Living in Dorset on the River Stour and being a member of R.D.A.A has its bonuses with access to legendary stretches at Throop Fisheries , West Parley and my local free stretch I grew up with as a boy at Longham, amongst other stretches. It most certainly has it's advantages when it comes to those lovely big Chub come Winter time along with the beautiful scenery and wildlife in Dorset.
So armed with a pair of lightweight 11ft Harrison Royalty Rover Rods rods custom made for Davis Tackle designed by Chris Holley. And 2 Diawa Pro Caster 350 fixed spool reels, along with my baits of choice off I went along the mid Stour. I always use
Elips Small Pellets and
Hemp as feed, always soaked with
Fish Pro Liquid for instant attraction as all fish love this combination I find. A variety of
Hinders Mini Elips &
Barbel Bomb Dumbells.
Ramiz and
Big Cheese Hook Baits (chub n barbel love Cheese Baits particularly in the Winter) accompanied with the same pastes to give me a variety of fish, dairy, meat hook bait choices.
What I thought was going to be a tough week with the weather conditions not being great. The cold spell kicking in and the water still pretty clear with water temps dropping to between 4 - 6 degrees by the end of the week. I found getting the fish to feed fishing into dark did the trick with several chub landed along all stretches I fished ranging from 4lb to 7lb including 3 fish over 6lb. A double figure barbel from an under fished part of the Stour and a nice roach well over a 1lb on the last session at Throop turned it into a good week.
