Top tips for chub on canals
Chub have become a regular feature on the Staffs/Worcs Canal in the West Midlands and the Chesterfield Canal around Worksop. Catching them, however, is another matter!
Canal chub are shy, and treated as bonus fish in matches, but the pleasure angler has more time to fish for them all day. Catch one and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t end up with a number of fish in the bag.
Shakespeare Bait-Tech man Darren Massey reveals the key do’s and don’ts for snaring a few canal chub in the coming weeks…
Location
A good canal chub peg has far-bank cover, moored boats in particular. Even a bare bank can be home to chub, and they also like to hang around in bridge holes (pegs next to bridges) or lock cuttings. Be wary of fishing in too much water, though – 2ft 6ins to 3ft is about right.
Feeding
I target the far bank, often right the way across if the depth is there. To start I pop in some chopped worm, made up of finely-minced lobworms and dendras, plus a couple of dozen casters, then loosefeed casters over this – 20 or so every five minutes.
Topping up is mainly with a lone chopped lobworm plus a few worms and casters. I’ll rest the peg for half-an-hour then return to it.
Timing
Chub can appear at any point in the day, so I’m always keen to have an early look to see if one is at home, sometimes 10 or 15 minutes into a session. Bites can take a while to come, so I’ll fish for around 15 minutes, feeding casters a couple of times during this period, before I rest the swim if nothing happens.
It’s quite possible to try this line a dozen times, not get a bite, and then catch three chub in as many drop-ins in the final hour.
Where chub are concerned, if one is there, then more should follow. They’re a shoal fish, even when they reach 4lb or 5lb, but they won’t climb up the pole and give themselves up. Even if I catch a chub, I don’t flog the line to death and will come off it to let things settle back down.
Best baits
I don’t think you can beat casters. They fall slowly though the water as you’re feeding them, and smaller than a piece of worm.
Double caster is the best bait by a mile, although I may use one caster if the fishing is hard and I really need to work for a bite.
Hook these to leave plenty of hook point showing to ensure a good hold when you strike, and set the rig to just touch bottom. I would also try a piece of worm or even a lobworm tail if I was sitting out for just one bite.
Sensible rigs
Even on a featureless-looking canal peg, a chub will know where any snags are and on Mr Crabtree-style pegs, you can’t give them any quarter.
I fish 0.12mm Shakespeare Mach XT line straight through to a size 16 Sensas 3405 hook, the float being a 4x12 or 4x14 dibber shotted with spread No9 shot to give the bait a slow fall and to let me lift and drop the bait.
Elastics are powerful stuff, a solid No12-No16 to steer the chub away from any danger. I also fish a long line, around 1.5m, between float and pole-tip to ensure that I prevent the pole from casting a shadow on the water.