It came calling in earnest, yet my mind still focused on chub, but still that nagging question nudged its way into my thoughts, suggesting that I should be out after barbel, yet try as I might I could not bring myself to fully commit, I found myself fixated, willing to understand this stretch of waterway and just where those elusive grey shadows might be hiding. So a compromise was made with the inclusion of some hard hook baits should I decide to try for my first barbel from this challenging area, by 2pm I was down on the river and whilst looking at swims I mused over my last four trips targeting the chub, the best of those being my second trip that rewarded me with that nicely conditioned fish over 5lbs and along with it some more understanding …show more content…
So a change of plan was made and a little and often feed of maggots introduced along a marginal reed line. If I have noticed one thing over the years when chub fishing is that it is at times important to get them feeding as confidently as possible, that said I can also name numerous times where the fish can be so skittish that anything more intrusive than an opportunistic, single hook bait will signal the death knell. After allowing a good amount of time for the bait to work its way across the reed bed I rolled a single lob worm tipped with maggot across the front of them, the response was almost instant, a hefty bite followed by a head first charge into some unknown snag in mid river, the snag was a firm one and most probably a tree or similar, my only option was to allow some slack and see if the fish would make its way back out,thankfully it did and I soon had a nicely proportioned fish in the