11/09/2020 - A Short Session For Chub

A good and only chub of the session

Its been over a year since I’d been able to have a session on the river with my friend Kevin, due to the virus, his heavy work schedule and two young children, but yesterday it all worked out ok, Kevin picking me up around 1830 hrs. It was probably 1900 hrs when we pulled into the car park, we had the beat to ourselves, weather conditions were good with a thick cloud base, no wind, the river had about two feet on, the day before there was five feet of fast swirling and muddy water, we couldn’t have wished for better conditions. We went up river about a thousand yards to a swim where we could both sit fishing about ten feet apart so we could talk to each other as we waited for a fish.

Simple Tackle Set Up

I chose to fish with a light Avon rod built for me by the late Mick Holgate, it was the first time I’d used it, as I had given my much used Chevin to my good friend Colin at the weekend. It was originally to be given to him on my passing, I thought it would be nice for him to have it now so I could read about its adventures in his hands. It was matched with a small fixed spool reel with 10lb braid to which I attached a size 4 barbless hook, I pinched a number 1 shot on the line six inches from the hook wrapped in plasticine, my first choice bait was crust, even though the water was highly coloured, anglers tell me its not a good bait in these conditions but I have found otherwise.

Good Chub Within Minutes

I made a cast as few yards downstream so the bait would roll under the overhanging branches of a willow bush, then sat with the line over my forefinger, a couple of minutes later I felt a light pluck, then a better pluck, striking I hooked a good fish that took line off the reel, Kevin said “That’s a good fish Martin” with the aid of the good flow the fish put up a good fight for several minutes, but I felt in control, I had no doubt in my mind that it could be lost, eventually Kevin netted a very good chub. Sadly I’d left my scales in the basket from the weekend so we couldn’t weight the fish, after a quick picture we returned the fish to the river where it had been netted, instead of going upstream a distance to release the fish. It was a big mistake. As dusk turned to darkness the bats appeared feeding on the small flies, as did the trout. We fished on until 2200 hrs without another bite between us, but we both agreed it had been great being on the river and most enjoyable.

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