After a blank on the Chubb Stream on the first day of the season, which I still believe might have been because somebody fished my chosen spots before I arrived, I decided to make a return visit in the hope of a better outcome. The meadow had been mown, the grass having been almost waist high on my last visit. But the vegetation on the banks was still dense and access to the stream was very difficult. Unfortunately the session ended with me breaking my new cane rod but up until that point I quite enjoyed the challenge.

Once again I started at my favourite spot that has been the most productive over the course of my visits to the stream. It was no easier to fish than on my visit on 16 June. The vegetation on the bank was just as dense and reeds from the reed bed on the opposite bank were laying over what was a very narrow channel. This made casting downstream to the desired spot even more challenging. But I managed, after adjusting the lay of the line clear of the overhanging reeds and near bank nettles.

I didn't need to wait long for a pull on the rod tip and was into a chub. It wasn't big but was difficult to land because of the weedy stream and the quite strong flow. A good start but I was pretty sure I wouldn't get another chub out of that spot. A couple more casts confirmed this.

I then moved downstream a bit trying a couple of swims by a gateway, one either side of an overhanging bush. The first was very shallow and the other was difficult to fish because of the density of the nettles on the bank. In the event neither produced a bite.

Walking back upstream I dipped in a spot where there is a permanent raft formed by overhanging branches. It's always a difficult swim to fish but on this occasion it was near on impossible. I didn't stay long as I feared loss of tackle.

My next spot was by the bypass, a swim that in the past has been relatively easy to fish and reasonably clear of streamer. But once again things were different. I had to carefully make my way over dense plant growth to get near enough the water to fish. While in the stream itself there was a lot of floating weed stems and other green flotsam that made a clean cast very difficult. After trying a far bank cast that didn't settle properly because of the floating vegetation I tried dropping cheese paste under the raft nearer my bank. But this didn't produce anything.

Moving on again I stopped at a spot the other side of the bypass. It's not a swim I've fished a lot but it has the advantage of having a lot of dense bank-side vegetation downstream, offering shelter for the fish. It was a blind cast that I hoped would land in open water between the streamer. And after only a short time I got a pull and was soon netting another smallish chub, although it did try hard to snag me in the nearside reeds.

Moving on I stopped at what I call the pipe swim. Once again what was in the past a very open swim was on this occasion massively overgrown. Again I couldn't get a clear view downstream so it was another blind cast. This time, however, there wasn't a fish to oblige. The swim has a chequered history for me. On my very first visit to the stream I lost a fish that took so quickly after I cast that it weeded itself before I could react. On my next visit I caught a reasonable chub after making an identical cast but that time being more prepared. Since then, that's to say on a further ten visits, I haven't had a touch in this swim.

At this point on the stream I would normally pack up having tried my usual spots. But on this occasion I stayed tackled up and walked along the meadow to see if there was perhaps one more spot to dip into. And I found one. Once more it was a blind cast downstream because of vegetation on the bank.

The first cast resulted in almost immediate bend in the rod before I had properly set it down in the rod rest, but if it was a fish I missed it. The same thing then happened again. Of course it didn't happen the third time when I was good and ready! But after a while I did get a more gentle pull and connected with a good fish. Unfortunately after a short while it snagged in some bullrushes.

I had to resort to hand-lining and this is when I made a terrible mistake by not pulling off enough free line. I suppose I was half hoping that the fish was still on and wanted to be able to pick up the rod and continue playing it if it emerged from the snag. But in the event I inadvertently bent the rod tip backwards while hand-lining and broke off the top three inches or so. This was my new cane rod only on its second outing and, as you can imagine, I was distraught. The fish was, of course, lost.

I packed up a very sad angler, all the previous successes of the day totally negated.