Tuesday 24th January Hampshire Avon a 6lbs 6oz chub

I feel terrible about not fishing Willow lake for those huge roach but the chub fishing conditions have been perfect on the D.Stour and H.Avon for the last month. Low clear.

I have a saying in winter“low and clear chub are here, up and brown the barbel are around”.

Well it’s been low and clear now for weeks which is most unusual.

At 5.30am I was heading off down through the countryside towards Hampshire. Earlier in the evening it had been frosty but now there was light rain falling and was expected to do so for most of the morning.

I couldn’t get any maggots from normal source so had to call into Avon Angling in Ringwood where the previous day I had placed an order for 6 pints of reds for Tuesday and same again for Wednesday. I then headed back up from where I came from to fish the Avon on the Somerley Estate.

I arrived at about 7.30am and it was still raining as I carried my tackle to the swim that I wanted to fish. It was not heavy rain but enough to get you wet without an umbrella. One of the things I’m not keen about is trotting in the rain, so I opted to fish with boilies close to where I knew the chub lay. I cast out at about 8am and hoped to have my string pulled. However I must say that recently the chub only went for moving baits of maggots and only turned to ledgered approach at last light. With plenty of hatches clearing way upstream I was continually having to recast as debris fouled the line. I even had time for a leisurely breakfast sandwich as I sat under the umbrella.

The swim is one where there is a row of far side branches trailing in the river and the chub sit just off of these. It’s about 4ft deep with the gravel shelving to 7ft as it comes towards me. As I expected nobody else was angling.

The rain continued until 10.30am and just before this I put together my float rod. A 15ft Hardy float rod 5lb main line a 3AAA balsa chub float. I always attach a size 24 swivel between the hooklink and the main line this stops any twisting or kinking of the line as you retrieve the float back upstream at the end of the trot. The maggots can act as a propeller and badly put a twist in the hooklink. Have a look at the video and it’s explained. The line looks like anchor rope on the video, but it’s 5lb main line and 3lb hooklink honest.

So that’s it not rocket science and it works very well in deeper water. In shallow waters then the shotting pattern needs to be very different.

With the rain starting to ease off I catapulted out maggots to the far side of the river upstream from where the chub lay, because as the maggots sink the current will take them down to their feeding spot. I did this for about 20 minutes before casting out, just about 20-30 maggots every minute or so.

It doesn’t take long before they start to chase the maggots around and it’s this competition between the chub that you need to get that makes them so easy to catch.

After about the 6th trot down the float sank from view and I struck into a chub that tried to power it’s way into the branches. It was quite easy to turn it away, so my thoughts were that it was a small one. The important thing here is not to put too much pressure on the fish once you have it in midstream as it’s not going anywhere now and those small hooks can pull out easily.

Once this small fish was returned upstream away from the area I started the process again of baiting the swim. In the next few trots down I hooked a much larger fish that I thought was going to make it into the branches however the small hook pulled out after 15 seconds or so.

I was not best pleased and thought I would rest the swim for  while. I really fancied a swim upstream where a guy was telling me he had a 6lbs 13oz chub last year on trotted maggots. Again there is some far bank side trailing branches but not too bad and the water looked to be shallow. So I fired out some maggots upstream so that they would drift down in the current. I did this again for about 20 minutes so that the chub would become competitive.

First trot down the float shot under and I was playing a chub for a long time. The current here was much faster and I just couldn’t gain much line, it didn’t feel a huge chub but you could never tell. As I slowly gained ground and the chub fought in midstream the hook pulled out. Now this was my size 20 and 2.5lb hooklink. So I went back downstream and changed to a size 18 and 3lb line to help me a little. This is the size that I used when I shot the video.

More maggots and more trotting had me feeling that something else must be here. It looked so good and I said to the guy who was fishing it last week that it would have been my first choice of swims.

Then about 15 minutes later the float buried in the water where it shouldn’t and the resulting thud, thud on the end of the rod tells the story. Well this chub did want to get into the trailing branches but real side strain on the rod managed to pull it away and into mid flow. For what seemed ages I just couldn’t move this thing as it sat there pulling and occasionally twisting in the current. I think I knew who was in charge here at the moment. However as I say it’s like taking a dog on a walk there is plenty of time and don’t rush things. Slowly up she came nearer to me. I had a game plan of netting it in a slack just below me, however there was still plenty of weed snagged up on some boulders so care was needed. Slowly nearer she came and I could see that she was a of a good size. As she saw the net the chub dived for cover under it, however it was tired by now and instinctively I pretty well knew that this would be it’s ploy and was ready. That was the last lunge of the chub as I pulled her over the net.

The chub looked well over 6lbs and proved to be 6lbs 6oz which I was more than pleased with.

So with another H.Avon 6lber in the bag life felt sweet!

I returned to the swim and piled in more maggots as I was sure there just might be one more. However I fished it for another hour without a touch so I moved back downstream again. I say without a touch there are always minnows to catch.

I fished a couple of other swims where I caught chub last week however the river colour had changed and it was clearer plus the level had dropped. Well that’s my excuse!

I also planned to have a walk around the stretch to look at the river. There were still many salmon leaping as I walked. The sun shone a couple of times but the wind had started to increase. It was this that was blowing the rain and clouds away.

By late afternoon I was back again in the original swim fully refreshed. With the feeding pattern re-established once more I started to trot through. It’s important to keep feeding every trot through to keep those chub active. After about 30 minutes I hooked into a chub that was not best pleased and tried and tried to get into the far side branches and with the rod bending well, it absorbed the chubs thrusts for freedom. I still had the size 18 hook and 3lb line so I could give it a good pull. Again soon all was well as the chub swam in midstream the fight was almost over. After another 40 seconds or so she came into view. She looked a good 6lber too. So after she saw the net the first time  and took a dislike for it on the second attempt in she went.

It looked an older fish and not quite so deep. On one side it had a large growth under the scale that protruded out almost through the scales. An obvious recognisable fish. On the scales she went 5lbs 13oz.

So with a 5lber and a six, plus a smaller chub the day had been a success.

I then hooked another chub straight after which again put up a great scrap in the flow and this one went 5lbs 9oz and I made a right old mess of the video and photo’s so can’t show them.

I continued feeding and fishing until about 4.30pm when I caught another chub of 5lbs 1oz

So there is was the last chub of the day. I continued with my boilie and paste until about 7.30pm without a single touch.

3 x 5lbers and 6lber plus a little chub I think it’s been an outstanding days fishing.