With the weather reaching freezing point the snow had fallen in abundance.  The rivers were running low and clear and to me there is only one fish to target in these challenging conditions and that is chub.  A few early morning sessions roving the river sounded like a good idea and the evening before found me liquidising a loaf of bread and adding a generous amount of Sonubaits Hemp N Cheesy Garlic flavour to the bread.  After giving the bread a good shake the lid was placed on the top of my bait bucket and left to absorb the goodness.  I rarely go chub fishing these days without a good squeeze of this flavour added to my chosen bait. 

A couple of early morning trips to Loddon soon found action and over the course of three short trips accounted for eight chub which was great fun in the cold conditions. 

Late one morning after roving the Loddon I still had a few hours to spare so I took a drive to the River Blackwater for a look.  After grabbing the kit from the van I headed off to the river.  Fishing half a dozen swims I was left bite less until I reached a far bank raft which looked inviting.  A couple of minutes after flicking my small cage feeder across to the far bank packed full of bread the tip on my Korum Precision Multi Feeder rod barley had time to settle before it twitched and pulled round confidently.   Soon a modest chub of around 3lbs was soon being returned to the river, which warmed up an otherwise cold day.  Importantly it told me where the chub were holding and after roving several more swims I was yet to receive any more bites.  Back at the same swim, which had produced the fish, the next two casts produced a fish weighing 5lb 13oz and 6lb 7oz.  The bigger fish I am led to believe is a river record. 

Once at home I checked the weather, which showed no improvement for a little while yet.  Knowing I had just found a group of big fish shoaled tightly together I fished several short sessions that week and landed another 8 chub from the Blackwater, with all of them weighing over 4lbs.  The biggest weighed 5lb 15oz – a good fish for the river and all falling for Hemp N Cheesy Garlic flavour.