Warwickshire Stour - Curmudgeons and Curvicaudate

Is there a rod you rate above all others you own ?

A rod you'd sell the Wife and kids for ?

For me it has to be the TF X1 River and Stream 1.2oz TC rod, (Free spirit blank I believe)

For the chub fishing I do on the Warwickshire Avon, the Alne, Arrow and the Stour it really is a perfect tool the job. The pencil thin blank makes the rod as light as a feather but hook a 5lber for example the rod literally bends double and it resists the lunges of a hard fighting chub no problem.

But its the fact that the rod is Sooooo balanced for chub that even a 1lb splasher makes it an enjoyable fight and the 1 ounce tip I've fitted (Standard Drennan Fitment) I'm sure the often cautious chub just want to be hooked by the end tackle as they have even heard just how good it is. 

Even swims like this where once a chub is hooked from underneath the raft you need to bull the fish away from the roots of the tree or any cover, it has enough backbone to steer it away from hook pulling danger.

I dread to think what would happen if I broke it, because I'm not sure what I'd replace it with. I've tried all manner of rods and nothing compares I've found. For Christmas I treated myself to a John Wilson Avon Quiver rod, but I bought that for larger rivers where I need to chuck a feeder. The blank is much heavier and just by eye looks twice as thick too.

The problem is I've been trying to get hold of a spare but they rarely come up for sale and when they do they are usually >125 quid. Ok not a problem but they getting on for nearly 20 years old now I think, they are getting as rare as rocking horse poo. I think the issue is those that have them keep hold of them, because like me, I'd not part with mine. 

If you have me, you know how to contact me if you want to get rid !!!!

Anyway to the fishing, a roving session this, this is the Stour after all where often one fish from one swim an that will be your lot. Now Nic was on this stretch 24 hours before and he was struggling for bites but the river would be lower for this session and to be honest you can often have a good day or a bad day, depending on how the fish are feeling.

With a fish from the first swim I thought they would be crawling up the rod, but no they had other ideas. I had to really put the work in and I lost count of the swims I fished. Those chub banker swims with rafts and thick cover didn't produce oddly, with only one of those producing the smallest of the day.

Nothing big, but in the end the hard work I managed 5 chub with the biggest probably a piece of breadflake over 3lb. But fishing small rivers like this is not about the specimen potential is it. 

The Warwickshire Stour and its green waters offer so much more than that. You would have thought that a river flowing through open farmland would be devoid of fish especially when some swims can be rather characterless, but having caught the biggest from one of these featureless swims the fish really don't care a jot.

I'm sure the colour helps because the Stour rarely goes gin clear and I'm sure that helps the angler at least get a bite or two and that's one of the reasons why it is always on ones radar. I've not seen another anglers in probably 10 to 12 sessions I reckon, where is everybody ?

Sat at home drinking tea ?