River Eden 2013

14/09/13 - 16/09/13 - After some extremely intense fishing sessions in hope of a monster Bream I decided to take some time out and see if I could catch a few Chub from my local River Eden. The river is a small tributary of the Medway and used to contain a healthy stock of Chub, Perch and Pike. I chose to fish the free stretch with my mate Danny that runs from the back of Edenbridge town centre to Hever.

The fishing seemed slow and it was difficult to get a knock even when fishing lob worm or maggots. The decline in small fish was clear to see and the river is in bad condition with low water levels. Three years ago you could guarantee on the days fishing knowing that you would pull out a few small chub and maybe a monster but now the river is dead. It was sad to see as the Eden has given me many great days fishing and chub to over 6lb.

To cut the story short my mate Danny and I caught one 3lb chub, two chub no larger then 2oz, two perch no larger then 3oz and four crayfish. This was during two full days of fishing on a river I know like the back of my hand. All the chub holding areas failed to produce and we had to analyse why. Was it the crayfish?, Cormorants I have seen on the river? or a combination of the two. If the Cormorants are eating all the fish and the crayfish are eating all the new fish eggs then we have no future for fishing on such rivers. I have never caught a crayfish on the Eden and on this particular session I had four so the river bed must be crawling with them. The future of our rivers is looking bleak at best and the EA must begin to take action before it becomes a national issue and river fishing is lost.

I am now in search of a new river with great potential for a large Perch or Chub. My attention has been drawn to the River Mole in Surrey so I will be on my way down to Leatherhead this weekend.

I have decided, just after posting the above that I am going to give the river Eden one more session and see if it produces. I do feel that I didn't fish to my best and should have baited up with mashed bread prior to fishing which is my usual tactic.I will keep you posted and then head down to the River Mole this weekend in search of a real monster.