How long to stay in one spot

[davedave]

Hi all,

 

I know this is quite a broad question. I've recently been doing some chubbing on the river. There's a lot of weed, it's very shallow but if I can find a deeper bend I underarm a worm or cube of meat as close to the far side or a snag as I can. A good pike fisherman once told me that when deadbaiting for pike to never stay in one spot for more than 40 minutes. I didn't know if there was a rough rule when chubbing? I mean I like the roving approach, but how long would you stay in one spot? 5 minutes? 20 minutes? An hour?

 

Quite honestly I haven't had much luck so far, i've had far more success with a small straight waggler, but thought that a fat lob on the bottom may pick out better fish.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Tight lines

[PeterNE1]

Hi all,

 

I know this is quite a broad question. I've recently been doing some chubbing on the river. There's a lot of weed, it's very shallow but if I can find a deeper bend I underarm a worm or cube of meat as close to the far side or a snag as I can. A good pike fisherman once told me that when deadbaiting for pike to never stay in one spot for more than 40 minutes. I didn't know if there was a rough rule when chubbing? I mean I like the roving approach, but how long would you stay in one spot? 5 minutes? 20 minutes? An hour?

 

Quite honestly I haven't had much luck so far, i've had far more success with a small straight waggler, but thought that a fat lob on the bottom may pick out better fish.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Tight lines

 

I'm pretty certain that no two anglers are likely to give the same answer here Personally, it depends very much on something intangible - whether or not 'it' feels 'right'. This could be down to a myriad of factors including (but not limited to) how 'fishy' the swim looks, previous history in that swim, the evidence of fish, personal confidence on the day, scenery, weather, the appearance of a large pike / cows / disruption on the bankside etc etc ... no easy answers I'm afraid :-)

[Rusty]

In my experience if the chub are there and haven't been spooked it doesn't take long for them to feed confidently. It's difficult to generalise, on the river I fish I spend half an hour max in each swim for a roving ledgering approach, then I move on. I don't do it often but when I catch chub using that method it's usually within a short time of casting out.

[Phone]

davedave,

 

If you ever learn the fine line between confidence and hard-headedness let me know too - - will you?

 

Phone

[Guest bbamboo]

I would have about 3 casts in the same spot if I don’t get any indication there is chub present I would alter position on the next casts. Like what has been said if there is chub in the swim you usually get a bite within 20 minutes give or take.

[Anderoo]

Another way to approach it would be to put some bait into a few swims, give them a little rest, then fish them in turn, being very quiet. Fishing like this, you usually catch any chub present pretty quickly - often the first cast. If you think another fish is on the cards, it can be worth staying put for another 20 minutes or so, or putting a bit more bait in and coming back to it later on.

[Andy Macfarlane]

I find Chub are similar in their behaviour to wild Brown Trout. If you get into the swim without creating any kind of disturbance and get your bait into the right spot 1st time, you can expect a bite pretty much right away. If you can bank the fish, and any that follow, quickly and with a minimum of disturbance, you can take almost every fish there and you'll know it's time to think about leaving, when the number of casts per fish starts to increase very quickly. When this happens, be it Trout or Chub, I won't waste any more time and I'll move on right away, before I kill the swim completely, for the rest of the day. I could spend as little as a couple of minutes in a swim.

 

If I accept that the bites have slowed down or dried up, I'll leave the swim to rest, so I leave the possibility of hitting it again, on the return journey, if that's likely. I've never seen the point of thrashing the water to foam in the chance that I might get one more fish. It's similar to playing slot-machines. If you've had a good roll and the tide is turning, accept your win and give it a rest.

 

I only ever hang around when I'm targeting large numbers of shoaling fish, like roach and perch, which may continue to show, with careful repetitive feeding and casting, building up the fish's confidence and competitiveness. If done correctly, I might end up on the same spot all day.

[Phone]

Andy,

 

All day is a good approach if you are catching fish. When shoals of fish continue to show but you blank would you stay all day? That's REAL confidence.

 

Phone

[Andy Macfarlane]

Yes, because I believe that they'll feed sometime, be it in 10 minutes or 10 hours. The skill in that case is holding them there, without spooking them or carpeting the bottom with so much food that your bait stands little chance of ever being picked up.

 

Trout and Chub seem to feed at any time of day, so if I manage to do all I said in the previous post, I'm confident enough to tell myself that they simply aren't there and I won't hang around to find out.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Andy Macfarlane

[Phone]

Andy,

 

Interesting - many professional bass fishermen do the same.

 

Phone

Edit: their attitude is that if the fish are there it is the anglers fault if they are not being caught.

Edited September 19, 2012 by Phone