After a seven week gap I finally was out on the bank again. Following a second episode of heavy rain the river reports showed that the Ouse at Houghton was marginally above the seasonal norm and on the strength of this I made my way to the Trout Stream. Sure enough the stream was looking good. It was carrying a bit more water and had a nice colour, so prospects were promising.

As usual started at my favourite spot about half way along the stretch. It was a lot easier to fish than on my previous visit. The bank was clearer and the marginal reeds were nowhere near as troublesome. I started with cheese paste and although my first cast was a bit shorter than I had wanted I left it in place. Some slight movements on the rod tip, that I had attributed to water movement, were soon replaced by a small but obvious pull. Striking I was into a good fish. The battle was fairly short but typical of chub it sought refuge in margin reeds. Fortunately it was within reach of the landing net and was quickly safe in the net. After such a timid bite I was surprised to find the hook a fair way down but clearly visible and easily extracted with forceps once the fish had stopped flipping!

I gave it a breather before weighing, the result being a fine chub of 3¾ lbs. Unfortunately I didn't hold the fish up to my body camera, which was set a bit too high to capture a decent shot, and because the fish had been out of the water a while I didn't reposition my remote camera to take a 'classic' shot of me holding the fish. That was disappointing but doesn't detract from the capture of a fine chub.

I stayed a bit longer in the swim but unsuprisingly I didn't get another bite.

I next moved to the wide open glide that is fished from the corner of a bend, making casting very straightforward and opening up a wide part of the stream to explore. And explore I did, with casts to different parts of the glide while trying prawn as an alternative bait. But I couldn't tempt a fish, assuming that there were chub present. There was considerable hidden weed which was encountered during each retrieve. After about half an hour I moved on.

The next stop was a short way down the stream where I caught my PB chub for the stream in 2024. On this occasion the swim was literally packed solid with reed debris that had been washed down by the recent inundations. At this point I decided to walk back upstream and have another try in the first spot.

Unfortunately by this time the bank had become unusually busy with walkers. No doubt many people were taking an extended Christmas break. So I had dogs and children splashing around just downstream of me. There was no second fish from this spot!

Walking upstream I briefly tried a swim where the club and the EA had carried out work to improve the gravel beds, involving flow diverters and bank reinforcement. The flow was fast, as was intended, and after a couple of casts I decided that perhaps it was a bit too rapid for the chub to hold out there.

After ruling out another couple of spots that were too difficult because of shrub and tree branches, I ended up in what is normally my final swim at the top of the stretch. It has rewarded me on a number of occasions. A narrow channel between reed beds concentrates the flow that then opens out into a wide if short glide. This is a classic chub possibility with the fish intercepting anything being washed through the fast channel. And in the past I have had a rapid response to my first cast. But that wasn't the case this time despite exploring different parts of the swim. I sat it out for around half an hour before concluding that on this occasion I probably wasn't going to succeed.

So it was one bite and one fish, but a magnificent chub so I wasn't complaining. I had had a long chat with the bailiff earlier who had walked downstream to fish, where some new swims have been created. He walked past me as I was packing up saying that he hadn't had a bite. So while the stream looked good it was obviously still challenging!