Heavy thundery showers have kept me away from my local River Cut recently, but a dry afternoon forecast saw me take a chance with the weather, following another night of rain. The tree lined waterway acts as a drain for the Town and can go up and down like a YoYo after a storm. Arriving after 2 pm, I was surprised to see the bankside was covered with a fine layer of silt, yet the river was already sinking back to summer levels with a slight tinge of colour. Perfect!

There was still a fast flow and I opted for a 3BB ali stemmed stick float to hold back enough to slow the 7mm punch on a size 14 barbless hook, having a single BB close to the hook to keep the bait down. With the float set at two feet, it was dragging under on the bottom, but holding back slightly lifted the bread off. This proved academic, as after a ball of bread based groundbait, the float disappeared anyway as a chub made off with the bait. This was a powerful fish that rushed downstream and I initially thought that it was a small carp, especially when it changed direction and sped past me heading for a bush on the opposite bank. My 14 foot Browning coped with the runs and the chub was soon on it’s side ready for the landing net.

First cast! Rebaited, the rig was flicked back over to the opposite bank to disappear again with a smaller chub swung to hand.

I needed the landing net for the next one, which took after another ball of feed was lobbed over to the opposite bank. The influx of fresh water giving them a spurt of extra energy, attacking the bread seconds after it hit the water.

Smaller chub were now coming steadily, but easing the bait down the swim brought  a lift bite, that sank and I was playing roach. This was a change of species.

The water now took on a cloudy look, with a sheen of oil on the surface and my heart sank. This is the sign of the pollution, that was a regular happening on this river, when all bites would evaporate, but these bites reduced to taps and small fish, tiny gudgeon, roach and chub, most fish falling off the hook before they could be reeled in. I kept feeding small balls of feed in the hope of a carp, which do not seem to be affected, but the only decent fish that I saw, was a large perch that followed in a small roach, before veering off.

This chub signalled the end of the pollution after 45 minutes, positive bites and fish back on the feed again.

My groundbait was running out by now, due to constant feeding during the quiet period, and decided to pack up before 6 pm, but a good roach taken at the bottom of the trot kept me going a little bit longer.

Finally with no more holes to punch in my bread, I called it a day. The chub usually clear off after a few have been caught, but today they kept coming, possibly due to less roach in the swim. Who knows, that’s fishing.