Even with the weather closing in, I was so desperate to get back on the river after last weeks successful session that I decided to head over to the River Avon at Swineford for another go. I drove through sunshine but the black clouds were building on the horizon and by the time I arrived, it was raining... Gotta love summer!
Luckily for me though, all but one of the showers were light and I managed to hunker down under a steep bank and stay mostly dry. The fishing was brilliant, catching chub from the off using freelined luncheon meat in the slack water to the right of my swim.
After feeding the main flow of water for half an hour or so the float fishing really picked up and a steady net of fish came in, nothing massive but loads of fun on light tackle.
As the light levels got lower and the clouds heavier, the bigger fish put in an appearance... The chub photographed above came just 20 minutes before packing up! To be honest, I thought it was a pike at first as it put up a lot of resistance - what a stunning fish.
The rain had really brought out the slugs and although I had a good collection in the bait bucket, there were no takers this evening. I'm convinced they make a great bait through and as they appear to be in such abundance, I'll definitely be giving them another go on the next session.
I'm chained to my desk today looking out on a very wet, blustery Bristol but you never know, maybe it'd be worth donning the water proofs and heading out again?!