Saturday I opted for another chub session at one of the syndicate’s downstream that
require a purchase of a permit for the day.
At first I tried my own fishing grounds but to my horror I spotted a boatload of kayaks
with kids on the stream.

Since it had not rained for 30 days now the water was extremely low, that combined
with the racket of the kayaks meant catching fish was impossible.
I still tried some spots way downstream from the advancing flotilla.
I did see some big fish but the where as wary as usual making me think that they
had already witnessed some kayak action earlier that day.

I made my way to the planned destination and saw that the grass was indeed greener on the other side. 

Loads of big chub on station in the clear water.
Lot’s of fish but I was only able to cast to them when they moved upstream.
I fished a hopper and dropped it extra hard on the water to coax a reaction from the chub.

The chub came up to investigate the hopper but at the last moment they turned away,
pretty exciting to watch.
The spot I fished boasted a floating dock probably installed to save the kayakers from
the weir downstream.
It was an ideal casting and surveillance platform.

I spotted a monster chub under a tree on the shaded bank and targeted it with the hopper.
Unfortunately the current conditions caused the fly to drag.
Luck was however on my side as the chub turned and pursued the hopper.
I managed to keep my nerves and waited for the chub to gobble the fly up.

I struck at the right moment and was into a fight with the big chub on the four weight
glass rod.  As chub usually do it ran for cover and that was the floating dock I was on.
I had trouble getting the big fish on the surface and feared entanglement any moment
but luckily the dock was anchored to shore by a beam above the water surface.

I eventually landed the fish that measured 53cm / 21”, my personal best for this stream.
After catching a few smaller chub along the stretch I made it to the final spot of the day.
The last spot boasted a walkway over the stream, remnants of an old weir.
The wooden planks had seen better days so I made sure I walked near the supported
edge just in case.

From high up I spotted various big chub and a monster carp moving about but
whatever I dropped on them, it did not work.
Hoppers, Mayflies and nymphs where ignored so in the end I called it a day and
finally landed at the pub early evening.