First chub (and perch) of the year

Entry posted by Rusty January 10, 2012

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River Kennet, Brimpton, Sunday 8th January 2012

Bit of a backup session this, plans to fish another venue were postponed until this coming Sunday so I needed somewhere else to go. Disappointing but not all bad news, it’s only a few fences, signs and a river keeper’s shotgun which separate that bit of the Kennet from the other sections after all.

Trotting maggot for chub would be the plan and the swim was to be at the far end of the fishery, a spot where I’d caught previously (the only spot come to think of it). I’d spend a couple of hours here and if the chub weren’t in residence then I’d walk back to the car trying other swims as I went;

The plan was executed perfectly, after two hours I hadn’t caught any chub and was getting a little disheartened, to compound matters my legs were feeling cold and I’d got the distinct feeling that the integrity of waders had been compromised. I did, however, catch two grayling of about a pound. These were a real bonus this far downriver and had they been bigger I would’ve waded back to the bank for the camera but as it is no pics I’m afraid.

Those were the only two bites at this venue which frankly was a surprise to me, conditions were perfect being mild and overcast with only a gentle breeze so I was hoping for more activity. On my walk back I noted several newly fallen trees which was a shame as much effort has been put into clearing dead trees at this venue over the past two seasons. Luckily few of the new casualties had fallen into the river so the work party’s efforts haven’t been in vain. I’m glad I wasn’t under this one when it came down;

Despite the lack of bites it was still a nice wander about. I must spend some time here in the summer ledgering for barbel, there are some lovely grassy areas which would be ideal for a leisurely fishing/picnic outing with a bottle of Pinot Grigio cooling in the river.

The final two swims I had in mind were occupied by barbellers so last fling trotting for dace or roach would have to wait until another time. One of the occupants called me over for some advice and I thought for a moment that I must have an invisible barbel expert standing next to me…..nope, he meant me. He was a very polite chap and explained that he’d fished the venue five times with no luck, could I look at his setup and see if he was doing anything wrong? I told him that I wasn’t really the right person to ask but saw no harm in taking a look at the rig he was using. Good job I did, what he reeled in was a tethered fish waiting to happen. 5lb mainline tied directly to a 1oz pear lead, a hooklength of twice the mainline diameter was also tied to the lead and ended in a knotless knot hair rig. I explained the dangers of using such a setup and after a rummage in my bag found a Korda safe lead clip and some 4lb mono for the hooklength. It was still too light and far from ideal but it was an improvement. Once I’d demonstrated how the lead clip worked he could see how much safer the rig was and acknowledged that he should be scaling up the mainline and hooklength if he was targeting barbel. He was very receptive to the advice and certainly not a ‘know it all’, just an inexperienced angler looking for help. With luck he’ll bump into somebody more knowledgeable than me next time. These spectators were obviously impressed with my impromptu teach-in though;

Back to my problem, I still hadn’t caught a chub. I did have an alternative venue where I was more confident of success but hadn’t planned to fish it. Alas, temptation got the better of me and as guilt gnawed away at my conscience (not hard enough seemingly) I lowered the float into the new swim. A couple of trots later and the rod hooped over just as I was about to retrieve the float, what felt like a thumping great chub was putting up a real struggle in the flow. I managed to keep it out of snags with a ridiculous bend in the rod but I was just waiting for the loud crack which would herald the creation of a new four piece Harrison blank. If you’d asked me at the time of this chaotic scene I would’ve bet all my ‘pins on it being a six pounder but as it came into view and [eventually] came into the net it clearly wasn’t. Nevertheless it was a 4lb 15oz chub which gave an extremely good account of itself;

After I’d taken pics and calmed down a bit trotting resumed and two other successes were recorded by my camera, a 3lb 14oz chub and a complete surprise 2lb 8oz perch