Avon at Twyford 19.11.10

Well, after 2 blanks, one here about 10 days ago when the torrential rain around midday not only cut short the trip, but it made the drive up from the river bank to the track almost impossible and a few hours on College Pool last week, I had 6 or 7 hours back on the river. Everything looked perfect. I'd checked with the EA river levels website (thanks Sean for that link) and around Evesham the Avon was fairly stable. When we arrived the colour was good and the flow seemed just right.

After the last but one session when pike had been swirling both in the margins and in the main river, I'd taken some suitable gear just in case. I set up a roach deadbait (bought frozen from my local shop) on an overdepth float ledger. A large open feeder was filled with small pieces of meat and plugged with hemp and hali crush. I fished this rod on a long flouro leader to a size 10 with a longish hair to which a lump of meat was attached. I catapulted out some 1" squares every 30 mins or so.

Despite searching the margins next to the decaying reed stems and under nearside trees, the pike rod failed to excite any predators. Around 2:30 ish the drizzle started and soon it was a steady rainfall. My newly purchased Drennan waterproofs came into their own and probably persuaded me to stick it out without resorting to a brolly. Just wanted to proove their worth!

Around this time my mate who was fishing with me decided to pack up. While watching him negotiate the slope back up to the track, my barbel rod pulled round and I was into something. Not huge but something anyway. Like much of the middle Avon there are platforms along this stretch which have a reasonably small gap between slats. I was sitting up on the bank but had to get down to the platform to land the fish and as I wound down I went out along the platform. Concentrating on the rod tip I failed to notice that where there was a small drop down from one level to another there was a gap which neatly allowed my left boot to drop through. So there I was, rod held high trying to keep contact with the fish while my leg was through this gap up to my knee. Also, my mate had just waved goodbye and there was no-one else on this stretch, not even a dog walker. Realising that what goes in should come out I pulled and wiggled until I'd got both feet firmly on the platform. The fish was still on and I guided it into my net.

I've caught bigger chub but not in such adverse (some may say comical) conditions. So I'm proud to report it here.

3lbs 2oz and every ounce was earned.