11/03/11 - B.Avon - Lower Reybridge

Weight –11lb 11oz
Catch – 20 Roach, 6 Chub, 5 Dace, 5 Minnow, 4 Perch, 1 Gudgeon
Weather – Mild, mostly cloudy, breezy.

Work is going well at the moment with all my hard work beginning to pay dividends, with good April & May pay days to look forward to. The past 5 weeks has been really hectic and I feel shattered, so with the office monthly meeting looming, a day’s holiday was required. Our monthly meeting are fairly boring affairs with ½ hour spent talking about what people have achieved during the previous month and updates about the new computer system that’s being implemented, whilst the next 2 hours are spend listening to 2 product providers, explaining why their investment funds and/or product is best. As the At Retirement specialist in the office, the majority of the meeting is of no interest, so it’s easier to take a day’s holiday.

With the river season drawing to close on Monday (14th), I still wanted to catch a decent chub, because most of the chub I catch now are from lakes and they are long & flabby, when compared to their river cousins.

I decided to fish our club stretch of the Avon, which we share with Reybridge AC. Well I thought that was the case, but later found out this arrangement was stopped 8 years, which didn’t sound right. So that’s something to double check.

Despite 2 previous attempts I had failed to catch a decent chub and with the likihood I will be getting back to regular match fishing soon I was unsure when I would get another chance.

Tactics for the day would fish the stick with maggot or caster and the lead with bread. I don’t have the patience to sit on the lead all day, so the stick would see the most use. I had brought 1½pt caster, ½pt of hemp and ½pt of maggot, with the intention of giving them some feed and hopefully pull in a few big chub. My stick rig was a 4BB alloy stick, with an olivette bulk, 2 droppers, .11 hooklength and 18 carbon chub hook.

The first swim I chose produced very little, so after an hour I moved slightly downstream and that also produced very little. Although the river had good flow, it was a little clear, so decided to find a deeper spot. My 3rd (and final swim) produced most of my fish. The lead and bread again didn’t produce, so a switch to the stick produced small fish straight away, feeding a big pinch of caster & hemp every cast. After an hour I hooked a decent chub, but it did me in a snag. A further look on the lead & bread still failed to produce. A switch back to the stick produced a furry of small roach mostly on double maggot, I had a few on caster, but maggot was definitely best. Bites dried up a little, before I hooked another chub, this time I made sure it didn’t make the snag and when I netted it I knew I caught what I came for.

At 4lb 11oz, it was 2oz short of my PB, but it was a cracking fish. A big deep set fish with hardly a mark on it, just wish I had a camera. I had to change by hook because it had started to straighten, so chucked out the lead, whilst I tied a new hooklength. Instead of bread, decide to impale 4 maggots size 14. Just I was about to re-attach the hooklength the tip ripped round and a 1½lb chub was soon landed.

A change back to the stick and bites were drying up, I had to keep changing the depth and searching different areas of the swim, but at least I was still periodically catching. However the reason for the lack of bites showed itself. A jack pike was chasing the fish around.

As the light was fading I was feeding more heavily and decided to finish the session on the lead, whilst I packed away the stick rod. I turned my back for a split second, heard the rod being dragged off the rest. When I looked back my rod was pointing straight at the fish as it tried to drag my rod it. If it wasn’t for my reel catching on some undergrowth it would have probably succeeded. At 3lb 1oz was definitely worth it. Again it was on maggot, I suspect the chub had seen quite a bit of bread recently and I doubt they see much caster and maggot.

I won’t be doing much fishing over the next 4 weeks. Need to revise for an exam on 14th April. Know what I would rather be doing!