Chub on a fly

[Peter M]

I intend to fish the river stort around harlow for chub using a fly come june the 16th. This river is very slow flowing with depths to about 6 feet. I have a 6 weight rod with size 6WF floating line. should i try a big dry fly or a wet fly or lure. any ideas please. by the way i am a complete fly novice and have only just tried casting in the garden so any help appreciated.

[argyll]

Peter, try a big bushy fly like a daddy long legs or a hopper, particularly where you see fish regularly rising for hatched naturals. At that time they tend to lose their inhibitions about taking flies off the surface. Thats usually first and last light and its the most fun you can have without taking your clothes off. All heart stopping stuff.

 

Make sure that you keep dressing the line to keep in contact with your fly. Dont strike when you see a rise you'll likely be a shade too early. Lift into the fish when you feel it.

 

If you're fishing the heat of the day, then a weighted nymph like a gold ribbed hares ear might find those fish that are holding deeper.

 

If you're not used to casting a fly, then concentrate on style not distance, go for short but straight casts, distance comes naturally with practice. A couple of hours with a casting instructor at one of your local trout holes in the ground will shorten the learning curve dramatically.

 

[ 08. June 2005, 09:32 AM: Message edited by: argyll ]

[Paul Boote]

Peter M:

I intend to fish the river stort around harlow for chub using a fly come june the 16th.  This river is very slow flowing with depths to about 6 feet.  I have a 6 weight rod with size 6WF floating line. should i try a big dry fly or a wet fly or lure. any ideas please. by the way i am a complete fly novice and have only just tried casting in the garden so any help appreciated.

Okay, I've done some of this.

 

Dry fly will work, especially in the afetrnoons and evenings - Mayfly patterns (there should still be a few about on the 16th, if the Stort has Mayfly present); big bushy jobs - the 'Palmers' recommended in old Victorian books - will work, too. Best dry fly of all for summer chub is a grasshopper pattern. Best, most unsinkable and indestructible is the American "Chernobyl Ant" - made from plastic foam and complete with two sets of mobile rubber legs. I tie all of my own flies, but you (a non-tyer, I should imagine) will be able to find them in a good gamefishing shop. If the shop doesn't stock them, ask them to order from Fulling Mill Flies of Reigate, Surrey (Fulling has a website, plus a retailing arm with a different name (name escapes me) and its own site from which you could order by mail. Chernobyls are pretty BIG animals. Try twitching them on the surface in chub territory - overhangs, deeps along banks etc - WALLOP!

 

Wet flies. Yes, try these too. Try a size 6 to 8 longshank fish-fry-representing lure, or, best of all, the American Woolly Bugger pattern - lethal for all sorts of fish (had some lovely perch on them ... chub, trout, sea-trout, salmon...).

 

Finally, nymphs - gold beadhead Hare's Ear patterns fish dead-drift and also with a slow to medium retrieve.

 

Plus some size 8 and 10 leaded Richard Walker Mayfly nymphs - these do very well.

 

All of the above will get you some chub, if they're present and they're hungry.

 

[ 05. June 2005, 11:26 AM: Message edited by: Paul Boote ]

[Peter M]

thanks a lot guys went over to a tackel shop at rib valley today and they suggested a daddy long legs dry fly. so bought that. to be honest i was delighted that yesterday i managed to put on the backing, fly line and leader loop myself i am such a noddy in fly fishing but willing to learn. also found out about casting instructions today at rib valley trout lakes so may soon pay him a visit. i will post to tell you how i get on.

[ayjay]

Looks like you can get Chernobyl Ants in Bishops Stortford. (unless it's mail order only), but them's ugly critters, certainly not for the aesthete.

 

Chernobyl Ants + Hoppers

[Paul Boote]

ayjay:

but them's ugly critters, certainly not for the aesthete.

 

 

You're right, there. Some of mine, tied on a size 2 longshank, have lured a few 2 to 6lb PIKE!

 

[ 05. June 2005, 07:12 PM: Message edited by: Paul Boote ]

[Paul Boote]

I forgot to mention this absolutely lethal chub-pattern yesterday

 

http://www.tackleshop.co.uk/ProductDetails...tegoryID/170/v/

 

but feared that I might be posting a link to another useless gadget...

[Nodin]

In addition to "classical" fly fishing, that I respect very much) you can try 2 other methods of fishing for chub with a fly.

1. Use a rod and a reel, fixing the end of the line to a long antenna of a rather heavy float. Place a dry fly on a hooklength at some distance from the float and you can play that fly over and on the water surface after casting the float or letting it go down with the current.

2. Tie a several-feet-long line to the bush on the opposite bank, with a swivel at the other end of it. With your rod&reel left on your bank, bring the end of your main line to that swivel, pass it through the second eye of the swivel and back to your shore. After fixing a hooklength with a fly, you can use this "circle" to bring the fly to any spot between the banks (look for chub splashing !) and play it there.

[Peter M]

The first method sounds like using floating crust and controller floats in carp fishing. the second method i am sure would make me unpopular with local boaters what with leaving line across the river but thanks any way.

[Tim Kelly]

A weighted nymph that will land with a good plop will always get a chub coming over for a look as long as he doesn't know you're there.