The Hound of the Basket Meals

At the base of Hound Tor on Dartmoor is a very upmarket food van called the Hound of the Basket Meals! I had travelled down to West Mersea in Essex hunting a very different hound to the one that reputedly haunts Dartmoor.

I was fishing out of Mersea with Scott Belbin on Galloper. This was to be my first taste of uptiding which was developed in the waters of the blackwater during the 70's. In the shallow water of the blackwater it soon became clear that catches improved when the bait was cast away from the scare zone of the boats hull. Put simply the bait is cast uptide and line let off the reel until it is coming from the tip at right angles to the position the bait was originally cast. This huge bow of line encourages the breakaway lead to grip the sea bed. Bites are indicated by the usual nodding with a decent fish tripping the wires on the lead causing the rodtip to straighten with the line dropping downtide along with the fish. It is no use striking due to the bow in the line, the response is to wind like mad until the weight of the fish is felt before striking.


As only Scott and I were fishing I set up two rods, the first an uptider rod matched to a multiplier filled with 15lb mono. The other rod was a pike rod matched to a baitrunner reel again loaded with 15lb mono. A 6oz breakaway lead was fished running above a four foot 30lb flurocarbon trace with a 4/0 vavivas big mouth hook. Bait was hermit crab the hook being passed through the mouth and then the soft body of the hermit was threaded round the bend.

Our first mark was beyond a wind farm and right from the off we were getting bites. Scott was amused by my request to photograph my first ever Lesser Spotted Dogfish (LSD). Several small smoothounds to 7lb interspersed by LSDs came to the rods. There are two species, the starry and the common smoothound, all the hounds we caught were of the starry variety. As with most creatures  labelled common, common they are not! The power of these hounds is amazing, fish of only 5-7lb taking line.

As Scott's bait bag (and lunch) had been loaded by accident into the wrong charter boat we decided to try and catch some mackerel from our second mark which was along side a wreck. It soon became clear that mackerel were thin on the ground and I was ready to give up when at last I felt the first one take, I jigged the sabiki's a couple more times before reeling in 4 mackerel.

Despite another half hours feathering no more mackerel obliged, however I did catch my first ever cod. Scott managed a slightly larger codling and a pout by baiting his feathers with a tiny slither of mackerel.Mackerel was put out on one rod in the hope of a tope or thornback ray. The pike rod went back to fishing for hounds and the day ended as it began with both of us catching hounds and dogfish.

I bet lunchless Scott would have appreciated the Hound of the Basket Meals!

Every Cloud has a Silver Lining

The weather man predicted that Sunday would see a low pressure system coming in from the west and that rain could be expected just about anywhere. Ideal conditions for a return visit to Mill Farm in Sussex to hopefully catch a specimen silver bream.

I arrived at 7am to find a cloudless sky and went round to the far bank where the water was still in shade cast by the mature trees behind. I set up in the next swim along from where I was last week with one rod float fishing the margin crucian style and the other with a roach style maggot bolt rig fished further out.

On the float line I decided to feed a pinch of mixed dampened pellet (no groundbait allowed) every ten minutes or so with a 6ml sonubaits S pellet on the hook. This light feeding I hoped would encourage the silver bream and crucians without dragging in carp.

During the course of the morning I caught mainly crucians and small silver bream on the float rod. The maggot feeder attracted mainly "pastie" carp and small silvers to around a pound along with a banana shaped male tench. I have noticed in small waters heavily stocked with carp that the tench lose condition. In contrast the crucians were in perfect condition their beauty enhanced by their buttery yellow colouration.

Then it happened, the cloud built up and it started drizzling. It was like flicking a switch, the catch rate improved for the next couple of hours. On several occasions I had two fish on at once. Quality silvers started feeding topped by fish of 1lb 13oz and 1lb 10oz to the maggot feeder.

Mid afternoon the sky cleared and the big silvers went off the feed. After having the swim completely trashed by a twelve pound common (fun on a 2lb bottom)  I decided to pack up around 6pm and start the long journey home.

I had accounted for around thirty crucians, loads of silvers mainly small, stacks of carp, one tench, one decent roach and the smallest bootlace eel it has ever been my misfortune to catch.

As the saying goes every cloud has a silver (bream) lining!

Another Grand Day Out

I decided to revisit the Grand Union Canal at Cosgrove for an evening session after the elusive ruffe. The bridge swim I fished last time was occupied so I walked downstream to a lock where I hoped ruffe and perch would be lying alongside the brickwork.

Unfortunately I had forgotten the quivertip section to my rod, so I improvised and float legered with a 2BB insert waggler and a small feeder.  Casting tight to the wall on the far bank and alternating redworm and red maggot on the hook, I had a bite most casts, mainly small perch and skimmer bream.  Although born of neccessity I am sure that I connected with a far higher percentage of bites on my "Heath Robinson" float leger than I ever would have done on the quivertip.

In the last hour I caught two decent perch with the larger just an ounce shy of two pounds. I might not be able to catch my target ruffe but I will be back during the winter and early spring after the big perch that undoubtedly reside in the Grand Union Canal.

In Search of Silver

There are two species of bream in British freshwater, the common bream and the silver bream. To confuse things further the common bream is also known as the bronze bream and the silver bream also goes by the names white or pomeranian bream.

The bronze bream is bronze and the silver bream, silver? Well, no actually the immature bronze bream is silver and in coloured water the adults can be fairly pale in colour and yet almost black in the clear water of some gravel pits. The silver bream is a rare fish in british waters and can be distinguished from its larger relative by both lateral line counts and its large eye. The pelvic and ventral fins also carry a tinge of orange.

Having experienced a cold and drizzly night after the crucians I decided to try and catch my first silver bream. A twenty mile drive from surrey down into sussex saw me arrive at a day ticket fishery Mill Farm early in the afternoon. This complex which last season produced the british record silver bream does not contain the bronze bream so each bream is the real deal. An hour or so wandering round the complex, talking to the locals saw me settle into a swim on the far bank of the mill pond giving me access to open water. Divide and conquer was my approach, so on one rod I set up a feeder rig to fish maggot big roach style, whilst the other I float fished a rod length out crucian style offering pellet or corn on the hook and feeding a few free offerings every ten minutes or so.

The next six hours were frenetic as I was constantly in action catching silver bream in the 12oz class on both approaches, and loads of small carp which just wouldn't leave the maggots alone! The sensitive float tackle also brought me four pristine crucians to just under two pounds. I also missed loads of bites on the feeder rig. The overcast, drizzly weather was perfect for breaming and my final silver was also my biggest at 1lb 2oz. The sun also came out turning the lake surface silver, not bronze in the late evening light.

In Search of Gold

Marsh Farm is currently the premier big crucian fishery in the UK with three pound plus fish being caught most days during the warmer months. The fishery record currently stands at 4lb 4oz. The Marsh Farm complex was developed through lottery funding and is a commercial day ticket fishery run by Godalming Angling Club. The big Crucians were originally stocked from the adjacent Johnsons Fishery. Godalming Angling Club is an all too rare example of a progressive club which actively encourages youngsters to get into fishing through its regular coaching sessions. 

I must confess that Marsh Farm has become one of my favourite fisheries in recent seasons and I look forward to my handful of visits each season. It was nearly dark when I arrived (the curse of the M25) and I was surprised to find only one other angler on Harris lake. 

lthough some anglers choose to catch crucian carp on bolt rigs real crucian fishing is all about float fishing, and as

I would be fishing in the edge alongside the marginal reeds in about two foot of water I set up a 2BB Drennan Insert Waggler. This would enable me to swop the insert for a mini starlight after dark.

Four walnut sized balls of groundbait laced with mini pellets were thrown around the float initially, to be topped up by a further ball every twenty minutes thereafter. I baited up with garlic flavoured meat on a size 18 hook to a copolymer hooklength. 

Before long the float started dancing as crucians picked amongst the groundbait. I imagined them tightly huddled together occasionally brushing against the line. I am sure that no other fish feeds as delicately as the crucian and this explains why so many bites are missed. Every session is diferent, sometimes you need to strike at the slightest movement of the float tand another time you might have to count to three after the float has submerged to connect, frustrating but fun! 

By three o'clock the float was dancing around the swim without any help from the crucians and it was time to reel in and get a couple of hours sleep before dawn. As is usual on here most of the activity comes in the first few hours after dark, by the time I packed up at 8am I had accounted for eight crucians including a couple of three's, the largest 3lb 2oz. I fed some corn to Eric (the Egyptian Goose in the photo) before leaving.

A Grand Day Out

The building of the Grand Union Canal was first authorised by an act of parliament in 1793, and linked London and Birmingham.

My target today was a ruffe also known as the pope. This mini species is a member of the perch family and research had revealed that ruffe could be found in the canal at Cosgrove.

Mr Crabtree didn't provide any advice on locating daddy ruffe so I sought out the bridges and locks around Cosgrove before setling on a bridge where the canal narrowed.

The gothic style bridge was built in the 1790's at the insistence of the local landowner (the biggins family) and is one of only two ornamental bridges over the canal. Sitting just above the bridge I could cast a small feeder right under the bridge tight in to the bank where I hoped that perch and ruffe were lying.

The first canal boat was not long in coming and neither was my first bite, a small perch. Over the next hour several more canal boats came through the bridge, surprisingly this did not appear to have any detrimental effect on sport and most casts saw the quivertip pull round and the tally of small perch grew. A small bream of perhaps a couple of pounds followed, the first of five skimmer bream. Occasionally I switched from maggot to half a worm which made no difference to the number of bites although the skimmer bream seemed to prefer worm.

A couple of decent perch the largest 1lb 9oz came amongst the smaller fish. Normally in coloured water perch lack the bold stripes and strong colouring of those in clear waters and the colours are washed out but these canal fish defied the norm. A couple of palm sized rudd as the light was fading completed what had been a grand day out.

Cool for Cats

This time last year the catfish at Anglers Paradise switched on and a number of big fish were caught. Although the weather over the last few months has been colder than average I decided to risk a couple of nights after a catfish.

Easy Access Lake Monday 5th April 2010

I decided to spend my first night after catfish on Easy Access Lake which a few weeks earlier had produced a fish of 45lb to an angler fishing maggots. With a brisk westerly wind blowing into one end of the lake it was likely that carp, tench and orfe would follow the wind and the catfish would follow the food fish.

I decided to fish a 21ml halibut pellet below a method feeder containing scalded pellets and maggots mixed in with some tinned tuna. One rod was fished off an island and the other in open water. Unfortunately only a couple of single figure carp before midnight (one mirror and one common) rewarded my efforts.

Octopussy Lake Tuesday 6th April 2010


A change of venue saw my fishing another lake, octopussy named after the shape of the island in the middle of the lake. Fishing just off the two points of the island in front of me I hoped to intercept fish coming into my bay.

Before midnight I had three runs resulting in a mirror carp of 10lb 1oz and a common carp of 14lb 7oz. Unfortunately on the third run the bobbin tangled and the slack line given to untangle the bobbin resulted in the fish coming adrift.

In the end I decided it really was too cool for cats.

Return to Boyhood

 Every angler should take a break from pursuing monsters and return to boyhood and spend a day float fishing an overstocked little pond where it's a bite a chuck.

At Anglers Paradise the float lake is one such water and Zyg has stocked this lake with a wide variety of ornamental species. I decided to spend a couple of hours float fishing for whatever came along. 

I picked a swim with seven foot of water just off the rod tip next to some reeds. The rules stipulate a minimum beaking strain of 4lb and size 14 hook so I set up a 2BB Insert Waggler with an olivette just above the hooklength and size 10 dropper shot to try and get the hookbait down to the better quality fish.

I decided to fish crucian style initially feeding four walnut sized balls of swim stim groundbait loaded with 3ml pellets, topping up the swim with another ball every twenty minutes or so.

Fishing three maggots it was a bite a cast and often the bait was taken on the drop by a golden rudd. Personally I found golden rudd rather odd looking fish. When the bait got down through the rudd, blue orfe, golden tench, goldfish in all colours, koi and ghost carp responded. A change to a small cube of luncheon meat improved the average size and goldfish in particular responded to this bait.

For many years wild coloured goldfish were sold by unscrupulous fish farmers as crucian carp and stocked into so many fisheries that the true crucians have become quite rare. No such pretence here with golfish being found in all colours and shapes from wild coloured goldlfish to vivid orange fantails. Interestingly goldfish like their cousins the crucian carp are infuriating in that many bites are missed.

 I enjoyed my return to boyhood so much that I did it all again on the last day of the holiday

A Red Letter Day in Paradise

 Zyg Gregorek started off as a fish farmer breeding exotic fish for the aquatic trade so it is no surprise to find these stocked into the lakes at Anglers Paradise.

Most of the anglers visiting Anglers Paradise concentrate on carp fishing, I find this difficult to understand as carp are now the most widely stocked fish in Britain. I like to fish for the specimen Golden Orfe that this complex is famous for and the Specimen Orfe and Tench lake is my favourite of Zyg's lakes.

Originating from Scandanavia orfe are reliable feeders in the cold water of early spring. It is a shame that more waters don't stock orfe as they would provide good sport during the colder months.

Classic tactics are spraying maggots under the float when they are in the mood to come up in the water.

However, this early in the year I felt that the feeder was the way to go so I set up a couple of barbel rods with 4 inch hooklengths between two float stops on a helicopter rig. One rubber maggot and two red maggots balanced the size 14 animal hook. Drennan's 30 gram feederbombs are perfect for any stillwater maggot feeder application.

The day was mild and overcast, the sun never quite breaking through, in other words a perfect fishing day.

Recasting every twenty minutes into a small bay I had bites throughout the day, most of which I connected with.

By the end of the day I had accounted for twelve golden orfe to 5lb, three blue orfe to 6lb 3oz and a couple of golden tench including a new personal best at 6lb 13oz. A red letter day indeed!

Floundering!

Just in case this blog makes me look vaguely successful my plans don't always work out.

Floundering in Poole Harbour

During my holiday I had decided to try and catch a big flounder from Poole Harbour which is famous for specimen flounder producing fish to over 4lb most years. It is also possible to fish with carp tackle rather than traditional beachcasting gear which appeals to my sport-fishing tendencies. I fished two sessions, the first on a night tide and the second on a daytime tide and on both occasions my ragworm baits remained untouched.

It was not until I visited the Wessex Angling Centre later in my holiday that I found out that the flounders arrive in September, the fishing peaks in December and January and by mid February they migrate to deeper water to spawn. Not surprisingly I blanked both times!

I wouldn't have missed the first visit however as the night drive back along studland was a real wildlife safari, I saw a badger, a fox, a tawny owl, several groups of sika deer and loads of rabbits. Maybe it was the bright moonlight that brought them all out to play?

Stour Chubbing

Once the Dorset Stour had fined down and some clarity had returned to the river I decided to spend a day chubbing on a free stretch, not suprisingly I opted to fish the swim that produced my personal best of 7lb 1oz (see photo) this time last year. Several hours and pints of maggots later I had acounted for just a minnow and a bullhead!

Boat Fishing off Weymouth

The last day of my holiday saw me joining a party of 6 anglers on board Flamer III out of Weymouth. We fished five marks during the day (banks and reefs) with  squid and mackerel cocktails on a pennell rig targetting Blonde Rays, Conger Eels, Bullhuss and other big fish. Colin Penny, the skipper is one of the UKs top charter skippers and in fifteen years has only ever experienced two completely blank days. This was almost the third the boat blank being saved by a single lesser spotted dogfish to one of the other anglers.

A brace of two's

The River Frome at Wareham is famous for big roach having produced several in excess of three pounds in recent years. This stretch of river is tidal and is particularly unusual in that it has four high tides a day, something to do with the position of Poole Harbour in relation to that of the Isle of Wight.

At last some cloud cover, although still cold I decided to try for a big roach with the possibility of a sea trout for the species hunt. Luckily the river was back within it's banks, heavy rains at the start of my holiday combined with a spring tide meant that the water had been in the car park.

There were a number of anglers already fishing so I opted for the far end of the quay. I arrived at 1pm with the first high tide expected at 3.42pm. There was a distinct crease with a slacker area downstream of me on the inside.

I set up a pair of light quivertip rods to fish blockend feeders. A couple of maggots on a size 18 hook to a 3lb co-polymer hooklength completed the rig.

Before I had even cast out my second rod my inside rod was away. I am always nervous playing big roach as they have a tendency to come off! Like many roach this fish which weighed 2lb 1oz showed evidence of an earlier encounter with a cormorant. Just after 3pm the quivertip on the outside rod pulled round and again I felt the distinct nodding of a big roach. This one went 2lb 2oz on the scales, only the second time I have caught a brace of two pound roach in a single session.

I must take this opportunity to recommend two new drennan products that I have been using recently. Firstly the new vari-weight blockend feeders which are flattened at the bottom and enable you to balance the feeder to the flow, just perfect for river fishing. I can also recommend the new drennan red maggot hooks to nylon which are tied  to a co-polymer line, these offer great presentation and I particularly like the fact that the hooks are fairly fine in the wire and have fish friendly micro-barbs.

Although I fished until half past eight I only added a salmon parr and a decent dace to the bag.

I returned the following day, however the bright sunshine was back. I fished for several hours and blanked.

A date with Colin!

Lyle Stantiford is the youngest skipper in the Weymouth Charter Fleet and has recently taken charge of Supernova, a catamaran.

We sailed from Weymouth out into the English Channel and then westwards, a journey time of two hours with a distance covered of 30 miles. An interesting fact I discovered is that land disappears after 14 miles due to the curvature of the earth. We were in search of pollack from the wrecks, most of which date from the second world war and which lay in two hundred feet of water.

Pollack are a member of the cod family and renowned as a sporting fish. Twenty pound class tackle is used with an eight foot 30lb fluorocarbon trace and either a shad, jellyworm, redgill or sidewinder lure at the sharp end. To avoid tangles a boom is used carrying a 10oz lead to a rotten bottom. You do lose tackle in the wreckage so keep it simple.

The skipper aims to drift the boat downtide over the wreck motoring back to the start of the drift once the wreck has been covered. On the skippers instruction you lower your lure down to the bottom before retrieving steadily for 40 turns, lowering back down and starting again. When a pollack takes you feel a series of taps, do not strike, keep retrieving at the same speed until the pollack dives for the wreck and hooks itself. At the end of each drift you pull out whilst the skipper repositions the boat. By changing the lure type, size, colour and the speed of retrieve you hope to find the magic combination.

Lyle tried desperately hard to put us on pollack, moving between six wrecks during the course of the day. On wreck two I took a small pollack of around two or three pounds on a six inch black and red tail sidewinder eel fished slowly. The third wreck produced a lovely pollack of 11lb (precise weighing is difficult on a rocking boat) to the same tactics. The fifth wreck produced another slightly smaller pollack to a fast retrieve on Lyles advice. Between the eight of us we accounted for five pollack which was I am told a poor day.

The marketing people are promoting pollack as a sustainable eating fish, renaming the fish "colin". I can vouch that pollack are good eating, one fillet from my eleven pounder provided three meals.

Testing times

I sometimes wish this winter would just end! Temperatures are once again below normal (max 6 degrees) with hard frosts followed by bright days with a chilly north easterly winds, hardly conducive to good sport.

I decided to visit the River Test at Timsbury, where  three miles of main river and carriers are available on a day ticket. As this was my first visit I planned to travel light and explore the  fishery hoping for some decent grayling and maybe a bonus sea trout for the species hunt.

The Test normally runs clear but today the water had a distinct green tinge to it. By late afternoon I had walked the entire fishery and along with the other anglers present struggled talking a 3lb 5oz chub, a couple of brown trout and  a small grayling on my trotted maggots. One angler fishing the block-end feeder managed a number of fish including a magnificent 7lb sea trout.

I had learnt a lot from my maiden visit to the River Test and booked a return visit on Thursday.

On Thursday once again I had to de-ice the car before setting off for Timsbury. I decided to set out my stall for a sea trout and fished the swim that produced the big sea trout earlier in the week. I set up two light quivertip rods with the new Drennan vari-weight block end feeders and two foot fluorocarbon hooklengths to a size 14 barbless hook. I planned to draw fish to me. One rod was fished about a rod length out well downstream and the other slightly further out. Despite the bright sunshine during the morning I had half a dozen small grayling and a couple of brown trout to about four pounds. Then it went dead until late afternoon where in a five minute spell I missed three bites. It must have been a difficult day because everyone else had gone home. These were indeed testing times, however I was lucky enough to see a water rail emerge from the bankside reeds, these are extremely shy birds!

Captain Parker and the Millers Thumb

Captain LA Parker was one of the most famous anglers of the first half of the 20th Century. "Skipper" as he was known took over and ran the Bull Hotel in Downton which became a place of pilgrimage for many anglers. By a strange quirk of fate I found myself renting a holiday cottage in Downton from Len and Eileen Parker, Len is "Skippers" son.

Captain Parker's book "This Fishing" published in 1948 is well worth a read and the chapter relating to water temperatures and fishing prospects was well ahead of its time, I will certainly be carrying a thermometer in future.

Unfortunately my arrival in Downton coincided with heavy rain which meant that apart from the Hampshire Avon the Wessex rivers were unfishable. The Hampshire Avon being a chalk stream holds its water better than most rivers and although bank high was still running clear.

I opted for a day after the dace on the London Angling Association stretch at Britford. Although the carriers are renowned for big roach the better dace are on the main river, so I headed for a favourite spot on the main river where big dace normally congregate prior to spawning. Although the water was tanking through there was a slacker area on the far bank that I could trot. After a couple of hours I realised that the dace were not at home and only managed a couple of chub in the two pound class.

After fishing a couple of swims without success Stuart the river keeper put me right and directed me to a weirpool where only half the gates had been lifted leaving an eddying area of slack water on the inside. Trotting this swim was a bit strange as the float went round the swim in an elongated oval, one minute the avon float was going fast downstream and then slowly returned towards me. I missed a number of bites as tackle control was tricky but soon managed a couple of dace, some minnows and a roach of around twelve ounces.

It was one of those swims that was more efficiently tackled on the feeder so relunctantly I set up a light quivertipping outfit with a small blockend feeder. My catch rate improved and I added several more dace to 7oz, four brown trout, yet more minnows and a bullhead.

The bulhead is an unusual capture on rod and line and is also known as the Millers Thumb, its flattened shape said to resemble the thumb of a miller splayed from testing flour.

The last couple of hours were reserved for roaching and I fancied a slow swim on a carrier just above another weirpool. A couple of handfuls of mashed bread were thrown in to prime the swim. I fished a piece of breadflake on a size 10 hook to an 18 inch hook-length below a cage feeder. I missed the first bite and had to wait until after dark for the quivertip to pull round again, unfortunately the culprit was not the expected big roach but a chub in the three pound class.

The river had risen a couple of inches in the last hour and with further rain overnight the Avon was in the fields the following day.

One almighty stretch!

Another week of below average temperatures meant that my planned river perching session would have to wait. Instead I opted to go chub fishing on the Welland, revisiting the stretch I fished last week. The river had fined down nicely and carried a greenish tinge with the bottom visible in eighteen inches of water, perfect.

 My approach to small rivers is simple, I fish each likely spot for about twenty minutes before moving onto the next swim. Although many anglers recommend baiting half a dozen swims before fishing, I prefer to introduce the hook bait only as I feel that this approach offers a better chance of catching the largest chub in the group.

During the course of the day I had three chub to 4lb 6oz, although I could easily have had a couple more! Just before dusk I decided to fish a tree lined eddy where I hoped that a perch might be in residence. There was just enough room to poke a rod through the branches and flick a lobworm just off the crease (the junction between the flow and slacker water). After five minutes the bobbin moved steadily up to the rod and a controlled strike connected. I soon saw the broad flank of a decent river bream on the surface, however due to overhead branches I struggled to get the fish within reach of my net. With one last almighty stretch a large river bream, which weighed 6lb 12oz finally came over the net.

Lovely chubbly!

The last couple of months of the river season are the best for catching big chub. For twenty years chub fishing on my local river Welland was the mainstay of my winter fishing programme.  In recent years my chub fishing has been carried out during occasional visits to the Dorset Stour where I have been lucky enough to catch chub in excess of seven pounds and my local river has been neglected.

It was time to make amends, although when I set eyes on a brown, foamy river with visibility limited to a couple of inches I nearly went straight home. I spent a hopeless couple of hours on the first stretch before deciding to move several miles downstream, where a tributary would, I hoped, be fishable. On this stretch the water level had dropped several feet meaning that the chub would no longer be in the feeder stream. At least the flow was more manageable so I decided to make the best of it and search out the slacks. The stretch was always prolific although my best from it was only 4lb 9oz and only a handful of fours came my way (remember that).

I have to admit I was not feeling confident as chub and coloured water do not go together. In years gone by I would switch to roach fishing in these conditions, but nowadays I am more likely to locate rocking horse droppings than I am to locate a big roach on the welland.

Not having the benefit of summer observation I would have to rely on watercraft, luckily there were plenty of features to fish to, rafts, small slacks, deep bends and confluences. By staying mobile and moving swims every twenty minutes it meant that a lot of swims could be covered during the course of the afternoon. Chub tackle is best kept simple so I was equipped with a quivertip rod matched to a small fixed spool reel loaded with 6lb line. The end rig consisted of a swan shot or two pinched around eighteen inches from the hook and my bait in these conditions would be two lobworms on a size 6 hook. Where the current allows I like to use a washing up liquid bottle top as a bobbin.

The afternoon passed by quietly with two chub in the two pound class being hooked in slacks, the second dropping off at the net.

A large raft on the other bank could not be ignored especially as a crease meant that the flow was on the inside bank and the far side was slack. In coloured water chub often retreat into the slacker water away from the crease, maybe the suspended mud in the water irritates their gills, so I flicked over the bait and raised the rod high to avoid catching the line in the flow. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a large dark brown creature run along the waterline, it seemed too big for a mink, an otter maybe? Before I could look at it properly the rodtip banged over and my strike saw both the creature disappear and the rod hoop right over as a big fish headed for the tree roots. After some hairy moments at full stretch guiding the chub past some marginal reeds she was finally netted. I noticed that the chub was the same size as my landing net, twenty two inches and although hollow I felt she would probably go over five pounds.

The scales confirmed five pounds exactly and my biggest ever from this stretch. "Lovely chubbly"