7lb 10oz chub tops incredible week

There could be a better time to get out there and catch a personal best chub as a string of huge fish are banked from running water venues.

Freezing temperatures weren’t enough to keep reigning Drennan Cup champion Jamie Cartwright away from the river bank as he braved the elements to bank this 7 lb 10oz chub.
The Northampton Specimen Group member only need 20 minutes on the Great River Ouse in order to fool the specimen, which was lured into his swim with the initial introduction of a few small blobs of CC Moore Odyssey XXX paste.

A simple leger rig was then cast to a crease in the current and within a few minutes he set his size 8 hook into the specimen that took a small boilie wrapped in the same paste that he used to prime his chosen spot.

“The day started with my alarm going off at 4.00 am and I was faced with a 95-mile drive to my chosen venue, but when I got there the weather took a turn for the worse,” said Jamie.
“So I decided to drive all of the way home and fish a swim that I’d never targeted for chub as the weather was better. This just goes to show that when it comes to catching big fish you have to go with your instincts.”

Ken Brown walked over a mile-and-a-half before of his chosen venue before he finally struck gold and banked this 7lb 1oz specimen.

He took the fish from the ultra-tough River Lea in Hertfordshire and it provided the only bite of the session after he put his faith in a feeder filled with liquidised bread.

It took a piece of breadflake that was folded around a size 8 hook and cast beneath an overhanging tree.

“I’ve spent the last few weeks after chub with no joy whatsoever, so it’s a real relief to have kicked off my winter campaign with a fish like this,” said Ken.

There might have been snow on the ground when Bournemouth’s Mark Church flicked two boilies out into the famous Throop Fishery on the Dorset, but he was rewarded when he won the battle with a superb specimen that topped the scales at exactly 7lb.

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