It's been a bit of a grim winter. So grim that I've been trying to catch chub on maggots, bread and cheese paste.

A few have come along but nothing of any real size. In fact chub have been thin on the ground all season on the barbel rods too.
 
With the cold weather finally moving off I thought there might be a good chance of a few barbel and raced to the river armed once more with pellets. When the rod fishing a single 8mm Crab Pellet-O hooped over and the baitrunner whirred I was convinced the first February barbel was hooked. It wasn't. It was the Rory Bremner of the chub world doing a barbel impersonation!
 
Still, it was the best of the season so far at five and a half pounds. Not good enough to put a smile on my miserable face though...