I again fished just below the weir pool outflow. The river level was noticeable lower, perhaps by a foot to 18 inches. No water was flowing over the main weir apron, only over a secondary section. This reduced the turbulance in my swim and changed the characteristics somewhat.

I soon took a chub of around ¾lb followed shortly after by a better fish weighed at 1lb 6oz. And soon after that another chub of around 4-6oz. Then I had an eel that had swallowed the hook and caused mayhem as I tried to remove it. Slime everywhere and in the end I had to cut the line as it was impossible to hold the thing while I used the disgorger.

After this things went really quiet!

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After plodding on with little success I decided to try a couple of other spots. Today there weren't any other anglers so I could pick and choose.

First stop was a longish glide with visible sunken streamer weed and bulrushes on the far side. I tried a number of casts but didn't get a twitch. I tend to work on the basis that if there is a chub there the bite will come quite quickly, but it didn't so I moved on.

The next stop was the pool by the road bridge. I had caught a decent chub there on my first visit. Once again the character of the swim had changed with a reduced flow and lower water level. And once again I didn't get a decent touch, only a few plucks. There were workmen opposite repairing a timber patio and making quite a lot of noise in the process, unavoidably of course. But with little action and too much noise I decided to return to my first spot.

Using luncheon meat I hooked another eel but my reel jammed because of a line tangle and the eel broke loose, which wasn't a great loss! However, it left me with the need to retackle after removing a knotted section of line. At this point I retied the hook to the main 6lb line rather than replacing the 4lb cast.

I decided to try bread paste hoping to dissuade the eels. I fed loose offerings and was soon getting bites, but these were clearly small fish and I wasn't hooking them. Eventually I caught a couple of dace and a couple of others shed the hook.

I had planned to pack up at 14:00 and by 13:30 was almost resigned to the fact that I wouldn't catch much more. But having again reverted to luncheon meat (fingers crossed!) I got a firmer but by no means strong pull and connected to something better. I feared that it was yet another eel but once it came into sight I saw a good chub. It turned out to be a fine chub of 2lb 13oz. It was shortish for its weight but a stocky fish in fine condition.

So that was an unexpected but gratifying end to my day. I did have a few more casts but didn't really expect another chub to oblige.