I had been deliberating as to whether to go out on the Opening Day but as I had other things planned during the week it was then or not at all. I worried about the fact that so many anglers would be out so, having decided to go, I headed for the St Ives Chubb Stream as I knew it was lightly fished. In fact the bankside vegetation had not been disturbed in the swims I fished, so I was the first to try to tempt the chub. And I succeeded but it was very challenging.

I went to what had been my preferred starting swim some way along the stretch. It used to be a 'banker' but had not delivered on some more recent visits. Access was difficult with thick nettles obscuring the view of the water, with a branch of the downstream tree being so low as to make casting actually under the tree impossible. In fact a cast soon got caught on the branch resulting in me losing my single shot weight. However, this in fact proved to be fortuitous as I continued by free-lining, allowing the semi-buoyant bread flake to drift down to where I suspected the chub to be.

This approach worked since I soon missed a vicious pull around bite on the quiver tip. I thought that might have spooked any chub, but after giving the swim a bit of a rest I continued trying and after a while was rewarded with another good bite, although not as positive as the one I had missed. Getting the fish in was difficult. It first got into some reeds but I managed to muscle it out. Then netting it was a challenge as I had a poor view of the net because of the thick nettles in front of me. But I got it in. My first fish of the season, a 2½lb chub. A great if challenging start.

I moved downstream trying two spots where I had caught chub before but had no luck on this occasion.

I didn't venture further downstream as previous experience had shown me that the stream was even more challenging in the next meadows. I instead headed for a spot by the bypass where I had caught before, although more recently the swim had become far more difficult because of weed growth and thick bankside vegetation. And so it was when I arrived there, in fact even more so. But I decided to give it a try.

After a couple or so poor casts I managed to get a lump of flake just in front of a raft on the far side of the channel. Since I was still free-lining the bait drifted under the raft. I didn't have to wait long before the quiver tip pulled around and I was into a good fish. I had to steer it through a blanket of pond weed while playing it in but all went well and a fine 3½lb chub was on the bank. It nearly equalled by previous best for the stream, a fish that weighed 3lb 13oz.

I was by now getting very hot having overdressed for the conditions. It felt a lot warmer than the forecast 22℃! I sat for a while in the shade under a tree before trying a nearby swim. It had offered up a chub in the past but not on this occasion. I went on to try three more spots, all of which had produced chub in the past but I didn't get any interest. I was by then very hot and very fatigued - age starting to take its toll - so called it a day and made my way back to the car.

I hadn't had very high hopes of success when I arrived and was obviously more than pleased with the outcome. A great start to the season.