This Month’s Guest Feature is by Shaun Harrison
(which was Original featured on his website ( http://www.questbaits.com/blog/)
A suprise encounter whilst winter chub fishing
Really enjoyed myself the day before
Well, after a really nice afternoon chub fishing on Saturday afternoon I decided to spoil myself to some more but on a different river on the Sunday. So, after a pleasant drive into Derbyshire I arrived at the car park late morning and was delighted to see no other cars parked there. So laden with just a small canvas bag, a chair and my rod I made the long trudge up to the top of the beat which was as far as I really wanted to walk anyway and was more than ready for a drink by the time I was settled into the first swim.
- First drop in with my Absolute Seafood Paste and a definite bite which I wasn’t totally ready for and subsequently missed, second drop in and another bite just as I was gently teasing and trundling the bait through the swim which I connected with and soon a chub of a size that I was just about able to swing to hand. Although to be fair I regretted it as soon as I tried thinking it really was a bit too much. Not a monster but my first intentional caught chub from this river for a long while.
I then started to drop down river having a cast into every likely looking hole. It hardly looked as though it had been fished at all, just in the same way as the river I had fished with much success the previous day. It really was total bliss, in the beautiful Derbyshire countryside with not a soul around, just me and the fish at a place which gave little indication of human interference that could have been anywhere and any moment in time.
Next fish came from a swim with a dead tree in it. I had trundled a bit of paste with a topping of flake around to no avail then cast slightly up river and kept the rod tip higher as I teased the bait back to me. The bite came and a great fight on my old chub rod ensued and eventually a 4 lb 2 oz chub was having its picture taken.
As I continued my way back down the river, the next swim I tried I had a half hearted bite in but then nothing, so carried on down and dropped in again in the next promising looking spot. It didn’t take long to conjure a bite up and soon I was connected to another one which had fallen for the upstream trundle back method. This fish surged around taking line from me in the swollen river but was eventually beaten into surrender and at 5 lb 1 oz I was suitably delighted with that one in such beautiful
I continued down river and eventually ended up in my ‘Millers Thumb’ swim. First cast trundling it around and I was into another chub. Not so
large this one, 3lb plus and it had pulled well so I was still very satisfied..I fished on searching the pool and eventually cast a bait further out to trundle around and then eventually settle before creeping back towards me in the back eddy. I was slowly and carefully winding the slack when a tap came, followed by a lunge and a much larger feeling fish was hooked. I hung on as hard as I dare with a fine wire hook and 6lb line but made no impression on it. This fish kept taking line in impressive surges and I really did seem to be in a stalemate situation with it. My tackle was simply feeling inadequate against whatever I was playing and memories of my 200 lb blue shark on 12 lb class gear came to mind.
I was pretty certain that I was connected to a carp for the duration of the fight but eventually after what was quite an age a Barbel popped up on the surface. I messed the netting up the first attempt, it seemed too big for my 30” armed chub net. Second attempt was a proper scuffle, I had not extended the telescopic handle and the net head twisted with the barbel’s head and pec’s in and nothing else. Things were desperate but somehow or other it ended up in the net. I couldn’t believe I had won this battle on the gear I was using and particularly with the extra
water the river was carrying. But win it I did. Fortunately the last job as I left home was to pack my lightweight 30lb scales in place of my 11lb Super Samson’s I had been carrying whilst chub fishing the day before.
Well, the scales read 12 lb 4 oz of very long prime winter barbel. To say I was happy would be a very modest statement indeed, I was absolutely bubbling with joy. Not my largest barbel but in the circumstances it was certainly one to remember for many years to come.
The light had dropped whilst playing the veritable monster (considering the tackle being used) so not feeling as I could possibly feel any happier or more content I packed away to return once again to a warm cosy fireside.
Best fishes
Shaun Harrison
