So far this winter my chub campaign had been frustrating to say the least! Blank after blank had left me wondering what I had been doing wrong... I felt a change was needed. The Suffolk Stour had been tempting me for some time, and as I live in Colchester it was pretty close! My girlfriend (Louise) and I packed everything up and headed Stour-wards.

We found a weir pool with a wide bridge over the top. The weir gates had both been closed so there was harldy any flow on the other side. The river had drained right down and large areas of the gravel bank were exposed. The large pool of the weir was pretty still and clear, but luckily there was still a lot of water.

As we looked down from the bridge Louise spotted an unmistakable dark shape drifting near a ledge in the cold clear water.

We crept downstream a bit out onto the exposed gravel bed and cast out towards the ledge we had spotted. The first few casts didnt even get a sniff and i began to think we had frightened them off when we walked out onto the noisey gravel.
At last I had a take, A chub had snatched the worm and began rolling around, it lunged (in typical chub style) for the shallow exit where the pool emptied itself. Some side strain won the battle and a pristine chub slid into the net. At 1lb 4oz it was only a small one, but after my recent series of blanks he was very welcome indeed!

The day got even better! we both caught several perch that were surprisingly strong for there small size. To finish off Louise had a take from something that felt alot bigger than the perch... i took the rod off her haha and landed another fin-perfect chub at 1lb 8oz. All in all a fantastic day on a river I will definatly be visiting again soon!

The largest of the hard fighting Perch


The 1lb 8oz chub


The first chub for me this winter at 1lb 4oz


Me holding the 1lb 4oz chub

nice fish Ricey, I never get tired of looking at pictures of perch. Its that feeling that they'd bite your hand off given half a chance.
Have you tried lures at all?

haha yeah i know what you mean!
the little ones we caught really puffed them selves up when i was unhooking them! their sharp gill covers get me in the thumb evertime.

I have'nt really tried lures that much. I always tend to get snagged up.
I have recently baught a new spinner and a nice little plug to play around with, but a lost my wire trace and i'm a bit worried of a pike taking it and cutting my line without the trace. So i'll have to save some pennies for a new trace i think.

what stretch were you on? was it a club stretch or day ticket.

next to a club (CAPS) stretch in Nayland
wasnt on the clubs website so i dont know who it belongs to. i had my money ready though for a ticket but no baylifs showed up.

I am going to me fishing near the very end on the Suffolk Stour soon.
I have been told you can get a day ticket from flatford mill and fish upstream all the way to the A12 and a few miles downstream to Cattawade.
you can also get a day ticket from the garage on the Suffolk side for the final stretch at cattawade right down near the sluices where the river turns tidal.
I have walked a fair bit of these streches and it looks great for a bit of stick fishing or chubbing.

good stuff RUDD
let us know how you get on!

further upstream there are apparently some very good areas for chub and medium sized barble, shoals of bream have also been reported, along with the odd river carp. Oh and of course plenty of pike.

some of the good spots that i intent checking our are Stratfod St. Mary, Langham and Wormingford.

So i'll have to save some pennies for a new trace i think.

Ricey if you need to save for a new trace then you're spending too much money on Louise and thats not healthy

haha too true lol

maybe if i'm lucky i'll get one for xmas!

I belive you were poaching!!!!!!!!!!
I think the stretch is for residents of the village only!