Urban River Mission #2 with Mark Lindsay

After our last 'urban mission' success, Mark and I certainly felt another visit was on the cards. We arrived at a river which was slightly up and carrying a nice little tinge. The clarity was still good enough though to hopefully sight some of the larger resident chub. My choice of approach for the day was to try the maggot feeder again, with Mark opting to go with the float. The section we started on was where we had success last time, but nothing was to come of this apart from really cold hands! There was also wind interfering with Mark's float fishing, therefore after a good hour or so we found ourselves walking back to the stretch which was our last resort.

Thankfully in the first swim, I managed to spot a modest sized chub just skulking on its own. Mark and I agreed to alternately trot a float through, as the bottom was very rich in snags for presenting a bait on the deck. We started firing in maggots to a darker patch of water and I got rather excited when I saw the chub move into this darker water. Mark had a few runs through and managed to bump a nice fish third or so run down. We fired in some more maggots and felt this was rather encouraging. Mark decided to have a look downstream and kindly handed me the rod. I waded in slightly in my wellies, and by chance, I managed to get the perfect cast towards the far side. As the float was getting into the zone where Mark bumped the chub, it buried. I struck positively, and was into a nice fish. I took it steady on the lighter tackle and despite unfortunately taking a step into some deeper silt and getting a boot full, I had the fish in the net. It was a solid fish and Mark instantly remarked its pure chunkiness! It was certainly a venue best and at a solid 4lb 8oz, it was a nice start after a frustrating morning.

A chub with a lovely flank! (4-8lb)

We released the fish downstream and here's how Mark got on his run through:
"After watching Tom land that chunky chevin, and pay penance with a silty boot-full, we catapulted some more grubs in towards the far bank. Being mindful of a less than sure footing, I flicked out the stick float nicely into the zone. I payed out some line and focused all my attentions to the tiny orange tip. It swirled along with the flow nicely and just as I thought I'd drawn a blank on this cast, a large black shape suddenly cruised towards the region of my single maggot hookbait. The fish flashed and turned 90 degrees and out of the corner of my eye, the float disappeared from view. A slightly slow strike followed but the fish gods were smiling on me this time. The rod curved over nicely and the textbook 'thump, thump' told me that it felt a weighty fish. Within a second, the surface erupted with the chub's huge head, and thrashed about on the top before realising he was hooked. In the shallow water the chub quite often only have a few snags to try and regain their sanctuary. Thankfully my good old faithful float rod cushioned the headshakes and as Tom readied the net, I slowly inched the fish into the shallows quite quickly and he was safely netted. As Tom lifted the net towards the bank, it certainly looked a weighty chub. Once placed into the cradle, it looked a 5 everyday of the week. Unhooked and rested in the net, whilst my fishing buddy readied his DSLR with its millions of settings, I grabbed the scales. The fish weighed in at a smidge of an ounce over 5lbs. I was extremely happy with this result on the float. After getting some photographs, I released him in a nice slack further downstream and he stayed in the margins, relaxing before attempting the full flow. It is so lovely to watch a chub slowly getting his breath back before sculling back to the sanctuary of deeper water."

A Specimen Chub from a Small Stream, one of angling's greatest gifts (5lb)

After this absolute chunk, we decided to go investigate downstream, as Mark had spotted a couple of chunks skulking by the bush I remember very well from last time. We sprayed some maggots in, but unfortunately it looked like there were no customers for the generous offerings. In spite of this, Mark tried a couple of runs through on the float, but with flotsam dominating this swim, it sadly does not lend itself well to this kind of presentation. I had a few more runs through, on return to the first swim, after feeding some more maggots, and on a run through closer in, I was into another. It was only a smaller fish for this section, but the fight was so spirited. Using pure agility to try and get to snags. After a few more little runs, another lovely chub was in the net. Although this was only a little one, both Mark and I were both happy to see a younger recruit.

Pristine Chublet, hopefully a proper chunk in the making!

The swim we had going seemed to have completely gone dead, and with little time remaining, I was rather keen to give the bush a go on my maggot feeder set up. My set up consisted of a small Kamasan black cap feeder with merely float stops dictating the length of the tail and one up the line for ease of striking and a slight bolt effect if needed be. Mark reiterated to me that presentation would be difficult, but we found a solution to make the hookbait waft slowly to the bottom. Mark gave me a buoyant imitation maggot, and I presented this coupled with a single white maggot. I casted the feeder out to a slightly clearer part of the river bed and watched my maggot hookbait waft very enticingly into position. Some time went by and I just kept on telling myself that all it would take is one fish to make a mistake. Time was running short, with Mark and myself starting to doubt whether a pick up was on the cards. Just as I was starting to talk about maybe one more opportunist cast downstream, my tip started to bounce aggressively. Mark's mouth gaped open and it was almost in slow motion as we were both staring at the tip as it continually bounced. I picked up the rod and all hell broke loose. Line started to absolutely rip out from my little Shimano Rarenium reel, as I tried to get the fish under control and out of the snag. I cupped the spool and got downstream of the fish forcing my way through some sort of coniferous bush. After some proper surging runs, the chub's mouth was gaping widely on the surface and a few more agonising milliseconds were to bear as Mark managed to get the net under the fish. This was certainly my best fish of the day and it was clearly a new venue best! As we revived the stunning brassy chunk in the net, we prepared the camera and the scales. After putting the fish on the scales, it was bigger than we thought at a fine 5lbs 2oz.

My crowning glory on this river (5-2)

It was a lovely fish to catch in what felt like the dying minutes of the trip. Mark kindly drove me home via a little stop for a 'KFC' dinner. We briefly gave my local river a go after sighting some roach, but unfortunately there were no customers, apart from some game fish and some mini species! Huge thanks goes to Mark for a fantastic session and being great company, I look forward to next time mate!

Tight Lines,

Tom and Mark

One of the mini species which concluded the day...