1 Acre(s)
Studley Angling Society's stretch of the Arrow at Wixford runs for about half a mile downstream from the pipeline which crosses the river a short drive past the entrance to Ragley Hall when traveling towards Evesham to the weir near the road bridge where the A46 crosses the river.
Full of features and with plenty of bankside cover and reed beds in summer, it incorporates three weirs, fast running water and long slow glides with deeper water and holes which provide areas where the fish hold up.
In parts the back eddies and pools make it suitable for fishing stillwater pole or waggler techniques.
Although the stretch holds a variety of fish, the predominant species tends to be chub with the roach fishing particularly good at the back end of the season.
For general fishing, most anglers use a stick float shotted shirt button style and fished about four feet deep on 2lb to 2lb 8oz line and anything from a Size 14 to 18 hook.
The most effective bait tends to be casters fished when feeding hemp and casters, although sweetcorn, bread, worm and soft hooker pellets can be equally effective.
Maggots are also a good all round bait, but they have the drawback that they attract minnows which can make fishing very frustrating as niggling bites can come thick and fast before the dace and other silver fish move in.
Anglers fishing the slow moving or still water on the pole are recommended to use 0:16 or 0:18mm line with strong forged hooks as this will enable them to get close to the reeds and other features.
Whilst a stick float is ideal for general rod and line fishing, a swimfeeder packed with groundbait, hemp, casters and samples of hook bait is good when going after the chub in the deeper holes or deeper slower water.
Some of slow running stretches and holes can run to as much as eight feet deep in normal flows and there are several pegs where a single swim can vary between three and eight feet deep along its length.
A swimfeeder is also good when fishing the pools and faster running water beneath the weirs for barbel, although again the stick float still accounts for decent fish in these faster lengths.
Whilst most anglers fishing for the barbel fish beneath the weirs, these fish can be caught anywhere along the Wixford length.
When fishing for the barbel or bigger chub it is advisable to use stouter tackle than when going after the general silver fish with 8lb line and Size 10, 12 or 14 forged hooks being advisable.
Baits can also be stepped up with quarter to half inch cubes of luncheon meat or 12mm to 16mm halibut pellets on the hook.
These should be fished in conjunction with halibut feeder pellets, groundbait and other free offerings.
One of the features of the River Arrow barbel and chub is that they fight like crazy, and with barbel being caught to 8lbs and chub to about 5lbs fishing light tackle is often asking for trouble.
Another successful technique worth trying when the conditions are suitable is to fish floating bread in the slower or still parts of the river.
This can be a deadly technique when fishing for the chub.
As with most rivers, the Arrow fishes best when the water is coloured particularly when the water is fining down after a period of rain.