Another 6lb plus chub including some others
September had been unusually warm and so was the start of October. Having said that we had a few frosts in the mornings which cooled a day or so down. Little or no rain fell during the period. The weed was dying back and so there was little of it to hold the flow back and so the river continued to drop. The trees leaves were starting to turn early this year and fall off.
I fished the H. Avon for chub and with the river running crystal clear you can monitor the chubs every moment. I put some pellets out into a couple of swims. Nothing came out in one swim after 30 mins so I moved to another swim and one that normally produces a dozen chub and 4 barbel normally come out onto the pellets. This time I stayed for 1 hr and nothing came out. Andy Little came along and was staggered to see nothing come out onto the bait. Well I say nothing one solitary chub would poke it’s head from under the tree feed a little then retreat again.
Andy did tell me though that the swim I had fed before had about 6 chub feeding plus 2 barbel on the pellets I had thrown in. So with nothing happening I decided to retrace my steps back to that swim. Sure enough there were the chub feeding away, with a couple of real lumps in there. Only one barbel came out to play and was about 7lbs or so.
I threw in a handful of pellets and sure enough the chub were in a feeding frenzy chasing the pellets as they dropped to the river bed. Andy said goodbye as he went off in search of some barbel.
I was not in a hurry to cast out. Slowly changing the hooklink to a 5ft fluorocarbon one and a size 12 hook, I super glued 2 pellets together with a small bag of pellets on the hook I cast the 3oz lead into a spot just behind some weed where the chub were feeding.
The chub were cautious of the line and bait. However I saw one chub come up to the bait and then bolt off hooked. The rod arched over as the chub tried to gain the sanctuary of the tree branches however the 10lb line held strong. I guided the fish downstream to net it. It got tangled in some mid stream weed a couple of times and I had to pull reasonably hard to recover the situation. I was pleased of the 10lb line I had on the reel. I was worried though about the size 12 hook pulling out as it looked a reasonable chub.
Slowly she came downstream and into the net. It looked a scale perfect chub and a big one at that. I rested the fish while I gathered all the camera phone stuff and set everything up. On the scales it went 6lbs 2oz so what a fish.
6lbs 2oz chub
So one cast and a great chub after 10 mins. So that was the morning gone
Mrs P was expecting me home for lunch so what a start to the day. Andy (you should have been here yesterday) Cowley was fishing on another part of the river so I said I would wander along after lunch for a chat.
I arrived after a lovely lunch and met Pete Reading in the Aquarium swim. He was fishing downstream but hadn’t caught anything. The pellets I had thrown in had already attracted a few chub. So after a 15 min chat with Pete it was time to go and find Andy.
I arrived just in time to land a 4lb plus chub for him. He was float fishing and had caught a few chub plus loads of minnows. He had caught about 4 chub. I shared the normal snickers bar with him while we shared the joys of watching the chub taking all the maggots that he threw out other than the ones on the hook. Its so frustrating seeing this. He couldn’t use lighter lines as the weed growth was still evident in the swim and he had lost a couple of chub in there already.
Having seen enough I headed back to the swim where I had put some pellets and peaking over the bank side weed I saw 6 chub feeding well on the pellets. I used the same rig that I caught the 6lb 2oz chub on.
Casting out the chub scattered into the tree branches. Very quickly though they returned and started to feed. Within 5 mins the rod bounced in the rest and a chub was taking line from the spool. It tired to reach the tree branches however the power of the rod and line held it short of the snags. Again I manoeuvred the chub downstream where it weeded itself for a while just prior to netting it. Once in the net it looked a good size and proved to be so at 5lbs 8oz.
It looked so well proportioned that I asked Andy to photograph it for me.
5lbs 8oz chub
I just couldn’t believe it I had my bait in 2 swims for 15 mins and had two good fish. It’s just unbelievable how spotting fish is so important when fishing the Avon in these low water conditions.
After returning the chub I saw 6 others feeding in the swim on the pellets. So I had a decision to make, fish for these or return to the swim I fished before lunch. I decided on the later as there is a big chub in that swim. I phoned Andy and suggested he fish the swim I was vacating.
Returning to the first swim it didn’t take long before the chub returned to feed on the pellets. Carefully casting out into the area again the chub disappeared but were back within a few minutes. I had to wait 30 mins for the first chub to make a mistake. It wasn’t a big fish probably a 4lb plus chub.
Like a gold fish
It was moving towards early evening now and I had another hour or so to fish. I cast again it’s so difficult with such a long hooklink. It landed just right.
Again the chub came out and moved around the swim but not feeding. I think they are feeling for line. After 30 mins it was like a switch was turned on as they all started to feed and another good chub made a mistake. The fight was fantastic and in the net I thought I had another 6lber. However the scales told me it was 5lbs 14oz. A easily recognisable chub take a look at the tail.
5lbs 14oz chub
By the time I had taken the photo and cast out again I only had about 20 mins of light left. I have found that once it’s dark the chub are reluctant to feed and stay in mid water. They can be caught on cheese paste though during darkness so it might be sight fishing that does the trick.
So 4 chub for the day was a great day one 6lber and 2 5lbers is brilliant.
Happy days
