Chris Lowe

Well it’s fair to say the conditions on the mighty River Severn have been far from favourable so far this year. It’s either been up and pushing through so hard that it’s too dangerous to get out on the boat, or the problem’s been freezing cold water temperatures. And, sadly for us all, the end of the season is fast approaching too.

However it’s not all doom and gloom. A short break in the weather and with the river at a safe, fishable height, I ventured out onto the Severn once again with my good old mate Tim Maslen. 

Leaving the marina, we checked the water temps on our fish finder, noticing it was a degree or two warmer than it had been over the last few weeks. Although not the magic number we had been hoping for, the 5 degrees we were seeing was much better than the two or three degrees we’d experienced recently. We both laughed, looked at each and said it’s on, at last.

Even though we knew the zander wouldn’t be up for hanging themselves on our lures, so to speak, we knew that they’d be active enough to tempt. So, with that in mind we chose to fish with subtle and slow tactics, opting for the vertical approach with smaller lures than we’d usually turn to in these conditions.