Arrival time: 11.15 (bank side)
Weather: Bright sunshine, cold and windy.
Tackle: 9ft Shimano Aero X1 Finesse Feeder (1oz quiver), link leger, 5lb line, 8 hook.
Shimano Exage 1000RC reel.
Baits: Bread flake & Cheese paste.
Fish: One chub

I fancied a trip back to the Chubb Stream despite it involving perhaps a bit more walking than I should be doing at this stage of my hip recovery. I still can't cross the two-bar fence between the meadows so have to take the longer route across the field.

I set up first in what I call the bypass swim.

The stream was very low and with the bright sunshine conditions were far from perfect. And so it proved, as I didn't get a touch in what has been a very reliable swim.

I made my way to the second of the two swims that have proved productive in the past, what I call the tree swim. When I got there the true condition of the stream became more apparent. It was indeed extremely low and clear with quite a fast flow. The bottom was clear to see but it deepens after the tree, so I was still hopeful.

But yet again I was to be disappointed. Despite casting from a difficult spot, so as to be sure to get the bait into the cutting behind the tree, there was nothing doing.

I'm still not really up to walking further downstream, so I walked back towards the bypass and dropped in a swim with a raft that had formed against low-hanging branches. I think it was the second cast that was a bit lucky in that it hit the water at the edge of the raft with the bait being taken under it by the flow.

Within seconds the rod top went round and I was into a chub. At first I thought I might lose it because of the snaggy swim and the short 9ft rod, but all came good and a smallish chub was in the net. So the day at least wouldn't be another blank.

After this I tried a few more swims without success. There was another raft swim, which I had fished previously without catching. And so it was today. I also tried just downstream of the bypass swim. I then tried a couple of spots in the first meadow, one of which had yielded chub for me but in late summer, but not today.

I did get what I believe to be one more bite, in a swim just upstream of the meadow boundary, but that was about it, and there were no more fish.

It was very enjoyable to be out, a fine clear summers day. But I walked too far and felt that I had probably pushed things a bit with my hip. I love roving streams but it does require a reasonable level of fitness!