River Anker, Amington

The Anker is a main tributary of the River Tame, flowing through Nuneaton and Tamworth.

This attractive stretch of river holds 42 pegs over a total of 5 meadows. Most pegs can be reached by car once the meadow grass has been cut (this is generally completed by the end of June) and ground conditions permit. Caution should be taken in winter months as the meadows can be very boggy or flooded. Please drive on field perimeters, do not cut across.

The predominant species are roach, chub, perch and gudgeon however quality carp, tench, bream, barbel and pike make a regular appearance. Some prime specimens include carp to 22 lb, chub to 6lb and barbel to over 12 lb, tench and bream to 6 lb and double figure pike.

The river varies from 10 to 15 metres in width with average depths of between 11/2 -3 metres. Some pegs, such as peg 39, run to over 4 metres in depth and can be very good winter pegs.

At normal levels the river’s pace is very steady and makes for comfortable float fishing with rod and reel or pole. Typical rigs for general fishing are 3-4 No4 stick floats with No6 and No8 shot strung out to take fish on the drop. Pole rigs are typically 0.5 to 1.0gr. Bronze, red maggot and caster single or double on hook sizes 18-22 are most effective. For the big tench bread is a well established killer bait while the carp go for hair rigged sweetcorn.

It is easy to over feed on the Anker and you should introduce loose feed on a little and often basis. Even if fish do not come early still keep a trickle of bait going in with every run through. Once the fish arrive they can be at any level in the water, often taking on the drop so be sure to regularly adjust depths and search for them. The very large chub will sit back downstream and letting your rig run through that bit further every now and then can pick these bonus fish off.