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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 🤣.
 
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