Resourceful Mash doing the Damage!

Some lovely sweeping bends on this waterway

On a very last minute decision, as I was staying near one of my favourite chub rivers, coupled with my gear still in the car from fishing with Mark the previous day, I decided to have one more trip before the end of half term. I still had some liquidised bread and dead maggots and with the old loaf from the day before, I mashed it up with some river water, making some bread mash. The river was looking spot on with a nice green tinge and my first choice of tactic was fishing the link leger over the top of the mash mix. I parked myself in one of my banker swims on this section and after feeding some mash, a nice little chub came along almost straight away on some cheese paste, which was a nice result. This was rather encouraging to have had a response this early on. The next swim is a lovely sweeping slack pool, which has been a rather moody swim this season, but has done me very well in the past. After throwing some mash in upstream and watching some of the maggots move very enticingly into 'the zone', I flicked the link leger out in the flow and let it waft into the slack. A tap was instant as the tip started to rattle before whacking round. I lifted and made contact with a nice fish. As all the chub do on this stretch, they really get down making the line really 'whoop' under pressure, as the fish dug away for all the snags possible. In true hit and hold fashion I got my rod low and guided the fish in close, safely to the slack, as I guided it into the waiting net. After a quick revival, I quickly put the fish on the scales and photographed it.

A very welcome Chub on the flake (3-6)

The next section of this particular stretch possesses more depth and has a much slower, and in places, more stagnant flow. I decided with the remainder of mash and dead maggots to go a bait some swims with some generous helpings of mash. I did go into some more swims with single hookbaits rotating between breadflake and cheesepaste and the only results to come of this were a few out of conditioned trout. The next swim I fancied was a nice bend with a fair bit of structure in terms of depth and snags. I opted to fish on the link leger with bread and let it trundle into the spot. Five minutes or so passed and I received a little enquiry on the rod with the rod springing back into neutral. I slightly tightened up just in case this had dislodged my link, and waited. The tip whacked aggressively, before violently pulling round. I lifted and angled my rod low with a fish that absolutely took off up in the water and with a big gold flank forming a huge bow wave. My drag on my tiny 1000 size spool started absolutely singing as I tried to cup it and after hearing a nasty grind on the line, the tension disappeared and a parted mainline sprung back at me. Watching the ever decreasing bow wave and putting my head in my hands whilst I sat back on my stool, I knew I had lost a river carp. It had managed to absolutely destroy me on the main snag in the swim. This was a wounding feeling as I really wanted one from this particular section of river and I was partly regretting opting to use 6lb mainline.

I rested the swim, as I picked a nice little arlesey bomb out of my tackle box and tied on a size 6 hook for another attempt with the flake or the cheesepaste. After missing a mysterious bite, I felt the next cast I had to be sharp with my hands close to the rod. I was sitting there on my little stool watching my rod tip, as the tip tweaked making me feel instantly some fish were moving around. Was it chub, was it carp? It was one of those moments where the anticipation absolutely drives the angler round the bend. The tip nudged again and I outstretched my hand, ready for what could be an unexpected take. The tip aggressively knocked, then paused, before completely pulling round with increasing acceleration. I nervously struck this savage take, and felt a good weight on the end holding its ground on the bottom. I started to guide the fish upstream and it suddenly woke up. My little Shimano Rarenium went to absolute meltdown as the the fish tore line off the spool going downstream. I cupped the spool in hope, as the last culprit successfully managed to get to the snags. The fish tried to go up in the water again like the previous fish and that's when it's golden flank broke the surface and I knew then what I was connected to. Luckily after I applied some pressure with the 6lb mono at full stretch, the fish kited left before charging off upstream. All I could do was cup the spool and angle the rod to try and turn it's head as it was absolutely unstoppable when it wanted to go. The spool continued to scream off as it tried for three other nasty structures. Thankfully though, I did manage to turn its head eventually. The fish broke the surface, it was a stunning ghost common. It wallowed on the surface beautifully, as I adjusted my drag, making sure the fish would not have an opportunity to slip the hook in close. The rest of the fight was agonising, all under the rod tip, but luckily my feeder rod was cushioning the final lunges beautifully. After a few more wallows on the surface, I managed to get the fish's head up and it was resting safely in the net.

Such a fantastic result, especially after the one that got away (8-4)

After reviving the fish for a few well-earned minutes, I readied my camera gear and quickly put the fish on the scales. At 8lb 4oz, it's not a massive fish I agree, nor my biggest river carp, but given the swim I was fishing and on chub tackle I was so happy to have managed to land this beauty after a long and intense battle. The fish was absolutely perfect: fins were all perfect, as well as the scales and the mouth was in mint condition - I'd be rather surprised if this fish has seen a hook at all! I continued on for maybe another half an hour or so in a couple more of the baited spots, but all that was to come of my efforts was trout. I was not disappointed though, as I was so chuffed that I had managed to land the carp after a very long, agonising battle.

Tight Lines,

Tom Aldous

Features Galore - A Small River Favourite!

After an early start and flopping out of my original plan with public transport, I managed to persuade my mum to drive me to this stunning waterway to meet Mark again. After talking about it for a while,  Mark and I finally managed to arrange a Winter's roving session. We have had three enjoyable trips on this particular waterway in the past sharing the highs and lows it has brought both of us. The river contains a good recruit of fish, with good chub, perch, pike and roach. After a pleasant drive, I arrived at a charming little bridge to meet Mark. My choice of tactic for the day was the link leger rotating between breadflake and cheesepaste. It was also soon apparent that Mark wanted to try and cover bases for some good perch and chub on the lobworm. The river before us was very low, therefore we knew that it certainly would be interesting in regards to conditions and how the fish were going to react.

We parked ourselves in a nice spacious swim where I tackled up, whilst Mark had a little go trundling his lobworm offering. It was interesting that the lobworm didn't induce a take from this certain swim. With the raucous of a football match going on in the background, we soon moved on upstream. The next swim Mark pointed to is one that I haven't fished as much as I perhaps should have. I balled in some liquidised bread from my bucket and trundled the link leger under the bush on the opposite bank. As it settled, the tip suddenly rattled. I had my hands on the rod ready as the tip sprung into action. I was into a nice chub holding nice and deep and getting a very feisty scrap indeed. A lovely grey-lipped resident broke the surface and Mark was kindly on hand with the net to land the fish.

A nice looking chub, one of a few to trip up on the flake offering this season! (3-8)

It was nice to have my second largest chub from the waterway, in such quick succession. After releasing this fish, we soon wandered our way further upstream. The next spot has always been a spot I have liked the look of when fishing this stretch. It is quite shallow, but has a nice overhanging tree which is perfect refuge for chub, perch and pike. Mark flicked his lobworm offering and let it trundle under the structure. It was not long until his tip sprung into life and he was now into his first fish of the day. After a very energetic and testing scrap, another lovely chub was in the net.

Pristine chub for Mark

I also tried a couple of quick casts under the tree, but the only bite to come of this was a slow pull round, which was almost certainly a pike, as all my link leger had gone when I had struck. After wandering a couple more swims, with little response, we made our way to an area where I lost a very good fish on a past session with Mark. After trundling the breadflake into an enticing position, just as I was putting the rod on the rest, I felt a thud. I placed the rod on the rest and it was not long until it flew round. A nice looking chub, similar to the one Mark had was in the net. After a few more casts it was apparent that the breadflake was no longer triggering a response, therefore I decided to switch to my amino cheesepaste. After balling in a few pieces, I trundled the bait under the snag and waited. Sure enough the rod flew round and another lovely looking chevin of a similar stamp to the last was resting in my net. Mark kindly took a few pictures for me and we moved on looking to fish some more exciting swims along this section.

I was happier than I look - was certainly nice to have a few of these stunners!

Mark and I continued to leap frog the stretch, and on return to some of my favourite swims on this stretch, I did manage another chub of similar stamp to the ones I was having in the other swim. This swim has always been kind to me, throwing up a good bite or two every time. After wandering further and attempting to poke my rod into some of the more secluded swims, Mark gave me a ring to tell me he had a lovely perch in the net. It was a stunning fish over a pound and it was nice to see a stripy finally make a appearance.

Lovely, vibrant perch (1-2)

It had been a lovely trip discussing some of the lovely looking swims on this stretch and exchanging thoughts on some of the elusive larger specimens within this river, that Mark has been lucky enough to go and catch. A few more chublets were to follow for me as the light faded and another call from Mark was to follow. This time, he had a lovely looking chub in the net. Both the chub we had of the larger stamp this trip were rather hollow, with this particular fish going 3lb 4oz. It was a lovely looking chub and in very nice condition. It was no surprise when Mark relayed to me the excitement of the fight.

When the sun descends, it is always a good time for the resident chub (3-4)

Even though it wasn't the easiest of days, I felt that this was one of our more productive trips on this waterway, managing a few decent fish between us, as well as having a great social. Although I did try and couple of swims on my way back to the car, there were no forthcoming customers for the juicy lobworm Mark let me use for the last knockings. In fairness though, the time was rather limited by this point.

I look forward to perhaps visiting this waterway a few more times next season, and more collaborative trips with Mark, whether it is more exploration on this particular waterway, or some other waterways to discover or those ones that are close to our heart...

Big thanks goes to Mark for inviting me on this lovely piece of water yet again.

Tight Lines,

Tom Aldous

Tough Day on a New Waterway

After some very contrasting temperatures of late and some rainfall, myself and Mark Erdwin decided to rove a new waterway. This particular one I have been rather keen to wet a line on for a while. My chosen tactic to begin with was my bog-standard breadflake approach with a small cage feeder, as the river was carrying a nice green tinge. We worked our way upstream until reaching the end of the section - this consisted of a nice bridge structure leading into a pool which looked a perfect holding area for chub. I casted my breadflake offering towards the slack and let it swing midstream. As expected with bread, I got a pretty instant response. A few proper jaggedy taps on the tip and I struck into a perfectly marked little wild brownie. Not the target species, but a start on the new waterway. We ventured on downstream, typical roving style, and realised the river's colour was dropping out by the minute. It now seemed as if conditions were far from straight forward, coupled with a very narrow river consisting of soft banks. I followed Mark's lead and switched to the link leger to trundle about in some of the deeper swims sticking with the flake approach. Mark had fished some very likely looking areas with his lobworm offering, and it wasn't long until I heard him calling me just downstream. I ran into his swim and heard his drag absolutely screaming. It turned out to be a lovely marked little pike which had sucked in his lobworm. 

A toothy surprise for Mark!

After roving some nice swims, we reached a nice deep bend which Mark informed me he had sighted some roach on a past recce. Mark kindly gave me a couple of lobworms, and after missing a bite which was a few sharp taps on the worm, I casted out again and had another delicate bite. The culprit was a tiny little, very lean perch. After leap-frogging a few more pools and glides, with no response of any sort for either of us, my eyes were suddenly greeted with a lovely looking pool. I had a good feeling about the swim instantly. After throwing in some liquidised bread, I casted the link leger into a nice slack. As I was putting the rod on the rest, I felt the rod thud violently. I struck and was into a very nice fish indeed. Unfortunately I was a bit slow to adjust my drag and after watching a gold flank wallow on the surface the line parted at the hook. It was pretty wounding as that was my first full blown take of the day and I was sure I had lost a good chub. After casting a few times back into the same sort of area and missing three bites on the bread, on a switch to cheesepaste I connected with a good fish. The same gold flank broke the surface before lashing on the surface and diving back down. It was at this point, I knew what I had hooked into. It was a stunning and rather large brown trout.

A Stunning 3-14 Golden Brown Trout

As people who know me will know very well, I am not a great lover of catching trout on coarse tackle, but I felt as this one was an absolute stunner, that I had to go and get Mark. It was no surprise with how greedy trout can be to have found the size 10 hook in its lip that I lost, as I unhooked the fish. We very quickly put the fish on the scales and took a few lovely photographs of this absolute stunner (Mark doing the honours with his lovely camera) before I safely returned her to her watery home. We carried on trying all the likely looking areas up until 7pm, but apart from one vicious, uncommitted enquiry on Mark's rod, it was one of the days where the chub eluded us. Although it was slightly disappointing that we didn't see a single sign of a chub, nor connect with one, this is, I feel, what makes small rivers so exciting: the uncertainty of a new waterway, how the certain day and its conditions may have affected the fishing, as well as the overall populous of chub in this certain section of water, as well as distribution and recruitment of the fish in general.

Even though the target species did not make an appearance, it was nice to have caught some fish between us from the waterway, and as always, enjoy fishing with Mark's great company.

Tight Lines,

Tom Aldous

Would certainly love to have this one on the fly rod!

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...

Chub Fishing - Nightmare Conditions and Overall Technique

My good friend Mark Pilley and I arranged to do a session on a small waterway fishing for a multitude of species including chub, dace and roach. We arrived bright and early and as the light started to prevail, it was apparent that the river before me was certainly my kind of waterway - consisting of shallow gravels and some nice deep holes. We waded out and fed steadily for half an hour or so and I was soon running through. The river was ridiculously low and the swim literally had no pace when running through. After running through a few times, the wind started to commence at quite a speed. This made presenting a stickfloat pretty much impossible. On wind breaks, I did manage to present the bait a few times, managing a single chub and Mark later managing a nice chub himself, and a perfect little roach. After this the wind really picked up, therefore we decided to give a more sheltered swim a go which Mark fancied our chances for some chub and dace.

When I eventually got my eye in!

Throughout the morning, I hold my hands up and say I fished absolutely horrendously. I missed several bites and managed to hook the bottom and nearby trees several times, at one point it was amusingly horrendous! We looked from above and saw some nice chub by a tree, close in, and our excitement levels hit the roof for some sport. We waded in upstream and started to feed a steady trickle of maggots to get the fish competitive, one of the most important things in fishing for chub in any form of float fishing. After some undisturbed feeding, we were soon running through. I missed a couple of quicker bites, but when I did manage to hook one of the culprits, it was a nice dace. Mark and I decided to fish this swim on one rod and have a fish each, and on his run through, he was soon into a nice chub. It gave a lovely scrap and after some powerful charges towards the snag, Mark soon got the fish under control and it was in the net. This is where things got a lot more comical, when I managed to bump three chub in a row and even get snagged by a dace to Mark's amusement! After trickling some more maggots in, I was soon into another. As always, on light line, it is great fun taking chub steady and my float rod was beautifully absorbing the lunges. After keeping the fish clear from the snags, it eventually was ready to be netted. It was a nice looking chub with lovely brassy scales. After this, we were eventually set on a straight efficiently landing a chub a chuck each.

A Lovely Chub which gave a great scrap!

Towards the end we did manage some more decent fish, but nothing massive. It was good though to get some nice sport on the stick float, as I have not used this method once this season for chub. Big thanks goes to Mark for an enjoyable day on this lovely little waterway, sharing a good laugh at my expense and being great company! To say the least, I was very amazed by the populous of chub!

Nice selection of our little net of Chub

Lovely looking chub going back...

Tight Lines,

Tom Aldous