After a busy weekend stuck at home bogged down with coursework, I was absolutely desperate to get out. Having written off this weekend, I was dying to get out in the week on one of the days where college finishes earlier. After finally handing in my piece on the Monday, my mum kindly offered to give me a lift to the river. I chose on this trip to fish a more static approach in the likely swims to hopefully draw out a decent fish or two. On arrival at the river, I was met with gin clear conditions, coupled with the sun still high in the sky. After missing a bite in the first swim, I decided to try a nice long run with some nice depth and slacker water on the near bank. I flicked a nice lump of flake down the run and had a nice pluck on the tip, followed by a slow but definite bite. It was the first chub of the session, a rather scarred up looking fish of 2lbs or so.
I made my way slightly downstream and decided for the last hour of light, to try baiting a few swims in a slightly steadier area with some depth. I quickly tried a few banker swims with no joy, apart from crayfish plucks, and had one last swim in mind as the light was fading. I knew that I had a good chance of a take in this swim, especially after feeding some breadmash earlier on. I opted for a generous piece of breadflake, hoping for an instant response, and casted into the middle of this nice slacker area. After a few minutes, the tip knocked violently and decisively pulled round. I struck and knew this was a better fish. With the tell-tale thumps on the end of the line and the dashes for the cover, I knew I had a nice chub on the end. Following a few more dives towards the near bank foliage, the lovely brassy chevin was in the net. It was a nice way to spend a Monday afternoon and big thanks goes to my mum for taking me to the river after a written off weekend.
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| A Monday chub (3-5) |
For my last session of the season, I received a kind invite from
Mark to try a section of river where we had a score to settle with the chub from a previous visit. After meeting up bright and early, we made our way to a nice couple of swims we already had in mind to try. The first swim, which I really fancied, was looking really good for a take or two. I sprayed in a few maggots as Mark made his way a few metres downstream, to fish a nice pool swim. After letting the area settle for a few seconds, following the introduction of the maggots, I casted my link leger set up to the far side of the slack and let the lobworm trundle to a bit of overhanging foliage. Within seconds, I received a real jaggedy thump on the tip. The line slackened and started to tighten again, by which time I knew the culprit had the bait. I struck and saw a nice flash of brass before the fish sprinted upstream. After a fantastic scrap, I had the first chub of the day in the net - what a start! As I was looking in the net to the lean culprit I had landed, my phone started ringing and sure enough it was Mark. "Have you got one as well" I answered excitedly, as Mark joyfully relayed to me that he also had a lovely chub in the net. The fish I had was certainly a long and rather hollow customer, and at 3lb 6oz, it was a lovely fish to start the session with. Mark's fish weighed in at 3lb 4oz, and had a lovely build with tints of brass on its flank. I quickly made my way to Mark's swim, and with his wonders with self takes, we managed this lovely brace shot!
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| A lovely brace to start the day (3-6 and 3-4) |
After slipping the inhabitants of this lovely river back to their watery home, we made our way downstream to an area I had not fished on this particular beat. The sun was now starting to make an appearance through the clouds rapidly and we knew it would only be a matter of time before the chub would tuck themselves away and act finicky. The next area that took our fancy for an enquiry or two was a lovely batch of bullrushes at the tail end of a very tasty looking pool. After having my worm robbed by an unknown source, I pinched on a nice piece of breadflake to cast into the pool. Within seconds the tip sprung into action before pulling round with pure confidence. My rod buckled over as I connected into what felt like a good chub. The fish dived with pure agility and bolted for the foliage on the near bank. Mark had made his way to my swim to give me a hand with the net and as I got the chub's head up, I could see my hook was merely nicked slightly in the lip. I payed out a little line before Mark calmly netted the beauty. This fish was completely different to my first capture, a very short and dumpy fish with stunning colours. At 4lb exactly, it was my best from this river and probably one of the prettiest looking chub I have caught. Mark kindly did the honours with camera and took this lovely shot!
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| A New Best for this river (4lb) a stunning short and dumpy brassy chub! |
Mark popped back to his swim, whilst I tried this nice swim with an overhanging tree just below the pool. Just as I was about to make a change to some bread, I heard Mark calling me over,"yes, yes!" He exclaimed excitedly as I saw a good wallow on the surface and Mark's rod buckled over. I rushed over to give him a hand, watching as Mark had his work cut out to get this fish out from the snag. Luckily with the feeder rod we both have, it gives a lot to hit and hold scenarios, which meant Mark managed to guide the fish out and another good fish graced the surface, as I did the honours with the net. Mark had also had an enquiry on the worm, but similar to the fish I had just had, the bread had induced the decisive take. This was also a nicely built chub and was pretty full up too. At 4lb 3oz, it was another cracking fish to add to the trip!
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| A lovely gold flanked chevin (4-3) another falling to the bread! |
The next few hours were proving to be difficult as the sun was properly at full beam. Despite this though, Mark and I continued to rove on, fishing likely looking areas and some swims which have been good to Mark in the past. In one particular swim, I kept on having my link leger dislodged and coming back with worm that had been mangled or grabbed. I rotated baits a few times, but could not connect with this crafty culprit. Mark and I came to the conclusion it was finicky chub or wary roach tail-grabbing the worm. In hindsight I perhaps should have tied on a smaller hook and given maggots a go, but at the time I wanted to stick to my guns. The next section looked very good for a bite, a lovely, overgrown little area with plenty of shade for the chub to get along. Mark received a nice bite early on with a pristine little chub being the culprit to his lobworm offering.
As the light started to fade, we decided to gradually make our way back and retrying some of the swims we had visited earlier in the day. We fished a few areas, but the sun was still at reasonable beam which explained why response was still less existent. On arrival at our final swims, the light had faded more significantly and we really fancied our chances for a final fish or two. After catching the 3-6 earlier in the day, I had balled in some liquidised bread and maggots, therefore was hopeful of getting an enquiry of some description. I decided yet again to try the lobworm and after flicking the bait towards the overhanging tree, I had a full blown bite. I struck and another hard fighting chub was on. After some nice dashes towards the tree roots to the right, another lean chub graced the surface and was safely netted. I finished the day using cheesepaste, but after losing a fish and missing a bite, time had now got the better of us.
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| Lovely way to end the trip (3-3) as the light was fading! |
Big thanks goes to Mark for the invite and taking me on a lovely, idyllic section of river. As always it was nice sharing the company and topping it off with a few nice chub - could not ask for much more really!
Tight Lines,
Tom Aldous
