i got to a nice glide where i sneaked in behind the reeds and stingers i could see four nice chub, two about 2lb and two around 4lb now the sun was not beaming down i felt allot more confident so i cast my tiny Jitterbug (ill talk about this lure at the end of the report) across to the other bank plopping it next to the far bank streamer weed, and slowly crept the Jitterbug up the current and i could clearly see the chub looking for what ever is in there swim and the two smaller fish charging over to it in the gin clear water they were litterally competing for the action and smash this fiesty little 2lber nails the lure and instantly im grinning from ear to ear as this is my favorite type of fishing!
In the very next gap in the streamer weed i only had 3ft to play with and i could see this nice plump two and a half pounder nails the lure almost instantly i wound the handle once if that and smash it was on! and while is was crankin this fish over the weed another massive chub spooks out well over 5lb i was buzzing with excitement as things started to all come together! it was crawling with chub most gaps in the weed had one if not a few chub lurking around and they all wanted a bit of Jitterbug!
Heres the biggest fish of the session and my daytime surface PB chub of 5lb 6oz...... im gutted i couldnt get a decent picture of this as it really was a barrel of a fish and went mental when it was hooked charging off down stream and then some dirrrrty tactics by ploughing through the streamer weed! i thought for a minute i was going to lose the chub as it charged deeper into the weed i just couldnt get the correct angle on it but after a bit of Parkins persuasion i got the fish to the net shaking like a leaf trying to take the picture i am sooooo chuffed out this fish! and there was a few all around this size through this run, ill be back on a night session to see whats what next week!i wasnt long before i was in again! i crept down the run where i could still see some big chub i took only two casts and bang i was in again!
check out the guts on this fat chub at almost 5lb they were built like carp with massive guts they certainly arent short of food here as the belly on this chub shows! i would love to see the size of the chub we caught in the winter from this run they were 6-7inches longer than this fish weighing the same i dread to think! im hoping there show on a nite session next week as i know there still on here! these two fish bumped me up to chub number 21 on this hectic session and i was having a ball even with the tiddlers which plagued the twisty bends on this river, one thing missing today was pike...... you can normally catch a fair few here and i only saw two all day, one of around 8lb and a tiny jack. not one of them taking any interest in the lures, i think if i had syuck on a Sebile soft magic swimmer or something like that i think i could of prob nailed one or two but the chub was my target today and boy did i manage to pull that off..... gutting i didnt have a buddy fishing with me so we could have some decent grab and grin shots specially of the larger fish as im never happy with rod and grass shots but hay its not the end of the world!
Heres the tiny Jitterbug..... deadly for chub and even pike will smash this lure, we cut the standard hooks off as there very poor quality they come with two small trebles i cut them off and attach a small split ring to the rear eye and wack on a nice new small Owner st-36 be sure to use a hook big enough to hook the fish well but not too big it kills the action of the lure. and now it only has one hook its slightly more weedless too :-) i would consider this the premium lure for surface chubbing day or nite, so why not give them a go. ill be trying a night session here again next week ill post up so keep ya eyes peeled
but literally in the next swim im happily walking along in the pissing it down with rain! and Bang Adrian is in again! the pike was only a rod length out in from of a big patch of reeds and adrian shouts its a better fish maybe 8-9 lb so i get the net off my back rucksack off and get ready to land it, thats when i see the fish steam off 10ft line i could see it was a double and i would of said 15lb after a few talk walks i start my descent into the depths with my waders on ill be ok right? well i managed to get to the edge of the reeds to a safe landing spot and the water was 2inches from the top of my waders lol :-) the fish was in the net and i passed it over my shoulder to Ady up the bank ofter a quick photo she was weighed a nice tidy 14lb 1oz not bad for less than 10 casts! it wasnt long before it was my turn for the action! in the very next swim i cast my swampy to the other bank into a small hole in the lillies and start my retrieve it isnt long before i see this huge bow wave charging up behind my lure. but it didnt come to a take i think it saw me as i couldnt get it to charge and take :-( judging by the bow wave it was another lump of a pike. Adrian was managing to completely distroy me last nite by this point he was managing a fish or lose a fish in most swims it was awesome! the pike were on fire hitting anything twitched across there swim
This Ballan nailed a megabass spindle worm on a delelande jig you can see how aggressive they are when fished for correctly as you can only just see the jig in the mouth! after a scrappy fight right under the rod tip i managed to get it to the surface, great fun on a 25g casting weight casting rod coupled with a shimano curado e7 and 30lb braid! the action on bait was pretty much non stop...... soon as our mini fixed pats touched the bottom the rag worm was nailed instantly! plenty of smaller fish hammerin the bait the second it was in there, with the larger wrasse smashing the worm and pretty much nailing them selfs on our rigs which are deadly! it wasnt long before my brother was landing fish
a very cute but aggressive sea scorpion :-) certainly a first for me here in the UK we'v caught loads on the costa brave in spain where they get well over a foot long and weigh a couple pounds and the bite it gave me on my bait rod was awesome i honestly thought i had another ballan on the end until i struck like a loony and felt this little bugger on the end i think i ruined his day lol. off out bassin again in the week so watch this space :-)
I managed the first fish a tiddler to the monsters lurking around on the venue, i cannot explain how chuffed i was when i landed the first fish it was amazing fun i nailed it on one of the new Savagegear spinners with tons of flash in the skirt. this lure worked a treat the other week when me and Jimbo fished here so i knew it would sort me out :-) it wasnt long before me and Adrian figured out how to get around in the tubes which was most of the fun i reckon...... we certainly didnt care if we blanked it was just awesome fun to be on the water like this. Adrian was the next to hook up on a Fox hornet spinnerbait the fish literally came up from 15ft of water and nailed his bait off the top no more than 2ft away from Adrians tube! i could see the look on his face he was giggling like a child but so was i! god only knows what will happen if we nailed one of the 30's...... :-)
we got there early AM. with light mist still lingering it was just perfect! love this venue always done very well with plenty of fish over 20lb being caught and two fish over the magic 30! these are proper pike none of those ressy lumps that fill the mags nowadays, both of us started out fishing savagegear lures myself using 4plays in various colours and Jimbo using one of the new savage spinnerbaits. the conditions couldnt get any better you could feel the atmosphere in the air, both me and Jimbo buzzed with excitement at the possibility of a monster or two turning up :-) Jimbo was the first to land a fish and this tiny 1lb Jack was a welcomed sight as James has had a slight dry patch concerning pike in 2011. its very unusual to see pike this size on this venue i prob see 2-3 a year 
I managed to sneak a small jack on a wobblespinner not long after Jimbo nailed his, the Savage 4plays didnt work at all which is strange as they usually murder this place...... we both had large very flashy lures fishing them with a very lazy sink and draw style retrieve fluttering the lures in and around weeds beds in the gin clear water, it was amazing watching the pike chase over 20ft of water and smash lures in the clear water it was like a fish tank we could see everything. im happily fishing away when i hear James shout 
sods law hay..... but still possitive as there was some huge fish moving and the deffo liked the lures we were throwing! only two swims away i had another decent fish chase again a fish between 12-15lb it was only a matter of time before something huge nailed our lures! i was now gagging for a decent fish now, and it wasnt long before i was treated to a good fish falling to my christmas tree style lure. after a few good hefty runs and some awesome tailwalking this fish was in the net
just scraping the double but it certainly wacked a smile on my face! as i was releasing this fish Jimbo shouts out again! with this time another lump of a pike smashing up behind the lure again a fish of around 20lb! the bright blue skys helping us spot the pike on the bottom but this also ment that most of the time the pike could also see us...... the sun was creeping high in the sky now and the action started to slow a fair bit which is generally what happens on this venue at mid day. but we still kept on chucking lures while James shoots some black and white stills on me catsing and other fishing action shots. we fished prob another quarter mile stretch of canal before deciding that the pub was calling us for a drink and plate of chips....
ended the session with 4 pike to low double and the pub we can safely say a awesome morning out.... still with a couple hows of chilling time when we got home! watch this space we are going to try this venue again next week before Jimbo heads off to guide in florida for two months. fingers crossed for one of those monsters jumping on our lures :-)
