A bit of good fortune

[gozzer]

I'm with Tigger on this one too. On the waters where I've done most of my chubbing, I've found that the fish tend to move up and down the length. One day, a swim has one or two bigger fish, then there seems to be a spell when the smaller fish seem to occupy it. I've wondered if the bigger fish move out, once they get out numbered by the smaller ones. They then find another quieter spot, and the cycle continues. Obviously the condition of the river effects their movements as well.

I mentioned on another thread some large chub I'd been stalking for some time. I only saw them on a particular stretch about 100yds long. The banks were high with a sheer drop, and covered by willow and hawthorn along the entire length. It took me several visits to find a way to fish for them. This involved crawling through a very small gap in the bushes, to a very small clear bit of bank. I couldn't take a rod through set up, so I had to tackle up on this small area. I then had to wait a couple of hours, quietly feeding, hoping that they would reappear. Sometimes they did, but more often I would see a shoal of smaller chub instead. I became convinced that the larger chub would only tolerate the smaller fish for so long, then move on. The trouble with this length of river, was that, with it being on a sweeping bend, I couldn't find another spot where I could get into a position to fish, apart from fishing from above, or upstream legering from below, neither of which brought me much success.

 

You seem to be finding them all right though Andrew, some fantastic fish there, well done.

 

John.

[Anderoo]

Thanks John - so those big chub were usually in a short section of about 100 yards?

[gozzer]

Thanks John - so those big chub were usually in a short section of about 100 yards?

 

That's the only place I saw them Andrew. The odd 'bigger' fish came from other swims on the river, but this stretch seemed to be only place where they appeared regularly. The over all chub numbers were higher than your's seem to be, with an average weight of 2-3lb. These few groups of larger fish, between a couple and half dozen individuals, were all in the 5 to 6lb plus bracket, so they were obvious when you saw them. I couldn't study them as much as I would have liked, because the river was a 60 mile round trip away, but I managed to fish it a dozen or so times in a season. The river was match fished, but because of the lack of access, this stretch wasn't used. Night fishing wasn't allowed either, so my fishing was limited, and sometimes I just wasn't in the mood to spend time fishing for them, so chose the easier option. It caused so much disturbance getting into the swim, that I had to wait a while before fishing. If I caught one, then that was it for ages, so I didn't risk putting a hookbait in until I saw the bigger fish. I had them up to 51/2 lb, but saw much bigger fish.

 

The stretch was eventually 'ruined' when the bushes were 'thinned' out, and although it was easier to fish, the bigger fish didn't show as often.

 

John.

[Anderoo]

That is interesting John, as the stretch I've been fishing is a little less than a mile, and all the bigger fish have come from a short section within that of about 150 yards. I know they move around all the time within that bit but I don't know if they go much further.

[Anderoo]

I've been looking around the web and have found some interesting snippets about big chub. The following points were made more than once:

 

- The biggest chub tend to get caught in the dark

 

- Unlike barbel, the biggest chub tend to get caught only once per season

 

- Big chub have their favoured areas of the river, and although they move around within their little area, they don't go far

 

Very interesting, and backs up my suspicions. I think it's pretty clear what to do next

[Rusty]

I think it's pretty clear what to do next

 

Me too...change the sub-title of the thread. I've lost count but you must be up to about 30lbs of magnificent chub. Well done!

[Anderoo]

Yesterday was very interesting. Rich and I tried a few of the old spots (nothing, as usual) then fished a different stretch to see if that was any good. It's a very different character with little bankside cover. We caught 4 chub between us, one from under a meagre little bush by the water, the rest from small near-bank creases. All were between 1-3lb. I thought that if we had anything from there it would be something rather special, so was surprised to be catching little ones!

 

Today was back at the usual bit of water, and we fished the whole mile length, giving each spot plenty of mashed bread and fishing it for 5 minutes, going for the thickies! This worked well and produced 4 fish, including a couple of belters, again from new bits of water. The first was a fish that looked about 5 but was very fat, and pulled the scales round to an impressive 6lb 5oz. It didn't feel that big which was a relief, otherwise I might not have bundled it into the net so quickly! It took the bait immediately after casting.

 

 

The next spot produced the next two fish, which is unusual. The first took the bait pretty much on the drop and was clearly hungry despite the very cold water. I thought this would be a good 5 but my 'chub eyes' are clearly out today, and it was 4lb 11oz. The next cast and a smaller one of about 3lb slammed the rod tip over and then proceeded to tie me up in knots with the overhanging brambles

 

The final fish was another instant bite right at dusk, and I could tell this was a good one, it felt very heavy and ploddy. After the way off guesstimates previously I didn't even try to put a weight on this one, once I'd heaved it into the net. The scales said 5lb 10oz, and it was another fat fish in great condition.

 

 

Fantastic. I'm really going to miss this in a couple of weeks' time!

Edited March 15, 2011 by Anderoo

[Dales]

What a staggering season you are having with your Chub fishing. Do you think it can get any better?

 

Are you dreading the end of the river season and your Chubing or are you ready to move on to other species and happy to look back on what has been a great season?

[Anderoo]

It can always get better!

 

I'm quite looking forward to the end of the season now. It'll be good to put the chub stuff away for another year, have a little break, and then start to think about what to look forward to this year. I've grown very fond of 'my' little bit of river though, and I will definitely miss it.

[Anderoo]

I've just got in from my night fishing experiment, and very interesting it was too. I haven't had any chub in the first hour of darkness and I wanted to see what would happen if I stayed on long into dark, and also to fish the short 'monster section' (the short bit of water - about 150 yards - where almost all the bigger chub have been caught) where I suspected the big fish were but can't be tripped up in the day any more. It's been about 6 weeks since I've had a bite there, but I reckoned the big ones were still in the area.

 

I got down to the river after work and generously baited up about 8 swims with bread mash over the mile length, 2 of which were in the monster section. I got the baiting done just as the light went, and chatted to Chris who was down there with his friend. They'd already had a few fish between them.

 

First cast in the dark produced a very quick bite and after a rather scary tussle with a strong fish, trying to avoid getting tangled in the hawthorns, the first night-time chub lay in the net - a belter of 5lb 12oz!

 

 

Chris had another from the next spot about 4lb and after a rest I tried my spot again, and had another fish from it, this one a lovely chub of 4lb 11oz. It's very unusual to get 2 chub from the same spot in daylight.

 

The next spot produced another fish for Chris, a smaller one of 3lbish. I fished the following spot, a big slack between two snaggy trees, and after a relatively long wait of about 15 minutes had a fierce bite, and landed my third fish of 5lb 1oz. It was so exciting to see the isotopes on the tip bang over in the dark, and playing the fish in the dark was pretty hair-raising!

 

 

We all joined up and went down to the monster section. Chris had the honour of the penultimate swim, which unfortunately didn't do anything. We were surprised, this was the first spot so far that we hadn't had a bite from. Before he started fishing I nipped down to the final spot and put in a load more mashed bread, ready for the last cast. It was now nearly 11pm.

 

I had a go in the last spot, the same spot I had my previous pb, which was my first fish of 2011. It's right in the middle of monster country. I haven't had a bite in daylight there since 1 January. However, at about 11.15pm I had a sharp jab on the tip...a minute's pause...and then a firm pull as the isotopes bent downstream. A heavy, ploddy fight ensued and I suspected it was a big fish, it had that solid feel to it. After a couple of tense minutes of keeping it out of the marginal vegetation, I was very relieved to draw a big chub over the net. We heaved it up onto the bank and there was the deepest chub I've ever seen, it looked enormous! Not very long but thick, wide, deep and very fat. After deducting the weight of the net, he became my new pb of 6lb 11oz, and I think proved that these big fish were indeed there all along, but too canny to fall for the bread trick in daylight.

 

The time between the first load of mashed bread going in and hooking the fish was about 5 hours.

 

 

 

Night fishing for chub - I am a total convert! Now I'd better try to get some sleep