderberries were quite soft and tricky to get to stay on the hook so I switched over to the Haws and Blackberries.

If you are out Carp fishing this Autumn and fancy putting a bait under a nearby bush, go take a look at said bush and see it it has any berries, maybe you could find a overgrown blackberry bush overhanging the water. Ask yourself this, would the Carp waiting under that bush prefere your Egg & Lettuce boilie or maybe they are feasting on natural food dropping from above.

Hair rigged Blackberry?……. Try it…I have… it works!

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