Using my Loaf in Mild December - More Success on the Bread!

I arrived at the river bright and early and opted to spend a light-hearted day fishing for chub on, again, good old faithful bread. The small Thames tributary I fish has various sections, some with more sparser stocks than others, therefore I opted to rove in search of a few bites. I used my bog-standard roving tactic with a little cage feeder with a nice big hook to present a nice fluffy piece of breadflake. The first swim was a nice run with the near bank having decent depth where I flicked my feeder in the margin and mid-flow to cover some bases. It was not long until I received a few taps on the quivertip before having a much better bite which resulted in a nice little chublet to start the day off. I persisted on the run and was rewarded with this lovely looking chub.

Lovely start to the day!

After pulling out of a good fish, this swim went dead which meant it was time to make a move. I roved further downstream and managed another nice looking chub round the 3lb mark from a couple of banker swims, as well as a few more chublets. I then arrived at one of the sections downstream which I know holds some good fish, and with the river carrying extra water and some colour, I knew it was worth a shot. This section is slow and steady and I had a few swims in mind where I saw decent chub in the summer months. I arrived at a swim with many snags upstream which are perfect cover for chub. This particular swim, I saw some good-sized chub skulking around in the summer and knew with the extra water and colour, I was in for a chance of a bite. I flicked the bait upstream into a little gap between the branches of the overhanging tree and had my eyes glued to the rod tip as I knew I was in for a chance of a take. As expected, the response was almost instant and the tip started to bounce aggressively. I struck confidently and was into a good weighted fish which was staying deep and digging away towards the snags in true chub fashion. I saw a good swirl as I started to get the culprit's head up before it dived down again going towards the snags downstream. After cupping the spool, she came up and the way it wallowed on the surface indicated to me that it was a good fish. A huge flank came up and I saw the hook just nicked in the lip as I safely landed her.

Small river chunk!

On closer inspection, as I recognised certain features and marks of this fish, this fish was the fish I had back in Summer at 6-1 on the second day of the season. She was so much more empty this time as you can see at the picture, but at 5-10, it was still a monstrous fish for the waterway I was fishing!

Look at the gob on her!

All in all a great day...

Tight Lines,

Tom

Small River Session Montage

A day out for the Grayling with James Denison

James and I arranged to meet down my way to see if we could get him onto one of the elusive larger grayling which are present on my local river. The current cycle isn't how it has been on some of the prolific years I've had, but the other day I did prick some better fish - James and I agreed that we had to be in it to win it.

We started on a idyllic little stretch where I have seen some very large grayling and perch in the past and we parked ourselves in a nice run with some depth and a nice crease on the far bank. James opted to fish a mix of maggots and caster and I on the other hand, chose some good old faithful sweetcorn to trot down the near bank of the swim. It was not long until James was landing some nice grayling gradually getting larger and I was starting to get onto a few myself. What I have found in cases is that on maggots you will get more bites, but in swims with smaller grayling this can be less selective.

Lovely looking grayling

I managed to get bites at a quicker pace after introducing grains of corn little and often and fishing midstream and on the near bank, which resulted in some lovely looking grayling and a few nuisance trout (which threw themselves readily at both our baits). We also managed to bounce a few better grayling, James bumping one certainly round the 2lb mark which was a shame. Not feeling disheartened by this we wandered off downstream and I hoped some other swims I knew would hopefully throw up something better for James.

Feisty little grayling!

There was a nice pool swim I have found to be prolific over the years and absolutely screams grayling of all sizes. James trotted through the swim a few times and managed a few bites bumping a couple of grayling, one of which was again of very good stamp, really hanging in the current. After a few more trots rotating baits, James had a well earned grayling of a pound or so. The next spot I showed James was where I bumped a good a good grayling on the Friday. After a few trots down James was managing some nice grayling including this beauty at 1-8.

James's best of the day...

All in all, it was a great day meeting James and tackling my local stretches, and at dusk we even managed to sneak in some trotting for roach. It was nice to see the shoals were still about with James managing some stunners to just over a pound at 1-3. Overall a very nice day and look forward to having you down again mate...

Tight Lines,

Tom

Nice way to finish the session...

Roving in Enchanted Surroundings

Fellow blogger Mark Erdwin (Fishing for Memories) and I organised to meet up and fish a small, intimate waterway in search of some elusive chub. Funnily enough, we arrived at the same time and after I quickly rushed to 'One Stop' to grab some bread, we headed for the river. The walk to the river was rather pleasant, dropping into a wood and being greeted by a charming looking stream. My thoughts at this exact moment were that this was certainly my kind of river, and as Mark pointed downstream my eyes were greeted by a lovely basin forming off the shallow gravel. The whole river, as Mark described, screamed fish! We both opted to fish link legers and my choices of bait being lobworms, bread, maggots, waxworms and cheesepaste to be fished on a rotated basis to entice the appetite of the chub. Mark likewise brought lobworms, maggots, cheese paste and bread, therefore it was fair to say we were armed well for whatever mood the chub were going to be in. Mark suggested I covered the areas up to just after the basin, whilst he checked out a nice steady section near a charming wooden bridge. I spent the first hour or so getting my bearings and started the trip by using bread, lobworms and waxworms. Although I didn't have anything (apart from a minnow) to show from my efforts, I came to the conclusion that the better chub could well be acting finicky. On meeting up with Mark on the end of my rove he also had come to this conclusion, managing a chublet and missing a better bite.

When we crossed the wooden bridge, Mark kindly pointed out a very tasty looking swim with a nice snag obstructing the flow and creating a slack, which then runs off into steadier flow with more snags. On Mark's suggestion I flicked the bait into the slack first, before making another cast into the run off of this slack. With a nice, lively lobworm on the end tipped with a couple of white maggots, I flicked the bait and let it trundle in the flow. It was not long until had a few plucks, which led to a steady tease round. I struck and was ready for the hit and hold scenario! The fish gave a very nice scrap before kindly being netted by Mark. It was a pristine chub which would probably scrape over the 2lb mark - a good start!

A lovely start to the day!

After walking a few yards downstream, we entered a wood which felt enchanted - no people around and merely the sound of birdsong and the wind, seemingly seldom disturbed. Mark hopped into a very nice looking swim in the wood with a nice overhanging tree in close which caused another nice obstruction, which looked an absolutely lovely holding area. This was proven when Mark started catching a chublet a chuck on his link legered lobworm offering. I was just upstream of him and managed one bite which I missed and as I was getting my stuff together to move, Mark beckoned me over. We both gave the swim a go with me flicking down the channel running adjacent to the bush and Mark flicking it in the slack by the branches. I managed a few better bites on the lobworm during this time, one of which I briefly connected with before the lobworm turned over onto the hook which was unlucky. After this we moved onto another likely looking little section in deeper woodland, with the distant mew of the buzzard and a flash of turquoise filling the air from the resident kingfisher. I managed a few more exquisite chublets, as we roved on, on the lobworm and maggot cocktail with Mark getting some rather tentative bites from an unknown source.

We continued to fish on, leap frogging swims, and as I made my way down to see how Mark was getting on, a lovely looking swim greeted me with a nice overhanging tree and a nice crease formed by the different currents merging. With the river carrying a bit more colour due to the rain, I felt I could get away with a more obtrusive choice of bait, a big lump of breadflake. After feeding some liquidised, I flicked my link leger downstream and let it trundle towards the little crease. Tentative plucks were instant and I connected with what I thought was a chublet, but I realised it was a stunning dace around 8oz or so - a cracking fish! I quickly slipped the fish back and casted slightly more downstream than before, avoiding the branch of the overhanging tree. I had a positive pull on the quivertip before it slowly, but surely pulled round. I struck and connected with a much better fish which really did pull and kick back. After lots of digging towards the cover, a huge smile was on my face as I saw the tell-tale great grey lips come up and a fine flanked chub gracing the net. Mark was only a little way downstream from me and it appeared he had landed a fish too which was over the 2lb mark which he rested in the net. Mark came over to my swim and we gave my chub a little weigh as it was certainly a venue PB and at 3lb 7oz it will not break any records, but for a roving angler on a small river certainly a worthy capture and one which made me a very happy angler indeed!

Mark's best of the session!

A nice fish for the first trip on this little river!

We continued to rove on after this and fish a more static approach on a couple of swims we have primed upstream, but nothing was to show of our efforts henceforth apart from another chub I managed to hook in the swim where I managed the 3-7.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable session and a big thank you goes to Mark for sharing his fantastic groundwork on this new waterway and being great company for another roving session. The beauty of these small waterways is that I feel they are ever-changing and if you seldom fish them you will hardly scrape the surface of what could be lurking in the deeper pools and glides and the proof is in the pudding with Mark's blog where he has managed many big chub on various little waterways...

Tight Lines,

Tom Aldous

Windy Winter Roving in search of Chub

Although taken on a different day, this gives one an idea as to what to expect on this small waterway...

After talking to a good friend, Mark Erdwin, regarding our successes on the rivers this season and as per normal comparing notes, he told me about another great bait he has added to his armoury. It has been proved in his blog post 'Waxing Lyrical' that the waxworm can be a deadly single bait as it is a perfect natural looking grub. Mark rightfully urged me to give them a go, therefore I visited the UK Waxworms website and got myself over 200 waxworms - for a single bait, this is going to go a long way! They are a buoyant bait thus not ideal for baiting up with in the depths of winter, but fished in conjunction with maggots I'm sure would be devastating!

An easy to navigate site and a pleasant purchase!

After the previous weekend being taken up by writing essays about Modern China, coupled with another week at college I certainly felt burnt out! I agree with the statement that going fishing when you're 'not feeling it' is a bad thing as you feel you are going for the sake of it which can make it all feel a waste of time... However, I have felt on certain occasions that pushing myself to go has done me some real good. I opted again to go chub fishing, but on a newer stretch of the Thames Tributary I fish - this section is very narrow, consisting of some nice undercut banks and reedy banks providing perfect cover for elusive chub. This stretch has a sparser head of chub than some of the areas I fish on this particular waterway, and coupled with a crayfish population I am expecting some large residents to be lurking on the deeper bends and pools.

(Again taken on a different day) One of the deeper bends/pools - perfect holding zone!

I woke up at 5am and with chub being on my mind, I wanted at least one back up bait. Bread has done me well this season, so I headed to my local newsagent and promptly picked up a loaf. I arrived back home and after my dad offering to give me a lift (thank you so much!) as opposed to getting on a long bus journey, I packed the car and headed for the river. On arrival at the river, it was carrying a nice green tinge which has served me and many others well when it comes to chub. I opted first of all to try the first swim of the downstream section of the bridge, which is a nice pool that leads into a beautiful gravelly run off. My plan of attack was to fish a swanshot link leger and to have enough shot to barely hold bottom, meaning I could set the bait trundling or let it settle on a static basis. After getting myself sorted in the swim, keeping a low profile, I saw a nice rise under the bridge itself leading into this pool and despite fearing it was an out of season trout, I flicked the link leger upstream and let my double waxworm offering waft in the flow. Taps were instant and after a positive bounce on the tip, I hooked the first fish of the day, a exquisite little chublet - a great sign for this stretch as I know the club committee were concerned about recruitment of chub on this stretch. Following this, I flicked the bait towards the opposite bank's reeds, with all that was to come of this being slow jerks of the tip with no liveliness. The culprits of course were big American Signal Crayfish which I'm pleased to say were dispatched humanely (with my right foot!) After casting to the tail end of the pool and managing a couple of trout, I thought that that was certainly the queue to leave.

The next swim that took my fancy was after the stunning shallow gravel run, leading into a deeper and steady run which led to my next favoured swim, a fine bend with an undercut. I gingerly picked my feet up like a chicken on the soft ground and settled just above the beginning of this deeper bend. I put on three waxworms onto my size 10 and flicked the bait midstream and trundled it, upside-down trotting style towards the undercut. I left the bait to do its job, waft and waver in the current, whilst I sat frozen like a heron with my eyes fixed on the rod tip. After a few minutes past me by, I saw the tip jerk positively followed by a nice, swift pull round. I pulled into the fish and felt a positive kick on the end. As I casted from quite far upstream I kept tight to the fish, and made my way downstream towards it. Having it get its head down towards the undercut snags coupled with the reeds was inevitable on this narrow section, but cupping the spool and applying positive pressure in this hit and hold scenario I gradually worked the fish upstream, letting my forgiving feeder rod do the work, and after some fantastic bursts of energy by the bank on a beautiful under-the-rodtip fight, a stunning golden flank graced the surface and shortly after the fish was mine! Even though the fish was not massive, on this narrow section, the fight was fantastic, reminding me why I love these tiny little rivers. At 3lb 7oz it was my biggest fish for the section which was an absolutely lovely result and in such fine condition with a beautiful golden flank, I was one happy angler!

3lb 7oz falling for the triple waxworm offering!

After watching the fish strongly swim off and disappear into the depths upstream, I gave the swim a few more casts. What came of this though was more crayfish, therefore I knew this was the hint to move on. I fished a few more trusted swims on the stretch where I have sighted chub in the past, with no joy apart from more crayfish! I also tried new swims, chopping and changing with the liquidised bread feeder, but no more fish were to come of the efforts apart from a single trout. I think the key to success on this small, intimate stretch is of course stealth, but baiting a few swims prior to fishing them and letting them settle before fishing could well pay off in terms of numbers of chub. However, I was very happy indeed I managed to give the waxworms a try, and even happier I manage to induce some bites on this naturalistic bait - particularly from the largest chub of the day!

I did carry on fishing, going downstream onto more familiar ground with my friend David coming to join me. In hindsight, I really do wish I managed to find some lobworms, as well as getting up to a shop that sells maggots, as the fish were very suspicious with the bread on my banker swims and the waxworms, despite being able to withstand minnows to a large extent, could not handle the plentiful dace in this section. After managing a few gate-crashing trout and a single dace, with the wind driving me crazy and the fact that it was getting quite cold to stand around and the fact I had to prepare for an exam the following day, I felt that it was the right time to pack up and head for home on the bus with David.

Tight Lines,

Tom Aldous