Warwickshire Stour - 30.11.12

With a long weekend away in a cosy cottage in Malvern planned I had a few hours Friday morning to go fishing. The Warwickshire Stour was back to 'normal' levels after being in flood. Wimpstone was cut-off as it was over the bridge, but as quicky as the river burst it's banks, as soon as the rain stopped the levels dropped.

A frosty morning, the intended quarry was a decent Chub. I liquidised some bread which was used as feed and planned to fish cheese paste or bread on the hook. The river was flowing probably a bit faster than normal and was coloured, 10 minutes in each swim without a bite I moved.

The raft swim below I managed a chub of about 2lb's, it nailed a folded bread disc within seconds of it hitting the bed and gave a fantastic account of itself to and the ratchet on the centrepin makes a great bite indicator.  I only use a 10ft feeder rod on the Stour, it's only a small River and in most places it cannot be more than 20ft. It's a TF Gear Nantec, less than 50 quid I think but it's well finished in gloss black, very well made and ideal for the job.

I missed a few bites on bread, the tip was rattling like a good'un but I didn't connect. I've been told there are some good sized Roach, so I might try a different approach next time. Maybe a helicopter maggot feeder set-up and a much smaller hook.

Switching to a big lump of cheese paste in a swim which had some slack water I managed a Chub which was 3lb 14oz's. The Stour chub all seem to be mint condition, they don't seem to average anything like the Avon Chub but I've still got loads of river yet to explore so I'm hoping for something bigger in the future.