'Gut feeling' results in massive Witham chub

Chub don’t come much better-looking than this pristine 7lb 10oz example landed by plastic factory worker Bryan Hankins.

Targeting a remote stretch of the upper River Witham, Bryan managed to get on its banks for the first time since March due to high water levels that had left it unfishable.

It wasn’t long before he was into a large fish, that at first, he believed to be one of the venue’s elusive barbel…

“When I hooked the fish, it stayed deep in the powerful flow and felt very heavy.
“I thought I was a barbel but when the fish surfaced, I realised it was a massive chub.

“After a bit of to-and-froing I managed to steer it into the landing net before peeling back the mesh to reveal a scale-perfect fish in immaculate condition.

“It is certainly one of the biggest chub the river has ever produced and is a new PB for me. It’s blown me away” Bryan said.

And Bryan may have missed out on the fish, had he not followed to an instinct to return to a swim he’d tried earlier in the day.

“I had odd knocks in one swim that didn’t materialise, so I rebaited it with mashed bread and minced beef and headed upstream for a few hours.

“A gut feeling pulled me back to the original spot, and with a slight change of tactics, using a cage feeder, a longer hook link and a maggot and flake cocktail on a size 6 hook, I managed to connect with the fish.”