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.