River Fishing Tips | Running or fixed feeder for chub? - Hadrian Whittle
My rig actually works on both principles – it’s a hybrid of a running and fixed set-up. The feeder slides on the line and is stopped above a short length of twisted line via a float stop or bead.
The black-cap feeder rig
Above the feeder is another stop that can be slid up and down to increase or decrease the gap between the stops and, thus, how far the feeder can move.
By leaving just an inch gap and having the feeder balanced to just hold bottom, anything taking the bait moves the feeder, which then hits the stop and helps to hook the fish.
There are days when lengthening this gap works, others when shortening it right up catches more.
A cracking river chub
River Fishing Tips | Six tips to catch big fish on the pole - Steve Harwood
RIVERS are full of all kinds of obstacles that make many anglers nervous when fishing for larger species such as bream, tench, chub and perch. Weed is the most common of these snags but there's no need to put the pole away when fishing around the green stuff. Here are six of my top tips to beat it…
Big river fish can be caught on the pole
Use heavy floats
Get the bait down fast with a float from 1.5g to 2g and all the weight down the line.
Big floats help get the baits down fast
Big baits rule
Two halves of dendra worm are best for Thames bream and perch, fished overdepth.
Try fishing big baits over depth
Get the feed down
Roughly chopped worms are packed into crumb with casters and dead maggots.
Pack your ground bait full of feed
Don’t go too light
I use a 14-16 Gamakatsu 2210B hook with 0.15mm hooklength and 0.18mm mainline.
Don’t go too small with hooks
Soft & strong elastic
You’ll lose fish in the weed if your elastic is too light. I fish white or grey grade Hydrolastic: soft yet powerful.
Light elastic will see you lose more fish
Prime the swim
A baitdropper delivers choppy without spillage, allowing me to put the rig directly on top of where those worms are.
Bait droppers are great for delivering bait into a river swim
River Fishing Tips | What does it mean when fish cough up bait? - Darren Cox
Greedy species like perch and chub tend to regurgitate bait the most, but I’ve had roach and dace do it too.
When it happens, it tells me two things…
Firstly, that the fish are ravenous and eating well and secondly, that there may not be that many fish in the peg as the ones I catch are eating everything I’ve fed.
In this situation I then feed less bait, meaning there’s more chance of my hookbait being taken by the few fish that are present.
Fish coughing up bait can be a sign you need to limit the feed
River Fishing Tips | The best method for early season chub - James Champkin
This may sound crazy, but my number one method for early season chub is to use lures!
I was introduced to it a few years ago, and it’s the most exhilarating style of chub fishing I’ve ever done.
I use small (5cm-7cm) floating crankbaits and work them slowly down the flow, with the rod tip held high, so that the lure wiggles enticingly on the surface.
Lures with a fat body and a large rattle work well, but I’ve also been experimenting with insect imitations, which have proved deadly.
Cast long upstream and try to work your lure close to any overhanging trees. Stay alert - takes can be explosive!
Chub love to hit lures!
River Fishing Tips | Avon or Stick float for big roach and chub? - Paul Garner
Trotting is such an effective way to catch larger river fish and I don’t know why more people don’t do it!
Trotting is a great method for larger river fish like chub
To me, it’s a job for the Avon float. Its body is buoyant enough to carry the weight needed to keep a bait down close to the bottom and the thick tip rides the current and is not dragged under when the hooklength touches the river bed.
As a rule of thumb, use 1g of weight for every 2ft of depth. This may see you using large floats in deep swims, but it is essential to keep the bait down.
The pronounced shoulder means that the float can be held back, slowing its progress to around half that of the flow at the surface. This pace more closely matches the current close to the riverbed, producing a more natural speed as the bait is swept downstream.
A typical Avon float rig
River Fishing Tips | When to swap the bomb to the feeder for chub - Phil Spinks
The feeder comes into play on rivers that are running slightly clear, and bread is an excellent bait for these conditions.
A medium Drennan Cage feeder packed with liquidised bread works well, using breadflake on the hook.
I search the swim using this approach, having 15 minutes with one cast across to any far-bank trees and then another quarter-of-an-hour closer in where there’s slower water or down the middle of the river.
Generally, if I haven’t had a bite after around 30 minutes, I’ll make my move to the next swim along
I find legering works best in coloured water or when fishing after dark.
Try using a smelly bait like cheesepaste on a link leger taking a couple of SSG shot, or a very light 10g flat bomb that will be rolled around the bottom by the current before finally settling.
How to rove for chub on your local river
Keeping mobile and scouring miles of river in a day is the best way to keep warm this winter and chub are the ultimate species to target when adopting this proactive approach.
Tiny rivers that weave through stunning countryside settings are often the perfect place to employ a roving attack, with many enthusiasts of this style often visiting over a dozen swims in a session. A short spurt in one spot will soon provide indications as to whether a greedy chub inhabits the peg and if it does, you can bet your bottom dollar that a carefully presented hookbait will soon be engulfed.
WHERE TO FISH
Chub can be found in almost every English, Welsh and lower-Scottish rivers and streams. They have bred well and many numbers of chub of decent sizes are targetable across the country with hundreds of waters giving up 5lb specimens, and many prime rivers providing the angler with chub to over 6lb.
Even tiny rivers and backwaters hold big chub.
They can be found in deep and powerful rivers such as the Trent, Severn, Thames and Wye, through to tiny little backwaters that you could wade or even jump across. So there’s a high chance that you can find chub a short drive away from your home. A good start is to ask at your local tackle shop or keep an eye out in our 'where to fish' section of the Angling Times each week to help you find venues.
SWIM SELECTION
It is no secret that chub love to lie close to cover and there is no shortage of it on the river, with stacks of swims home to sunken trees, overhanging branches and clumps of brambles. Add to that a mixture of fast glides and gentle slacks and you potentially have hundreds of little areas that look incredibly inviting. The diagram below shows you some classic chub holding features. Click on it to enlarge..
Locating chub on a river is so important in winter
BAITS
Cheesepaste is a top chub bait in winter
The good news is chub are one of the least fussy species in our waterways. However, there are some days when one bait out of five is the only one they want so taking a few change baits with you on the bank is a good idea. The top baits for chub in winter are generally, cheesepaste, meat, bread flake, maggots, lobworms, boilies and paste but thats not to say other homemade and natural varieties such as a big black slug are not worth trying on the day. When the river is coloured cheesepaste is tough to beat and has accounted for some monster fish in the past. Find out how to roll your own here.
GEAR
Travelling light will make it easier to find the chub.
Minimal tackle is required for the ambush to end in success, with a rod, landing net, unhooking mat and a small bag of terminal tackle all that you need to carry. Bogging yourself down with too much gear will only discourage you from moving swims which will in turn mean you get less bites. On some stretches where there is bankside vegetation to rest your rod on you may not even need to take a bank stick! Travelling light will also mean you are more stealthy and less likely to spook shy fish.
RIGS
Keeping things simple is the key to success with chub. Having too complicated a rig can also make it difficult to re-tie another in cold weather should you experience a breakage or tangle. A simple link leger rig is all you need to catch a few chub and some of the sport's top anglers still use this tradtional setup to catch fish in excess of 8lb. Tie a small loop in some strong mono and cut the other end to around two inches in length before pinching two or three SSG onto it. Thread the loop end up the line and prevent it from sliding down to the hook using a float stop or small swivel (see rig diagram below). A float stop will also allow you to alter the length of your hooklength at any time if you are fishing straight through with your reel line. This setup also makes it easy to change to another hook pattern if you decide to dramtically change hookbaits during a session. If you are planning to fish with baits like cheesepaste and bread a large hook say an 6 or 8 is perfect for burying the hook in the bait. Just make sure you fish a fairly powerful carp style variety with a thick wire gauge as chub are powerful creatures and can easily bend a hook shank. As for your line, this depends on how snaggy the river is and also the size of chub in it. Generally a line of around 6-8lb mono is more than beefy enough to cope with the biggest of chub you'll encounter on UK rivers.
A simple link leger rig is all you need for chub success.
FEEDING & TACTICS
A bread feeder and breadflake hookbait are a great combo for chub.
There are many different options on offer here. A small cage feeder with liquidised or mashed bread in it can prove deadly during the winter. On days where the fish are more easily spooked than sticking to the link leger and feeding by hand is sometimes better. In this scenario a handful of mashed bread, created by soaking some cut slices heavily in water, or some small nail size blobs of cheesepaste fed into the likely areas should bring you success. A great tactic especially when there are few anglers on the water is to walk away from your car, feeding all the likely looking spots as described above. When you've fed enough areas, say 10, you can then walk back on yourself fishing all the spots you have baited. If you dont get a bite within half an hour, move on. If you prefer to use maggots or worms than feeding regularly by hand or a baitdropper is better.
Continue down for our top ten chub fishing tips...
Get it right and you can enjoy chub catches like this one.
