One of my targets I had set myself for the coming autumn/winter was to spend a little time on my local River Blackwater. This is a river I had yet to fish and being a short drive from home it seemed a shame not to have a dabble.

Having been told about a relatively untapped stretch I thought this could be just the place.  After walking the stretch and finding a couple of swims that looked appealing I was sat at home on Sunday evening when the clouds started to gather and I just had one of those feelings.  I soon grabbed the kit and headed off to the river.

After bating a swim with a tin of Sonubaits Hemp N Corn and a couple of handfuls of mixed sized halibut pellets I decided to sit back and wait a short time for darkness to fall.  I quietly introduced two rigs as the light started to fade and instantly I started to get liners indicating the fish had moved up on the feed I had introduced. 

Twenty minutes later and the upstream rod went over and I pulled into what I initially thought was a barbel.  The fish soon surfaced and I was surprised to see the white lips of  chub before it was bundled into the waiting net.  A quick weigh revealed a weight of 5lb 15oz, my first fish from the river and only a handful of ounces of the river record.  Sonubaits prototype boilies doing the business yet again.