8lb chub tops a week of fantastic catches

The capture of countless huge chub from rivers across the UK has proved that now’s the time to beat your personal best.

Alfie Naylor had every reason to celebrate when he banked the fish of a lifetime in the shape of an 8lb chub from the River Trent.

The specialist from Newark has enjoyed an incredible season so far on the waterway, and his run of form continued when he turned his attentions away from barbel and on to chub.

He opted for a groundbait feeder packed with hemp, pellets and the base mix that formed his 110% Baits Red Ball Plum boilie hookbait, which was attached to the back of a size 8 hook with a short hair.

“I honestly thought it was a common carp. This is by far the biggest chub I’ve ever seen,” Alfie told Angling Times.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that this stretch of the Trent holds a British record fish. 

“It was the best chub venue on the whole river in the 1980s and it’s back to its best. I’ve barely scratched the surface of its potential.”

Elsewhere, a lump of luncheon meat fished over hempseed proved the right combination for Gary Hickling, who banked a new club record 7lb 10oz chub from the Great Ouse.

It sets a new best for Vauxhall Angling Club and was landed from the River Great Ouse by Gary when he fished upstream of Radwell at the stretch of river adjoining the Sharnbrook complex.

A simple leger rig and a bait cast beneath an overhanging tree tempted the fish that beats the previous club record by 2oz.

Moving further south, another angler to smash his personal best for the species was specialist Stuart Davison.

He fished a short session on a Christchurch Angling Club-controlled stretch of the Dorset Stour to bank an impressive specimen that took a legered boilie hookbait and topped the scales at 7lb 3oz.

“I caught this fish on a really short session at dusk. It just goes to show that you don’t need to spend hours on the bank,” said Stuart. 

The River Nene in Cambridgeshire has been in incredible form this season, and Peterborough & District Angling Association bailiff Mark Smith banked his biggest-ever chub while fishing a day-ticket stretch.

It weighed 6lb 3oz and was caught on a Sticky Baits Krill boilie.

Roach tops mixed bag

There are few more enjoyable methods of catching fish than by trotting a stick float down a river, as Adam Fisher did to bank this fine roach last week.

A day trip to the River Itchen proved fruitful for the Angling Dreams boss, who caught bream, chub and sea trout as well as the immaculate 1lb 10oz roach. 

“I knew it was a good fish so until I got it to the surface, my heart was in my mouth. Once it was finally in the net I wasso relieved,” said Adam, from Herefordshire. 

He took the roach on a single red maggot, mounted on a size 18 Drennan Carp Maggot hook attached to 3lb line.

Triple specimen chub hit in a single week from Throop

Jim Quartermain enjoyed the fishing week of a lifetime when he banked a 2lb roach, a 14lb 2oz barbel and this plump 6lb 8oz chub. 

Targeting various lengths of the Dorset Stour at Throop, Jim alternated between float and leger tactics with pellets to get the all-important bites. 

On the first night of his session he bested the double-figure barbel using a light bomb outfit, while the chub and roach fell to trotted pellets just a couple of days later.

Club-record chub

Just 60 minutes was all David Sansom needed to land this record-breaking 7lb 8oz chub.

The Bedfordshire angler netted the huge fish from a Vauxhall Angling Club stretch of the River Great Ouse near his home. 

It’s a specimen that sets a new club record for the species by 2oz, and was tempted by the club bailiff when he used a boilie hookbait hair-rigged to the back of a size 10 hook.

A fish that tipped the scales at 4lb 13oz also showed up during his short session, which began with the introduction of a handful of broken boilies.

7lb 14oz chub tops an amazing week

The incredible run of big chub from venues nationwide continued this week with the capture of a 7lb 14oz heavyweight from a canal!

In what has been a fantastic week for catches of the species, carp angler Richard Hogg was left shell-shocked when he netted the monster specimen from a seldom-fished section of the Staffs and Worcester Canal.

Targeting a swim where he had previously caught carp, the Brownhills-based angler set his stall out by scattering a few boilies by hand. 

Then he carefully cast a wafter hookbait into the swim. 

“When the alarm sounded I thought it was a small carp but then, when I lifted up the net, I was confronted by the biggest chub I’ve ever seen,” he said. 

“It wasn’t my target species, but I will take that fish any day of the week.” 

It’s not the first big chub to be caught by the West Midlander. Richard’s previous best stands at an impressive 7lb 8oz, and you can see more of his catches by visiting his Facebook page, Canal Carp Diary. 

It’s not just on canals where anglers have been enjoying some superb chub sport, though, as Alfie Naylor proved when he smashed his personal best for the third time this season with a
7lb 8oz fish from the River Trent. 

Just a few weeks after landing a 7lb 2oz chub, the Nottinghamshire rod revisited his local stretch and went one better. 

“I visited the swim a few times leading up to the session and scattered a few 110 Baits Redball Plum boilies around before fishing it with just a small PVA bag of five or six boilies dusted in krill powder tight in one spot,” he said. 

Alfie’s set-up was made up of a short section of 20lb Drennan Sink Link hooklength tied to a size 6 hook.

Pre-baiting pays off as big chub go on summer spree

Our rivers are producing their best big chub sport of the summer so far.

The first such fish scaled 7lb 2oz and was caught by river fishing fanatic Alfie Naylor, who makes the most of living close to the Trent, one of the UK’s most
in-form and sought-after venues. 

The commitment needed to catch the biggest specimens was clear when he fed half-a-kilo of 110% Baits Redball plum boilies into his swim for several evenings before finally wetting a line.

Then, after finishing work, the specialist from Newark, Notts, headed down to see if his carefully-laid trap had tempted one of the resident chub into the area. His answer came just seconds after he dropped his rod into the rest.

“I’d been on the bank for less than five minutes, and my left-hand rod ripped off just after the boilie hookbait hit the deck,” Alfie told Angling Times.

“I’ve had a run of double-figure barbel on the river and some big carp, so to smash my chub personal best is incredible.”

He’s since been back to the river, backing up his ‘seven’ with another chub weighing 6lb.

Richard Hart was also celebrating the capture of a huge chub just a few weeks after beating his pb for the species. This time round it was a 7lb fish from a Midlands river for the angler from Heanor, Derbyshire.

“I’d been trotting pellets for about two hours when I decided to move,” he said. 

“I was getting my gear together when I looked back to see what I thought was a barbel of around 8lb move across the river to the far bank.

“I decided to give a legered lobworm a go and bounce it around under the tree where the fish headed – and sure enough, about five minutes later I got a great drop-back bite.

“This fish made my former personal best from a few weeks back look very small in comparison.”

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.

Bread snares 8lb River Lea chub

Just a few pence worth of bait was all Jerry Brown needed to claim one of the season’s biggest chub in the form of this colossal 8lb 4oz specimen.
The 60-year-old banked the new personal best from the famous Kings Weir stretch of the River Lea in Hertfordshire by feeding liquidised bread and moulding breadflake around the hook – however, his session was far from plain sailing.
“I had fished two previous swims, but struggled for a bite,” Jerry said. “On my third move, I noticed a nice-looking overhanging branch just off the main flow and introduced a couple of balls of liquidised bread. I then lowered in my breadflake and sat back and waited.”
Little did Jerry know that he’d only have to wait 10 minutes for a bite, but it was nothing like he’d expected from a fish of this size.
“Almost immediately a number of small indications registered on my quivertip, so I knew a fish was there,” Jerry added. “Then, all of a sudden, two positive taps yanked the rod and I couldn’t help but strike – and it was met with immediate resistance.
“I’d like to say it shot around the river, but it didn’t – it stayed right on the bottom and was difficult to get to the net. Smaller fish usually charge around the swim, so I knew I had hooked into something special.”
It was a moment of sheer relief for the semi-retired insurance manager when the chub was finally netted as he could tell that it was a new personal best. “I’ve felt really blessed this season,” Jerry said.
“My previous chub best was 7lb 2oz – again from Kings Weir. “I’ve also had a 16lb 2oz barbel from the members’ stretch which sums up how good fishing can be on the Lea.”
Jerry’s outfit consisted of a Shakespeare twin-tip barbel rod coupled with a reel loaded with 8lb maxima line. This was fished direct to a running link leger boasting four SSG and a size 8 Drennan Super Specialist hook.

Homemade cheese paste lures 7lb 12oz chub

A Homemade piece of cheese paste the size of a golf ball was the secret behind the capture of this 7lb 12oz river chub.
Nathan Leney hadn’t been chub fishing for several months, but the recent mild spell inspired him to take a trip to the tough River Lea in Hertfordshire.
There the 36-year-old from Aylesbury relied purely on the pulling power of his homemade hookbait – made from shortcrust pastry, blue cheese, oil and flour – to attract the attention of the huge fish.
“I hadn’t come up to the river for over two months, but there’s always a big opportunity when big fish are concerned after a noticeable rise in temperature,” Nathan said.
“The most simple tactics are more often than not the most effective, so the only thing on the end of my line is a big hook and a golf ball-sized lump of cheese 0paste.
“Using something this size also gives me the option of trundling it around the swim, because it’s so heavy.”
The all-important bite from a fish that falls just short of his current chub pb came as he visited his last swim before heading home. He beat the specimen on 12lb line tied straight through to a size 1 hook.
“Cheese paste couldn’t be easier to make – I use four blocks of blue cheese to one shop-bought pack of pastry,” Nathan continued.
“I then add a little oil and then flour to obtain the perfect consistency for the hook.
“The only time I will feed at this time of the year is if I retrieve my hookbait and the paste is still on.
“I then remove this, form a couple of small balls from the leftover hookbait and flick them into the swim – that’s all it takes.”

Area switch brings ‘best’ chub

Lure angler Kevin Cox had a group of match anglers to thank after he slipped the net under a huge haul of perch to 2lb 7oz, along with a monster 6lb 10oz chub.
The Swindon angler had originally planned to fish a new stretch of the upper Thames, but when he found a match taking place he headed elsewhere.
It proved to be a masterstroke for Kevin when he proceeded to land 15 perch along with his new personal best chub in a four-hour session. All the fish were taken on a 2ins easy shiner lure, mounted on a 2g jig head.