Arrival time: 10.00
Weather: Overcast and very breezy but not too cold. A bit of weak sun later in the day.
Tackle: 11' 6" Hardy Marksman Specimen Avon, link leger/feeder, 8lb line.
Baits: Cheese paste.
Fish: Two chub

I've been suffering a bit from what I suspect is a pulled tendon in my thigh and this has made walking a bit difficult. So it was with a bit of trepidation that I set off today. But fortunately it didn't bother me too much, although it certainly slowed my progress.

Having arrived at the mill stream I first tried my usual light link leger but there was no interest shown. The stream was in good shape, the level being neither too high nor too low. So I swapped to the open-ended feeder and started getting knocks on the rod top. I had brought my Hardy Avon because of the heavier weight of the feeder but it seems that perhaps it was a bit too stiff in the tip for good bite indication.

After many missed bites I eventually hooked a chub, which felt like a good fish, but it shed the hook after only a few seconds. I think I might have struck too earlier having been conditioned by all the earlier missed bites.

After losing that fish I moved to the head of the mill stream to give the swim a rest. The flow was quite turbulent at the head of the stream but I did manage to tempt a chub and hook it. Unfortunately it burrowed into the nearside dying reed stems and managed to transfer the hook to one of them. It wasn't by any means a big fish but it was a bit galling to lose it in that way.

After a while I returned to the original swim hoping to tempt a better chub and land it. Well, I tempted a chub, but it was probably less than a pound. It was, nevertheless, good to get a fish on the bank.

As the swim had been disturbed again, with bites tailing off, I decided it was a good time to go over to the main river to try a swim that I had spotted a couple of weeks earlier.

The river was moving at quite a pace but there was slacker water nearer my bank and I fished at the join between different flows. Starting with a simple link leger I didn't get a touch but after changing to the feeder I got a bite first cast. Again it wasn't a big fish, probably a little over a pound. I got another bite after returning it but didn't make contact. After this the bites tailed off.

To finish the day I walked short distance to the point of the island on which I was fishing. The water was quite turbulent and I wasn't too hopeful. I gave gave it a go for about half an hour but, as half expected, I didn't get any bites. I had already stayed longer than planned but packed up reasonably happy with my trial of the feeder and looking forward to returning with my Korum feeder rod, which should prove to be a better choice.