Arrival time: 10.00
Weather: Very warm for September. 26℃ when I left!
Tackle: Hardy 11' 6" Specimen Avon, Shimano Exage 4000RC, link leger, 8lb line, 10 hook
Baits: Spam, bread paste.
Fish: Two chub best around 2lb. Lost two fish.

Today didn't start well. I left my landing net handle at home and wasted an hour going back to fetch it.

The idea today was to revisit the two spots where I had lost better fish on the previous visit.

This time I was equipped with my Hardy Specimen Avon rod which I bought when it was on a very good deal, not wanting to pass over the opportunity to own a Hardy. I had also made a monopod to hold my iPhone for videoing since using a conventional tripod on an overgrown river bank had proved to be difficult. I made it by mounting a tripod ball swivel on an extendable bank stick.

I set up the camera and started to fish the first of the two spots. But, of course, the Gods of fishing decided that I wouldn't get a touch with the video running. After a while I moved to the second spot. Here the plan worked, as I was soon into a chub that weighed in at 2lb. Unfortunately I hadn't framed the video very well and I was largely out of shot. But it was a battling fish that nearly got into the rushes a couple of times and the more powerful rod probably saved the day.

After this commotion things went quiet and despite taking alternate turns in two spots I didn't get another touch.

At this point a club member came along. He was just having a look and not fishing. We had a long chat and I learnt a bit more about the club. We were talking about choice of bait and he noticed I had a slug on the hook. I explained that it had crawled into my wet landing net and that they were supposed to be a good chub bait.

After this break I set up in the swim below the weir outflow and cast out the slug. I was a little surprised when the rod top bent round but then disappointed when the fish came off after only a short while. But it showed that slugs do work!

A bit later I hooked another chub, this time on spam, but annoyingly it lunged into the edge vegetation as I was bringing it to the net and shed the hook. It was probably around a pound or so.

Changing to bread paste I got bites but they were clearly smaller fish and I couldn't hook them on the heavier setup.

I decided to revisit one of the spots I had fished earlier but was treated to an eel that tangled itself into the edge vegetation and took my hook, although this didn't worry me too much as I hate trying to handle eels.

It was now nearly packing up time so I finished off in the bridge pool where after a few casts I landed a small chub of probably ½lb or so. It fought well in the strong flow and I was quite surprised how small it was when I netted it.

And so home after a day of somewhat mixed fortunes. But the weather was beautiful and it was, as always, a joy to be sitting by a river.