In Search of Monster Chub: Part Nine.

 This searching for monster Chub has not been easy, as location, timing and bait selection/execution has to be perfect to tempt such greedy fish. I wonder sometimes just how many big Chub I passed over the past twelve months, what with a couple of donkey's seen during the summer soaking up the sun as they watched my 6mm pellets flutter through the water column I feel I've been close, almost close enough to touch them.

The gear all set, no centrepin for this trip, 80 yard retrieves are hard work!.

 So having managed some more time on the bank the hunt was very much back on. During the week I blitzed a few loaves of bread so I could lace my intended swims to try and get positive feeding spells where I could possibly wangle one or two out. Arriving on the river the conditions were bang on, arguably the best I've seen it all season, all I had to do was catch and it would be complete.....

 Funnily enough my day didn't start with Chub!, as strange as that sounds bearing in mind that the prime target I found myself trying to catch some livebait with one eye on dunking a Dace in a number of very Pikey looking holding areas, by lunchtime I gave up on the idea and took a Savage Gear 20cm line-through "Rainbow Trout", a few chucks around before a solid thump was sent reverberating through the rod, it didn't take long but unfortunately nor did the fight as a young Pike of 5lb+ eased into the net, not bad but it's Grandmother was the target.

 Proceeding's after the first half of the day were slow going so a change of venue was made, a change that did reap rewards, just not big ones as I'd hoped but target species found so it made me feel confident others were present, four Chub came to the net in a very short spell and a solitary Roach with the best Chub weighing just under 4lb.

 That aforementioned confidence by 8pm had waned somewhat and I ended up texting Brian who was downstream that we should bang it on the head for our digs for the night, whilst in the pub we formulated a vague plan that we'd hope give us a chance.

 Another change of scenery meant that we had given ourselves a good chance to locate some feeding Chub, I headed off to a run where I know good heads of fish reside and got straight to feeding the swim with crumb for over twenty minutes before trotting, I decided to stick with the crumb as I always feel strongly that if there is some colour in the water, which there was, the Chub will feed on it, the float continued on down the run time and time again with a dip then all of a sudden half hour into the fishing the float slipped under and a weighty fish played out a good fight mid-river, for a couple of minutes I didn't know what I was playing until it approached the net, as it rolled over and fought a little more I got a full sighting of the fish I was connected to, a thick set Chub possibly over six pound, having played it quite calmly anyway I just let it do what it wanted within reason, then out of nowhere my hooklink inexplicably parted just above the hook, I was furious to say the least and had to clear the air before replacing the hook-length.

 Nearly two hours it took to get another chance, that chance did come in the form of a long lean Chub of 4.09, not a monster but certainly good to see one on the bank but the rest of the day passed by with only the occasional twitch on the tip, a trip that highlighted everything current about most of the rivers I target, they're proving hard to crack. I must continue.

A long lean Chub, so much room to fill out.

Bold Biters!

 It's a scenario that I'm not often faced with but as I'm getting slightly older I feel the cold a lot more now than I used to, so much so that on Sunday I decided to venture out ( with Roach and Chub in mind ) and felt the freezing temperature I thought about calling it off and jump back into bed, five - ten years ago it wouldn't have even crossed my mind to bail out on a session. However there is still a little part of me that has no regard for the conditions and just wants to get out fishing.

On a cold day I never overlook bread.

 Once I had overcome the frozen extremities I finally got myself into gear and decided to start on the float, the river itself was carrying plenty of colour and was certain that this would give me a good chance at some Chub but the Roach I thought would be a tough ask, even with the colour in the river and untold debris still coming down I still tried for an hour or so to find one.

 Three swims later I had absolutely nothing to show for my efforts, nearly two hours spent scratching my head and trying to work out what was going wrong, bread I always find when roving in those conditions works very well and couldn't buy a bite. I continued to move around and was now a mile or so upstream from where I first started, the walk did warm me up slightly, coincidentally not as much as seeing your float slip away after your first trot in the next swim. It was the perfect start in the run and whatever I had hooked was a playing a very slow deep and hard fight, at first I thought I'd hooked a Barbel, a couple of minutes of hanging deep had me thinking but all the time I was slowly gaining on it. Shortly after getting the fish parallel with me it came up out of the murky brown water and a large Chub surfaced, I scrambled to get the net and slipped the net under what was an easy five, maybe even "six-pounder".

5.12. My best from this watercourse, breeze block of Chub.

 It was clearly a big fish and had gorged on water snail recently as it coughed up a few dozen onto the mat when I prepared the scales, it was thick, deep and a very good length too, it had all the hallmarks of a "six", the scales gave me a reading of 5lb 12oz and a new best for the river, one I have fished extensively and not managed anything over "5.10" which was back in 2011, I was understandably very happy and on my first trot too, I staked the keepnet in the margins and slipped her in. The next twenty minutes provided me with a very pleasing head of Chub, the next five fish weighed 4.13, 3.15, 3.7, 3.8 and 2.12 which was not bad at all, then the trot started to slow up so I put the rod aside and laced the run with bread crumb at 30 second intervals to stimulate the shoal into feeding again, I was certain more were present.

On the entire 2 mile beat I fished this was the only area that held fish.

 I had a quick chinwag on the phone with a friend before casting back out and for the next two hours the sport was consistent and another five Chub made there way into the safety of my awaiting net, I was in the zone, the size of the Chub seemed to increase again as fish of 4.10, 5.02, 4.07, 4.14 and 5.03. It was a red-letter-day and in the conditions it took some staying power to continue fishing and I'm glad I did!

 48lb 7oz of Chub was just what the doctor ordered. I decided to give another swim a go after my Chub tree died off but I spent another thirty minutes without a bite, it seems all the Chub in a mile and half section were held up in one swim, amazing how different the day could have been had I not fished that swim, lucky me eh!

Game On.

 A 430am rising could only mean one thing!, it was time to hit the road for another bash at a specimen Roach, this time it was to revisit a slice of angling heaven, the tantalising prospect of large uncaught redfins is far too much for me to ignore, the idea was great but I know all to well the sheer cunning required to catch such clever fish.

 The river looked amazing when Brian and I arrived, a slight tinge of colour and a gentle mist rolling off the surface as we approached the hut, all I could think about was to get started and head to a lovely sweeping bend at the tail end of a pool I saw over two-dozen Roach in the Autumn. There was however one issue that there was to overcome, the game fish. These were everywhere, much to my annoyance it seemed every trot down the inviting pool I set my stall on was culminating in thrashing foam as the dirge of Trout ploughed their way through half a loaf of bread, it certainly made things difficult as every time I tried to get close to where the Roach were holding up the float would slip under but the end result not what was hoped for.

Just magical, a lovely time to be on the bank.

 After persevering for over two hours in that one swim I had decided to move on and try something different, I simply could not get past the appetite of the Trout, the Grayling were fairly elusive too which was strange, no sooner did I think that the float slipped away and the tell-tale Grayling fight ensued, it wasn't a bad one either as it approached the net I thought it was a good 1½lb, not a Roach but it was fine, the next twenty minutes resulted in very little, so I decided to swap over onto a cage feeder fished with a piece of flake on a tiny hook-length, it turned out to be an inspired decision as I landed on a small shoal of big Grayling, six fish in just half an hour and all were upper 1's (1.11, 2x1.13, 2x1.14 and the largest at 2lb on the nose), not something I expected but great to see as the remainder of the river looked devoid of larger Grayling and previous catches have been extremely low.

Another lump in the net.

 Seems that bit of good fortune was the turning point of the session, but not for me, a text came through with a shot of what I was after, a Roach! and a lovely one at that. Old, antiquated, characterful and exactly what a good Roach looks like, the only unfortunate thing about it was the fact she was going backwards, a frame of a comfortable "two-pounder" but now hanging around the 1¾lb mark, but when they look that good weight is in material. Needless to say once seeing that fish I stepped up my efforts, but decided to stick with the bait and wait approach to see if any more Roach were in the area. The endless attention from the Trout made things very difficult to get any consistency with a bait in the water, but I knew that a move bait was even worse, I hoped as dusk approached that the Trout would switch off and the attentions would turn to the Roach and maybe a couple of rogue Grayling.

 For a couple of hours I watched the tip like a hawk to see any tell-tale Roach indications but as the sun disappeared and the sound of the roosting Pheasants filled the air my quarry remained very much a target but not a reality, we decided by about 6pm that we should call it a night and head back to London but whilst I was packing my limited gear away Brian went to the hut for his 1 Billion candle watt power touch, I do believe you could see through the fish with the brightness and we used this to good effect, even if it was a by-product of some good timing and luck, as we scanned the clean chalk/gravel bottom I noticed a large Roach sat in a foot of water and then quickly followed by another. Clearly they had dropped downstream probably due to the commotion caused by the hoards of Trout frolicking in my swim.

 I thought that Roach by candle-light was a good idea and they weren't too bothered to be in the spotlight either, I jogged upstream full of a new found optimism and set up my rod with just a single SSG shot and bread flake. The idea was simply to get the bait upstream of the Roach and tease it into position, bare in mind that now it's pitch black and the only light we had was the torch, it was good fun and the heart rate increased which caused issue with our breath in the freezing cold air as we both tried to stop breathing in front of the torch as it was blocking our view into the water. At one point a large Roach over 2lbs was cruising up the inside of a run and was no more than 7ft from us as I dropped a small piece of flake in front of it, the cast was perfect and I bounced the bait to within a foot of the Roach and it sidled up to it as if it would suck the bait down any second, the heart really started to pump hard now and before we knew it she dropped off and disappeared into the deeper run in the middle and was not seen again.

 Had I have caught that Roach it would have been a first for me, I've stalked Carp at night, Rudd and even Pike but never stalked Roach at night by design, quite an experience but it wasn't to be that night, my luck on the specimen Roach front is becoming very few and far between, knowing how rare two-pound specimens are I haven't had one this season, it will be the first season since 2009/10 that I wouldn't have achieved the feat, but I suppose all good and great things must come to an end, at least the captor was full of joy and why wouldn't he be, lovely way to cap off what was a cold but enjoyable day on arguably the prettiest beat I have fished on any river.

 I will be back!

Chub on the Quick.

 Short and sweet. Sometimes when after species like Chub and Barbel longer sessions aren't usually needed as if the conditions are right, location and bait selection are spot on too then just like last Wednesday evening the indications come fairly quickly.

 I aimed to get down the river for half five or along those lines but as six o'clock came and went I was still working, thankfully it wasn't a long drive but still took over an hour due to heavy traffic, once I had arrived the wind howled through the tree-lined bank but having made the effort I tried to ignore the blustery weather and find a swim where I would be sheltered, en-route I had a couple of areas in mind, the first I wanted to settle on was sheltered so that was perfect for me, I set-up a standard running 10" rig on a 1oz lead, bait wise with the conditions so bang on for static fishing I went with a 14mm LA Sausage Sizzle boilie.

 With it being pitch black I just flicked out ten-foot out but with lots of debris coming down I didn't want to go any further out in the flow, ten minutes later I had a very confident rap and my Mark IV came alive, but only momentarily, likely to have been a tentative pull on the bait but not a committed take, fifteen minutes after that the decisive slam of the tip came, this time there was no hesitation.

 Initially I thought it was a small Chub but once it slipped in the net and lifted it out of the river I could clearly tell it was a decent fish, the bend in the rod whilst playing it was healthy but didn't know it was going to be a 5lb plus fish. Pleasantly surprised for certain as a five pound Chub on any river is a good fish, had a very good season for them but "sixes" have been hard to find, could I find one downstream?

5lb 4oz, not what I expected.

 Three swims and an hour or so later and the answer was a resounding no, certainly not a reflection of my approach, simply either the Chub and Barbel were not home or not feeding. with the river carrying colour and pushing well I was surprised I didn't have any more enquiry's, another time it may be very different.

Fat as butter!

A Change of Scenery, Same Species.

 2017 has been so far dominated by Roach and to be honest I'm not complaining, the consistent dry, cool and cloudless days have meant that sport has been very good, two large bags of river Roach has really got me in the groove and loving it. What more could an angler ask for but be on the banks with the opportunity to catch such elegant fish.

 A change of scenery was in mind but the quarry very much the same and notably the appearance of lots of game fish was likely, just like when you buy a bag of liquorice all-sorts and my favourite ones with the little aniseed balls are few and far between, just like the Roach. I knew selecting Roach amongst the hoards of Grayling and Trout would be tough but it was challenge accepted, one that I happily took, with the morning's sport being fairly slow Brian and I peered through the polariod's in search of the distinctive shapes. It took a few hours to find them, however, inevitably the tell-tale silver flashes could be seen over the clear chalk bottom.

 Before the Roach started to appear the Grayling put in a good showing as the morning was dominated by a wave of them, practically every trot resulted in either an indication or a fish, most of which were around the ¾lb mark with the occasional smattering of pound plus fish. This better fish below registered 1.11 and was the best of the day, the larger fish seem to be non-existent as the river seems to be a rich haven for young fish on the up, unfortunately not big just yet.

 However we did finally come across a shoal of Roach and although they were tough to locate a couple were caught to 1½ lb, some of the shoal looked good but held back and proved difficult to tempt, this was a shame but at least it wasn't a blank for them. I know there are some really big fish lurking about but this time around it wasn't to be, the day wasn't over and we still had one last roll of the dice....

 ......but the Roach just never materialised, plenty of trying but was rewarded only with a large bag of more Grayling, fantastic fishing with over 100 fish caught, have to do it again sometime.

Winter Roach: The Search for a Two-Pounder.

My angling partner for the morning.

 Finally with this prolonged cold spell I have only just fancied targeting Roach, yes I can target them all year but this time of the year the redfins are holding good weight and slowly increasing as spawning time approaches in a couple of months. Having struggled to get above 0c for the last five days and consistent frosts for as many days would have allowed the inhabitants of our rivers to slowly come out on the feed, the conditions look favourable too for a couple of trips during the week too after work, it's cold I know but these are the best condition's to target Roach.

 Having woken up this morning with the beginnings of a stiff cold I reluctantly crawled out of bed after a terrible night's sleep, my only motivation to get out of bed today was the Roach, the distant possibility of a two-pound Roach is far too much of a lure to ignore, I've had an eye on a couple of spots that I thought could produce and last season I visited this exact swim where I lost a big fish that was comfortably a two-pounder, a few trips were made back to that very swim, but I didn't encounter anything close to the fish I lost and moved on, maybe today I could get another chance.

A Mayfly in the middle of a cold winter's day, is this normal?

 When I arrived at the run I had in mind I fed it with crumb for around 20 minutes before trotting through and on the first attempt the float slipped away and a hard fighting Roach twisted and turned in the current, for the maiden fish to go 1.04 was a good sign that I was sat on a decent shoal weight wise, for the next two hours the sport was very good, as I fished my way through the shoal lulls in the catching would sometimes be as long as 5-10 minutes, to get back amongst the action I'd have to make the smallest of adjustments to depth or shotting patterns, then the bites and fish came again, if I hadn't received a slip of the float in four or five casts I'd deepen or shallow up and at times I would catch Roach at a foot under the surface in 4ft of water.

Lovely conditioned fish though.

 At times I was hitting really strong Roach, the current made them feel deceptively heavy with most of the fish feeling way larger than they turned out although I was netting some good fish between 1.03 and 1.09, the fish just seemed to keep coming until around 1pm when the bites dried up, I don't put that down to the shoal running thin on the ground but the Roach were wising up to the threat.

Best of a good bunch.

 It had been a great outing and a total bag of 28lb 14oz, my best Roach haul for quite a few years, the average weight was bought down by a couple of young fish that are coming through but numerous individual Roach weighed over a pound.

 When I lifted the keepnet out of the river I was very happy with my morning's sport and couldn't have fished better I feel, in fairness I couldn't have fished much longer as my feet even in the neoprene waders and thermal clothing were frozen, I will be back sometime soon to see if I can tempt an very special fish.

Couple of the better fish, my favourite species.

Entering their world.

 For my birthday back in October my better half purchased me a rather unexpected present, a GoPro Hero 5 Black, it was probably the last thing I'd have added to my angling arsenal, probably due to the cost but seeing as that was taken care of I had to get out and use it. It took me a while but whilst I'm still learning the features three months on I'm using it to spy on fish under water and also pulling stills from the under water videos I've shot.

 Although I haven't done much I have managed to cut some fairly decent images I feel and when recorded in 1080p and higher resolutions up to 4K the stills are pretty impressive, here are a few and at some point I will try to put some up on a YouTube page that I might create, I have to be brutally honest though I'm not massively keen on the video aspect on certain venues as I do not want to be giving anything away so most if not all of the filming will either be done on extremely well known fisheries, fisheries that are not known and location can not be made out and during the evening/night as locations will be almost impossible to find. Not that I am secret squirrel but the more that social media becomes the centre of angling as we know it I still feel there are some hidden gems which aren't known and want to keep it that way as I'm a greedy so and so.

Richard Walker Mark IV, Taming Barbel.

 On my social media page I have been very happy to have posted some pictures of landing myself a piece of angling history with the purchase of said rod in the title, I couldn't have been more excited when I learnt of its sale on eBay, for many years I've wanted to own one and the price of them has been the stumbling block. This time around though the price was right and I couldn't have coughed up the money any quicker. Once I had confirmed the purchase of the rod I organised to collect that evening and the hour drive was filled with anticipation.

 Upon arriving at the sellers property I saw an immaculate and seemingly unused Mark IV leaning against the wall of the passage, there it was! After all these years my chance to own one had come, all I was thinking about once I had collected it and left was when would I get the chance to use it?.

 It didn't take long.....next day actually and what better way to christen a new rod than target a wild river Barbel, just the adversary it was made to tackle. Most would resign it to a display case and mollycoddled for eternity, but not me, if I buy something I want to use it and use it I did. With the river that I chose to test it on running clear I had the opportunity to sight fish and that is great fun, I walked the bank for a while before deciding on where to start and even with the weather turning rather unstable with a strong prevailing wind I wasn't going to jack it in.

 In the first run I chose it looked good with plenty of cover and upon closer inspection I could see a Barbel holding station in the middle of the river, knowing it was holding there for one thing only I baited a size 8 hook with a lump of bread paired with an SSG shot and flicked out to trickle it down stream, on the second attempt the Barbel cruised across to intercept it and as the fish took the bread the 60+ year old stick came to life, a healthy bend and a high pitch whine as the brisk wind whistled passed the tort line, what fun it was too. It got to a point when I knew I had to glide it into the net but didn't want the fight to end. Such an unassuming piece of tackle could make an angler so happy, but it did and it wasn't just a small Barbel either as a frame of a double figure fish cruised in, what a start.

A stunningly dark Barbel, never gets old.

 The last six weeks for Barbel have been brilliant, this however was up there with some of my most enjoyable captures, just what it was made for and along with the split cane rod I used a Rapidex narrow drum to tame my morning's target. It couldn't have started better.......9.14 on the scales was the verdict and as it turned out not a double but clearly a frame of one, just a good meal away from being one, but I didn't read much into the weight as it was secondary to what I had experienced, a cold, drizzly and windy morning was never going to dampen the spirits.

A proper stunner! and a mat shot I've dreamt of for years.

 I knelt down on the sodden ground and guided the Barbel's head upstream and allowed her to steady in the flow before watching the sizeable frame slip out of sight into the deep water, I could have chilled from then on but wanted to see what else lye in the shadows. I afforded myself a rest for twenty minutes and have a drink when a large fish broke the surface as it hit some bread being fed to ducks upstream came past me, I didn't see the fish but within five minutes it repeated the act there or four times, I assumed it was a Trout or a Chub, so I felt that I'd like to find out what it was, on went a large piece of flake which was flung out in the general direction of where the last swirl appeared and as the bread went down it slipped just below the surface but still completely visible and instantly vanished, I struck firmly expecting a hectic battle from a wirey Trout and a couple of leaps, instead I got a complete shock as a decent Barbel slapped its tail on the surface before darting for the bottom, I had to double take on what I had just witnessed....crazy.

 The fight again was great and didn't want it to end, a couple of strong dives for cover were prevented as it would have almost certainly ended in disaster, when I put some power into it the fight lasted maybe another "two or three" minutes to which I slipped my surface caught prize to the safety of the net....strange goings on but nothing surprises me anymore. 8.04 on the scales.

 It was another of those mornings when you bag up and only had the hope of one!, it's happening a lot recently and I'm liking it very much. The morning didn't end there either as a youngster of around 21/4lb slipped up and later in the day a lovely 6lb+ Barbel gave in to its primal instinct to snaffle a perfectly placed piece of flake, been great fun and a maiden voyage for the new addition to my collection was worthy of the sport I enjoyed.

Stick and Pin Roach fishing.

 For a specimen angler I typically like to target big fish, but sometimes I like nothing more than building up a swim and staking out the keepnet in anticipation of a good trotting session. Recently I had a good trip for Dace and that fuelled my want to search for some Roach, so when half a day cropped up a week or so ago I headed out with a loaf bread hoping I could locate a shoal of redfins.

 The conditions were absolutely spot on and I couldn't have asked for more, the river was carrying some colour but not too much that it would mean slow sport, half a loaf went out in crumb and little flakes to entice the Roach to feed with abandon, the far bank crease was my marker and on the first trot down the float slipped under and my target specie darted through the swift water towards the net, they were feeding! And hard!.

 Within ten trots I had seven Roach in the keepnet with the best around the 1¼lb mark, three of which were over a pound, brilliant fishing and for next three hours I had consistent sport but bites became less and less easy to hit as the remainder of the shoal were wising up to the diminishing population around them, after three hours of trotting I gave it a break and fed some more bread in but decided after a ten minute break that I had alot of fun and left the rest to carry on their feeding in peace, with the largest two going 1.09 & 1.07 it was good fishing, a total bag weight of 25lb 7ozs for a twenty nine fish haul. I was very happy with that! and should do it more often.

Best of the day.

Frome Ladies.

 Since November I haven't managed to connect to anything large Grayling wise and I know the right locations are being fished, conditions in fairness have not been perfect on any of the trips but when you travel a round trip of more than 5 hours you have to stick to it. Armed with three pints of mixed maggots, bread and sweetcorn I was ready, arriving at dawn with the intention of fishing through dusk and make the absolute most of the opportunity.

What is there not to love about a brisk winter's morning trotting.

 Brian and I decided to fish areas we knew fairly well and things were looking hard from the beginning as we noticed immediately that the river was up 2-4 inches but running like chocolate, not what you want to see when targeting Grayling, more akin to targeting Chub. Nevertheless we got to building a couple of swims each and working them furiously. When fishing for Grayling usually I find either bites come really quickly or they take a fair amount of time where the fish are either tight to near/far side vegetation or they are further down the run and take time to draw them up to the trotting run.

4lb mainline just in case a large takes a liking to the hookbait.

 I had a dilemma with the bait situation as with the visibility poor I felt sweetcorn would be better as it is bigger and bolder in colour but with the maggots there would be more of them covering a larger area and drawing them in from wider areas as they hit the creases and get deposited, yes that means probably taking longer to catch them but with the maggots I felt more confident for some reason, over an hour had passed before the float slipped under which resulted in my first Grayling of the day, only around the 10oz mark but it was a start, then the Trout found the loose feed in the murky water and started to attack my hookbait, three came in quick succession.

 The Grayling procession did come along when the Trout either had all been caught or wised up, the latter is unlikely though knowing their unstoppable love for maggots and any bait for that matter. Nothing large did show until half way through the day when I slipped the net under a nice fish of 1.10, not massive by Frome standards, however it finally represented a photographic opportunity, hard to imagine there hadn't been one until then!. Slow wasn't the word but after slipping that Grayling back to the unusually murky depths a large spent Salmon charged around the shallows below me and provided a brilliant spectacle, the Kelt was estimated to be approaching the 20lb barrier and a very impressive creature, such a shame it probably wouldn't see the next week.

Best of the day, it was tough!

 The larger Grayling were proving very elusive and I fished my socks off and trying everything possible, by this point dusk was approaching and the temperature dropped from around 3c to -2c or -3c in a matter of minutes, it wasn't even dark when both mine and Brian's nets were frozen stiff, not particularly comfortable but you have to be in it to win it, no prizes won for sitting at home, or already packed up on the way home. We both stayed through dusk into night and switched over to a short running ledger rig baited with corn to try and tempt a nocturnal Grayling, an hour later and without as much as an indication of life we then headed to a nice war pub for some well earned grub and plenty of drink. We shall be back but boy it has not been easy and for every one of these tough trips just makes my personal best Grayling feel even greater of an achievement than I had already felt.

A very large sky, beautiful sight.