River Irwell - Stickfloat - Chub - An Autum Bar Of Gold. 07/08/2014

River Irwell Chub On The Stickfloat.

This session was about trying to extract a chub from the upper middle Irwell on the stick float and I was looking forward to a new challenge.

The River narrows off at this stage and can be fished easily with a stick float on most stretches.  

It was a lovely mild morning the sun was shinning when I arrived at my chosen peg and I noticed a few fish topping further down the run. My set up consisted of 4lb line straight through a stick float an 18's hook and maggot as the hook bait. I set up the " Peanut Station " a few feet into the river, finished faffing around with my tackle and rig and I was ready to rock and roll.

The Peanut Station

The legs on the P.S.are to long for a lot of situations. I must saw a third off each leg and put a screw & thread on the bars so I can screw the extra pieces in if needed.

I chose to fish the deepest part of the run, just where the white foam is visible in the above picture. The depth was tested and surprisingly, it was around six foot deep. Due to the depth I opted for an eight no 4 stick float for stability and presentation.

As I was holding back the stick float to raise the bait over an underwater obstruction on the river bed my float shot under. I was caught with my pants down shall we say as I was more concerned about traversing the swim without getting the hook snagged. After a short but entertaining fight a stunning brown trout graced my net - You can tell after a little experience what kind of fish you are playing without actually see it - This was a smallish trout of about 10oz lovely looking fish with a beautifully spotting pattern. Wish I had taken a picture of it. It still amazes me how hard these trout scrap. They really do give there all.

As time passed by the sun shone brighter and warmer, the jacket cam off do it was just a T-shirt and a bait apron. I had plenty of bites and trout but no chub. The chub, especially the larger specimens are much more difficult to catch and very cagey on any river and today was no exception.

Time was my enemy - As it is on many occasions - an autumn chub was looking increasingly unlikely by the minute. "Just one last cast" I said to myself. The cast we all have just before we tackle down. The float hadn't even cocked properly when it disappeared from view. With a quick strike from right to left I was in and it was much larger than anything else on the day. There was a healthy bend in the conni X waggler rod and I proceeded to move the fish from the deep run but for the first 30 seconds she wouldn't budge " This could be a big chub I thought"
 With a little gentle pressure - I was only on an 18's hook - I guided the fish out of the main flow, took my time to play her, then scooped up my prize. This was only my second big chub from the River Irwell.

I really didn't expect a fish, let a lone my target fish and a big one to. Yeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhaaaaaaaa. I was jumping for joy.

Guessed the chub to be around 3.0 - 3.5lb mark.

After the chub had been photographed and released I was straight on the phone to the Casterman. He very generously offered to peddle down on his mountain bike and take a snap of me and my chevin but time was ticking on, reluctantly I declined. I had to shoot off back to Whitefield. I packed away my gear and walked out of the park, filled up the mighty Megan with my tackle and took the 10 minute drive home happily and full of confidence for my next chubbing session on the mighty River Irwell.

The trout bites were very odd on this session. I couldn't distinguish between trout bites an minnow bites....!!!!! Trout bites usually just fire under, minnow bites usually bob and bounce around for a couple of seconds. Its quite a buzz when you strike into what you think is a minnow and your rod gets wrenched around by a hard fighting river brownie.

" Hold on to your hats kids...."

The chub (a very wide fish) Had a head like a pitbull and gave a                                        very different kind of fight, just a immobile dead weight for 30 seconds until she woke up, then, it decided to put in a performance......

A good mornings fishing, Lots of lessons learnt and back in time to make my son a bacon butty for his dinner.
A right good doo.

PS : I phoned Eagal and told him of my capture. The bragging rights were mine.....    :)

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TTFN,

PEANUT