dorsetandchub
Well-known member
Prior to going my Mum's for a few days, I thought I'd sneak in a quick session before domestic duties took over.
I cubed some Spam to circa 15mm and unpacked another new set up in the interests of testing.
Arrived at the river to find I had the stretch pretty much to myself so opted for a swim on the weir with an island mid river to my left (the swim the sea trout came out of a couple of weeks back).
A cut priced purchased Hardy Marksman (I blame over exposure to Binka and his writings!! - that and being a bargain-loving Northener at heart), a Preston PC-R reel spooled with 6.6lb mono made up the set-up. An ounce and a half Kamasan black cap feeder to the usual size 14 to 6lb bottom.
With one eye on the weather, it looked very likely that a nasty front was moving in as the Met Office had predicted so this might have to be a quick one.
Feeder tooled with reds and hemp and a cube of Spam impaled, out it went into the shade of the island. The feeder held just about perfectly and I felt quite confident that bites would be forthcoming.
The first one fair rattled the tip after half an hour so. Gutted to say I missed it - by a country mile. I decided it must be a dace, made me feel better to think so.
Respammed and refeedered, back out. Unusually for me, exactly the same place. Confident again - hopefully. Fifteen minutes or so and, again, whanggg. Hit it and held it, game on!! But not for long. A less than mighty chub around the pound mark was my reward. A modest start but a start, nonetheless.
We'll meat again - and I did. Another cube on and back out, just as a Kingfisher shot past, looking like it wanted to get home before the weather turned nasty. Still put a smile on my face though, always does.
Twenty minutes down the line and another smacking bite, the accompanying sweep connected with something that felt a bit more solid. That something began to kite for the brambles in front of me and Mr Chevin, for twas he without doubt, would soon hopefully have me smiling again.
And that was exactly what happened, netted it went 2lbs, maybe a couple of ounces higher but no more than that. The slightly unusual thing about this fish was the chub often show their travails here, scars, missing bits of fin, that sort of thing - this one was a real George Clooney of a fish, looked like it had just come off a production line.
Back out, again with an eye on the weather. Half an hour or so later and the tip rattled, I hesitated half a second too long and struck fresh air. My own fault, fortune favours the brave and it rightly laughed at me.
And that was it. I didn't like the look of the weather so I packed down, happy with the rod and the reel, both debutants. I managed to get onto the road quite easily for once, the weather having cut down the traffic to a minimum.
The short drive home passed in a flash and much as I love me old mum, I knew I could sneak at least one more session in before going back to work. Just hope the weather holds. According to a colleague, he reckons El Nino is all over the place (mind, I thought the whole Man United team were last night) and this coming Winter will be the worst since the mini Ice Age of 1963.
Hope he's wrong but we'll get to know before too long, I guess.
Happy Fishing.
I cubed some Spam to circa 15mm and unpacked another new set up in the interests of testing.
Arrived at the river to find I had the stretch pretty much to myself so opted for a swim on the weir with an island mid river to my left (the swim the sea trout came out of a couple of weeks back).
A cut priced purchased Hardy Marksman (I blame over exposure to Binka and his writings!! - that and being a bargain-loving Northener at heart), a Preston PC-R reel spooled with 6.6lb mono made up the set-up. An ounce and a half Kamasan black cap feeder to the usual size 14 to 6lb bottom.
With one eye on the weather, it looked very likely that a nasty front was moving in as the Met Office had predicted so this might have to be a quick one.
Feeder tooled with reds and hemp and a cube of Spam impaled, out it went into the shade of the island. The feeder held just about perfectly and I felt quite confident that bites would be forthcoming.
The first one fair rattled the tip after half an hour so. Gutted to say I missed it - by a country mile. I decided it must be a dace, made me feel better to think so.
Respammed and refeedered, back out. Unusually for me, exactly the same place. Confident again - hopefully. Fifteen minutes or so and, again, whanggg. Hit it and held it, game on!! But not for long. A less than mighty chub around the pound mark was my reward. A modest start but a start, nonetheless.
We'll meat again - and I did. Another cube on and back out, just as a Kingfisher shot past, looking like it wanted to get home before the weather turned nasty. Still put a smile on my face though, always does.
Twenty minutes down the line and another smacking bite, the accompanying sweep connected with something that felt a bit more solid. That something began to kite for the brambles in front of me and Mr Chevin, for twas he without doubt, would soon hopefully have me smiling again.
And that was exactly what happened, netted it went 2lbs, maybe a couple of ounces higher but no more than that. The slightly unusual thing about this fish was the chub often show their travails here, scars, missing bits of fin, that sort of thing - this one was a real George Clooney of a fish, looked like it had just come off a production line.
Back out, again with an eye on the weather. Half an hour or so later and the tip rattled, I hesitated half a second too long and struck fresh air. My own fault, fortune favours the brave and it rightly laughed at me.
And that was it. I didn't like the look of the weather so I packed down, happy with the rod and the reel, both debutants. I managed to get onto the road quite easily for once, the weather having cut down the traffic to a minimum.
The short drive home passed in a flash and much as I love me old mum, I knew I could sneak at least one more session in before going back to work. Just hope the weather holds. According to a colleague, he reckons El Nino is all over the place (mind, I thought the whole Man United team were last night) and this coming Winter will be the worst since the mini Ice Age of 1963.
Hope he's wrong but we'll get to know before too long, I guess.
Happy Fishing.
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