Hampshire Avon for a few hours and a 6lb 6oz chub

With all the rain we had on Sunday I was apprehensive about the state of H. Avon. I was due to be spending a 4 day period on holiday near Ringwood. On my way down I peered over the bridge at Woodgreen and saw the river dirty and high. Higher than I had seen it for a while.

As I drove down through the valley the fields surrounding the river were flooded in places and I could see where the banks had been breached  by the flow. It should have fished better for barbel than chub, but I had made my mind up, chub it was.

The weather had improved considerably on the Monday and gave a very sharp frost for the Tuesday morning.

You could see and smell that autumn was slowly creeping across the countryside. The leaf colour and dew drenched grass at dawn were just a couple of the signs.

My first job was to talk to Andy in Avon Angling in Ringwood, he said it wasn’t looking too good and that it was cold too. So I took 3 pints of maggots off his hands early in the afternoon and went to an area I wanted to fish. As I waded towards the river across the fields I couldn’t get to where I wanted to fish because of the flooding. However I had a plan of looking at another area close by. Everything looked good but after 2 hours of trotting the maggots through nothing came my way.

The next day was a repeat performance, however the river had dropped 6 inches which allowed me easier access to the river. There was also another angler in the swim I wanted to fish, and he remained fish-less as I did for the afternoon. Although I did see plenty of chub crashing around in his swim. I couldn’t wait for tomorrow to come.

The next day I set off for a couple of hours fishing on the final day full of confidence. The river had dropped even more and cleared. Out went the maggots and the float and after 30 minutes the float dipped and I hooked a chub, all 4 inches of it.

The continual feeding and casting is essential in keeping the chub looking out for food. Another 30 minutes passed and the float disappeared in the right area. I struck and found that typical thump thump from a good chub trying to get into the snags. Bending the rod and pulling hard to stop it from achieving it’s aim. I needed to be careful as 3lb line and size 18 hook leaves little leeway but once they come out into midstream the job is as good as done.

This one was battling in the extra water and flow, however soon it was in the net. I knew it was a good chub and sure enough on the scales it went 6lbs 6oz.

I guess in total over 3 days I fished for about 5 hours but with conditions against me I was pleased with the result. Can’t wait to get back again not only to sample the delights of the fishing but the warm log fires and food that most of the pubs have at night.

6lbs 6oz chub Nov 2012