6lb chub brace hiding among flood rubbish
A floating feature consisting of debris washed down river in the recent floods proved instrumental in Alan Lawrence’s impressive haul of chub.
A brace of fish weighing 6lb 2oz and 6lb were backed up with a trio of specimens over the 5lb-mark from a small tributary of the River Ouse after he cast tight to a raft made up of a wooden pallet, plastic bottles, broken branches and a football!
The unconventional feature, held in place by the overhanging branches of a submerged tree, had created a slack in the swollen river and the Bedfordshire-based specimen hunter focussed his attack around a home-made winter offering.
In order to avoid his feed from being washed away before it reached the river bed, Alan introduced a carpet of paste and bread crumbs through a 1oz feeder before attaching a 6lb fluorocarbon hooklink to his simple paternoster rig.
His trap was completed with a large piece of paste moulded around a pair of 8mm cork balls hair-rigged on a size 8 hook.
“This is an incredible achievement for me considering the amount of extra water that the river was carrying,” said Alan. ”It’s vital not to be intimidated by conditions like this and spend lots of time walking your chosen stretches in search of areas where the chub will be seeking sanctuary out of the increased flow.
“Even if you’re fishing a stretch that doesn’t have any trees or obvious vegetation, look for any branches or bits of rubbish that have been collected on the surface on the inside of a bend and you can be assured that if there are any chub in the vicinity then they will be there.”
6lb chub tempted from coloured Ouse tributary
Tony Gibson proved that you shouldn’t let up-and-coloured rivers put you off after netting this 6lb 10oz chub.
After walking the banks of a tributary of the River Ouse to find a slacker area where he thought the fish would be seeking sanctuary out of the main flow, he fished a simple carp-style bolt rig incorporating a 3oz lead in order to hold bottom.
The cracking specimen was the Northamptonshire-based Nash-consultant’s only bite of the session and was beaten with a 15lb Nash Missing Link hooklink tied to a size 8 hook, onto which he hair-rigged a 15mm Dynamite Baits’ The Source boilie.
“In flooded conditions I always use a solid PVA bag filled with broken and crumbed boilies to create an inviting trail of feed in the swim,” said Tony. “It’s vital to puncture the bag a few times and let the air out, though, to ensure it sinks to the bottom.”
PB chub and barbel from in-form river
With many of the UK’s waterways rendered virtually unfishable by floods, one that has still been providing anglers with excellent sport was the River Loddon.
Going to the effort of creating his own swim on the venue provided Ken Hellewell with a 7lb 14oz chub, just an hour into fishing it.
The Farnborough-based rod told Angling Times that he had walked past the overgrown spot for three seasons but only recently decided to start clearing and attempting to fish it. It proved to be a great decision when he latched into the new personal best, fishing several yards downstream to a weed raft on his own bank.
“It was a real big, old looking chub and in the spring it will probably go over 8lb. There’s a bit of a crease with trees overhanging and it just looked perfect - I can’t believe I’d never tried this spot before,” he said.
Fishing 10lb mainline, a 10lb braided hooklink and a size 2 ESP Raptor hook, Ken had to play it hard to keep it away from the raft, after which it held deep in mid-river.
“The fish was 21ins long with a girth of 17ins. I used a large lump of bread flake with a free running cage feeder filled with dry breadcrumb. If you use the crumb wet, I’ve found it makes too much of a splash and spooks the fish. Everybody is talking about the River Lea but the Loddon has some huge chub in too!” he added.
Also getting in on the action was James Picton-Robinson, who all but sealed a bet among a group of friends on who could land the biggest barbel of the season with a 16lb 8oz specimen.
The Hook, Hampshire-based angler had resigned himself to having to pay out after his angling companions Alan Muller and Matt Smith each netted 15lb-plus fish earlier in the season, but he took an almost unsurmountable lead when his new personal best fell for a 16mm pellet wrapped in Sticky Krill Paste.
He said: “I’d placed my bait close to a series of snags and I knew I was into a large barbel by the way it was plodding around. It managed to snag me up at one point but after a few tense moments it came free.”
With less than six weeks to go until the river season comes to an end, the 43-year-old is hopeful of taking a cash prize off his friends. “In June we all decided to place £50 each on which one of us would land the biggest barbel this season. I’m currently in line to win that and I’ll be doing my best to keep them off the best stretches until March 14!” he added.
Bread tempts 7lb chub best from River Wensum
Getting off the beaten track saw Paul Scott land this new pb chub of 7lb 1oz from the River Wensum.
Despite heavy rain and windy conditions, the 38-year-old Norwich-based angler was keen to get on the bank and targeted an un-fished stretch of the waterway which he suspected might hold a few big fish. Using bread flake on a size 6 Drennan Super Specialist hook and feeding liquidised bread in a small feeder, Paul cast his hookbait under an overhanging bush. “I decided to visit two swims where I had recently caught a couple of 5lbers including my previous best of 5lb 10oz but didn't have a knock,” he said. “I was soaking wet so I upped sticks and decided to walk further down to an un-fished spot that looked really fishy and had plenty of cover and I caught the fish on my first cast.”
Chub personal best beaten with 8lb 1oz specimen
Less than a week after landing a pb chub of 7lb 7oz, Mark Hewett has smashed his best again with the capture of this monster 8lb 1oz specimen from the River Lea.
The London rod once again visited the Kings Weir Fishery stretch in Hertfordshire, where he pre-baited a swim with paste covered boilies and waited until dusk before casting out.
Using 20lb Power Pro mainline and a size 10 Drennan Super Specialist hook Mark was playing the huge fish within seconds of his hair-rigged paste covered 12mm homemade boilie hitting the water: “I had been trotting with maggots all day but I knew once it had got dark the big fish would come out to play,” he said.
Lea chub trio all over 7lb!
The River Lea has once again proved why it is regarded as one of the best chub venues in the country following the capture of two different specimens over the 7lb-barrier.
Former Drennan Cup holder Darran Goulder set a new personal best for the species for the second time in as many months with a fish of 7lb 14oz.
The Shimano-backed rod landed a fish of 7lb 3oz from the Fishers Green stretch of the Hertfordshire waterway last December but upped it again on his latest outing.
Upon his arrival at the river he was greeted with a sharp frost and high water levels and walked over a mile to find the perfect spot.
A cheespaste and worm attack in his first swim choice failed to produce any interest so he upped sticks and switched to Dynamite Baits The Crave boilies. The change proved to be a wise one, as his tip pulled round shortly after casting out.
“The fish didn’t take any line so I knew it was a chub straight away. It failed to put up much of a fight and I was soon staring down at an enormous fish,” explained Darran, who used 8lb Shimano Tribal mainline and a short braided hooklink to a size10 hook.
“A few people turned their noses up at the thought of me chub fishing in such flooded conditions but this time my hunch was spot on,” he added.
Mark Hewett equalled his personal best when he landed a 7lb 7oz specimen from the Kings Weir Fishery section of the river.
Convinced the biggest fish would be held up among a set of snags, he cast a legered lump of paste towards a lightly prebaited spot and was forced to ‘hang on for dear life’ when he received a bite. He said: “I couldn’t give it an inch otherwise I’d have lost the battle. It equals my personal best which I set a few weeks ago and I know for a fact it is a different fish.
“I returned a couple of days later using the same approach and it worked again - this time a 6lb 10oz chub was my reward.”
Hot on the heels of his capture of two barbel for over 27lb last week, Chris Mutton returned to the River Lea and banked a new pb chub of 7lb 4oz.
The Warwickshire-based all-rounder headed for a swim that had a large slack on the far bank and was littered with trees. With a hunch that the fish might be held up in the area he offered a Pallatrax Winter Almond 14mm Squab wrapped in paste on a 12 inch Green Braid hooklink and a size 10 The Hook.
“A quiet day ensued but with time ticking on I decided to re-position my bait, casting to the back of the slack water tight to the far bank,” he said. “This decision proved to be a wise one as 10 minutes later I received a few sharp pulls on the rod tip. My strike was met with a solid resistance and after a few hairy moments I slipped the net under a very nice chub.”
Quality chub from the River Severn on 'wag and mag' tactics
Classic ‘wag and mag’ tactics accounted for this bag of quality chub caught by Roger Carswell during a short session on the River Severn.
Fishing a stretch of the midlands waterway at Emstrey, the Shrewsbury-based rod selected a sheltered swim with constant depth of six to seven feet where he could run a 4SSG waggler 60 yards downstream.
He said: “It took an hour and a half before the first chub was tempted by my triple maggot hookbait. By keeping a constant trickle of bronze maggots, laced with a few reds, going in I managed to fool a further six fish, the biggest 5lb 6oz.”
Free stretch of River Lea produces 7lb chub
A free stretch of river produced this new personal best chub of 7lb for Richard Ballard.
The fish came at the end of a successful session on the River Lea in Hertfordshire for the Nash Tackle employee who had already landed chub of 5lb 8oz, 5lb and 4lb 10oz.
All of his fish were taken on the new 15mm Nash Instant Action Tandoori Spice boilies which he hair-rigged on size 5 Fang Twister hooks and 15lb Missing Link hooklinks.
He said: “I’d been baiting a deep depression close to some snags regularly with boilies for river’s resident carp but after seeing a number of good chub in the area feeding on my baits I decided to return with some scaled-down tackle and have a go for them.”
6lb 4oz chub is new personal best on debut River Lea session
A debut session on the River Lea produced an early Christmas present for Barry Peck when he banked this personal best 6lb 14oz chub.
The Solihull-based rod made the 200-mile round trip to the Kings Weir Fishery stretch of the waterway and sprayed maggots continuously for two hours before finally wetting a line.
Once his floatfished double maggot was in the water, it didn’t take long for the action to begin, with the specimen finding the bait on the second trot through the shallow spot.
“I thought I’d hooked the bottom to start with until I saw a big boil on the surface. Once in the net it was clear I’d broken my previous record of 4lb 15oz and I was rendered almost speechless,” explained Barry.
Big chub feed in the floods
The floods which have hit many of the UK’s rivers failed to hamper the efforts of the nation’s army of chub anglers - with some of the biggest specimens of the winter so far landed.
The pick of the bunch tipped the scales at 7lb 8oz and fell to David Hyne when he went back to basics and returned to a stretch of waterway that he hadn’t fished for over seven years. And he had double reason to celebrate when he backed up his new personal best with a second fish of 6lb 3oz.
The Herts-based 58-year-old was fishing the famous King’s Weir on the River Lea and used a simple running leger rig with a piece of hair-rigged garlic meat on a size 10 hook.
The biggest of the brace came from a deep hole that he found to the left-hand-side of his swim and both were beaten with 8lb line.
“These fish are very hard to catch and to be honest I think that they get used to boilies and pellets, so that’s why I just fished a simple rig with a bit of old faithful meat on the hair,” David told Angling Times.
“I started the session by throwing in the odd scrap of meat from the tin which gets the fish hunting around. The garlic flavouring aids this, especially when you’re faced with coloured water.
“It was incredible to catch two chub using this tactics because this is how I used to fish when I first started out.”
Reigning Drennan Cup holder Gareth Goldson used the classic combination of a centrepin reel, float and a breadflake hookbait, to amass an impressive haul of chub topped by a fish of 6lb 7oz.
He targeted a stretch of his local River Wensum and trotted a ‘loafer’ float past a snag on the far bank to amass his haul after introducing minimal loosefeed.
“This is a really simple way of fishing, but it’s a killer method for big chub,” said Gareth.
“I love fishing big baits under a float and the fish were tucked up close to the snag on the far bank because all of my bites came as I held the float back and edged it past the feature.”
6lb 4oz chub from River Trent
Stuart Walker enjoyed a fantastic river session over the festive period, netting this 6lb 4oz chub along with a 16lb pike and a 2lb 8oz perch.
Tackling a tributary of the Trent, the chub and the perch fell to a lobworm presented under a classic Drennan Loafer float in an area of slack water close in.
“I didn’t feel very well in the morning and actually climbed back into bed, even with the van all packed. But I had a gut feeling to get myself out of bed despite the windy weather and I’m glad I did. What a rewarding day!” he said.
Caught In The Act DVD star Stuart fished 4lb line straight through to a size 10 hook, tackle he has used to tame several large perch from the same area recently.
Angling guide finds big chub in tricky Avon
Undettered by a gin clear Hampshire Avon Kenny Parsons went on to land this fine 6lb 5oz chub.
The experienced angling guide ditched his favoured floatfishing approach and instead used maggot feeder tactics with a 3lb 6oz Reflo Power Line hooklink and a size 20 Drennan Super Specialist hook baited with red maggots.
He also landed a 4lb 11oz fish from the same swim, turning what could have been a difficult day into a successful session: “Conditions were far from ideal as the river had dropped a further eight inches from when I last fished it a month ago so I wasn’t too sure whether the trip would be worth it. I scaled down my tackle and luckily the chub decided to play ball,” he said.
Kenny offers guiding sessions on rivers such as the Wye, Bristol Avon, Hampshire Avon and Dorset Stour. Anyone interested can email him at kennyangling@gmail.com.
6lb 7oz personal best chub from Middle Severn
Lawrence Breakspear has caught his biggest ever chub from the Middle Severn – this 6lb 7oz specimen.
The venue regular popped-up a large piece of breadcrust smeared with Primula Cheese and prawn paste off two LG shot close to a sunken willow tree. He then fed mashed bread and bread flake over a two hour period before receiving the all-important bite.
“My previous best chub from the river was one of 6lb 2oz caught back in January,” he said. “The swim in question is one which I used to fish for perch and barbel and I had a feeling it might hold a few big chub too. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve had four fish over 5lb and numerous ‘fours’ in my quest for Severn 7lb’er,” he added.
Last cast banks 7lb 2oz chub from Great Ouse
A short evening session on the Great Ouse saw Stewart Harris land his second biggest ever chub in the shape of this 7lb 2oz specimen.
Adopting a roving approach, the 38-year-old from Milton Keynes had already landed four fish to 5lb using homemade boilies wrapped in paste when he decided to have one last go in one of the swims he’d fished at the start trip.
He said: “I removed my hair-rig and instead used an Enterprise Pellet Skin filled with paste side-hooked directly on a size 12 hook. Within 20 minutes I had a tentative bite which produced my biggest chub of the winter so far. It was a fish that I could quite easily have missed out on too,” he added.
