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