Arrival time: circa 11.20 at swim.
Weather: Bright sunshine with light breeze.
Tackle: 10ft Fishtec Compact Float, simple SSG link, 6lb line, 6 hook.
Baits: Bread flake & cheese paste.
Fish: 3 chub

Back to the Houghton Trout Stream, this time to the weir pool at the head of the stream. A lovely spot but only three smallish chub caught. A swan rather ruined things at the end.

Having checked out this weir pool the previous week, after receiving a tip on my YouTube channel, today was the day to try it. An absolutely beautiful November day with enough heat in the sun to counteract the otherwise low air temperature.

It was full of promise and I cast with great expectations. It wasn't long before I was into my first fish, a chub, the intended quarry, albeit not large. Probably between half and three quarters of a pound, but in superb condition and with fine colouring. Taken on bread flake.

There followed lots of taps on the rod top but not many pulls that were definite enough to strike on. After a while I managed to hook another smallish chub, of a similar size to the first, the hook being literally just in the edge of the lip. This caused me to think that the taps on the rod top were in fact chub, but uncharacteristically timid ones.

I tried cheese paste, but like the previous week it didn't seem to be a favoured bait with these chub. Crust proved to be much more effective. Using the edge of a slice of bread and pinching the white onto the hook, with the crust being left 'fluffy', seemed to produce the most bites; although I couldn't hit them!

Eventually I managed to hook a third chub, which was if anything slightly smaller than the first two, although just as beautifully coloured.

Things took a bit of a downhill turn when a swan arrived and refused to budge. After one close call when it got itself caught up in my line, a bit later it did the same thing again and took off with my terminal tackle. In the end it was restricting where I could cast, and in particular ruling out the spot that had produced the most knocks. This caused me to pack up a little bit earlier than I had intended.

On reflection I think that the rod I was using was perhaps not quite sensitive enough in the tip. I've caught chub on it before, although somewhat larger fish, but on this occasion it wasn't perhaps the right tool for the job. I took it because I was fishing under a tree and it was the shortest rod I had.

Anyway, despite the small size of the fish, and the pesky swan, it was a lovely day to be beside the stream and I'm glad I went.