Last Throw of the Dice.

 For much of the season chub and barbel haven't featured much owing to my non-angling commitments and a winter targeting predators, so with no pressure on myself to catch I went walk-about, no plans to catch anything big, just to wet a net. First port of call was back to the carp shoal I'd found the day before but with the heavy rains the day before the chance of stalking anything had gone as even this reach of the river had been affected.

 Plan B was to be visited instead to salvage a little something from the day, this was to head on to another river and try for chub, the wind was a challenge in itself as I struggled to present a bait properly. As I begun it was clear to me that it was going to be a tough day, I hadn't even had a bite yet! For probably half an hour I smashed up loads of bread crust and allowed the flow to wash it along the run I decided to trot. With plenty of knowledge of this particular area I moved the float up and down to get the bait in the right areas of the run as a few snags had caught up on the gravel bar alongside a treeline on the opposite bank, this made for tricky fishing combined with the wind.

 For the next hour I continued to work my bread flake along the far bank before I got that all important dip of the float, "a fish at last" I said to myself as my 15ft Greys Toreon bent double. At no point in my visits here in the past had I struggled so badly, not sure entirely why but a fish was finally on its way into the net. Chub number one safely in the folds of my net. I hoped that would be the beginning of a frantic session having endured 90 minutes roughly of no action.

 3lb 8oz roughly, not big but a start and to be fair I was doubting my chances, even the thought of moving had already crossed my mind before the float went under with that one. It took another 45 mins for me to finally realise that the fish either weren't feeding much or they simply weren't there so I packed up and headed elsewhere. Plan C it was then.

 Another car journey and this time I decided just to chill and have a wander, swapping from trotting to rolling. I joined up with Brian for a few hours as he searched for his 100th barbel. For me as I said previously there was no pressure on the last day and just went out to enjoy it, unfortunately the previous two plans went down like a lead balloon so I had hopes for this third and final shot at success. Barbel haven't featured much for me this season which I will put right next season and having targeting them so little this season I fancied a go at one on what was a very good day (in terms of conditions) to be stalking fish and after a bit of toeing and throwing I managed to get a healthy bend in the cane.

 The sound of the Match Aerial' clutch paying line off is a great feeling and once I had extricated said barbel from the undergrowth the fight lasted all but a minute, not that I cared, a perfect example of a plump winter fish.

A beautiful stalked winter barbel.

 Chuffed as you would imagine with that peach we headed off in search of Brian' target where he came up trumps in fine fashion, myself? well I continued to look for fish and having known about a small shoal of chub hanging around an overhanging tree for about a week before this trip I decided to give it a go and wasn't disappointed at all!

 First cast wasn't particularly good but the second made up for that as it hit the spot required to get a clear run through the area the chub were holding. Just five yards or so into their lair and I felt a decisive pluck on my finger tip which was followed immediately by a wrenching pull on the rod, one of those barbel have grabbed it I thought to myself. However within just a few seconds a large chub battled its way along the outskirts of the tree and showed itself to us both and we knew it was a big one for this river, A certain "Five Pounder"! With the chub now clear of the snags yet really trying to get back in I could enjoy the battle a little more. This fish wasn't about to illustrate how good they can be at escape, determined to slip the net under it I applied a little more pressure to make sure no last moment dashes for cover were made and with my ever faithful ghillie poised to net her, one last thrash was ended as she slipped into the net. Job done, I was pleased with that.

My prize awaiting its 5 star photoshoot!

The shape all Chub should be !

Very pleased with that!

 That Chub was my last fish of the 2018/19 river season and it has been great even with the limited time available, my blogging in turn has taken a back seat too but I'll hope to continue writing frequently as my "100lb challenge" continues into the early Summer.