THE traditional coarse fishing season will open on Wednesday and Lymm Angling Club's members will be looking forward to catching river inhabitants.

The most popular species is arguably barbel. They are ferocious fighters that give a very good account of themselves while giving their captor an adrenalin rush that can only be understood by other anglers.

A lot of previously out-and-out carp anglers have been venturing on to the river banks to sample the rod bending delight of these fish, which make very good use of the river currents and other features to avoid being landed.

Unfortunately, the spawning season for barbel coincides with the opening of the season and anglers setting out in search of them can often be disappointed.

Mid-July is usually the time when these fish have finished their spawning activities and settled down to do some serious feeding.

Perhaps I can remind you that most barbel are caught at night. They are very easily spooked fish which demand stealth even in darkness.

Most day caught samples are landed by 'braveheart' anglers which are prepared to drop their baits right in the middle of a streamer weed bed.

Other river species will also be targeted by river devotees. Fish such as chub, dace and river pike will all contribute to the excitement of the opening of the river coarse season.

Other club waters opening on Wednesday include Tabley Moat, Tabley Mere, Woodside Pool, Spring Pool and all the waters of the Belmont Estate.

They will open to all members whether they have an overstamp or not.

Bailiffs have been out in force day and night and such activities will continue throughout the year.

These activities may be intensified depending on the rate of rule infringements. Therefore, if you find that you are 'bailiffed' more frequently than normal you should blame the members who have been caught breaking the club's rules.

Around and about the club's waters, fishing has been very good with impressive catches reported on all of the venues open at the time of writing.

On the down side, carp have continued to spawn on all of the waters which have significant stockings of them.

Areas of Founders Pool, Lymm Vale, Grimsditch Mill Pool and Belmont Pool have been erupting with their activities and the rate of carp captures have diminished accordingly.

Hopefully, they will commence feeding soon and will not go into a second or third spawning like they have in recent years.

Meanwhile, fry is a good food source for fish and when there is plenty to go around it can make it difficult for anglers to tempt fish with normal baits.

I can be contacted on 411774.

Neil Jupp