Arrival time: 09.00.
Weather: Foggy start with no wind and fog lingering until afternoon.
Tackle: 11'6" John Wilson Avon with 1.5oz quiver, Shimano ST2500FB baitrunner, link leger and 6lb line direct to 8 hook.
Baits: Bread flake
Fish: Two chub.

I had checked out the Trout Stream the previous day and was pleased to see the level up and more importantly some colour in the water. This convinced me to return and try for chub. I followed my usual roving style starting about midway along the stretch in a favourite swim.

It wasn't the best of starts with people turning up with four dogs just downstream, two labradors making a right commotion in the shallow bay. Then I somehow twisted the line around the tip of the rod in such a way that it involved unpicking a tight loop that was almost like a knot. Then more dogs turned up!

But once all that was over with I cast to a spot under an overhanging tree and was rewarded with a firm pull on the rod top a short time later. The fish immediately ploughed into a dying reed bed near the far bank but fortunately the reeds were soft and I managed to bully it out. It came in with a mouthful of weed, a lovely conditioned chub of I guess between 1lb and 1½lbs. After all the commotion I didn't expect another bite and I didn't get one. Time to move on.

The next spot was another favourite, a point on a bend where I could cast into a long glide. It had been inaccessible during summer but with the vegetation dying down it could be reached by crunching through flattened reeds. There was a potential problem in that there were dying reeds across almost the width of the glide about halfway down. My first cast therefore was to the right of these reeds, which placed it in the faster water. I didn't get a bite and decided to cast past the reeds to get the bait into quieter water. This of course carried the risk of needing to get any fish back through the reeds.

The decision to seek the quieter water quickly paid off with a good bite and then the battle to get the fish in commenced. It sought refuge in the margin reeds to my left as well as in the midstream reeds I've mentioned. Three times I had to bully it out, resorting to hand lining on one occasion. But I finally got it in, a fine chub of 3¼lbs.

It had taken the hook well down and broke the hook off with its struggles as I tried to unhook it. Fortunately after some difficulty I felt the hook with the forceps and got it out,

That was to be my last fish. I checked out a swim further downstream but judged it too difficult because of the unlikelihood of being able to net a fish. A quick dip in the first swim yielded nothing, as did a shallow run that had provided a chub just before the previous season ended in March.

I finished in a swim near the entrance to the stretch that had provided chub in the past but it wasn't to be on this occasion. Every cast became snagged in bottom weed, necessitating hand lining a couple of times. But I wasn't disappointed as the two fish I had caught more than made the day. Both were in fine condition with lovely colouring. And I was so pleased to be chubbing on a stream again after the difficult conditions I experienced during the hot summer.