The Tiny River Alne - Pinkeens and Pismirisms

There are a few other points connected with summer fishing the angler can hardly fish too early or too late (except for gudgeon and chub) during the hot months. Many a man who might have become a reputable member of the fraternity has been " choked off " to use an unclassical expression by making his first attempts at the gentle art in the broiling heat of a July or an August sun. 

From sunrise to breakfast-time, and from sunset to dinner-time, are the hours which should be devoted to angling in hot weather, but I need hardly say that during the summer occur dull, showery days, with a gentle breeze from the south or south-west when the fish feed on and off from morn to eve. 

One great advantage of wind or rain is that these otherwise unpleasant elements ruffle the surface of the water, and thus hide the angler from the fish. Fish rarely feed well before a very heavy fall of rain. They seem to have an instinctive knowledge of a change of weather even before it is indicated by the weather-glass. I have repeatedly noticed that after a very bad day's sport when the weather has seemed

Now perch, barbel, and gudgeon after spawning delight in gravelly shallows where the current is swift and the spark-ling water full of invigorating oxygen. 

At the end of two or three weeks they gradually work into water of a slightly greater depth-3 ft. to 6 ft where the stream is lively, but barbel very quickly take up their quarters in their regular haunts, which are for the most part weir pools, mill tails, deep holes, and eddies under clay banks. 

Chub, also, show a preference for swims under banks, especially those overshadowed by trees (having a weakness for insect food), but the majority of coarse fish do not move into deep water until about the end of July, and even then will often be found in only a few inches of water if the weather is very hot and the stream undisturbed by boats.

Until about the middle of August gudgeon remain in shallow water, in the stream, and are most plentiful in swims border-ing deep holes, but later on the largest specimens are caught in swims 9 ft. or 10 ft. in depth. Tench and carp do not shift their position much during the summer, and are to be found mostly in moderately deep swims, close to weeds. 

Bream also love deep holes where the current is gentle, but are often taken in heavy barbel swims. The thing to look for when river fishing in the summer for roach, dace, perch, gudgeon, and pike, is a stream. Many anglers spoil their day's sport by fishing quiet corners where the water is still, and where there are no fish, except a few tench, eels, and a possible jack. 

Another thing to be borne in mind is that most fish will be found near and among weeds which give them shelter, and among which lies a large proportion of their food. The ideal swim for stream-loving fish during the hot months is one with weeds all round it, the bottom of soft, sandy gravel, the depth 5 ft. to 10 ft, and the stream moderate. August, time coarse fish begin to get into first-rate condition, and are found in somewhat deeper

Rivers usually run fastest in the centre of their channels, and therefore, in very dry seasons, the fish work out towards the middle to be in the stream. As a general rule, the higher the water the nearer the fish are to the bank, and vice versa. September and October are, all things being considered, the best two months of the year for bottom fishing. 

In August the angler has been handicapped by the great majority of fish taking up impregnable positions in the weeds, but now the weeds begin to rot, and become unpalatable to the fish, which therefore leave them. 

I fully expected the Alne to be up after the heavy downpours we have had recently but no, when I got to the river I was disappointed. It really did look lifeless again and it was carrying quite a bit of colour. The nature of this sort of river though is that it changes so much in such a short distance you just need to travel light and find the fish.

Fish will show themselves on the quivertip quite quickly when you drop a bait in and this short morning session was no exception. The problem was the fish were greedy little minnows that were so determined they were going to get the worry offering they literally hung themselves. 

There were a few 'bits' in-between but nothing that tested the rod at all. Minnow after minnow after minnow. There is a reason I hardly fish the Alne with bait in the summer. In desperation I fished a slug for forty five minutes or so but nothing was interested in that so I went with a tip from a match guy I bumped in to here.

He said the fish are often really tight to the bank and it was the change that I needed. I fished a larger hook and three worms on the hook and roving around I managed a couple of chublets, one chub and a brownie. The key was to fish tight to cover and where the water was carrying a bit of pace. All those fish came in the last hour and actually made the session enjoyable in the end as I really was struggling. 

Small rivers = bites and exactly what I needed for this chilled session with plenty of solitude. 

Warwickshire Avon - Hunchbacks and Hacktivists

How Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame came about is quite incredible really, it was released 25 years ago this month, and somehow a ratings board made up of parents decided that a film with a musical number about lust and hellfire was a goer. 

Quasimodo was a fictional character and the main protagonist of the 1831 novel by Victor Hugo. The novel has been described as a key text in French literature and has been adapted for film over a dozen times

Telling the story of the disfigured bell ringer Quasimodo who longs for a life on the outside, and a plot that involves the threat of genocide against Gypsies was appropriate for a general audience was nothing to worry about.

Would it be allowed in 2021, I very much doubt it where the wokeists seem to have got a foothold at the moment. 

Now one day, Quasimodo whose only friends are talking gargoyles breaks free and lays his eyes upon local Gypsy girl Esmeralda, and stands up to his tyrant master to help and save Esmeralda.

I'm sure thousands of dollars must have changed hands somewhere I’m sure, because ok this woke world has changed significantly in just a couple of years, but even 25 years ago I thought it would have been difficult to get the tick in the box especially as its an animated movie made for kids.  

....Mick back on topic please, 

....well the last time we went fishing and a paddle at the Arrow at that weekend I'd somehow pulled a back muscle so on the Monday morning I was walking like good old Quasi and like him I needed a change from work and the four home office walls and needed to get outside. 

 

Luckily for me and the fish the heatwave had come to an end whilst I was recovering and we'd had some much needed rain and a nice drop in temperature. 

It almost felt like being in proper lock-down again as I'd barely left the house with work being a welcome distraction. 

With some ibuprofen pills and also gel and not trying to do too much I was feeling a little better a week and a half later so after a well deserved curry and pint with a mate Phippo at the 'Joey' I'd pop in to the syndicate stretch for a once over on bailiff duties.

I did manage to get the odd walk out with the kids who now off school for the summer holidays the Wife has the job of occupying them whilst I work from home and popping in to the office once in a while. 

The last walk out the thunder and lightning was quite incredible and luckily it didn't last long as the kids hate it. Sam changes from wigging his worm happily to a look of fear and Sam, well he has even been know to shed a tear or ten. 

So with the river still being low and clear despite the odd downpour I'll head to the 'bomb hole' which ain't far away to see what I could winkle out. 

If you're new to this blog this swim of significance really is quite an eye opener. My postie Bob put me on to it as it was a big chub haven back in the day and despite fishing here over the years I'd never realised it was here. 

You see there isn't a peg as such to fish here really but the waters surfaces does show that there is something strange going on so I was surprised I didn't twig to get the deeper out before. 

The change in depth is really quite dramatic where 4 to 5 foot all over a sudden becomes 3-4 times that. Even for this trip when the river is a foot or two below normal levels there is still 14ft over their heads.

I'd fished it for Chub initially and had a PB at the time at the first session but then a couple or three subsequent trips were a tad disappointing. I was back though and this time because of the size of the swim I'd fish two rods both for chub.

So on one rod a pungent small cheese and garlic boilie and the other a chunk of chicken liver which had proved a fantastic chub bait that had worked straight from the off when I tried it last season. 

The bites were frankly quite ridiculous but I'd only fished liver in the colder months so I always wonder what it would be like in the summer conditions where again it was another warm evening. 

I would fish a smaller bait this time though, not the donkey choker I'd used before, still a big hook mind you these have got big gobs after-all. 

Just above the 'bomb hole' the water is quite well oxygenated because in complete contrast to this 'feature' it is shallow and pacey.  Fish would feel comfortable here there is no doubt about that and they could easily venture in to the deep bit if they didn't want to be seen out in the open. 

Despite the rain the river is still gin clear so after positioning the bait I didn't expect much action till the sun started to set and I was right. An hour and a half in to the session without even a pluck or a tap I expected as much.

There was other activity though as the sun started to set as the predators became active. A couple of huge pike strikes that were launching in to the shoals of bait fish and the namesake launching themselves out of the water to evade the chasing perch.

Just as the light was almost gone the first sign of chub in the swim when a couple of boils on the surface they were taking stuff off the top.

It can be almost like a switch on the Warwickshire Avon when the chub and barbel start to go on the hunt for food and this session was no exception. 

With my rod tops being illuminated by these battery powered indicators I've been trying out the first indication there were fish about. A proper fast bite that was not far off a 4ft twitch. The liver was getting interest and sure enough a few minutes after the first pull a proper bite developed and a fish was on. 

What I didn't expect though was what I felt on the end, ok it was pulling back but not the stamp of fish I was after. In-fact one of the smallest chub I caught in a while that succumbed to the lambs liver.

It has a more robust texture than chickens liver and therefore stays on the hook better. Unhooked and the liver went out again with only a few more tentative pulls before I called an end to the session. The boilie rod, nothing....

....disappointing, yeap as this swim has so much potential. 

The Tiny River Aline - Scepsis and Schematomancy

So where is this rain we are meant to be having ?

The weather reporters couldn't have got it more wrong because despite the warnings of heavy showers and thunder and lightening, the local rivers are still very much painfully low and clear. Take this little syndicate section of the river Alne in places you can walk from one side of the river to the other and would barely get your feet wet.

These little rivers have character in abundance though so despite the trickle of water there are plenty of fish holding areas such as overhanging trees or where the depth changes considerably. The chub can be hard to find when its like this but usually the odd trout or two are up for chasing any surface or sub-surface lure. 

To be honest it looked a little dead when I got riverside however, for a short roving session unlike the GB Olympic squad  I know this intimate river very well, so I wasn't put off despite the likely tough conditions. 

After 5 or 6 swims though without even an enquiry on the little bug surface lure the lower section of the river offers some much deeper swims and a weir.

The grass on one of the sheep-less fields was really thick still and with my back still not 100% to be honest I sort of regretted parking at the start of the stretch because I'd have to retrace my steps when I'd finished the session.

The water clarity can change section after section but this little Salmo Hornet can bring fish out of nowhere but again swim after swim no follows whatsoever. I'd fished this waterway plenty of times using the same tactics but there was not doing whatsoever. 

With a small dead mink in one the fields the first I'd seen on this stretch the otter didn't come to say hello so even the predators where elusive as well.

Still I had the weir to fish but even the weir was looking sorry for itself with very little flow so what I didn't expect that the first chuck in to the pool on the first turn of the reel a decent trout grabbed the lure and launched itself clear of the water.

I've caught some nice ones here but this was a 4lber all day long which would have been almost twice the size of the ones I've caught here until it dropped off this is !!!! The first proper bend of the rod I felt the hooks ping straight out and that was that. A blank, my first ever here I think, oh well at least the walking freed my back up a little, 

Warwickshire Avon - Cocklofts and Coccydynia

With my back still not 100% I've been wafting around in the recently acquired new plug in hybrid family car in preference over the jumping jiggly Jimny and ok, its the Wife car but for family duties it's going to be ideal especially when there is a respectable range on battery alone.

Enough for a few trips to school and back anyway, as its her daily driver she has already laid out the conditions however....

"You ain't putting your fishing gear in it"

"Well maybe when we use it to go on holiday" "well apart from that, no chance"

I've really been enjoying the Bowers and Wilkins 1400 watt, 19, YES 19 !!!! speaker system this new barge has got installed. 

The tech is a little old now but at the time it was launched the subwoofer design is claimed to be a potential first in the industry (not so sure myself), integrating the speaker into the body of the car rather than containing it in a freestanding box that is bolted to it. 

Pairs of 6.5 and eight-inch woofers help fill out the low end, while it's the ten-inch air-ventilated subwoofer completes the package. For an electronic music lover, those low frequencies are a must to 'feel' the bass.

The approach is said to improve performance at the extreme low end, all the way down to the bottom of the human hearing range around 20 Hz. Even on full whack with one of my Mixcloud bass heavy DJ mixes on there is no distortion whatsoever which is quite incredible really considering the air that is being shifted about. 

 

The Jimny on the other hand I'm making do with two upgraded speakers and that's my lot and with the volume cranked up on the basic driver the NVH deteriorates to plenty of rattling, tizzing and vibrating. 

The Jimny is 1135kg the X90 T8 is 2,320 kg so twice the weight 😲 and there is your answer right there so there so I'd be wasting my time upgrading the Jimny unless I want exponential distortion I suppose. 

Anyway its the centre tweeter that I'm most impressed with however because it really adds to the soundstage with almost a surround sound feel which is difficult to achieve in an automotive environment.  

Back in the day as a youth though I built a band pass enclosure with a couple of 12 inch drivers driven by a separate amp that sat in the boot of my Metro GTi. Before it was nicked those woofers moved so much air that my mum knew when to put the dinner on the table as I could be heard a mile away. 

The problem was the cars interior strained under the air that was being shifted around the cabin, and apart from the trim panels trying to escape from their mountings not long in to installing the system it cracked the windscreen and needed to be replaced.

Fishing Mick, fishing !!!!

"Won't be long love, just nipping to the shops, need anything ? !!!!"

So with the diminutive £25 quid Advanta Rod River Ambush 5.5 footer and a few bits and pieces sneakily put in the gargantuan boot I'd have about half an hour or so to winkle out a chub in this pacey section of the Warwickshire Avon. They were wising up to my tactics here last time though but having not fished it for well over a week or so, I was hoping before the Wife wondered was I was taking so long in the supermarket, I'd try to winkle one out to at least get a much needed bend in the rod. 

The good thing is, is that the swim is handy so its a mere hop skip and a jump to get riverside where usually in the first swim with an overhanging tree there is a few fish holding up. In all attempts thus far slow sinking bread did the trick and and it can be seen slowly falling through the water column to a chub in waiting where it disappears from view.

To cut a long story short I could only see a couple of chub when I looked over the bridge which is odd because there is usually a group of them here, Either under the overhanging tree or holding station in the pool swim.

Still after sinking bread was ignored this time yes really I did managed one fish off the top after a few attempts. I'd bumped it off a couple of times too so I surprised it came back for more as it felt the point of the hook. My back is certainly on the mend and someone who earns money sat on ones backside I need to get more mobile as I felt much better after it despite only being a half-hour detour from the reason why I was out. 

The River Arrow - Pingdemics and Pinacotheca

With the mercury predicted to rise above that found in Ibiza this shallow stretch of the River Arrow is great as the kids can take a swim and a paddle, and it just so happens it is a pork scratching throwaway from a butcher we've been using for years.

To kill two birds with one stone and all that....

The quality of the pork shoulder and shin of beef is unquestionable as is the fact that chub reside here in the shallowest of waters. Not only the butchers too, but the local shops also has one of the best stocked off licences in the area.

Small rivers over time as they turn and twist over their route can change quite dramatically especially when the river is in spate and that means despite being knee deep to a grasshopper like it was today there are deeper areas that will still hold fish.

The kids and I don't particularly like the weather when its like this, 30 degrees is fine when I've access to a swimming pool or have an air-conditioned villa to kip in but with an insulated house in the UK, just to get to sleep is all a bit of a nightmare. 

So you have to do whatever you need to do to keep cool and your body temperature manageable.  

Now I'm an ale man really but this off-licence stocks Hacker-Pschorr Münchner Gold which is one of the most historic German Helles Lagers in the world. 

Brewed beer for the first ever Oktoberfest in Munich and inaccordance with the German purity law. This beer is a 5.5% golden lager with a lovely bread aroma with a lemon-like edge. It has a lovely smooth feel and crisp hopped finish. 

One of Germany’s best lagers and when drank proper cold is a thing to be savoured not knocked back in these ridiculously hot and humid conditions, and boy was it hot. 

We'd never wet a line here to be honest because we usually its coincided with the closed season but that was going to change for this post lunch family outing. We would usually bring some slices of bread here though and in one particular snaggy swim the chub were queuing up to intercept the floating bread.

Apart from the chub there are small roach, dace and millions of minnows knocking about happily going about their business without knowing that the following day will be the half arsed freedom day. Well it certainly won't be that for those hundreds of thousands that have been pinged by the NHS track and trace app and have been told to self-isolate. 

Now I used to fish the Arrow not far from here 6 or 7 years ago and it was a lovely little river that oddly I didn't quite gel with it. I caught a few barbel and some nice chub to be fair, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it the draw of the river wasn't quite what I expected it might have been given that I love fishing diminutive rivers.  

I have thought about giving it another go but I know from others that have been fishing it that it isn't fishing well at all. Some of the match results show that as well, still if you know differently please let me know because maybe it could offer what I've been seeking locally, a small river that has Barbel to catch. 

As much as I love fishing the Warwickshire Avon for them smaller waterways are more my bag. Anyway we'd a 7ft rod rigged up with a large hook and bread and that was it. Well apart from forceps and a phone holder on a bankstick. 

The Wife's eyes glaze over with anything fishing but she was off galavanting at the F1 at Silverstone with some friends as she was given a grandstand ticket for both of days as one of them is high up at McLaren. Daddy day care basically so we'd be left to our own devices.

How much trouble could we get in to ?

Well not that much sadly because the river is so low those fish holding spots that did have fish in them last time we came no longer had fish in them. Painfully clear too but after a good paddle in the lovely cold water eventually after feeding some bread at the tail end of the last swim eventually a chub showed itself. Sam grabbed the rod off me and I put on a huge piece of squeezed on flake and after the first trundle down he'd bumped a fish off straight away.

I thought that was his only chance but no after another few casts a chub had hovered up the bread and a fish was on. This little 7ft rod is great with 8lb line and a tight drag it is proper hit and hold fishing and Sam played the fish really well before I netted it and for its size it fought well above its weight. His brother Ben thought it was a Zander but Sam quite rightly corrected him. 

With the sun beating down and other fish being very elusive we'd decided to call it a day and headed back home for a well deserved ice-cream and for me anyway, an ice cold beer.

Warwickshire Avon - Chalk Streams and Chub Havens

I'm sure this group of chub will wise up soon because well I've fished for them quite a few times now and they are still happy to wolf down the bread that comes their way. In the pool swim the chub were competing with the ducks to get a belly fully, so that's why the slow sinking approach works very well indeed because using a large piece of bread wetted down and squeezed on to the shank of the hook, it falls through the water column faster than you'd thought it would.

The reeds that proceed this chub haven help certainly because either side of the pool the water is very shallow indeed and pacey but the flow is impeded here and the pool has some good depth which means even the most cautious of chub that don't want to be on show can tuck themselves away out of sight in the murky depths and under the thick overhead cover.

I've said before the larger chub that reside here I've never managed to catch but there are a few that are well over 5lb and even in to the sixes I'd imagine. They conduct themselves a lot differently to their smaller brothers and sisters though and are perspicacious most certainly because age gives them that. To pull the wool over their eyes ain't going to be easy.

So I was back again but this time with not only bread but also a lure rod with a large floating bug to try and tempt one of the larger ones to take it off the top. The water couldn't be more clearer at the minute the Warwickshire Avon could be mistaken for a Hampshire chalk stream if it wasn't in Bards country.

As rainwater falls on Hampshire’s downland, it soaks slowly through the porous chalk. The chalk acts like an immense filter bed and once it hits an impervious layer, pools in great aquifers. Because the water has filtered through chalk, it is alkaline and full of dissolved minerals and nutrients and this is the gift of these marvellous waters because they give birth to an ecosystem like no other.

I've only fished the Hampshire Avon once when we spent a week here and I found it tough as old boots if I'm honest. I did manage to winkle out a chub in the end though but it was hard work certainly. 

I only fished the water available to me at the cottage though and lets be honest I can only catch what is in front of me.

So the Warwickshire Avon isn't so bad after all because I've certainly been amongst the chub of late....

....so better get fishing hadn't I !!!!

There is no doubt about it the fish now that I've plundered the residents of late have certainly wised up because it was certainly tougher of late.

The sky was blue though and the sun was strong so not exactly ideal conditions but a chub in the first swim took the lure of the top within seconds of it plopping on the surface. 

The problem is catch one the other fish disperse never to be seen again so once one fish is caught you  have to move to the next swim. That's not an issue with such a short session because in reality there is only 3 swims here that can be fished properly. 

I thought the lure would be something different but no, a switch to slow sinking bread brought some instant bites and strangely the first fish caught using that method was a chunky roach. 

I had to wade to this swim but with the roach caught it was on to the other fish that like it here, yeap the chub. I bumped two off after a recast of the bait but eventually one hovered up the Kingsmill offering. 

Not the biggest of chub admittedly but big enough to give a decent scrap on relatively light tackle. The fish seemed to be holding back at the tail end of the swim but the bread bait was drifting through the water nicely and another chub fell for the traditional tactic.

Considering the conditions at least a few bites were forthcoming and these short sessions do wonders for my wellbeing.

 The last chub took a bait off the surface as the tail end of a proper fast swim so despite the chub not being exactly massive in the flow they felt twice the size. An enjoyable hour and a bit and if the conditions stay as they are I might try and squeeze another couple or three similar sessions in because this sort of fishing defines me as an angler. 

Warwickshire Avon - Dacnomania and Dactylomegaly

When attempting to try and get kids interested in fishing bites are the key to keep them interested and to try and maintain their attention span. This area of the Warwickshire Avon is full of bait fish and is great for that, there are rudd and bleak shoals here predominately but also because it's almost like a stillwater, bream, and even tench.

I've taken Sam fishing with me when he was four years old and 6 years as an angler he still needs those bites forthcoming because otherwise he will be looking at the next tree to climb or the biggest stick he can find.

He is turning in to a pretty decent little angler now though and casting which was an issue at first now isn't an issue and lure fishing for example he can be largely left to his own devices, well if the body of water is large enough I suppose, big rivers and canals are perfect.    

Now Nic had joined with his youngest daughter Jasmine because well she is just starting out on her angling journey and during this short session I had flashbacks when I initially started taking Sam. Great to see to be honest because every session I know will get easier because it can get frustrating at times, but then they are kids it goes with the territory. 

We'd arrived about half an hour before Nic did where for him he can walk to this location the lucky git. I'd love this on my doorstep myself because its an interesting body of water which leads on to a club stretch of the Avon that has plenty of character. 

The sun was beating down and up in the water sunning themselves was a decent shoal of rudd so a handful of maggots to get them feeding it really was as fish a chuck.

There are almost ornamental coloured rudd here amongst the humdrum and some larger ones as well which Sam managed to catch within about 2 chucks of the float. 

The odd perch were caught as well which put up a better fight and I caught a decent one on a small bleak livebait which was dropped next to a moored boat where a group of them had been busy chasing their dinner earlier in the session. There were a few fish rolling which turned out to bream because one succumbed to Nic and Jasmines float rod when the maggots were fished on the bottom. 

Sam was fishing up in the water and caught so many fish he went away happy. Ok not the biggest admittedly but when the 2 hours session went as quickly as it did you know it was worthwhile going. 

There isn't many areas I fish on the Warwickshire Avon full off rudd like this place, so when conditions are tough like it is now with it being crystal clear and low it served its purpose well, we will be back. 

Warwickshire Avon - Ram-Raids and Rapprochements

Now the dopiaza is a classic Indian dish dating back at least to Moghul times. The name dopiaza broadly translates as "2 onions" or "double onions". Some traditional versions of the dopiaza use twice the weight of onions compared to the weight of meat but a classic Indian dopiaza is more likely to use the onions in 2 different ways.

I suppose the most unique aspect of dopiaza is that a large amount of onions are added at two different points in the cooking process, with each batch of onions prepared differently so they create layers of flavour. One common way to do this which is my preferred way to be honest is to chop half of the onions very coarsely and the other half very finely.

The coarse onions are only cooked in the pan until they are translucent while the finely diced onions are fried until they have caramelized and turned brown. 

Another method involves chopping some of the onions and frying them until translucent, while the other half is placed in a food processor and ground down until it forms a paste that is fried until golden brown. The problem was for some reason my interpretation eaten the evening before was playing with my digestive system no end 12 hours afterwards. 

Before then no problem in-fact the post prior to this was the evening I had consumed it without any issue whatsoever. Maybe having sat in ones stomach overnight it decided to reek its havoc or the birds eye chilli deciding to reveal itself again. 

Cramps, trapped wind, you name it, it started to repeat on me big time....

....lucky working from home and with the aid of the Jabra's mute button ones predicament largely went unnoticed but coming up to lunchtime I just had to get myself moving from my pit to try and help with the situation. 

So for this quick smash and grab session I hotfooted it to the banks of the Warwickshire Avon where wading is the key to try and winkle out the bigger chub that reside here.

It was overcast as well so ok, I only had half an hour max, yes HALF AN HOUR you heard right before I had to head back home before my coworkers worked out where'd I'd gone, but heck hopefully enough time to winkle at least one fish out and anyway it would have been my lunch hour anyway.  

There are three swims here that can be fished in close proximity so ten minutes in each swim then I'd be off. The thought came to be honest from an article from the Angling Times where a guy fishing the River Lea (I think) had 3 Chub over 7lb during a lunchtime session and a lowly 6lber 😲which succumbed to the same tactics I've been using of late. 

The chub here last time preferred the slow sinking bread approach you see because I could see the fish coming up to the floating offering, inspecting the bait diligently and then let it drift down the river without even going for a tactical nudge or two.

 Now sadly despite seeing 6lbers here I've never actually caught one, but then these bigger wise old fish and have seen it all haven't they and chub being chub they can be a tricky quarry at the best of times. 

With the river low and tap water clear fishing can be very tough indeed but of late I've done quite well on this method when I know for certain others methods would have failed. 

A quick nose from over the bridge there were chub in the first swim with one approaching 5lb or even more. That fish was properly tucked up out of the way watching the others going about their business waiting to intercept anything that came their way.

The group was about 6 to 8 strong and there are always chub here in these conditions because the well there is so many snags and reeds and the like they can run to cover with any sense of danger. 

Anyway to the fishing well it was inevitable the first chuck of the slow sinking bread a fish took it straight away.  They wouldn't take it off the surface at all but get the bread drifting down the water column in to the deeper areas that highly visible bread luckily was intercepted without caution.

Catch one though generally you won't catch another, so three swims and 3 fish, all within 20 minutes or so. The biggest was a good 4lber the smallest a couple of pounds I suppose but they certainly lifted my mood as well being a much needed change of scenery.

I do love this style of fishing and in these summer conditions its a great way to bank a few fish where other techniques wouldn't be as rewarding and as successful I'd imagine.