An angler's journal

An angler's journal

Monday 12 November 2018

Autumn Perch and Chub

The end of October coincided with high pressure meaning cold nights and bright days. Despite having the week off, I still ended up having to fish on one of the brightest of them. I had decided to target some decent perch and as we all know, bright sunshine is not the perch anglers favourite condition. Arriving at a stillwater that had been kind to me in the past, I tackled up with a ledger set up with prawn and a float set up with worm. Regular feeding soon had the swim filled with the resident roach and skimmers. With perch sport slow, I changed to a maggot hookbait and enjoyed some nice roach.

As the afternoon wore on and the sun began to dip behind the trees on the far side of the lake. I was left in the shade and the temperature dipped sharply as another frosty night loomed. Although chilly, I knew the low light would give me a better chance of a perch so it was all systems go with prawn and worm baits cast into prime position. The waiting game began. Regular feeding kept the prey fish in the area and I just had to hope the big perch would turn up at some stage.


A 2lb 4oz perch
Some of the resident day ticket anglers fishing for carp started to depart. It was now as the lake became quiet that I noticed something a little different. The smaller fish in my swim seemed to have disappeared. Had the perch moved in and caused them anxiety? I recast my ledger rig baited with a prawn. I then placed the rod into the rest. I was still holding the line as I set about clipping on the bobbin but there was no need. A sharp tug registered. Then another. I struck and a decent fish was on. I quickly decided it had to be a perch so I just had to ensure it stayed on. Every time a good perch surfaces it never fails to be a breathtaking sight. They have been described as the biggest fish of all and there's no doubting they make for impressive viewing. The fish was safely netted and although it wasn't going to threaten the 3 pounders I'd had from the venue previously it was certainly over 2lb.

A carp approaching double figures
The scales confirmed this at 2lb 4oz. I hoped this would signal a flurry of activity and another perch around the pound mark fell to the worm. Another positive bite on the worm put a huge bend on the rod and signaled one of the resident carp had been hooked. Whilst good fun on a through action rod and centrepin its marauding around the swim put an end to end hopes of anymore perch. Soon enough the light had gone and the session had ended.


A few days later I was on the Warwickshire Avon. The river  had been low and clear for what seems an eternity. With the temperature dropping it was a toss up between pike or chub with the latter winning. Tactics were going to be simple with trotted bread flake the order of the day. By the time I'd faffed about it had gone 3pm by the time I'd thrown some mashed bread into the head of my chosen swim. With the nights drawing in I probably only had about 90 minutes to make this work. One thing in my favour was the fact the Avon has a great head of chub. Most are in the 3-4lb class but they are great sport especially on fair tackle.
The first fish of the session
A piece of flake was presented on a size 12 hook to a 7lb hooklength. My first cast was made and the float started its journey through the swim. Half way down and the float sunk from view. My strike was met with solid resistance as the first chub of the day made a bid for the nearside cover. It was a great start. The next cast saw a repeat with the float burying and another good chub hooked. This was beginning to look like a super session in the making. It was maybe the next run down that another fish was hooked. However this one had a bit more intent about and took off across the river towards the far bank trees. I was unable to tame it and the hooklength parted. I have no idea whether this was an over energetic chub or whether I had connected with a barbel. I will never know. Another chub showed meaning I had managed three chub and a lost fish within the first 6 or so casts. It was then that the chub vanished almost as quickly as they had been caught. I persevered hoping some more mashed bread would entice them back upstream. Had I not started so late in the day I would have moved and most likely added some more fish but with light fading it was time to call it day. It had been an enjoyable hour or so and something I must do again soon.
A nice return for little more than an hour

4 comments:

  1. Wonderful stuff. My local river has chub, but mostly a few bigger ones. Perhaps perversely I am more excited about the smaller ones that are coming through to give a bigger head of fish to catch two or three from a glide on a float.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the comment. I did have a chub over 5lb last season so they're there. That said, chub provide great action whatever their size.

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  2. Good stuff...entertaining and informative.

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