Seven heaven for nation’s chub anglers

Specimen chub are hard on the feed, with several anglers reporting fish over 7lb from UK rivers.

The pick of the bunch was taken by Adam Spiller, who took a pair of 7lb-plus fish from the River Thames. The bigger one weighed in at a whopping 7lb 14oz, with the other going 7lb 1oz.

He landed the winsome twosome while targeting the river’s carp, for which he had laid down a carpet of Link boilies, maize and tiger nuts. 

This banquet, however, proved irresistible to the pair of monster chub, which fell to 15mm Milky Toffee pop-ups presented on snowman rigs consisting of size 5 Fox Curve Short hooks and 25lb Coretex braid. 

This set-up accounted for a smaller chub of 5lb 3oz in the same session before the two larger fish arrived. 

The keen carp angler told Angling Times: “The second chub was caught less than two minutes after I’d released the first.”

Thames regular Neil Wayte continued his fine season on the river when he caught a clonking 7lb 11oz chub from beneath an overhanging willow tree. 

He said: “The bait had only been in the water for three minutes before a typical first cast chub bite. It’s my third ‘seven’ this season from the Thames.”

Neil’s fish was caught on a big lump of crust fished on a 4ins hooklink alongside a feeder filled with liquidised bread.

Leighton McDonnell used a slightly more exotic hookbait for his chub fishing, which paid off when he caught a 7lb 1oz fish from a stretch of the Great Ouse on a piece of Szechuan Shredded Beef Paste. Leighton told Angling Times about his unique hookbait.

He said: “It’s very smelly bait and it even attracted an otter into the swim that I had been feeding. It then tried to get on to the bank with me for seconds!”