It was a hectic end to the season, as always, with numbers of big fish caught from a variety of venues but for big Ted Bryan the target species to finish off was chub and he enjoyed an excellent result on the River Lea.
Over to Ted to tell the story in his own words:
“After a long and very wet winter I finally managed to get back out on the river without it actually being flooded; however it was still pushing very hard when I went up to the River Lea in Broxbourne to see my old mate Jerry Hammond.
We had a good chat and then I got set up in my swim, which had a lot of trees and bushes sticking out across it; Jerry said that he would get some of it out of the way for me so he did a bit of pruning and I then sat down to fish a couple of hours before it got dark.
I put my rod out and within ten minutes I had my first bite as the tip went right round and I hit it my first thought was that I had hit a bit of driftwood because of the power of it, but no, it was a big chub. Jerry was still there and he said that he would land it for me and on the scales it weighed dead on 7lb – I was well pleased, first fish and a seven pounder!
It was getting dark by then but I fished on and had two more fish: a 6lb 1oz and a 5lb 4oz but I was missing too many bites, so I packed up until the next morning. I baited up that night with lots of 3 and 6mm Fish Frenzy pellets and chopped meat, got a good night’s sleep and got up at 5am to put more bait out in the swim. I had a cup of tea and then got back to it.
It had been really cold that night with the temperature as low as minus seven and the early morning was none too warm so it did not surprise me that I did not get a bite until late in the morning when I had a 5lb 10oz chub.
The fish were very spooky for some reason, so I baited up again with lots of Fish Frenzy, soft hookable boilies and then went for a walk to rest the swim. Because it was the end of the season I had planned to fish into the night, so at 5pm I started again and missed a few nice bites but as it got dark I started to get into them. The fish seemed more aggressive in the dark and the first fish was a 6lb 10oz chub, followed by one of 6lb 6oz then I lost two before adding a 5lb 12oz and a 5lb 8oz.
Around 10pm I had a take, which resulted in me hooking a fish that flat rodded me three times. I had to give it line and it snagged me up and eventually I lost it. At the point it was time for me to call it a night, but what an end to the season, eight fish, one seven, four fives and three sixes, I was well pleased.
The tackle and bait I used comprised a Fox multi tip rod, a Mitchell reel loaded with 6lb Maxima line, a 1oz Nash inline lead to a size ten Nash Fang X hook, baited with either boiled bacon cut into small lumps or 10mm Fish Frenzy boilies.”
