7lb 8oz Great Ouse chub landed
The only bite of a session on the Great Ouse produced this 7lb 8oz river chub.
Having baited up six swims with a light scattering of chopped boilies, the all-important take came for Stewart Harris just 20 minutes after he kicked off his session.
The angler from Milton Keynes, Bucks, was faced with difficult conditions because the waterway was two feet above its normal level, but he adopted an approach that can often give you an edge when you need your hookbait to pack a real aromatic punch.
He trimmed down an RG Baits The Formula boilie and wrapped it in matching paste. This led to the capture of his third-biggest chub and his 13th fish over 7lb.
“It’s been really tough on the rivers recently – not that I’m superstitious or anything, but I thought that number 13 could prove to be a really tough hurdle to overcome,” said Stewart.
“As soon as I set the hook the chub just held in the flow and didn’t tear off, so I knew it was a special fish.”
He used a simple leger rig with a size 10 hook that made up a ‘combi rig’ with other components including braid and fluorocarbon.
“Many anglers will understand that chub can be really difficult to hook. You get lots of sharp plucks that don’t result in a fish on the bank,” Stewart continued.
“This is why I trim down my baits and tie a really short hair rig. The bait is really tight to the back of the hook and this helps convert more bites into hooked fish. It’s really effective.”
Stewart wasn’t the only angler to beat tough conditions this week.
Swindon, Wilts rod Olly Luker proved why you shouldn’t let extreme conditions put you off by netting five chub, this pristine 5lb 11oz fish (below) being the pick of the bunch.
The River Thames was carrying extra water, so he cast a maggot feeder with a worm hookbait into a slack on a bend on the far side, and that proved to be the right route to the all-important bite.
