After my success at the Match lake I felt that I had achieved what I set out to do. It may have been only one fish from the lake and most anglers would get the bit between their teeth and perhaps feel that the thing to do was carry on and try and catch some more fish but, because the lake isn't really my sort of fishing nowadays I am more than happy to leave it, at least for the time being, and move on to other things. 

The first thing I did was to go and try and catch some Bass locally. Something I normally love to do during the warmer months. Unfortunately I had been feeling unmotivated towards that this year. However I felt that it was time before the season ended. A couple of days on a local mark saw me get lucky and catch a few half decent fish on my favourite method of Soft plastic lures. My Son even joined me on one of the days and managed to catch a couple of nice fish as well, which was really nice. I even filmed the sessions too which you can view below.

I also had a session on the fly after the Bass but to no avail which was disappointing, but probably my own fault for leaving it so late and not putting in a concerted effort earlier in the season.

From there, as we were moving into Autumn I began thinking about what to do for the winter. As I have mentioned many times before in my blogs, I live on an Island, which has both advantages in terms of the saltwater fishing on offer but severe limitations for the ambitious coarse fisherman. Something we lack is any proper Rivers and I have not had many opportunities to fish any rivers in my life. I decided it was high time to remedy this. After some searching around I decided on the Dorset Stour at Throop. Many years ago I fished the Dorset Stour for Barbel on beat three during a family holiday when my children were all still quite small. I was successful in catching my target species with Barbel to 13lb, which I was told at the time was a good fish. Having enjoyed the fishing so much I vowed to return, but unfortunately as happens a lot with me, life got in the way and  fishing wise I got distracted with other things.

Now,  All these years later, Throop is an easily accessible fishery for me and my fishing partner. as well as being only 45 minutes from the Ferry at Southampton it's a day ticket stretch incorporating 3 beats and is quite well populated by Chub, Barbel, Roach, Dace and Perch. Being as we would be campaigning on the fishery during the colder months I have decided that Chub will be the main target as they are renowned for feeding in even the coldest conditions and although a nervous customer for the angler, once their confidence is gained they can be extremely obliging and can be caught on most baits in most conditions. My angling companion is more inclined towards trotting for Roach, which is to say that I'm not, I love Roach fishing and will at some point put a concerted effort into trying to catch some specimens, but at the moment Chub are the favoured target.

The first trip was naturally, an exploratory one and I wasn't too bothered about what I caught and so decided to trot a float with maggots as bait, as a starting point just to see what came along. It actually turned out to be a pleasant but tough day due to my inexperience and I managed a few Dace and Roach but was plagued by minnows which was extremely frustrating. I resolved on future trips to fish bigger baits and sit it out in the hope of a larger specimen and as luck would have it I achieved my target on the third trip catching three Chub to 4lb 13oz on ledgered Lobworm. I also made the effort to rove around trying different swims for short periods and this paid off handsomely. 

4lb 13oz Chub from beat two of Throop

The second and fourth trips to Throop were again difficult one's in unfavourable conditions, but I am not afraid to admit that much of the lack of success during these trips was down to my inexperience of fishing rivers, however something is always learned during any session and contribute small pieces to the larger jigsaw. 

Thus it was that some of what I have learned on Throop so far was put into practice whilst on a trip to another river that I have had my eye on for some time. This one is a smaller, slower running, overgrown river that holds good specimens of all species. The plan was to fish it for two half days and one full day. The first half day I arrived around midday in quite cold temperatures, with the forecast for temperatures to rise the next day before dropping back again. A small but welcome window of opportunity. A small chub and a few missed bites the first afternoon were encouraging signs that at least some fish were feeding in the conditions. The following day was one of two halves, a highly frustrating morning spent being highly mobile and trying to search out some fish with various baits and methods but to no avail. In the end I decided to settle in a swim for a while and changed tactics from larger baits to 3 maggots on a size 12 hook and a small feeder full of maggots. The change paid off almost immediately and I was hooked into my first good fish of the trip which, unfortunately and again, frustratingly, fell off! I felt exasperated by this and assumed I had blown my chances in the new swim. I resolved to try again for a few minutes before going in search of yet another swim. I need not have worried because the very next cast I was into another fish and managed to get this one to stay on. A Chub of 4lb 7oz made me extremely happy. Another couple of hours of  missed bites passed by before I eventually found myself attached to another fish. This one felt better than the last and before long a large Chub surfaced next to the net and I instantly knew I had new personal best. The beast weighed 6lb 1oz! I was and still am incredibly delighted with the result after so much effort. 

Personal best 6lb 1oz Chub from a new river

This fish was caught late afternoon and despite staying a while into darkness I was unable to muster any more fish that day. Still, I had a few hours the next morning before having to be on my way home.

I was up early and made sure to be at the swim for first light the next day. On the second or third cast I lost an extremely good fish that took off like a rocket and broke the hooklink on an unseen snag. I believe the offender may have been a Barbel the way it took off. Shortly after this I landed another chub of 4lb 6oz which finished the session for me. After this the sun came out and the temperature dropped, clearly putting the fish off the feed and I received no more interest for the remaining couple of hours. 

I made a film of this trip too which can be viewed below

So far the winter has been both kind and cruel but I am hopeful that persistence will pay off and I am looking forward to many more trips this winter, both to flowing and still water depending on the conditions. Obviously I shall reports on my successes and failures here soon.

Thanks for reading

Chris.