March and another 6lb chub from the H. Avon
Travelling down to H.Avon is seldom a chore especially as the mornings are now getting much lighter. Sunrise is at 7am and the glow in the eastern sky starts a good 45 mins before.
Again I was to be fishing an area which not many people fish. Although saying this a couple of the swims were brown where all the grass had been trodden away. I first fished it when there wasn’t a blade of grass touched. However some good chub had come out and it had been well fished. My preference was to just catch a few chub today. The swim choice wwas limited as there was a very strong wind blowing from the S/W and trotting would be difficult.
I started in one swim where I put a few droppers of hemp and red maggots. The chub hold out under a tree branch and roots. I had previously caught plenty of chub to 6lbs 8oz from there, although have said that I had only caught smaller ones this winter. However the aim was a chub or two so any size would have been ok.
The swim produced nothing to the feeder approach which was very disappointing. 3 hrs with none of those plucks and pulls from chub.
The wind was subsiding as it said it would as the day wore on. So out came the float rod and guess what still nothing. It’s very unusual for this as it’s a bit of a banker swim. A few phone calls indicated that it was slow going up and down the fishery.
So I had another think and headed off to another swim which had produced for me earlier in the year. The water though was a little higher (30cm) and I just couldn’t hold bottom even by adding another 20g of weight to the feeder. I think to be fair it was some of the debris coming down that pulled it out of position. It’s difficult to float fish at the moment as half way down the trot the tree branches pushes the float out from where the chub lay. So after another bit of grey matter searching I decided to head for another swim much further upstream. There was another angler who I hadn’t seen since last year fishing one of the swims I was thinking about and another one with a guest close by so I thought I would leave them to it. I prefer to give the angler and his guest a choice of most of the swims.
Eventually after trying to get a glimpse of the Great Egret one of two in the Avon valley I headed off to another swim, so choice number 3.
I arrived to see it looked perfect. The wind was in my face however the gusts were dropping in speed and at times with the sun coming through it was rather pleasant. Out went 4 droppers of hemp and 2 of red maggots. I then went for a walk while the chub moved in to feed. After 30 minutes with the rods made up I cast out the feeders. There was room for two rods.
Straight away I was getting some plucks and pulls on the quiver tip from chub lipping the maggots. This gives me so much confidence as they will eventually make a mistake and get hooked. I needn’t have worried as soon enough the rod bounced and buckled in my hand as an angry chub fought for freedom.
During the fight it found a snag that was only a small branch in midstream and I was able to pull it out. Its far from the much larger snag in midstream too.
The fight was not so dogged as the chu8b was pulling back from slackish water. I was able to land it quite close too. I didn’t get a good view as there was some colour in the river plus the wind ripple obscured my view. On lifting it out of the river I knew it was a good fish.
Chub 6lbs 2oz
I unhooked it and rested it while I got the camera and weighing stuff sorted. Sure enough a beautiful proportioned fish of 6lbs 2oz and my 12th chub over 6lbs for the season. Soon it was slipped back in a slack about 40 yds below.
It’s always a relief on not blanking as I had done the previous time. Not even a bite. Having said that the 3 other visits saw me land a 6lbs chub on each occasion.
I recast knowing that more chub would be present and sure enough the rod top nodded and twitched a few times. I missed a couple of real bites for some inexplicable reasons, this just doesn’t happen.
I recast a couple more times and sure enough the rod top nodded and then a few minutes later was pulled right down with a hooked fish. Again the fight was not as strong as hooking them in fast flowing water. It looked a good fish again and sure enough 5lbs 3oz of pristine chub was returned to the river.
5lbs 3oz
That was two in 1.5 hrs and that was looking good. As the day was progressing and I had about 1.5hrs of fishing time left I opted to bait with more hemp and maggots so out went another couple of droppers of each. Another short walk for 15mins or so had me back casting out again. My anticipation levels improved once again as the rod top nodded a few times as the chub were lipping the maggots.
The rod top pulled over again as a chub hooked itself. This time the battle last a little longer as the chub found the slight snag again in mid river. Again slight pressure had it on the move and soon enough it was in the landing net. It looked another nice chub and at 5lbs 8oz a fine chub. The camera was still setup so another photo was taken.
5lbs 8oz
The sun was going down on the horizon and I thought I might get another chance before dark. Eventually I did however this time it was a small chub of about 3lbs or so.
My hopes were still high as the light began to fade but then the dreaded minnows came along and all I could get was these little darlings. There were chub still in the swim as they were topping as they normally do as dusk approaches.
Productive end to good season on the H.Avon.
