Carper catches record shaking Trent chub
A carp angler on the River Trent had a real surprise recently when just 15 minutes into an after work session he hooked into a giant chub. One of the biggest examples of the species ever reported from the Midlands river.
Tom Morgan and his 8lb 3oz River Trent chub
The huge specimen spun the scales to an impressive 8lb 3oz and was accompanied to the bank by three other chub, all dwarfed by the fine fish.
Captor Tom Morgan from Keyworth told Angling Times:
“Planning to target carp on the Trent Valley Angling Club stretch at Clifton, I was just about to cast out the third rod, when I had a classic drop-back bite on one of the rods.
“From experience of the chub in this swim in the past, I had a good idea what it would be, as they often shoot under the near bank.
“From the fight, however, I thought maybe I had hooked a small common carp. That was until it surfaced and I could see the unreal size of this chub.
“As it went into the net I said ‘oh my life, look at that!’, I honestly thought I had a record.”
“I honestly thought I had the record”
All Tom’s chub fell to 18mm Source boilies fished on hair rigs with size 6 ESP Cryogen hooks alongside a PVA bag of Complex-T pellets.
“Carp anglers seem to often trip these huge Trent fish up, I think because of the heavy pre-baiting strategy keeping fish in the area for longer,” he said.
Bigger baits the trick for crafty Ouse chub - Joe Royffe
“I’d been struggling to catch a big chub from the Great Ouse, but by switching to bigger hookbaits and targeting them earlier than normal this year I’ve managed to get a proper result.
“Over the last few seasons the stretch I’ve been fishing just above Bedford has been a really tough nut to crack. It’s 70-odd miles from home and there’s so much water to choose from, so locating the larger fish has been difficult. I tended to fish it from the end of October onwards, but winter floods made things even harder and I didn’t catch anything over 6lb.
“This year I decided to start my campaign earlier, so over the past six weeks I’ve been regularly baiting with 12mm milk protein boilies in the hope of drawing fish into the area.
“My first few trips were disappointing, with small roach and dace a problem. They were hanging themselves on the boilies I was using, so on my latest session I took a leap of faith and switched to much larger 18mm baits to try to overcome the problem.
“I got down to the river for 6pm and after loosefeeding a swim for an hour with hemp, I cast tight under the overhanging canopy of a fallen tree.
“About 20 minutes had passed when I had a twitchy, tapping sort of bite on the quivertip, which I thought was another small fish messing with the bait, but then the rod arched over and was nearly pulled out of my hands!
“I struck into a powerful fish which fought dirty and repeatedly tried to dive into the near-bank undergrowth as I drew it towards me.
“After I’d steered it away from the reeds and nettles it made a final bid for freedom by swimming back across the river towards the far bank, but with steady pressure and a bit of grunt I was relieved to scoop it into the net!
“On the scales this fish fell 6oz short of my long-standing PB, but it certainly felt much more rewarding after the long journey and all the effort I’d put in to catch it.”
Joe Royffe and his 7lb 4oz Ouse chub
Dream river session sees 7lb-plus chub and 2lb-plus roach banked - Connor Threadingham
“While fishing a quick overnight session on my local Dorset Stour I managed to catch my second 7lb chub of the season weighing 7lb 1oz.
Connor Threadingham and his 7lb 1oz chub
“It fell to a trimmed-down 14mm squid boilie alongside a very small PVA bag of Elips pellets and crumbled boilies, freebies thrown over the top.
“The tactics were suitable for chub and barbel, although during the night I also had a strange take on the same rig. The rod-tip bounced around and hardly any line came off the reel.
“When I hooked into it I thought it was just a small chub, but still couldn’t verify what species it was even when it slipped over the net cord.
“After I finally got my headtorch on and saw the bright red fins of a big roach my heart started to race!
“When the needle on the scales crept round to 2lb 5oz, I was well chuffed!
“I’m pretty sure that I actually saw this roach earlier on in the season when I was prebaiting for chub. I recognised it instantly from the really distinctive scarring that it had along its back.”
Connor Threadingham and his 2lb 5oz Stour roach
Cracking Avon chub falls on the float - Gavin Barrett
“The Hampshire Avon is exceptionally low and clear at the moment, but recently I managed to find a deep far-bank run which I could trot a stick float down with hemp and caster.
“In a few hours I’d caught a few dace and a 3lb chub, but I’d run out of bait. I decided instead to just have a couple of runs down without feeding and just fish double caster on the hook.
“Halfway down the swim the float buried and I stuck into a solid weight that tried its best to get under the far bank.
“Luckily it came back and on to the surface – giving me an opportunity to guide it over a mid-river weedbed.
“After a few last-minute lunges I was able to scoop her up.”
Gavin Barrett – 6lb 11oz chub
Strong Dove chub takes bait on dark - Steve Moss
“Just before it got dark I headed down to the River Dove hoping to catch a chub or two.
“To help draw them into my swim I baited it with a good helping of hempseed and chopped worm before casting out a bunch of worms over the top.
“The plan worked as later on my rod tapped over and I struck into what was clearly a big fish as it hugged the bottom for most of the fight.
“Needless to say, I was really happy to see this one go into the net!”
Steve Moss – 6lb 7oz chub
Huge Dorset Stour chub fights like a barbel - Connor Threadingham
“Before the river season started, I spent numerous evenings travelling down to my local Dorset Stour to watch the water for signs of fish and to bait likely spots with a mixture of Elips pellets and squid boilies.
“One swim that took my fancy featured a narrow gravel run on the edge of some streamer weed, so I planned to fish an overnight session there to see what I could catch. It turned out to be a blinding session for chub and I walked away with a new personal best weighing 7lb 5oz, also catching fish of 4lb, 5lb, 6lb 1oz, 6lb 2oz and 6lb 4oz for good measure!
“To make my hookbait look more like a pellet, I trimmed one of the squid boilies down to a dumbell shape before attaching a PVA bag of pellets to the hook and lowering my rig on to the spot.
“From the way my new PB took off with the bait I thought I was playing a small barbel, but as the fight developed it lost momentum, yet still tried to take me into every snag possible!
“When I saw it go over the net I knew it was a new PB, but never thought in my wildest dreams it would go 7lb 5oz.”
Connor Threadingham – 7lb 5oz chub
Ouse still the king for monster chub
PATRIC Kyte’s last-minute decision to target the River Ouse instead of the Trent proved to be a superb choice when he slipped his net under this 7lb 12oz chub.
Atfer a slow start, the 61-year-old Northants rod’s fortunes improved when he found a near-bank snag.
“On my first cast I missed a typical ‘finicky’ chub bite with the rod on the rest so I cast back in but this time held the rod in my hands,” he tells us.
“Fifteen minutes later I felt a double tug on the line, struck and was into what felt like a really heavy fish.
“After pulling it away from the snag and nearside reeds and rushes I quickly realised it was a truly special chub.”
Patric’s 7lb 12oz specimen is his fifth-largest chub ever and fell to an 18mm boilie fished with a 60g groundbait feeder.
Patric Kyte and his 7lb 12oz summer chub from the Great Ouse
Locusts...a hopping good bait for fish!
LOCUSTS are top fodder for lizards and snakes, but Ben Ahmed has been using them to sack-up on perch and chub down his local river!
Turns out locusts are a great fishing bait
By nicking a dropshot hook through the tail end and using a single SSG shot for casting weight, the 28-year-old from Kent has been enjoying a bite-a-chuck by freelining the critters in the main flow on the River Stour.
He told us:
“I was shopping for my home aquarium at Pets at Home when I came across these alien-sized hoppers in the reptile food section.
“I remembered that grasshoppers worked for me when I was a kid so when I saw these locusts only cost £2.50 for a box of 10 I just had to get them.”
Similarly to a fly or a beetle stuck on the water’s surface, locusts give off lots of vibration and attraction which according to Ben is just too tempting for fish to resist.
“The kicks from their legs and the fluttering of their wings really provoke the fish to hit the bait hard,’ he adds.
“I’ve had some incredible takes from chub and pike to over 5lb which have exploded clear of the water to attack the locust.
“It really is exciting fishing!”
This chub couldn’t resist a locust hookbait
Snowman catches whacking Trent chub
SNOWMAN rigs are deadly on the carp fishing circuit but Mark Smith proved they’re just as effective for huge chub when this 8lb cracker devoured his hookbait.
The Trent newbie was targeting the sill of a weir on a middle stretch of the river and decided to switch to a bigger hookbait when his smaller boilies failed.
He says:
“I’d not had much luck on the Krill and Monster Crab boilies so I changed to snowman rigs incorporating a 15mm Nash Citruz bottom bait with a 12mm yellow Sticky Baits pineapple topper.
“It had just got dark when my left-hand rod was nearly pulled off its rest by what I thought was a barbel. When I saw a big pair of rubbery lips I was just gobsmacked.”
Mark Smith with his 8lb Trent chub
Truly special chub is over 8lb - Anthony Hart
“During a recent evening trip to the River Wharfe I managed to hook and land this stunning 8lb 1oz chub.
“There were some overhanging trees on the far bank which I knew from previous sessions held big chub, so I flicked out a 14mm Vortex Baits CKO pellet as close to the branches as I dared.
“A few knocks on the tip moments later revealed that there were some fish in the area, before eventually my rod wrapped round and my centrepin screeched!
“I knew it was a big chub from the off, but never did I think it’d be a truly special chub.
“When the scales read 8lb 1oz I was in disbelief.
“It had smashed my previous PB of 6lb 4oz by miles and I reckon it could be the new chub record for the Wharfe.
“I don’t think I’ll be catching a bigger fish any time soon!”
Anthony Hart and his 8lb River Wharfe chub
Another giant Trent chub landed
PATIENCE proved to be the key factor in the capture of this personal-best 7lb 12oz River Trent chub.
It fell to the rod of East Yorks all-rounder Colin Hebb, who’d baited a near-bank overhanging tree with Nutrabaits River Plus boilies at 2pm but had to wait until 9.30pm for the bite.
“As soon as I struck into the fish I thought I’d hooked a barbel, so I was shocked to see a chub!” he tells us.
Colin Hebb and his 7lb 12oz chub
Sunken barge home to enormous summer chub
JUST a week after catching a personal-best 7lb chub from the tidal River Trent, Macclesfield angler Ian Potts returned to slip his net under an even larger specimen weighing 7lb 6oz.
He targeted a gravel run next to a sunken barge, using a straight lead set-up and a 14mm Spicy Furter pellet hookbait.
“When this one took my bait I thought it was a small barbel as the bite was an absolute screamer – so I was shocked to see this giant, fin-perfect chub surface,” he tells us.
Ian Potts with his second 7lb-plus Trent chub of the season
Small baits the key to rare Severn giant! - Roger Carswell
“I’ve seen many anglers persisting with big baits to catch chub and barbel on the River Severn
this season, but ditching them in favour of far smaller offerings has definitely helped me catch more fish.“I made the change around a fortnight ago and enjoyed a fabulous day’s sport that produced 14 barbel and seven chub.
“Knowing that other anglers had been struggling on bigger baits I left mine at home for that session and opted for 6mm banded pellets mounted on to size 12 hooks, which I fished alongside an open-ended feeder loaded with dampened pellets coated with groundbait.
6mm banded pellets with small hooks were key to getting regular bites
“The barbel ranged between 2lb and 6lb while the chub were 12oz to 5lb – not monsters but it was a superb result considering the Severn was well down on its usual levels.
“After that successful trip I hit the bank again a few days later to have a go in a much shallower swim and see if my smaller hookbaits made a difference there.
“The river could only have been 2ft deep, but there was plenty of cover along the opposite bank, so I was mildly confident of catching.
“A strong gusting wind made casting into the far-bank gulleys a bit tricky but I still managed to hit the mark.
“After about three hours I only had three small chub and a barbel to show for my efforts, so I decided to move downstream. My first cast in the new peg turned up another small chub but about 20 minutes later another bite saw me connected to something much bigger, although I knew this wasn’t a barbel.
“I had to walk downstream with my rod and net to play the fish in the fast, shallow water which was when I saw it was a huge chub!
“Chub of that size are incredibly rare for the Severn so I took my time playing her. They’re usually pretty hollow at this time of year but this clonker registered 7lb 4oz on the scales!
“It was an absolute beast that would have been more at home chewing on whole signal crayfish rather than my tiny 6mm Krill pellet, but the smaller bait clearly worked!
“I guess at the end of the day you can get away with crude tackle when night fishing but I’ve found daylight hours demand a more subtle approach where hookbaits are concerned.”
Roger Carswell’s rare 7lb 4oz River Severn chub
“I’m going to apply for the British record chub"
A claim for the British record chub will be submitted after an angler fishing the River Severn caught a large specimen weighing in at 10lb 11oz.
“I’ve caught chub to 6lb 15oz from the River Severn before, but the one I landed on a recent session was in an altogether different league.”
These were the words of captor Kam Srih, who whilst stunned by what his scales were reading, checked the weight six times to make sure.
He told Angling Times:
“I was fishing at Coalport, a Rowley and District Angling Society water, and had been loosefeeding boilies for a while before casting out in a bid to get the fish competing. A short while later I had a few bangs on the tip and then the rod hooped over. Straight away the fish snagged me.
“It wouldn’t budge, so I slackened off the line and eventually it moved back out into the main flow.
“I could feel a heavy weight plodding around, but then it snagged me again, so I gave it more slack line, which did the trick once more. Suddenly, it leapt out of the water and I thought I was attached to a salmon – it had such a big tail. Once I’d eased the fish towards me and into the net I stood there shaking. It was a chub, and a huge one at that.
“I calmed myself down, and after weighing the fish on my digital scales they registered 12lb 2oz. I thought ‘that’s not right’ so I weighed it again.
“In total, it was weighed six times, and on each occasion the scales showed 12lb 2oz. I released the chub and then weighed the net, which I knew weighed 1lb 7oz, and the scales registered this exactly, which means my fish weighed 10lb 11oz.
“I’m going to apply for the British record, but whatever the outcome, to me it’s one very special chub.”
Kam Srih weighed this chub at 10lb 11oz
We will keep up to date with Kam’s claim, but with no witnesses, it will likely be rejected by the British Record Fish Committee.
YOUR top 10 catches of the week!
WE receive so many catch reports here at Angling Times, that sometimes it is just impossible to fit them all in the magazine. We do, however, always love seeing and hearing of our readers top catches.
Here are some of the best fish we have been sent this week, some of which haven’t made the magazine but are still more than worth celebrating…
Remember to grab a copy of Angling Times every Tuesday, to read more of the latest big fish catches and exclusive Drennan Weekly Award winning specimens.
Shaun Markey nets four Trent doubles
A session on the River Trent in the pouring rain paid off hansomely for Shaun Markey. Casting a 5oz feeder and a Shrimp boilie to the middle of the river, he caught four barbel weighing 11lb, 12lb, 13lb and 15lb. Well worth getting soaked for!
One of four double figure Trent barbel for Shaun Markey
Shock River Soar sturgeon!
Jerry Botham had a rather large surprise recently, when on a trip to the River Soar in Sutton Bonington he caught this huge 39lb sturgeon. A new personal best and a very powerful fish.
Jerry Botham and his 39lb river sturgeon
River Can trout
The River Can in Chelmsford, Essex, produced this beautiful 5lb brown trout for Khan Emin. With the river slightly flooded, he used a big worm to catch the fish.
Khan Emin with a beautiful 5lb River Can trout
Light gear tames a big chub
“I had a lovely June the 16th. Trotting maggots on a size 16 Drennan Wide Gape hook, I caught this 5lb 1oz chub. It took a long time to land it on 4lb mainline and a 2lb hooklink. But eventually, with three people watching, I got it in the net and received a big round of applause. I felt like being on the England team!”
Trotted maggots are deadly for chub
Casters fool big tidal barbel
Paul Hamshaw caught this 14lb 12oz barbel from a private stretch of the tidal Trent. The fish picked up Paul’s caster hookbait, fished over a bed of hemp, in the middle of a scorching hot day.
He told Angling Times:
“I've had four fifteen pound barbel but this was the hardest fight I've ever had from one”
Paul Hamshaw caught this Trent barbel on a boiling hot day
Trio of Norfolk perch
An awesome session on the River Bure in Norfolk resulted in a catch of three 2lb perch for Peter Savory. In just an hour of angling he caught stripeys weighing 2lb 7oz, 2lb 5oz and 2lb 3oz. A great start to the season.
Peter Savory and one of his River Bure perch
Big ghostie pinnacle of ten years angling
“I am absolutely buzzing with this fish. It is the best I have ever caught. I have been fishing for the past 10 years, started when I was 14 with my dad. It came at midday on a local carp lake”, said Adam Minto.
Adam Minto was made up with this beautiful big ghost carp
“You are never too old to have a pb!”
Nige Fox caught this 3lb rudd whilst fishing a North Yorkshire syndicate lake. He told Angling Times:
“This bettered my pb of 2lb 4oz, that I caught two weeks ago from the same venue.
“It took two hours to get the fish feeding. They liked double sweetcorn, fished over a bed of mixed pellets.
“I couldn't believe the size of the rudd when I slipped it into my landing net.
“It proved to be the only rudd of the session. But I also caught six carp between 4 & 6lb. But the rudd was most definitely a career highlight.
“I'm 64 years old, and live in Leeds, West Yorkshire. I started fishing when I was four years old.
“Just goes to show, you never are too old to have a pb!”
A lovely 3lb rudd and a new pb!
Big Severn barbel brace
Mark Wood caught not just one big River Severn barbel but two, for a stunning 31lb brace. Both were caught on legered luncheon meat in afternoon and evening sessions.
15lb-plus River Severn barbel
15lb-plus River Severn barbel
Urban barbel is a new best
Fishing the River Aire in Leeds City Centre, David Aldred connected with this 11lb 6oz barbel. A new personal best, David had to weigh the fish twice as he was in shock at how thick it was. He used Hinders Elipse pellets in various sizes to get the fish feeding.
David Aldred and his 11lb 6oz barbel
We love seeing your captures so please keep sending them. Either by emailing newsdesk@anglingtimes.co.uk or sending us a message on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.
First ever chub is over 8lb!
Anglers getting back on the rivers today are bound to run into a chub or two, but they are unlikely to meet a specimen of this size so early in the season.
The monstrous fish pictured weighed in at a whopping 8lb 3oz and was caught by Henry Chilton from a Derbyshire Stillwater.
The shocked carp angler told Angling Times:
“With my mind set on carp I headed to a mixed coarse fishery in Derbyshire before dawn for a planned overnighter.
“The owner told me that a handful of chub were introduced in the late 1990s but were rarely ever seen, so I didn’t take much notice. I was soon settled into a swim with lily pads around 50yds away. I baited it with 12mm and 16mm glugged Krill boilies and cast a 12mm pop-up over the top. As the sun started to peak over the trees my bobbin dropped to the deck.
“The fight was just like a small carp but near the net I saw a flash of silver and realised it wasn’t what I was after. I’d never seen a chub, so I wasn’t sure what it was!
“The owner came down to help me weigh it and said: ‘That’s a beast of a chub – that’s massive.’
“I’m only 19 and my first-ever chub was 8lb 3oz! It’s probably the best fish of my life and I doubt I’ll ever catch a bigger one.”
Henry Chilton with his first ever chub at 8lb 3oz!
Chub falls ounces short of river record - Chay Jackson
“What a day I had on the River Anker. I’d been targeting a 5lb-plus chub from this stretch for a while now, but I always believed it could throw-up a whacker, having lost a couple of proper fish in the past.
“I’d already enjoyed plenty of sport during the day with three chub to 4lb 14oz taking a liking to my homemade cheesepaste but I wasn’t prepared for my next bite – an absolute donkey of a chub weighing 6lb 8oz!
I checked later and realised my fish fell just a couple of ounces short of the Anker record.
It was simply incredible.”
Four-year wait for first 7lb-plus chub
A FOUR-year wait for a 7lb chub from King’s Weir came to an end for Ian Harvey in the shape of this 7lb 15oz Lea stunner.
The Stevenage rod left his paste hookbait out for more than six hours before the rod hammered over just as darkness fell.
He told Angling Times:
“The tip wrapped round and the line starting stripping off the reel .
“I struck and the fish was on . The fish darted for a snag on the far bank but I managed to play it into the open river.
“After a few minutes fighting I got him close to the net .
“At first I thought big barbel due to the aggression of the fight then I saw a huge chub come to the surface.
“I couldn’t believe it was a chub ,it was so big!
“My hands started shaking but I got it in the net - unbelievable!"
“I’d never seen anything like it, it took me a few hours and a pint to calm down.
Return to John Wilson's swim provides 6lb 12oz chub - John Davey
“I hadn’t been chub fishing for ages so I headed to this swim on the Waveney where I fished with angling legend John Wilson probably 60 years ago.
I was pleased to see that it hadn’t changed much over the years and the area of slack water was still there.
My approach hadn’t changed much either and I plopped a cheesepaste hookbait into the slack water on a link leger.
My bait wasn’t in the water five minutes when the tip arched round and I struck into a hard-fighting chub which bore hard for the near bank.
I soon had her in the net – a wonderfully proportioned 6lb 12oz chub. I reckon John would’ve been proud.”
Donkey Lea chub landed on special paste - Rob NG
“I’ve fished the upper Lea a few times trying to catch whatever I could find but this was my first session intending solely to try and catch a donkey-sized chub!
I finished work early (2pm) last Friday to beat the traffic for my 90 minute pilgrimage to the lower Lea.
It was my first session at the mecca chub venue and I found a peg that was plain looking and was harder to access, my school of thought was that it wouldn’t of seen as many rod hours, as I knew these fish have seen it all in their long pressured lives.
I was ill prepared tackle wise as it was an impromptu evening session and I had to stab my rod butt into the mud to get as much line out of the water as I could.
My GLM and crayfish meal paste that I made at work (in the Nashbait laboratory) duly made the rod tip knock at 9:15pm.
I had to be off by 10 and all my camera gear was still in the van!
My head was truly obliterated into a thousand pieces by the size of this incredible 7lb 15oz specimen.”
