So, I returned to the same stretch of the Wandle with a tin of Spam and a half-baguette. Unfortunately, the chub decided not to show up this evening. A few brown trout were in residence, as if to mock my trout-hunting efforts the previous night.

After, exploring other sections of the river, I bumped into another fisherman and his son similarly hunting for places to fish. He was a carp fisherman, and having heard of 30lb fish caught somewhere on the Wandle, was looking for likely locations. They pointed out a big trout they’d seen earlier. The large tail of a wild four-pounder poked out from underneath the weeds, before disappearing.

I returned to the original swim, and having no fly-fishing equipment with me, made a few desultory flicks of the spam towards the weeds. I also tried tempting out the trout with bits of bread. This only succeeded in attracting a family of Canada Geese. When the trout did emerge from their bolt holes into the clear water, they were far too easily spooked to stand any realistic chance of catching them. I gave up after a frustrating hour. Catching a chub isn’t going to be as easy as I’d hoped.