On the Thames with Andrea

Well where has the year gone. I have just returned from a couple of weeks in Mexico. The weather was super with plenty of sun and a great breeze. The only negative was that the wind dislodged plenty of weed from the off shore reef. It was unpleasant to swim in the sea and impossible to wet a line. So the rods didn’t leave the hotel room.

On my return my friend Andrea phoned to say that could we fish together as it looked like he was returning to Belgium to continue his employment. He was supposed to stay in the UK for 6 months and we thought we had plenty of time.

We arranged to meet and fish a section of the Thames for half a day. We were fishing by noon. The weather was pretty good (dry) with a strong westerly wind. It was supposed to rain later late afternoon.

First swim we fished under a branch of a hawthorn tree. Casting out the 2 swan shot and lump of garlic cheese paste saw the lot trundle to near side bank and sit nicely under the branch. Andrea didn’t need to wait long before the rod top bounced around and he hooked his first Thames chub. It was only a 3lber but still a great start.

Feeling pretty pleased we moved to the next swim which was very similar to the first with some branch cover. The same process of casting out and inching the bait around using the current to facilitate this. Again after a few minutes the rod top bounced and he Andrea’s strike met with resistance from a hooked chub. This one was of a similar size and he seemed surprised at how easy this fishing was.

We moved on to another swim which normally produces a better size chub. It’s a similar swim with an even larger bush with plenty of branches dangling into the river. Here you need to keep the rod low. When you get a bite the rod needs to be kept near the surface of the river so that the angle of the line is such that it’s not near the branches. Sure enough it was 3rd bite in the 3rd swim. Andrea struck in the fish the rod belted around as a good chub tried to go under the branches. Andrea was not quite quick enough to lower the rod top and after 5 seconds or so the line touched the branch and broke. So we didn’t get to see that fish.

We kept moving swims up and down the fishery. Catching the odd fish in some swims. The secret is when the tip moves that indicates a bite, move the rod top 2ft towards the fish. The chub feels no resistance and moves the bait into the mouth. You miss few chances using this process.

We returned to the spot where Andrea lost the fish after a couple of hrs of fishing elsewhere. Now he had a plan of what to do when he gets a bite. After 10 mins or so the rod tip bounced around and Andrea struck into a hard fighting chub. Being really worried about the branches he sunk the rod under the river’s surface and played the fish to within 6ft of the rod where he finally lifted the rod and played the chub like normal. It looked a decent chub. It tipped the scales at 4lbs 5oz just 1oz over his pb.

So he was delighted with this. We moved around a little more and finished the day in our final swim and landed another 3lb chub which made it 6 for the 6 hrs we fished which is good going. Must say I’m disappointed with the size of these chub. However for Andrea he was pleased with all the action of the day and compared to Italy it was great.

We returned to his car and we said our goodbyes not knowing when we will meet again. For sure we will and fish together too, that I promised him.

Must say in the sequence of the photo’s Andrea slowly lowers his protective face wear. Very very funny.