Another 6lb chub from the H.Avon

I had an opportunity to fish the H.Avon for a few hrs over the weekend. The river had been up and coloured but was now dropping back in height and clearing. There was still plenty of weed coming down in the flow which with other debris can be a pain. The weather though was warm 16c with some sunshine. The wind was too strong for one thing and blowing downstream which meant float fishing was impossible. So setting up with a ledger rod I cast out across the river towards some slacker water on the far side close to some willow branches.

The rod tips were burred under the surface by some margin as the floating weed would pickup on the line if it wasn’t. Starting at 3pm I was using a boilie ( Pandemic ) approach with some free offerings held in a PVA stocking web. I was to cast out every 30 minutes or so as there was still plenty of debris catching on the line. I fished the swim for 2 hrs with only a couple of rattles on the line which I think were chub. No hookups were forthcoming though. The weed and debris accumulation seemed to be getting much worst on the line. So a move was needed.

I only moved about 400m away to a slacker area of water and one where I had seen some barbel and chub earlier in September. However 4 weeks had past since I had seen them last so who knows whether they could be present. I used the same boilie approach casting over to a slacker part of the river. The main current was right under my own bank. I was using a 3oz lead with a 1.5oz back lead to hold everything on the bottom. Nothing much happened for the first hour. Then I had a couple of plucks and pulls that were encouraging as it meant some chub were present. I was still casting out every 30 mins or so as weed continued to build up on the line.

Then it happened the rod bucked a couple of times in the rest and I was on it in a flash. I lifted into the already hooked chub. It’s first move was to try and seek the sanctuary of the far side willow branches. However with the 10 lb line is was soon dissuaded from that. I pulled it into mid stream where it tried to bury into the weed. I couldn’t see the weed as the clarity of the river was still insufficient. In it went and I moved downstream to apply plenty of pressure pulling the fish out of the weed. The extra water in the river meant the chub fought hard. I attempted to keep it well up to the surface of the river to avoid the fish finding the weed again. The net was stationed about 40m down the bank so I guided the chub down and netted it. It looked a long fish and decided it was a high 5lber.

While the fish rested in some slack water in the net I got on with the normal process of getting the camera and scales ready. On the scales I was well pleased with a 6lbs 3oz chub. That’s the 8th over 6lbs this year.

Once I had the photos and returned the fish dusk was developing. I had one more cast left before it got too dark. Needless to say that was it for the 4 hours fishing. But I can’t complain.

The following day I headed downstream to another area where I float fished with maggots for about the same period of time. This produced 3 chub with the largest going about 4lbs 8oz. I don’t think the bigger chub have moved into the swim yet believing more floods and removal of the dying weed will soon have them moving into the area. The best bit of news was that no minnow were having a go at the maggots.