February and the cold continues. However some big 6lb chub.

Well the cold spell continued for longer then I wanted it to.

I had made numerous visits to the H. Avon with some success and some quite miserable days. I have been trying to open my mind further to the mystery of the river by fishing swims that I’ve not fished before. Not knowing of what lives there is what drives us fishermen to engage with the under water world. Thinking back perhaps it was a mistake to explore.

Sure enough there were some days better than others. However it seemed as though the challenging days dominated my world mostly in targeting the chub.

The maggots at times were so cold they did the impression of mannequins in the bait bucket. Stiff with cold hardly wriggling.

The evenings in good swims saw little happening although the chub could be seen cruising all be it at a low speed. I remember I caught a 5lbs 2oz chub that needed a photo that’s how bad it had become.

Often it was a single chub that made the headlines as others were not forthcoming.

Some of the sunsets were stunning unlike the catches.

The temperature of the water was up and down like the stock market in the 2008 crash more down than up!!!!. Others were not fairing much better and the weight of the chub was diminishing by 7oz per a 6lb fish.

I did fish a new swim where I thought things might indicate a good chub or two. I baited with 4 droppers of maggots and hemp. 45 mins later saw me cast out and within 5 mins the rod tip pulled bounced and sure enough a good chub was on. This caught me by surprise however it being in a big slack wasn’t cause for concern. It was duly landed and weighed at 6lbs 2oz. Feeling smug I thought there would be more however nothing came along for 4 hrs. Time for a move!

I would fish many more new swims trying to understand what was in them. It’s never easy being a pioneer sometimes it works but mostly not. Sure enough I could fish the normal swims and catch some good chub however I’m not one to keep flogging these swims and catching the same fish. I’ve had one fish 3 times this year!!!!! That enough for me.

Several places it’s me who have fish swims alone. One such place was where in October it was green grass in the swims. I didn’t catch much but it had a good feel to it. Went to revisit in December and the grass was wore to the soil as a 7lb plus chub had been caught and everyone and their dog had fished it.

The next day after I had the 6lbs 2oz chub I had a wonderful chub that was full of food and weighed 6lbs 9oz. This is where the real truth of the river comes into play, the fish had been caught at 6lbs 3 oz a while ago and then again at 6lbs 6oz a couple of weeks earlier. So perhaps they were after all putting on the weight.

It’s a funny old game as my last visit saw me fish for chub when the barbel were having it big time. DOHHHHH.

I blanked but had a stack full of minnows. I even returned to the original swim where I had the latest 6lbs 2oz chub to be beaten again by the Chevins.

I had a couple of guiding days on the river Itchen with Gareth and Tim.

Gareth I’ve guided a couple of times and has returned so I must be doing something right. He caught about 30 grayling plus trout and chub to about 3lbs. It was a fantastic day for us both.

The following day was rather special like Gareth’s day. I had given a days guiding as a prize in the Carp Societies fund raising event as a rescue fund.

Tim bid and had won the days guiding with me on the river Itchen too.

We had a wonderful day with him learning loads. I’m not going to say too much but here are the comments.

Well it’s like this, you know when you get something and it turns out so much more than expected? Yes? Well that was today.

 

You may remember that I won the auction lot for a day with Kenny Parsons, well that day was today and we went Grayling fishing on the Lower Itchen Fishery.

 

I don’t even know where to start with the praise and thanks. I’ll start with a massive thank you to Kenny. I had such a good days fishing, Kenny offered to provide all of the tackle but I decided to use my own as it meant that I could buy some new stuff, you know me !!! We met up at the fishery gates at about 7.30 am, waited for the fishery to open and then Kenny drove up the track alongside the river until we came to the area that we were to fish. From that moment on it was the best, top quality guiding that I could imagine, by lunchtime I’d had about 15 Grayling and lost about the same amount, oops! Kenny made me lunch and cups of tea and then on into the afternoon. Some rig tweaks and shotting pattern changes together with a heavier float saw us catch what can probably be described as a fish a chuck. Grayling and Trout all afternoon. (many more Grayling than Trout though) What a day, what a professional and what a great guy. All the little bits of info and help from Kenny were amazing, I think that I would have walked past most of the swims that produced the most Grayling, he was great. Thanks so much for letting me win the bidding

Thanks buddy it was fun fishing for sure.