A chilling night chub

I'm really struggling to get the time to fish at the moment, so it's all about getting out whenever I can, even if that means having one cast. Last night, the river was finally down to a decent level and after putting the kids to bed, I dropped on a peg that often produces a chub or two. The usual bait was fished on a link ledger, 5lb line and a soft 1.5oz quiver tip. After 20 mins the rod flew round and I struck into a fish. I'm using an okuma epix pro reel, and as I struck, the anti reverse stopped working, which isn't necessarily a problem, but allowed the fish a fraction of a second to get near a snag. I managed to coax it to the net, resulting in this chub of around 4lb - Tees chub this year fight well, but aren't as solid as previous winters; strange.

As for the reel, well it's goosed. Time to invest in a new reel (in fact, a pair of them, to match the 1.25lb drennan specialist avon/quivers - do nicely for tenching as well!). The clock is definitely ticking down on the rivers now, but i'm hearing of very interesting things on a local Stillwater with regards pike, and unfortunately the close season coincides with the last few weeks of pike fishing before they spawn, so I really want to make use of this short period when they are at their heaviest. That probable means that my last couple of trips on the river will be after dark for chub, although there's a possibility of a final day trip during the day just to see things off!

Anyway the other issue, and reason I didn't fish more than an hour is because of what happened. I only started fishing at night in the last year or two, before that I was always a bit cautious (ok, nervous). But I got used to everything, the noises became part and parcel of the countryside, every noise had a reason (such as fox, bird, rabbit etc). I've actually come to quite enjoy it. But last night....well I got a sudden chill. I started to look over my shoulder; felt like something was looking over me. Then heard a noise in the distance...the wind picked up slightly. I just decided...nah! reeled in and went home. Strange how the night can affect you..........

Avoided the blank in difficult conditions

Just got back in from a mornings fishing in difficult conditions. There was a good few foot of water in, leaves thundering through and wind / rain. Decided to use some smelly paste to try and tempt a barbel or chub, roving about and fishing the slacks.

The first few swims produced nothing, other than big piles of leaves. On the next swim there was a tree in the river upstream, creating some slack water and a crease, ideal place to find a fish. First cast and the rod banged a...s the bait came round in the flow before settling. Next cast the same happened again so I assumed that something was sat in the crease picking off food as it flowed by. I took the weight off, cast out a big lump of paste, and touch ledgered as the bait swung round the crease. This got me a strikeable bite straight away, not massive but a chub all the same, and I was happy to avoid the blank.

Left shortly after as the rain got heavy....

Water Temp was 49.5f