Wednesday 11th Jan Hampshire Avon, 5lb plus chub and missed opportunities

I set my alarm at 6.45am which would give me sufficient time to sort myself out before taking the short journey  to Bournmouth and the D.Stour.

I was soon up and ready to get fresh supplies of maggots from Avon Angling in Ringwood. I get there at 7.10am and Martine hasn’t arrived just yet to open up. Soon though she arrives and drives around the back to park up.

In no time at all she is hanging the sign up and putting out the bill boards. I wait in the car as don’t want to rush her.

Soon  I’m in the shop for more maggots. So I ask for 4 pints of maggots and buy some more feeders from the manufactures Nisa, I’m going to write more about these in the future. As I’m waiting Andy arrives and we start talking about fishing and lots more and before long I’ve been there for 20 minutes.

Andy said it had been 2c at Fordingbridge and it was 6c at Ringwood so a frost was close in the upper Avon valley. As I drove to Bournmouth the temperatures began to rise to 8c. I wasn’t the first car in the car park. Unpacking the car and loading the tackle on my back I was soon walking down the road to school bridge. As I arrived I could see that two anglers were fishing in the swim I wanted to fish. I was now in right old quandary of what to do. There were other swims that looked good, however I had really made my mind up to fish this swim. Then I made an executive decision! Lets go to the Avon.

So I reloaded the car with tackle and drove through the now busy commuter traffic through Ringwood and up the Avon valley. The sky was clear of cloud and there was a hint of frost in places. Those who live close to Ringwood just don’t realise how lucky they are to be close to the most productive chub rivers in the country.

The first swim I wanted to fish looked OK however the river boiled a little too much for me to understand where the feed (maggots) was ending up and hopefully the chub feeding.

The swim looked good other than the turbulent water that made feeding it difficult. After countless minnows and lots of cussing nothing seemed right. However upstream from me looked good with a glide of smooth water.

It was here that I moved to and concentrated feeding maggots via a catapult for about 15 minutes before fishing. The depth was only about 3ft however there was some bushes and branches in the water that gave the chub some cover.

First trot down saw the float gently glide through the swim and thank goodness no minnows. A few trots later saw the float bury in the water and a strike met with solid resistance. Sure enough it felt like a chub, it tried to get under the branches and then in the bushes. However the hooklink held and slowly I guided the fish upstream to the waiting net.

She was perfect in every way the bronze scales glistened in the early morning sun. On the scales she went 5lbs 4oz and what a beautiful chub.

So with this chub returned to the river I continued feeding and fishing. It wasn’t long before I hooked another chub that powered off downstream into some turbulent water. I guided the fish slowly upstream, however just downstream from me there was a clump of weed which it found and next thing I knew the chub slipped the hook.

More feed and waiting for 20 minutes for the chub to get confidently feeding again produced another bite from a very good chub that tried to get to the far branches in the river. It’s so exciting when they just hold in midstream and you can do little to move them. As it powered off occasionally the rod held firm as did the line. You know that after a couple of minutes of this give and take the chub normally is yours but this beast wasn’t having any of this. Eventually it got into a frond of the smallest midstream weed were it promptly threw the hook. Oh dear or words to that effect.

A couple of other anglers were fishing and hadn’t had a bite so my 3 bites was quite reasonable under the circumstances.

The sun was now higher in the blue sky and the temperature was rising. I had a good chat and laugh with the other anglers.

It was time for another move and soon found a wonderful glide of about 60 yds long that just screamed out chub. As I fired out maggots via the pult and ate my lunch I was pestered by several bees buzzing around. They should be hibernating now not out in the warm afternoons sun, it was 12c. Daffodils were also bursting open by Parsons Flour Mill on Throop, has the world gone mad or what.

2 hours later and plenty of maggots going into the glide produced a big fat zero. Time for a rethink!

I wandered back downstream to the original swim and finished the day there trotting a float towards the end of the swim where I picked up some beautiful dace that glistened in the late evening sun.

So what looked like a belter of a day turned sour with the two lost chub. Never mind they will be there again next time and more importantly I’m learning more about the stretch.

The other anglers blanked so they left disappointed.