June 17th Hampshire Avon

After a cracking June 16th and that 6lbs 15oz chub I moved to another stretch of the river. Normally there are a few chub and barbel around an island in the middle of the river. If they are not one side they are on the other side of the island.

I baited a couple of swims on the way up and a few chub came out to feed on the few pellets I had put in. Nothing huge but worth a look later. Arriving at the island there were about 7 chub in the area I wanted to fish, however the flow meant that the debris coming down in the flow would catch the line and drag the 3oz lead around easily. The debris comes from the swans feeding on the shallows above and disturbing the weed. So I fished just above them and in no time at all had them feeding on the pellets.

The rig this time was to be a 6ft length of fluorocarbon and a size 12 hook with two pellets super glued to the hair. It’s very difficult casting for sure. However if you are lowering the bait under your feet it’s a winner. The trick is to put a float stop just above the 3oz lead which keeps it all fairly together. I must admit though I managed to hang it up in the willow tree a few times. There looked to be one 6lber in the swim so hopes were high.

For the late morning and afternoon I managed to get 4 from there nothing large the biggest being 4lbs 10oz.

They became very spooky after this and it was time to pay a visit to the pre baited swims futher downstream. Here after putting in a few pellets the chub came out to play once more. I could just make them out on the gravel. I coaxed them closer by introducing some under my own bank. Soon they were feeding confidently. I lowered in the long hooklink into the water and it hardly disturbed them. I think it took all of 2 mins for the rod to hoop over and an angry chub fought for the weeds. It wasn’t a huge fish but at 4lbs 10oz it was a nice chub. It fought well in the fast flowing river and I thought at first it was much larger. Again it spooked the other chub.

The last port of call was on another part of the river that had produced some good chub last year. Sure enough I could soon see the chub come out from under the cover of the willow branches some were over 6lbs for sure however there were several under this weight as I tossed the pellets into the swim. It’s not an easy swim to fish as the current is under your feet and with the debris coming down the rods need to be high so that little line is in the river.

Again it didn’t take long for the tip to bounce over and another good chub was being played. Again not a huge fish but one of 5lbs 4oz.

Chub June 17 5lbs 2oz

So 6 chub for the day wasn’t a bad result