Better late than never

After Martyn Skoyles had to cancel his carefully laid plans for trip to the River Windrush on the 16 June, the wait proved to be worth it when the rescheduled day produced this cracking 5lb 10oz chub.

“Like a lot of river anglers I’d been counting the days down to the opening of the new coarse fishing season” explained Martyn. “This was particularly the case this season as I’d booked a night at the Swan and Minster Mill Hotel near Witney. This offered the chance to keep the girlfriend happy with a night away, plus the added bonus of spending the next day fishing on their private stretch for potentially some big chub and roach.”

“Unfortunately a really bad bout of flu meant that I had to cancel the proposed trip at the last minute. Fortunately I was able to change the date to a few weeks later, which by chance coincided with a period of settled weather and saw the river looking in good condition for a few bites.”

“Adopting a roving approach and switching between free-lined pieces of bread flake in the faster water and feeder fishing in the slower stretches I caught a number of nice chub, roach and the odd bonus trout across the day, culminating in the 5lb chub which fought like crazy.”     

Martyn landed the fish using a Theory Specialist rod, Theory reel and 6lb Daiwa Sensor line.