Monster Avon chub falls on the pin - Darryl Hughes

“I took a couple of days’ leave from work to have a go at catching a big chub from the Hampshire Avon.
“On my first day off I drove to a favourite stretch of mine with a bag of boilies and baited a few bends, overhanging trees and slacks with the plan of returning the following day to fish them in turn.
“Arriving early, I started fishing and spent an hour in each spot before moving on – but I just couldn’t get anything to take my paste-wrapped boilie.
“The daylight was slowly slipping away, but I was determined to catch so I clipped an isotope on to the end of my rod and dropped into a swim on the bend of the river which had a deep hole close in.
“I lowered down my rig, and roughly 15 minutes later the ratchet on my centrepin reel spun away and I struck into a heavy lump that kited straight into the main flow.
“At first I thought it was a barbel from the way it took off, but I was able to guide it into some slack water where I lifted the fish’s head to reveal the unmistakable ‘gob’ of a chub, and a big one at that.
“She went into the net and the first thing I noticed was the size of the belly on it. It was the fattest chub I’d ever seen!”