Thames is the best bet for three new record fish - Keith Arthur
Those that know far more than I on the matter have been saying the perch record is under pressure for a few years now. In fact it could go before you read this but if it doesn’t, and if I was a bookie there would be very short odds on the stripey being replaced.
The 6lb 3oz current record has been challenged a few times in 2019, including by a Thames fish that weighed a genuine 6lb 1oz. Not many know where it was caught but if it is caught again before March it will be heavier. Whether the next (or same!) angler who nets it will divulge the details is a different matter. In fact, that could already be the case.
It could be from a section close to where I thought the record barbel would be captured and, indeed, still may be. There are a couple of potential record barbel and definitely several stripeys on course to conquer.
Similarly, a record chub from the Thames wouldn’t be a shock, and I think it may well come from the Thames. I have definite reports of fish within a few ounces of the old Fishers Green fish of 9lb 5oz. Thankfully at the moment it would seem like the threat of a carp angler catching a ‘nuisance’ double-figure chub from a carp syndicate seems to have died off, unless, of course it has already happened but the captor doesn’t care or the fishery has a no publicity rule. We live in weird times, not only politically but piscatorially too.
FIRST CHUB TRIP OF THE WINTER PAYS OFF WITH 7LB 2OZ SPECIMEN
A MAIDEN visit to a new river couldn’t have ended any sweeter for Kevin Sanders who left later that evening with a new chub personal best of 7lb 2oz.
The 42-year-old from Cambridgeshire pinned his hopes on the River Lea for a few bites but had to wait until dusk for some action.
He said: “I tried several swims through the day with only a couple of knocks for my efforts but when I went back to my first swim for the evening my tip pulled round into something very heavy!
An absolute chunk of a chub for Kevin - and a new PB!
“It was a strong fish making several runs but eventually I coaxed this huge fish into the net.
“At 7lb 2oz it beat my previous PB of 6lb 7oz.”
Kevin’s fine chub fell to a wafter hookbait wrapped in paste.
8lb 1oz chub is one of season's best
ROBIN Cave has slipped his net under one of the biggest chub of the year weighing an incredible 8lb 1oz.
The specimen ace was itching to get back on his favourite stretch of the River Thames after recent floodwater rendered it unfishable, but had no idea his first outing would yield a new personal best.
He said: “I know there are some big chub in this stretch so to draw them in I baited a small amount of pellet and crushed boilie, before fishing a 22mm Oxford Carp Baits GS Crab boilie over the top.
“As the light faded my tip shot over and after scrappy ten minute fight I finally landed my prize – a chub weighing 3oz bigger than my previous pb!”
Robin’s 8lb 1oz giant beat his previous PB by 3oz
Monster chub comes out after dark
Chub don’t get much fatter than this 7lb 13oz cracker taken from the Great Ouse by James Crameri.
The train station supervisor, from Bury St Edmunds, was targeting a favourite swim on a fining-down river, but it wasn’t until the hours of darkness that the specimen pulled the quivertip round.
“It was the only bite of the evening although in fairness I didn’t fish much longer after catching it as my desire to continue had been overtaken by the size of the chub I’d just caught!” said James, who used a legered boilie on a semi-fixed rig cast to the crease, with a PVA bag of loose offerings nicked on to the hook.
Big chub are rare on the Yare
THE River Yare isn’t noted for its chub sport but local angler Ben Parfitt proved otherwise when he slipped the net under this 6lb 11oz chunk.
Over the last month the all-rounder has been link-legering luncheon meat into likely areas on the Norfolk waterway, which culminated in a new personal best of 5lb 15oz around three weeks ago.
Believing that there was a bigger chub to be caught on his chosen stretch however, Ben persevered and managed to beat his chub record by almost a pound during his latest visit.
Big Thames chub the perfect remedy
DESPITE suffering from a severe cold Ken Hellewell braved harsh weather to get out and bank this fin-perfect 7lb 1oz chub.
The Farnborough-based angler reluctantly headed to a length of the River Thames and was forced to fish areas of slack water due to the floods.
He said: “I’d only fished for four hours as I really wasn’t feeling well, and I had to settle of fishing the slacks as the river was so high.
“I’d fed four areas with liquidised bread and fished a chunk of flake over the top on the hook.
“It was my only bite of the session but at 7lb 1oz I was very happy I’d made the effort to get out.”
Meaty hookbait fools Ouse specimen
Every season the Great Ouse produces big chub, and for Mark Austin the river certainly didn’t disappoint with this cracking 7lb 9oz specimen.
Targeting a stretch of the river in Milton Keynes, the big chub took a legered Pallatrax ‘Meatbeast Squabs’ presented on a size 8 hook.
Mark revealed that this tactic has been effective for other fish from the same stretch: “I smashed my Chub PB (previously 6lb 13oz) with this stunning fish at 7lb 9oz,
the same tactic has also produced five big chub over 5lbs in two sessions along the same stretch.”