Welcome to my fishing blog… February 2023
February 12th – River Tone, Taunton – Lubbly Chubbly!
It was 5.30am and for some strange reason, (incomprehensible to the majority of the human race), I woke up and left the warmth and comfort of my cosy bed. I had to meet up with some of the Kingswood Legionnaires on the A38 for 7am and a one-hour trek to Taunton. Destination, the river Tone. All we had to go on, was some recent history of match results and a few old reports of chub catches from the ‘fast stretch’ but we were about to find out for ourselves exactly what all the fuss was about.
Four of us travelled in a convoy and the other five made their own way to the venue, all arriving within a few minutes of each other. Car parking is very close to the river, through a padlocked gate, which could be very confusing if you were not totally wide awake, as there are about 6 padlocks all on the same chain. Once the correct combination lock had been found and the gate opened, it was a case of driving down to the end of a short road, just yards from the river. So far so good.
Jason, our assistant match secretary, strolled off to take care of the pegging, while Clive, our treasurer started collecting monies. With all barrows and trolleys now fully loaded, peg, pools and match fees paid, it was time for the draw. I plucked out peg number 6, which must have been peg 9 in a previous life as the number 9 was painted on the ground. That got me wondering whether the flyers, pegs 1, 2 and 3 had been put in. As it happened, they hadn’t but that didn’t really matter in the great scheme of things.
My peg looked okay apart from not having any far bank cover, although to be fair, only a couple of pegs did. I always think it can make a BIG difference when chub fishing because as we all know, chub love a bit of overhead cover. So, I set up a feeder rod to fish the maggle feeder and a float rod to fish the crowquill Avon float or ‘Topper’ as it is better known around these parts. I could have used a stick float but I feel I can get better presentation with a Crowquill… just my theory.
The river wasn’t very wide and it had a nice constant pace, so trotting would be the best method today. Before the start, I plumbed around the swim and found almost 6 feet of water at one point but with so many snags I ended up setting the float at a depth of 4 feet. At the all-in, I started feeding a few maggles down the middle and began trotting the full length of the swim, which was about 40 yards, or metres depending on your preference.
I fed every minute or so, keeping a constant trickle of feed going in, hoping to entice a bite. After about 20 minutes, Leigh who was in the next peg downstream shouted up that had a grayling. We decided at the start that grayling, trout, pike and salmon wouldn’t count so he had to put the little ‘lady’ back. Meanwhile, I was now casting around, trying to locate what was fast becoming an elusive shoal of chubbies. Fishing across to the far side brought nothing but twigs and bits of reed. I lost 2 hooklengths on this line.
Trying the inside line was better until I got near the end of the run where there was a really nasty snag. I lost 3 hooklengths on that one. Eventually, after about 45 minutes the float dived under and a chub was on. This one was about 2lb and you had to keep the pressure on as it fought hard against the current, diving into snags at every opportunity. I got him beat but then I had to fight to hold the landing net against the strong flow of the current. Phew! I sweated a bit over that and wondered how the heck I would manage if I hooked a real beast.
So, now that I was up and running, I began to feed a bit more at one to two-minute intervals. Chub are greedy and sometimes won’t respond unless you pile a lot of bait in. However, it was still early in the match and so I had to be careful not to overdo it with the feed. I had brought 3 pints of maggles with me. A pint of bronze, a pint of reds and a pint of whites. I had put them all into a bowl and it looked quite an interesting sight with all those colourful happy hookers wriggling around. Hmmm… a crowd of colourful happy hookers… now that reminds me of something…
Anyway, I digress… I looked over my shoulder to see how Ian Brice was getting on in the peg above me and I could see he was playing a big chub. From where I was situated, it looked all of 3lb. Ian had a little tree opposite… now what did I say about trees? I gave him the finger, disguised as thumbs up and decided it was time for a change of tactics. I was beginning to get pestered by minnows now and that wasn’t part of the script. I picked up the feeder rod and impaled 3 red maggles to a size 16 microbarb hook, filled the 30gm Drennan feeder and gently lobbed it out into the middle of the river.
I didn’t have to wait too long before the tip went right round and another chub was on. This one was slightly bigger than the last one and led me a right merry old dance all over the swim. I had to stand up to net it as it had its heart set on diving into a big nearby reed bed. There’s nothing worse than a determined chub, hell-bent on getting the upper hand. I literally had to bully it to a point where it had no more to give so I could safely slip the net under it. Lubbly jubbley!
This kind of action is not good for the old nerves and I should imagine quite a few chub get lost during matches here on a regular basis. Once that one was in the bank, I scanned the rest of the field up and down but couldn’t see what was happening on the pegs below me. Meanwhile a quick check-in with Ian to my left and he confirmed that he now had 2 chub also. I carried on with the maggle feeder for another hour but not a sniff. Out went the float again and I could sense that there were either no more chub left in the swim or they had shut up shop for the day.
Al I had from there on in was minnows. I had tried bread on the float and with the bomb without success. I also tried fishing meat on the bomb for about 15 minutes but no takers on that either. And so that was it for me… game over. I was a bit disappointed I must admit but on the positive side, it wasn’t too cold, it didn’t rain and I had caught something at least. The top weight of the day came from 2 pegs further downstream, where Ian Swanborough had managed to find 10 small chub for over 14lbs.
Next to Ian was Kev Murch who landed 5 chub for over 10lbs and to my left, our other Ian finished with 3 chub for over 6lbs. I had just the 2 chub for 4-11-0 and a handful of minnows. So, no beer tokens for me this week but I am through to the final round of the knockout series and I have put another 5 points in the bag. I filmed some of this event, so I will make a short video and put the link on our FishWag Facebook page soon, just in case anyone is interested. My next match will be on the river Avon, Crane stretch, on Sunday 19th, where I’ll be gunning for big bream or a hefty net of roach. I’m REALLY looking forward to this one. Till then!
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January 2023
February 2023
12th – River Tone – Taunton
19th – Rive Avon – Crane, Keynsham
26th – Margarets Lake – Earthcott Green
March 2023
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May 2023
June 2023
July 2023
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