It's chub time!

IF YOU’VE been trying to up your chub personal best then now is a superb time to hit the bank, as a flurry of specimen catches have proven.

Here are the stories behind three ‘sevens’ to get you inspired to get out chubbing…

Simon Baker 7lb 9oz chub

SIMON Baker’s decision to sit in the dark for over an hour to pre-bait his swim with maggots worked an absolute treat, as he latched into this sublime 7lb 9oz chub just 20 minutes into fishing!

It proved to be the 30-year-old’s third 7lb-plus chub of the season, with a single maggot fished on a size 20 super spade proving to be the difference between failure and success.

Simon said: “The first cast was made and within 20 minutes the float disappeared. A very heavy chub sat in mid flow slowly being teased until finally netting my first chub of 2020.

Ken Hallewell 7lb 6oz chub

“I WAS so lucky to land this one as I was fishing in a real jungle of a swim,” so said Ken Hallewell who battled this mint 7lb 6oz chub from the snags into his net.

The Farnborough-based angler targeted his local River Thames stretch and lowered a bread feeder with flake on the hook just behind a raft, thinking it’d be his best chance of a bite.

“A drop-back bite registered on the tip and I had to play this strong fish very hard from the off, as there were snags in every direction!” Ken said.

Robin Adcock 7lb 2oz chub

AFTER years of trying to catch a 7lb-plus chub Robin Adcock was elated to slip his net under this 7lb 2oz specimen.

Pinning his hopes on the Middle River Trent, Robin enjoyed several runs from barbel up to 13lb 4oz during the night but struck into something altogether different when morning arrived…

“At first I thought it was another barbel but when I had it in close it tried to dive in to the bank side cover, then I had my suspicions it could be a chub,” he said.

“After a great scrap under the rod tip I was elated to see it was a monster, and a new PB at that.”

A single 14m cheesy garlic pellet was Robin’s successful hookbait.