Arrival time: 08:30.
Weather: Cloudy bright and warm with more sun appearing after lunch. Light downstream breeze. Tackle: Ryan Burns 'Arrow' 10' split cane rod, Trudex centrepin, 2xSSG link leger, 6lb line direct to 8 eyed hook.
Baits: Bread Flake & cheese paste.
Fish: One chub - lost three!

My second chub session of the season and this time I went to the Mill Stream at Offord. I got the swim I was aiming for but during the session I was surprised by how many anglers walked past me, some dipping in the stream while the majority seemingly walking on to the main river. It's certainly a much busier venue than when I first joined the club a few years ago. I usually rove the few fishable swims on the stream but on this occasion decided to stay put, especially as there was evidence of chub under the tree overhanging from the far bank.

It was a difficult swim, the overhanging branches of the tree making it challenging to cast to a spot that ensured the bait would trickle down under the tree branches, and not be diverted by the current towards the near bank. I started with two SSG on a simple link but quickly changed to a single SSG to try to get the bread flake bait to drift further downstream. Once I managed a decent cast I didn't have to wait long for a good pull on the rod top and was into a good fish. It powered to the far bank and although I stopped it reaching there, it did manage to get behind the remnants of a reed clump where it stuck fast. Despite side strain, which was difficult to apply because of the tree branches, in the end it did the time honoured chub trick of leaving my hook in the snag while it was long gone. Fish number one lost!

It's usually difficult to get more than one chub out of a swim but after a while, having tried cheese paste unsuccessfully, I hooked another good fish. It again went for the far bank but this time I was ready and managed to steer it clear of the snag. But it then dived into some rushes off the nearside bank and anchored itself firmly to them. Desperate attempts to net it at full reach on my 3m landing net pole were nearly successful but it flipped back out of the net on two attempts, the rush stems still anchoring it and defeating my attempts to pull it towards me. In the end it slipped the hook and a second good chub was lost.

After this second disappointment I spent a while floating a crust bait under the tree branches. I had earlier thrown in some mashed crusts and from the plops under the tree thought the chub might be taking the ones that remained floating. Despite a number of pass throughs with the crust bait, nothing rose to it, although I did spot a good chub looking at the bait further down the stream, but it shied off.

I returned to bread flake and after a bit of a tangle had now replaced the simple link with a single SSG actually on the main line. I didn't have to wait too long before striking on a tentative tap-tap bite resulted in a powerful fish steaming off towards the far bank, the hook coming out after just a few seconds. But it felt unstoppable!

By now I thought all chances of getting another bite were gone, let alone a fish on the bank. But in one of those quirks of angling lore a final cast, using literally almost my last piece of bread flake, produced another tentative bite and I was into another chub. This time I quickly stopped it going for the far bank and also steered it clear of the rushes that had caused me to lose the earlier fish. It didn't in fact fight as hard as the earlier fish and I got it in without incident. At 4½lbs it was a lovely fish and a great ending to what up to then had been a very frustrating day. I packed up and went home happy 😊.