Gotcha!

Done it! I have now caught one of the biggest fish in this little river, and it was all planned!

Today's blog is all about the fish. For the past week or so, Sue and I have been watching a section of our river were we have found a small shoal of chublet. Last time we went 'equipped' we had no luck whatsoever. We could not even find the fish in the murky water. Even the odd dangled maggot didn't even get 'chewed'.

This time it was a different matter. We set off late morning and found the fish where we had seen them a few days ago, at the bottom of a shallow weir. The water is a bit deeper here, in fact, it is deeper than it looks, as when a labrador decided to jump in it was way out of its depth and found itself having to swim.

One of the problems with fishing here is the number of dogs that make use of the easy access to the water. We had several dogs in the water during our hour and a half session. Surprisingly, this did not seem to bother the fish too much. Once the water cleared again, we could see the fish swimming around looking for the free offerings we had been feeding.

There is no point in plumbing the depth here as the bottom goes from nothing to two or three feet deep, and back again in all directions. Using my 5m tele-pole which is fitted with No.6 elastic through the top two sections, and a light line and hooklength I was just letting the maggot drift through the water with only the size 18 hook as weight. The only indicator was a small bright yellow float bead set about a foot from the hook. Within seconds a small chublet had grabbed the maggot, and it was away. Easily swung to hand it was the first of many.

First, chuck and we had our first fish of the session

Slowly the fish were getting bigger as they grew in confidence. I was concerned that the commotion would spook the fish, but that did not seam to be the case as I was catching one after the other. The session came to an abrupt pause (paws?) as the section of river was invaded by a pack of dogs. Well, 'pack' might be a bit strong but there were five or six of them. The owner was profusely apologetic, and I don't suppose she expected to see anyone fishing there, besides it is not our river. I was fearful that all this further commotion will have scared the fish off, but as I said above, it didn't.

They were getting bigger...

I started fishing again after a few minutes as I could see the fish were still taking our loose feed. All of a sudden the line went tight and promptly snapped. One of the bigger fish had decided to take my hook-bait in a mad rush. The elastic did not even come out of the pole. I had been fishing light, trying not to spook the fish too much. Time to tackle up a bit heavier. I re-rigged the pole with heavier line and hooklength and this time used one of those nice little Drennan crystal dibbers. A few shot to cock it and a string of droppers ensured that this time I was going to be fishing static on the bottom.

The prize fish of the day - this is the same fish I am holding in the header shot

A few put-ins produced nothing, so I shallowed up slightly and had another go. Sue was feeding two or three maggots over the float every 15-20 seconds. It worked. The elastic berried itself in the river, and I had one of the bigger fish on. It was a bit frisky at first, but it soon quietened down and was making it's way closer to the bank when it spotted the net and made another break for freedom. Luckily, this time the tackle was up to the job and eventually the fish was in the net.

After weeks of watching these fish, I finally had one in the net. What a great feeling. My first river chub and caught on our local urban river right here in the heart of South East London. Although I don't think this fish has been caught by an angler before, the scar on its side looks as if it has been attacked by one of the many herons or egrets that we often see on our walks along this stretch of the river.

A great day, possibly one of the best so far. I know it is not the biggest chub around, but at 16½ inches long, it is one of the biggest fish in this river.

Ralph.