Having booked today off work in order to fish i decided to head back to the River Dove in search of some Chub . The title of this entry is how Isaak Walton described the Chub in his book the Compleat Angler and i was soon to find out just how right he was!
The river was extremely low and clear today not great chub fishing conditions but i was hopeful of getting a few especially as the weather was overcast with a slight drizzle in the air. As i walked the stretch as was struck by the lack of fish normally visible in the gravel runs between the streamer weed, there wasnt even any Trout rising which is unusual.
My tactics were to be quivertipped luncheon meat on a tiny straight lead to minimise casting disturbance. I tried several spots along a stretch of around a mile or so over the course of the morning to no avail. The whole stretch looked pretty dead with only a couple of small fish topping here and there. A change of stretch was called for so i went back to the car and headed a couple of miles upstream to an area which i knew a bit better.
It was a similar story here to the previous area with not much visible although there was a few Trout rising so at least there was something moving which gave me a confidence boost. I decided to start right at the top of the stretch and work my way down. The first pool is an absolutely stunning spot which screams Chub so i wanted to spend a bit of time there and get some bait down. After about an hour of careful feeding and recasting i finally had a tentative pluck followed by a firm pull on the tip which i promptly missed! I was a bit gutted but the feeling was to be pretty shortlived because about 10 minutes later i had another bite and connected with a nice Chub of 4lb, finally!
After that i moved and tried a couple more spots downstream and even though they looked cock-on i could only manage one bite which was missed. By now it was about 3pm and i was starting to get low on bait. I headed back upstream and noticed a couple of fish ghost across a gravel run and into a deeper hole where i couldnt see the bottom. With the distinct lack of any better offers i decided to chance a cast into the hole on the offchance of a bite.Im glad i did cos within 5 minutes i was connected to a lively Chub of about 3lb which was duly landed.
This was the signal for me to call it a day, the fishing had been extremely tough with only 4 bites in about 7 hours of fishing and around 2 miles of riverbank covered. I can only put the lack of action down to the water conditions but at least i caught a couple.
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