The upper Avon at last!!!!!

On Saturday morning I had a few hours spare before watching my beloved Aston Villa in the FA cup . After my  little foray Friday afternoon on my local river Blythe I was very much in the Chub zone . So Friday night I began to conspire a plan and decided that the time may be right to venture on to a new stretch of water for which I had obtained a ticket this season.

I have spent a lot of the Summer watching and walking this river and to be honest not seen a lot of fish .The river has been so low and clear that it has been a huge drain on my confidence and likewise my wanting to wet a line on this particular stretch.

When making my way to Luton on Friday I took time to view the upper Avon and was enthralled to see it with some colour and even some movement  in it . I did not have the time to travel and fish Friday so opted to stay local and have a dabble in my local Blythe . I had an enjoyable couple of hours and it acted as a catalyst for the following morning and my first venture on to the new stretch.

I was out of bed for 6:00am and pleading with the clock to speed up so that I would have enough light to make my way to the river and get fishing. Eventually I was on the bank and set up in a peg at the far end of the stretch.The anticipation was absolutely electric and I was like the proverbial child on Christmas day . I had looked in to this stretches history and obtained some facts from a fellow member Danny Hale (Going with the flow ). The stretch held chub that went 5lb to 6lb for a fact, and in my scrap book at home I had a picture of a reputed 7lb fish from the river around that area. As I mentioned the river had colour and looked perfect for some action . I decided to go in first with the old faithful lobworm purely as a confidence thing as I believe that there is not a fish that swims that will not take a worm.

I cast far down the swim and let the bait swing around in to a deep eddy at the near bank. To say I was excited would be an understatement . The thought of would could happen if the tip went  round really got the fires burning . After another flick out due to some crap on the line the tip gave the wobble and twitch . I shot up and poised like a predatory animal over the rod . Chub are so obliging in the right conditions and even more so I feel with bite indication . In my experience there is always the warning twitch followed by the pull round, its as though you are being forewarned so as to prepare yourself for battle . I struck at the pull round and felt the kick of a hooked fish . My heart was in full flow now as I had hooked a fish of God knows what piportion. The fight didn't last long as I was using a 6lb hooklength not willing to pull any punches in the snaggy water should a big old dog chub fall foul to my bait. On the scales the fish went 2lb 12oz's, not huge as chub go but my first on the new stretch so more than welcome.

This small chub had succumbed fairly easily to my somewhat stout tackled and so I decided to stay in the swim for one more flick out. The swim was a long wide stretch and an end peg so I felt that one more cast was justified . For my second cast I opted try my new cheese paste along with a piece of crust to balance it out. The bottom of the river still has a lot of green coloured weed in place as light has been able to penetrate and keep it in reasonable health. I feel a very big flush through will benefit the angler and help give some swims a good clearing .
The savoury morsel was flicked down stream and I sat back feeling fantastic after catch my first chub on the new water. The air was mild and for the time being reasonably still as I listened to the shrills of a pair of Buzzards in the far off dead trees down the meadow  . I had found my Nirvana and the place was really starting to feel comfortable when again the 2oz glass tip rattled and pulled around to my left . Fantastic I was in again and on a bait my by my own fair hands making it even better. This fish felt heavier and held more in the current, moving upstream and in to my near bank it put up several lunges on my light feeder rod . Once on the surface I could see it was bigger fish, not particularly thick set but very long and empty looking . I slipped her in to the carrier bag and read the dial .3lb 6ozs and my second in half an hour. Also may I add the fish had the tail of a blue whale as the picture shows....

I headed upstream and was almost spoilt for choice as there were so many chubby looking swims to be had . However time was not on my side so I baited a few swims on the way up and then dropped in for fifteen minutes whilst making my way back to the car park end of the run.

I finished the day in one of the lovely pools at the lower end of the fishery and managed my best chub of the new year at 3lb 9oz's again to my home made paste and crust combination. I was really impressed with the new stretch and cannot wait to get back there when time see's fit for me to do so.

Thanks for listening.

Baz Peck