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Chasing chub....

I headed to river this avvey in search of rough chops, a giant chub known to lurk in the area 😉. When I arrived at the river at just after 12pm it was 9 degrees, so it wasn't what you would call "propper cold", but it certainely felt "propper cold" to me, and especially so when I waded out!
Anyhow, first trott through and the float buried and I had my target species on the line, when I got hold of it to unhook it, it felt like a block of ice!
Several trots later and I was surprised to hook a barbel as I really wasn't expecting them to be lively enough to take a trotted bait after the frosty nights of late.
After the barbel I continued to catch chub with some very decent ones, then another surprise as I hooked another barbel. Same thing was repeated after that, I was catching chub and then yet another barbel ! By 3pm the cold had worked it's way up from my feet to my thighs and I had had enough, time to go home and warm up!
A couple of pic's from the session...





 
Ian Woods said:
I headed to river this avvey in search of rough chops, a giant chub known to lurk in the area 😉. When I arrived at the river at just after 12pm it was 9 degrees, so it wasn't what you would call "propper cold", but it certainely felt "propper cold" to me, and especially so when I waded out!
Anyhow, first trott through and the float buried and I had my target species on the line, when I got hold of it to unhook it, it felt like a block of ice!
Several trots later and I was surprised to hook a barbel as I really wasn't expecting them to be lively enough to take a trotted bait after the frosty nights of late.
After the barbel I continued to catch chub with some very decent ones, then another surprise as I hooked another barbel. Same thing was repeated after that, I was catching chub and then yet another barbel ! By 3pm the cold had worked it's way up from my feet to my thighs and I had had enough, time to go home and warm up!
A couple of pic's from the session...





Click to expand...
FJT reel 😍
 
Alan Rose said:
FJT reel 😍
Click to expand...

Yes Alan, forget the sphere and get your hands on one of those FJT reels, they're great reels 😉.
The one in the pic's is the "trotter" which is the narrower drum model. I actually prefer the "specialist" which is the wider drum model.
 
Ian Woods said:
Yes Alan, forget the sphere and get your hands on one of those FJT reels, they're great reels 😉.
The one in the pic's is the "trotter" which is the narrower drum model. I actually prefer the "specialist" which is the wider drum model.
Click to expand...
Oh go on then, I’ll have your narrow one 😉
 
A very enjoyable Throop day with 10 chub to 5lb+ and a number of lost ones due to the heavy weed growth still around.
20241114_142057.jpg
 
Have posted this picture in the thread Richard Issacs has started about his floats.
Having not float -fished except on lakes for over a decade; with conditions not being what I wanted for barbel; low and clear river.
I decided to try long trotting bread flake for the chub. It was on a very low stocked stretch and the one bite came from this beauty; 7lb 8oz chub.
An amazing fight followed as It wanted to cover every inch of the thirty plus yards of river below me and more.
4.float-fished PB 7LB 8OZ 14th nov 24.JPG
 
Not the easiest bait to collect, for starters, Ian !
I keep a few grub heavy bits of the nest to get the grubs out, and the rest goes in the magimix with some bread ( when her indoors isn't about, it's bad enough getting the nest in the first place). This makes a sticky paste for groundbait but also works great on the hook.
 
It would have been better if I hadn't had any maggots left, then my short lived trotting session today wouldn't have taken place. The reason I say that is because when I arrived at the river at 2.35pm this afternoon the car thermometer said it was 2.5 degrees, and that would be ok if there hadn't been a biting northerly wind which within minuites of walking to a spot to fish had made my hands ache with pain! So I arrived at my spot on the river and started to trott the float at 3pm.... my first trott I hooked a fish and lost it within a second or so of hooking it. I just wound back a few turns of the reel and let it continue on its way and within several feet the float was pulled under, this time I landed the fish which was just a modest size. By 3.30 I had lost another two chub to the hook coming free, but landed five. So I had fished for half an hour, and that was more than enough!
By the time I got back to the car the net head had frozen solid and resembled a large bowler hat 🤣.
 
Blimey, what a trotting session today was!
I've been clocking the weather all week and waiting for the predicted rise in temps and hoping for a drop in levels... and today it all came together very nicely, the river level was dropping off and the temps were up to 13 or 14 degrees so I was hopeful 😁.
I arrived at the river early (for me) at 11am and it looked just right.
I cocked my first cast up due to the line having a little stick after being spooled onto the reel for over a week. Second and third trott through produced a couple of modest chub, then it was a chub every trott or every other trott for a spell. None of them were of any size, prolly mostly between one and 3lbs.
After half an hour or maybe less I caught a modest barbel and from that point on it was barbel every trott or two rather than the chub. I even had a grayling and a couple of dace hang themselves in amongst the barbel and chub. It really was a hectic fishing session and all the fish seemed really fit, however, one poor barbel of about 3lbs had a big slice in it's face so a chunk of its flesh and a opper barbel was kinda hanging off! Obviously it had got in a snag and somone had kept pulling until their hook came free.....quite sickening !
I took a few pic's of fish but I released most of the barbel mid river where I was stood, the only ones I took back to the bank were fish I couldn't get my hand round their necks enough to hold so I could unhook them. As i said, what really great trotting session, tomorrow looks to be good conditions also appart from the chance of rain so I think i'll give tomorrow a miss.
A couple of pic's from the session today, no chub pic's 🙄.....



This was the biggest of the session at an ounce or two over 12lb......


 
Last edited:
Ian Woods said:
Blimey, what a trotting session today was!
I've been clocking the weather all week and waiting for the predicted rise in temps and hoping for a drop in levels... and today it all came together very nicely, the river level was dropping off and the temps were up to 13 or 14 degrees so I was hopeful 😁.
I arrived at the river early (for me) at 11am and it looked just right.
I cocked my first cast up due to the line having a little stick after being spooled onto the reel for over a week. Second and third trott through produced a couple of modest chub, then it was a chub every trott or every other trott for a spell. None of them were of any size, prolly mostly between one and 3lbs.
After half an hour or maybe less I caught a modest barbel and from that point on it was barbel every trott or two rather than the chub. I even had a grayling and a couple of dace hang themselves in amongst the barbel and chub. It really was a hectic fishing session and all the fish seemed really fit, however, one poor barbel of about 3lbs had a big slice in it's face so a chunk of its flesh and a opper barbel was kinda hanging off! Obviously it had got in a snag and somone had kept pulling until their hook came free.....quite sickening !
I took a few pic's of fish but I released most of the barbel mid river where I was stood, the only ones I took back to the bank were fish I couldn't get my hand round their necks enough to hold so I could unhook them. As i said, what really great trotting session, tomorrow looks to be good conditions also appart from the chance of rain so I think i'll give tomorrow a miss.
A couple of pic's from the session today, no chub pic's 🙄.....



This was the biggest of the session at an ounce or two over 12lb......


Click to expand...
Great fishing. Conditions look good for near future....
 
Ian Woods said:
Blimey, what a trotting session today was!
I've been clocking the weather all week and waiting for the predicted rise in temps and hoping for a drop in levels... and today it all came together very nicely, the river level was dropping off and the temps were up to 13 or 14 degrees so I was hopeful 😁.
I arrived at the river early (for me) at 11am and it looked just right.
I cocked my first cast up due to the line having a little stick after being spooled onto the reel for over a week. Second and third trott through produced a couple of modest chub, then it was a chub every trott or every other trott for a spell. None of them were of any size, prolly mostly between one and 3lbs.
After half an hour or maybe less I caught a modest barbel and from that point on it was barbel every trott or two rather than the chub. I even had a grayling and a couple of dace hang themselves in amongst the barbel and chub. It really was a hectic fishing session and all the fish seemed really fit, however, one poor barbel of about 3lbs had a big slice in it's face so a chunk of its flesh and a opper barbel was kinda hanging off! Obviously it had got in a snag and somone had kept pulling until their hook came free.....quite sickening !
I took a few pic's of fish but I released most of the barbel mid river where I was stood, the only ones I took back to the bank were fish I couldn't get my hand round their necks enough to hold so I could unhook them. As i said, what really great trotting session, tomorrow looks to be good conditions also appart from the chance of rain so I think i'll give tomorrow a miss.
A couple of pic's from the session today, no chub pic's 🙄.....



This was the biggest of the session at an ounce or two over 12lb......


Click to expand...
It was a pleasure to meet you and photograph that barbel for you
Lee
 
After todays experience I don't think i'm ever gonna go trotting/wading in air temps of 6 degrees which were made to feel much colder by a vicious downstream northerly wind.
Anyhow, I was daft enough to stand bollock deep in the cold water winding in cub from 12.20pm till 2.20pm this afternoon. I know thats only 2hrs, but it was more than enough and the old FJT saying "i'll be really glad when i've had enough of this" sprang to my mind from a few minuites into the session lol.
I hadn't fished this particular stretch for about 12 months and had forgotton how open to the elements its, I just rememberd how good it was for catching chub and during the two hour session I did catch quite a few chub. infact it was virtually every other trott down and the float dipped under. The downside was they were of a small stamp, most being about 1 to 2 lbs with less than a handfull of better ones.
I only took one picture of one of the better ones....

 
Lovely photo Ian, I do love the river specialist too, best purchase ive made in ages (although im looking forward to my Triton arriving).
 
Tim Penn said:
Lovely photo Ian, I do love the river specialist too, best purchase ive made in ages (although im looking forward to my Triton arriving).
Click to expand...


Thanks for that Tim 🙂, I got a new phone a few weeks back and it seems to take decent pic's. I think it does alterations to them for you in an instant but I prefer unaltered pic's.
Yes, the specialist is a belter, as is the triton, you made a couple of excellent choices there bud 👍.
 
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