Arrival time: 10.00
Weather: Mix of cloud & sunny spells. Chilly breeze freshening during the day.
Tackle: 11'6" John Wilson Avon with 1.5oz quiver, Shimano 5000 RE reel, 6lb line direct to 8 hook.
Baits: Bread flake, cheese paste & worms.
Fish: Two small chub

After a reasonable amount of rain over the preceding weekend I decided to try the Mill Stream for chub. The club had reported the level up about an inch over the summer level. Not a great improvement but at least some water was moving through. The car park was empty when I arrived and there wasn't anybody on the stream. So I had the pick of swims. I made my way about half way along where trees that had made fishing virtually impossible earlier in the season had been cut back, making the swim much more accessible.

I started with flake and got a few knocks, which I put down to dace. After a few casts I changed to cheese paste. Having missed one quite positive pull, the next cast I made contact after a similar bite. At first I wasn't sure if a fish was on but then felt resistance, a small chub trying valiantly to escape, including seeking refuge in the nearside bank. While it wasn't large it was in fine condition and meant that I had caught my target species.

Following this I didn't really get another positive bite in the swim. Alternating between cheese paste and flake only produced knocks, while using worm resulted in the bait disappearing without really seeing a bite. A fresh downstream breeze was however hindering bite registration somewhat. I lost my hook and SSG weights in a tree branch, which I snagged while retrieving, and decided to replace them with a flat-bed weight to try to hold the far side of the stream. Unfortunately this didn't produce any more positive bites.

With the new leger weight I tried casting to a couple of slacker spots by the far bank but this didn't yield anything. I next moved down a couple of swims, casting alongside a bank of streamer a bit further downstream, but this didn't produce anything either.

I decided, therefore, to move down to the bridge swim, although unusually I hadn't seen any chub under the bridge when I crossed it on arrival. And sure enough I didn't get any decent bites there either, although there were the now usual knocks and taps, which I attributed to dace.

I had planned to leave after fishing the bridge swim as it was closest to the car park. But disappointed with my lack of success since that first small chub I decided to make my way to the head of the stream, a swim I like and which has produced chub for me in the past.

The water was coming through a bit from the main weir pool upstream and it was quite turbulent where I was casting to downstream. I still had the flat-bed leger on. Starting with cheese paste it wasn't long before I got a reasonable pull and connected with another small chub, smaller than the first one in fact. But at least I had caught. However, as with the first swim, having caught one fish I couldn't tempt another. I tried flake and worm but once more was only getting unhittable taps that I'm sure were down to dace, the fast run at the head of the stream being populated with a good head of this species.

So, that was it. Two small chub, the target species achieved, but some disappointment at not being able to tempt a better fish. Still, as we move towards winter I'm sure that there will be further opportunities.