Following on from my roving session, I decided to add another rod (no rod bag) and baits in a zipped up groundbait bowl/bag. I decided to take my usual loosefeed mix tonight and go back to my favourite peg 14 for the evening. I also managed to put my landing net pole into my rucksack so had only 2 rods in one hand and my groundbait bag in the other. Again this was a very light load and walking to the river was a breeze.
I used my 2 swan shot link ledger with cheese paste near the tree and my Barbel rod with a 3/4oz lead just this side of the main flow. I would stick to luncheon meat on the Barbel rod.
My cheese paste had been in about 10 minutes when I got my best wrap-around bite yet. The Chub took me into the tree and fought hard. Several times I had to ease the pressure to let it swim free before I was finally able to pull it clear of the tree. By then it was spent and came to the net quite easily. Here is the result: -
It dawned on me that I had not brought my keepnet so would be releasing the Chub into my swim (generally a bad idea with Chub). It was quite a walk down to another accessible swim so didn’t fancy releasing it elsewhere - would just have to take my chances.
Now that I had ascertained that Chub were about, it was time to try the slugs. I have never used them before so here goes. Unfortunately, I cast the 1st one straight into the tree - doh! Whilst I got all me gear back, the slug did drop off. I only had 3 so it was time to try another having loose fed (unintentionally) with the previous one. I was getting plucks straight away and was looking forward to another Chub fairly quickly. Unfortunately none of the plucks turned into proper bites (on either of the remaining slugs). Still, worth a try on another day. I might try them before anything else to prevent spooking any bigger/wiser fish that may be around.
So, back to alternating bread flake and cheese paste. As previously the bread flake seemed to receive a lot of attention from small fish - no positive bites.
Eventually, as the evening drew to a close, I decided to try luncheon meat near the tree. I got a few knocks quite quickly but no positive bites. I then decided on a much bigger piece of meat and quickly got a bite that I was certain to hit - but there was nothing there when I struck. So, one with another big piece of meat. After a few minutes this pulled the tip right around and I struck into a very strong fish. It immediately took line and I am sure went under and beyond the tree. I am not sure if it was a big Chub on its first lunge or a Barbel because my 6lb line snapped.
I did not get any bites on my Barbel rod/ 8lb line. However I have decided that I am going to use 8lb line (instead of 6lb) on my Chub rod and step up to 10lb on the Barbel rod. It seems that I have to fish close to snags so need equipment that allows me to get the fish away from the snags asap.
On the way back to the car I found another couple of slugs so look forward to my next trip!
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