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