There were four other anglers on the bank when I arrived on the Willow Close stretch this morning. It was freezing cold to start with, 2º on the thermometer, rising to five by the time I got to the river. I tried to put a fair distance between myself and the other anglers since I figured so many lines in the water would not be a good thing and would scare away any self-respecting fish. I tried some of the same swims I fished last time and sticking to my pre-conceived plan, introduced liquidised bread to get any fish present interested. I was trying to hedge my bets; I admit to fishing punched bread in the hope I might bag a decent Roach but in the event none showed up and I seriously wonder whether Roach figure significantly in this stretch of the Stour. Hook sizes were ten and twelve. I lost a few rigs in the trees and it took me quite some time to get the measure of my underarm cast, but eventually I settled on this swim and finally (I think) began to form some understanding of what ‘Reading the River’ is about.

This swim is on a part of the river that has fairly smooth glides although you can see there is still some boiling mid-river. This was the fastest part of the stream - but on the far bank there was a ‘slack’. This was formed by a slight ‘bay’ in the river and the presence of upstream snags I think. The snags - overhanging growth of tree branches and brambles is marked with an arrow. The slack water is to the left of this and was where I was able (eventually) to drop my baits. Initially, I managed to bag this Dace.

This gave a typical shake rattle and roll of the quiver tip which are there and gone in an instant. Fortunately, bites seem to have the habit of comprising a couple of sharp taps, followed by the line going slack. I assume this is the SSG shots being dislodged from the river bed - this occurs because of the loop in the line (created by intentional slack) on positioning the rod; as the shots are shifted, they shift downstream causing the slack line on the quiver tip. Of course, when the line is tight to the link ledger you just get a straight pull - but you also get the tip waving back and forth causing false indications. This is why the number of shots must be correct and why you must have that initial ‘bow’ in the line. After the Dace I persisted with bread on The Punch and eventually upped sticks and tried other swims downstream. It seems to me that after the big bend in the river, the further you go downstream, the weedier it gets. In future, I think I would restrict myself to the first half a mile of river as it seems pointless to go further although I confess I did not try those swims with the luncheon meat which ultimately proved to be the winning method. At gone lunchtime I decided to work my way back up and eventually found myself back at the first swim I started in. I suppose it was lack of confidence that prevented me from trying the meat but eventually I plucked up courage after hearing that one of the other anglers had taken one on the meat upstream of my position. I cut up the slices into cubes 10-12mm wide. These were thrown three or four at a time across into the slack; this seems a good ploy as they are identical to what I have on the hook; by late afternoon I started getting little rattles and shakes on the quiver tip. These looked for all the world like the sort of bites I had been getting from the Dace - jags on the tip, followed by a sudden slackening of the line. I suspected they were Dace too, but decided to try and hit them anyway. Whilst reeling in I connected with something!… This fish was more than half way across the river by the time the rod tip went over but I had it on long enough to realise it was a decent fish. Unfortunately, the hook fell out after a few seconds and I was left wondering what it was. My guess was a Chub and a few minutes later I was to be proved correct. Once again there was the tap-tap on the tip, followed by a slackening of the line - only this time I was connected firmly to something although once again it seemed to take a while before the rod hooped over. When it did however I knew at once I was into my target fish and what a fight it put up! These things go as well as carp, taking line from the clutch and giving a fair old account of themselves. In the flow of the river of course they have the stream to help them and this aids their efforts to gain freedom; when I saw it in the water and knew it was a Chub my heart was in my mouth hoping it wouldn’t fall off but I needn’t have worried as it was hooked well down (greedy so-and-so). This fish had been feeding on the meat as its gullet was full of it! 3lbs.2ozs.

Job done! Happy days!… Bring ‘em on!