Monster chub fall as closed season loomed

The last week of the season shaped up to be one to remember as UK rivers hit top form and produce a spate of monster chub.
Pleasure and specimen rods all over the country have reported numerous big chub with two seven pounders and dozens of fish over 6lb landed in the last week.
Leading the way was Drennan-backed Mike Davidson, who used a small piece of bread to tempt a personal-best 7lb 10oz specimen from the River Thames.
Fishing an undisclosed stretch, Mike spent 10 minutes flicking in a few nuggets of Mother’s Pride before casting out a simple link leger rig made up of a 2lb 6oz Drennan Supplex fluorocarbon hooklength and a size 6 Drennan specimen hook.
After banking two chub over 5lb followed by a 7lb bream, his biggest specimen was hooked to end a hectic hour-long session.
“I’d fished the same swim six times over the last month or so with only one chub of 5lb 13oz to show for my efforts, but just had a hunch it could produce something much bigger. I’m so glad I stuck it out,” he said.
Another angler flying high was Bedfordshire’s Rob Creswell.
The 28-year-old followed up the capture of a huge a 7lb 1oz specimen banked  last month, when he headed  to a Vauxhall Angling Club stretch of the River Great Ouse near his home.
Rob adopted a traditional approach by using a small loafer float with 4lb mainline and a size 18 hook.
Trickling in a steady stream of red maggots with two on the hook, he tempted numerous chub before landing a brace of specimens which tipped the scales at 6lb 6oz and a whopping 7lb 1oz.
Chub Study Group member Terry Theobald was another angler who used float tactics to score with the species.
The Cardiff rod waited weeks for perfect conditions on the Dorset Stour, finally paying the waterway a visit where he bagged 10 specimen-sized fish topped by a stunning
6lb 14oz chub.
Like Rob, Terry used a loafer float with red maggots, constantly feeding handfuls of offerings down a steady glide to get the chub feeding.
By the end of his eight-hour session, he had bagged no fewer than eight fish between 4lb and
5lb 13oz and would have fished on had he not run out of bait.
“I usually take a gallon, but only took five pints this time,” he told Angling Times.
 “I’m gutted, as it was only after I had fed most of the bait that the fish were really having it at the end,” he said.
Adam Perna recorded a new personal best during a visit to the River Great Ouse with the capture of a 6lb 13oz specimen.
The Oxfordshire man prebaited a swim with just six boilies before returning some hours later when the huge specimen took his Blakes Baits Frank ’n’ Spice 18mm dumbell wrapped in paste.