Cheesey Chub

It was freezing cold and the remnants of the snow crunched beneath my feet as I made my way down to the Warks Avon this morning. Thankfully there was no breeze and the sun was threatening to brighten up the day and raise the temperature to just above painful.
I thought the best chance of a fish was Chub with it's willingness to feed in all temperatures and I headed to a swim that has been a banker for me in the past. This stretch is slower and deeper than others so in theory the fish could lie up here in relative comfort. Cheese paste is my favourite bait for Winter Chub so I cast out a good lump on a simple running ledger rig, three pound hooklength and a size 8 paste hook.
I have tried hair rigging paste for Chub without success so I now go straight on the hook with just the point on show.

Last week it was dogs that kept taking an interest in the contents of my bait bucket, this week it was birds. Seconds after this picture was taken the little blighter jumped in and started helping himself. I decided to use him for an experiment. I put a lump of cheese and a similar size lump of bread on the path to see which he preferred. He ate the cheese which shocked me, I wondered if Chub would do the same?

After ninety bite less minutes I was beginning to feel the cold so decided on a change of swim, the walk would warm me up if nothing else. I went to a peg that was just down from the weir. I had seen fish in their in the summer but would they still be there in the winter. The flow is a fair bit faster.

I cast out without too much confidence but first chuck the rod shook and then shot round and it was fish on. I landed a Chub of about 3lb. I recast and the rod tip did exactly the same, this time it was a much better fish weighing 4lb 7oz. Home made Cheese Paste had done it again.

This seemed to kill the swim so I headed to the next swim, just below the weir. This time it was a replica of the first spot i.e no action. Apart from bird life again. A pair of swans came along and normally I am not a fan of these but these two were positively tame. 

They let me feed them straight out of my hand.

Big pieces of bread though! Can they really break a man's arm or is that a myth?

There was no more fishy action and I left around 2pm before it got too cold.