Warwickshire Stour - Haymakers and Hebdomadally

I roped Sam in for this short misty morning session down at the Warwickshire Stour. You see Sam negotiated a 'fiver' (down from 10 quid) if he found the Salter brass balance scales I lost the morning before.

They must have fallen out my bag somehow but 4 eyes are better than 2 for covering ground and to be honest, its nice having the partner in crime with me, even though being 3 degrees unless we kept on the move we'd have to cut the session short.

To be honest I was 50/50 for this session having watched the fight last night where Joseph Parker gained a more comprehensive victory over Derek Chisora to close the chapter on their rivalry after an action-packed heavyweight rematch in Manchester.

Now Parker won their first meeting on a disputed split points decision in May but the former WBO champion left little room for doubt this time around, with Chisora taking a count in the fourth round. Chisora was put down by vicious uppercuts in each of the seventh and eighth rounds but rallied in the closing stages to hear the final bell.

There was only one outcome really and this was Chisora's 12th defeat in 44 fights, hmm time to hand up his gloves me thinks, but a few rum and cokes and a glass or two of wine I went to sleep as easy as Parker landed the punches.

With the Wife going for an early  night the fight was far better than I expected it to be, but it was clear from around the 4th or 5th round who was going to be the victor. This is heavyweight boxing though, just one decent punch connected from Chisora could well have turned the tide for the ageing brawler. 

But then a little like the chub when they are up for a fight, Chisora gives it his all in the ring and despite the haymakers and wayward uppercuts I'm sure he must love a good tussle, so will he retire now ? who knows.

Anyway a little like Derek,  Chevin love a tussle too and thats one of the reason why I prefer to use balanced tackle for them, no broom handles to be seen here.

I use a TFG 11ft 1.2oz River and Stream rod with a 2 ounce glass quiver tip and the blank really is superb and can bend almost double through to the handle to help with the lunged to cover chub like to do.

An unmistakable fight isn't it from a chub and they are so unlike any other fish when they get hooked and they go in pursuit of the snags, tree roots and undercut banks.

To me there is no point putting a flyweight in with a heavyweight in the ring, where is the fun in that.

Now I approach smaller rivers like the Stour in winter usually the same way.

Noise can be an issue so no point dropping a feeder in its close quarters because the often cautious chub know something is wrong and can often stay clear of the bait.

I find a better way is to travel as light as possible with a link ledger set-up and feed likely looking chub holding swims with small balls of mashed bread, and then with as little noise as possible drop in the bread flake after leaving the swim to rest for a while.

You will know if there is a fish holding up there pretty quick to be honest, I'm talking seconds rather than minutes. Classic chub holding swims such as rafts such as the one Sam is fishing provides cover over the Chevins head and more often that not Mr Loggerhead will be in residence.

And sure enough a soon as the breadflake fluttered down the water column a couple of taps and then a proper pull round a decent chub was on.

Sam was doing a decent job in the fight although I did have to give some assistance during its second surge as is was trying to get under our feet which was full of snags and debris. It was soon in the net though and what a lovely chub it was. 

To be honest bites were harder to come by then they were 24 hours earlier but the temperature had dropped considerably overnight and I'm sure the fish were feeling it.

We were here to try and find the scales though so to keep warm after baiting a couple of swims we'd  retrace my steps yesterday to try and stumble upon the scales. Sadly I think they might be gone for good because they didn't turn up and I narrowed down an area I'm 90% sure they would be in.

Sam was adamant he was bringing his float rod as we'd some fresh maggots but it was clear that bread was the king like it can be for clearing winter river.

I'm sure if we persevered in one swim we could well get the fish to feed but when its cold and Sam often has to wear gloves throughout the cold session I knew it would be a short term attempt. 

The raft swim produced the bigger fish as shown here, a short but fat fish around 4lb that felt like a block of ice. They must be feeding nicely in this section of river as the 10 caught in the two sessions were all in decent nick.

With an hour left to go I wanted to fish another couple of swims but Sam had other ideas because despite wrapping up well once he starts to feel the cold, that's the only thing on his mind.

On my mind has always been the extraction and dredging this small stretch had seen 15 months ago but at least there are still fish to be caught and some nice ones too.

I'm sure if it's left alone to do its own thing again, it could well get back to looking natural again. I forgot how much I like the Stour so with me finishing work Tuesday and the weather looking good for fishing I might give the other sections I can fish a go because I fancy a decent roach, and I'm not sure this stretch is the one where a specimen redfin will slip up.