Another day in the office, another half a dollar in the coffers I fancied trying for a chub on the way home. An overnight hard frost and the river was still pretty high I still reckoned the chub would be biting and luckily I know a few slacks on this stretch.
The river after being a nice tinge of green had coloured up a little more after the rain so it was out with the cheesepaste. I concocted a new batch recently and this an albino shrek colour was also made a little softer which I'm sure helps with hook-ups.
With the river cold any cheesepaste that contains fat will obviously harden in texture so you need to make sure it's not too hard to begin with. This batch was 2 parts Danish blue, 1 part grated mature cheddar, some shortcrust pastry mix and some Dynamite Baits, garlic and cheese liquid attractant. There is no recipe for this as you often have to judge the quantities when you are making it.
A good fifteen minutes in a swim primed with some liquidised bread I was getting ready to move to the next swim, and them Whammm !!! the elevated quivertip jumped in to life and continued on going.
I love watching a float go under but Wow !!! this really was something else.
I don't fish that far out using cheesepaste if I mould it directly over the hook, I more often than not fish near snags and an underarm cast is all that is required. If I want to cast it any distance I use some of my 3D printed paste cages. I prefer to mount directly on a big hook mind you.
Anyway back to the fishing, there is a curfew on this stretch but enough time to try and winkle out a chub. Well an hour and a half, which isn't much in the scheme of things, but when the river is cold, very cold and a river that is boiling and swirly those slacker areas are where the fish are likely to be sitting.
Still it was a rather nice day with clear skies and some sun for once so it was quite pleasant being sat by the river waiting for a fish to appear. I had a particular swim in mind to fish where last time in the deep trough I managed to catch two chub in quick succession after only being there for 15 minutes or so.
That swim was unfishable really, properly banging through where I bet I didn't even have any leads in my armoury that would sufficiently hold bottom.Thankfully on a bend (Sean's Favorite Peg) there is a couple of slacks that could be fished.
Both with a satisfying donk of the small bomb It was fingers and toes crossed something would turn up to bite despite the very winterty looking river. A good twenty minutes in the first swim I moved upstream and went to fish another slack where ones peace was interrupted !!
Now Shrek is an anti-social ogre who loves the solitude of his swamp and enjoys fending off mobs and intruders. One day, his life is interrupted after the dwarfish Lord Farquaad of Duloc exiles a vast number of fairy tale creatures, who inadvertently end up in the swamp, for me this was another resident Otter, where I assume there must be a few on this stretch, as I saw two together at the lower end of the stretch recently.
I've certainly seen more this season than I ever have done, even though they have been there since I had this book many many moons ago. I had a few years break from this stretch because ones barbel returns were very few and far between, however more recently seems to be the odd one coming out in matches, and also many are lost to the inadequate tackle of the 1.5lb hook link users, so they are still about.
This Otter hadn't a care in the world though and after appearing over at the far bank it swam straight in to the drink and proceeded to meander downstream fully aware I was there. Anyway dusk was just round the corner where to cut a long story short, unsurprisingly I blanked. Not a chublet pull or anything despite the bait being presented nicely.
Oh well I tried, I could do no more than that !!, I've a morning off tomorrow, I fancy trying for a Roach down the Warwickshire Stour to try and avenge losing that PB beater !! . The weather is getting milder too, I might try and see if I can get closer to Barbara the barbel 👀😀
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