Arrival time: 11.15 on bank
Weather: Overcast with no wind and quite mild..
Tackle: 11'6" Masterline Avon quiver with standard Avon top fitted.
Speedia centrepin reel.
(1) Drennan 5BB stick float, 6lb line, 4lb hook length to 14 wire hook.
(2) Cage feeder and 3SSG link, 6lb line, 8 hook.
Baits: Bread flake / Cheese paste
Fish: Blank

My plan was to fish a swim on the far side of the island at Offord. I had fished it before on the feeder but thought it might fish well on the stick float. But I was wrong!

It was incredibly deep, a fact that didn't register when I fished there previously on the feeder. The water was also turbulent with a fast central flow and a large back-eddy in front of me.

I had planned to use a bread punch but it soon became clear that the gently hooked flake wouldn't survive the heavy water.

To add to the problems a large amount of surface foam made it difficult at times to see the float. It wasn't long before I conceded defeat and put on a cage feeder.

The Avon rod was fine for feeder fishing but the centrepin was less so. I managed to cast by pulling off line but the depth of the swim soon became apparent from the acute angle with which the line was entering the water. After a few casts with bread flake or cheese paste, and liquidised bread in the feeder, I began to think that nothing was going to happen. I decided, therefore, to move over to the section they call the Triangle.

On the way I had a longish chat with the club chairman, who introduced himself. They had stocked some barbel in the Mill Stream the previous day and we were discussing suitable barbel spawning areas among other more general things about the water.

I had read about a chap catching chub earlier in the week in the margins on the Triangle and the chairman confirmed this, telling me where the swim was. So, the decision as to where to move was really made for me.

When I got to the swim it was perfect for trotting, ironic considering that was my original intention. However, I still had the rod set up for legering and rather than retackling I put a piece of bread flake down the margin, just in case there was a hungry chub in waiting. But there wasn't, so I retackled with the stick float.

It was a lovely swim to trot but unfortunately it didn't yield any bites. I tried flake and a couple of artificial casters but neither produced any response. Then things were disturbed by a roaming pike angler stopping off at the end of the trot to make a few casts with what looked like a jigged dead bait, while standing bolt upright at the edge of the water. At that point any remote chance of a chub had certainly gone. I was also having a few problems trotting as the wet line started to stick to the rod, requiring me to 'feed' the line.

I carried on for a while longer but in the end had to admit defeat. To be honest I'm not sure things would have been any different if I had gone straight to the second swim. I think it was one of those days where I was destined not to catch.

But it was good to pass a few hours by the river and it gave me the chance to try out a new lightweight tripod I had bought in conjunction with my Panasonic camcorder that I bought in the summer. The camcorder had proved to be a bit too heavy for the monopod that I used with my iPhone. The new setup worked well and, with the quick-release attachment on the tripod head, setting things up was easier than with the iPhone.