Bread vs. Cheesepaste - More Mild Chubbing

Cheesepaste has always been one of those baits which has been readily hyped among the angling community when it comes to chub. I, personally, have not used it as much as I possibly should do, therefore I thought now was as good a time as any to buy some ingredients and experiment further from previous attempts. Popping off to my local Sainsbury's, I purchased some Danish blue cheese, some bread and a bit of good old faithful cheddar. After dampening some bread and mixing it with some blue cheese and grated cheddar, I was soon getting a consistency which I was reasonably happy with. I added a small bit of lobworm extract which was kindly given to me by a friend, which left me with a very pungent, amino paste. A bit of margarine also aided a nice consistency.

Getting there...

I headed to the river late morning, and arrived to see that it was carrying a nice green tinge - ideal for chub. My setup consisted of my usual choice of a small cage feeder with a float stop on the line dictating the length of the tail I was fishing. In regards to hook sizes, I stuck on a 6 for a large bait. I started the day fishing the feeder straight-in and after missing a bite in one of my banker swims, as well as having little response overall, I found myself in the swim where I managed the 5-10 last month. A quick flick of my bread offering upstream between the branches, and taps were instant. A few vigorous shakes on the tip and I struck into a good fish. It swum towards me and hung low, juddering its head with vigour. After watching the line whizz from side to side, a lovely brassy chub topped. Excitedly, I guided her into her into the waiting net. After a well earned revival, I put her on the scales and she went 4lb 11oz, a very nice stamp of fish for this river.

A stunning 4-11 chub, very nice fish for this river

After releasing this stunning fish, I decided to chuck some liquidised bread and some lumps of cheesepaste in some swims downstream, prior to fishing them. Meanwhile, I continued on some swims I left free to continue with my straight-in method. I felt by the time I fished these final swims, I the time had come to try the swims I had baited. The swims I piled the most bait into were on some deeper bends, therefore I opted to save those two swims to the very end. After no response in most of the swims after a good amount of time, I found myself at the first bend with a very nice overhanging tree on the far bank. I had a good feeling about going in with the bread rather than the cheesepaste on this instance, therefore I eased on a nice fluffy lump of breadflake and waited. The first tap knocked me completely off balance and a violent bite was to follow. Sadly I was a bit slow on this one. On a recast, thinking I'd lost my chance, I received another series of vicious, snatching taps. This was followed by an aggressive pull round and I was into another chub. This one, although clearly smaller than the 4-11 was certainly giving a good account of itself. Another nice looking chub was in the net.

2-14

After missing another bite in this swim, I felt it was time to move on to another swim upstream of here where I've had a few chub in the past. On arrival at the swim, I balled in a few lumps of cheesepaste in the current whilst I moulded a generous piece onto the hook. Just as I put my rod on the rest, it flew round, and a very small chublet had taken this massive lump of paste - crazy stuff! I moulded an even more generous lump of paste on this time and within minutes of casting I was getting an instant response. After some good taps, I had a flying take and connected with a good fish. This one stayed nice and deep, taking line off the drag with ease. It was certainly nice to finish the day off with one at last knockings!

Tight Lines,

Tom

Last knocking often does produce the goods! (3-10)