River Salwarpe after chub.

[barbelblanker]

Blanked.

But what a lovely little river this proved to be. It's a tributary of the Severn joining just upstream of Worcester.

The plan was out and out chub with no other options.

Left the house it was minus 6 but no wind and clear. Water had a bit of colour to it (so my confidence immediately took a nose dive and I wish I'd bought maggots and some tiddler gear). I was going to leger or feeder with cheese paste, bread or luncheon meat on the hook, brown crumb with micro pellets and some other bits and bobs in the ground bait , hemp etc. I even tried prawns mainly because they needed using up.

Decided that today I was not going to just sit in one swim and not move.

The river goes under the worcester kidderminster road, along a couple of hundred yards before tuning left then right in a long s bend before straightening for a hundred yards or so, starting a right turn then a big left loop, a few more smaller bends then it opens in to the sever.

Fished a few swims.

First was on the second part of the s curve. Up against some bushes where a back eddy was flowing gently. The ground was solid and there were signs the river had dropped over the last few days (the ice was a few inches above the surface). The water looked very cold indeed but there were still small fish , probably bleak, moving around.

Second swim was at the joining with the severn (after dropping bait in a number of likely spots on the way). The severn flows right to left here and is vey wide. The Salwarp joins it flowing right to left in to a widening mouth. Normally this would be crammed with fish if the main river was up but I suspect with the severn falling they were all back home.

Far bank of the "Bay" was a tree with a debris raft. Cast a few baits to there . Was going to fish close in but I slipped on the ice and nearly ended up sliding in to the river itself. Hit the floor with a big thud so scared every chub for quite a few yards.

Moved upstream to a likely looking swim with another group of bushes in the water. Nothing but did see an enormous swirl at the tail end of the bushes. Started hearing a plopping splash upstream and was about to wonder up for a look when I spotted I was not the only person on the stretch. I wa soon joined by a friendly local who was piking. "Down there mate, there's one swirling". You just know when someone is giving you that "oh yeah!" look. Well he cast in and FIRST retrieve he was in. He lost it but it was a bloody good fish. Shame that I would like to have seen someone unhook a pike properly.

Moved upstream again to a tight swim between two sets of bushes in the water (anyone seeing my bush obsession yet?). No I thought these did look good but again nothing.

Moved again to a swim I had baited earlier where a tree was draped in the water and far bank vegetation also dropped in to the water. Again nothing though I did get some cracking casts in before I realised just how hard they should have been then failed to get them quite do close again . It's always harder to perform when you start analysing it I reckon.

Last move took me right back to the top of the swim and under the road bridge. I could see two people above the bridge running a float down and it looked like they were having a good session on small fish.

With my one fish only approach I kind of crippled myself and I am amazed the chub did not feed while other fish so obviously were. I do this sometimes to avoid my natural tendency to flit between fish and techniques but it did not pay off today. I put it down to too much colour in the water.

Although I failed to catch (only had a couple of "bites" ) this was time well spent as I fully intend to return to this delightful stretch when the severn is up and all them fish are sheltering near that bay. It just screamed fish.

[NICK R]

Nice report ,, shame about the blank

[Sir Blanks-alot]

Unlucky on the chub front but sounds like you had a cracking day even with no fish.

[blackwater]

Unlucky BB, better luck next time,

BW

[barbelblanker]

I do have to say it was one of the most delightful days blanking I've had in ages. Although the weather was cold it was just such a magical day. Hardly any wind and wildlife everywhere. Even saw Mistletoe in huge bunchs in the trees. Just a c cracking day blanking and learning even more . Of course I would like to have been catching , it's just as well it's not just about the catching hey . Even trialled the cage feeders I had made to give them a go. Great!