Barston Lakes' stretch of the River Blythe varies between shallow, fast-running stretches to slow moving lengths with deeper holes.  Although only narrow, the size of the River Blythe belies its reputation as a fishery as there are a wide variety of fish available, many of them running to decent sizes. These include good sized pike into double figures, chub to over 4lbs, trout to at least 3lbs, perch over 2lbs plus good stocks of roach over 1lb as well as dace, carp and eels.

Whilst it often pays to move up or down the river once you have taken several fish from a swim, many anglers are content to stay in one peg for hours at a time waiting for the fish to come to them rather than try to follow the fish

Whatever your preference, the Blythe is ideal for fishing the pole, trotting a waggler downstream, holding the float on the bottom or mid-water in the backwaters or ledgering either in the quicker water or in the deeper pools which can be found along its length.

As for bait, virtually anything goes with traditional baits like maggots, worms, and bread being popular favourites as are paste baits, luncheon meat, sweetcorn and plain or flavoured coarse fish pellets.