A day chubbing
Entry posted by Rusty
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River Kennet, Speen Moors, Saturday 22nd September 2012 (afternoon shift)
It struck me recently that I hadn’t caught a decent chub for a good while. In such circumstances I generally fall back to quivertipping bread flake in a couple of reliable swims, on this occasion though I wanted to try somewhere I’d been thinking about for some time. The back end of Speen Moors fishery is a slow stretch, it’s full of fallen trees and looks very chubby but it’s not fished very much probably because it’s a long way from either of the car parking areas. Ultimately this section joins the K&A Canal at a place called Egypt Point. To make things more interesting I’d got it into my head that fishing from the opposite bank (to the club bank) would make casting to the features easier. So that was that, google helped with a route so with the car parked off I went.
The trek took me along a disused railway line, a walk that would’ve been a lot more hazardous a few decades ago. The silence was quite eerie particularly when I thought back to the thundering trains which would have come along here in the past;
Once I arrived at the end of the railway line it became apparent that I hadn’t thought the plan through properly. Sure I was on the opposite bank but I could only get close enough to the river at a couple of places, I would’ve been much better off on the club bank. I was feeling particularly stupid at that point but carried on hoping that I’d come across the ‘perfect’ chub swim. I didn’t I’m afraid, one spot looked ok but I wasn’t exactly full of confidence;
The saving grace was that it was a lovely day for a walk and I was travelling light so it was no great hardship when I emerged from the undergrowth at Northcroft Leisure Centre (locals will know the significance of this) and realised there was a much nicer route back to the car. Before I headed back I spent an hour reminiscing in this swim (pic taken Jan 2009);
This used to be a real chub hotspot but it’s unrecognisable now even taking into account the seasonal vegetation differences. Just shows how rivers change over time…sorry, forgot to take a photo. I didn’t catch anything.
I was feeling a bit sorry for myself and reasoned that I deserved some less strenuous fishing so I walked back to the car, dumped my coat and made haste to one of the aforementioned reliable swims. The sun was doing a very good job of keeping the day warm and I was looking forward to outwitting chub in pleasant surroundings. The ‘outwitting’ bit comes in when approaching this swim, stealth is absolutely essential as the fish reside under the near bank in a deeper hole and so are usually caught under the rod tip. It’s not always easy being stealthy when straddling a barbed wire fence holding down the top wire and realising the dire consequences of letting go but I managed it and settled into the sun trap for the rest of the afternoon;
It was worth the effort too, I landed a couple of chub both around 2½ pounds and had lost two others by the time curry house opening time arrived. A day which started with a fruitless ill-considered plan ended with success in the sun.
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