Chubbing the battle of the baits

[JV44]

Going tonight with Matthew for our Thursday excuirsion which will hopefully be a regular thing ,bunked off yesterday and had a couple of small ones and lost a better fish to tree cover all on Bread but going to try some garlic and curry flavoured spam vs Matthews wonder paste mix tonight just to see ,a 6lb 12oz came out of the section last weekend so just hope they are feeding tonight

[Kappa]

What was the final score?

[Steve Walker]

No score draw, I believe.

[Anderoo]

I had a quick after work session at a different river (very rushed and dark but the weekend got scuppered so I thought I should make the effort) - it turned out great, five chub in total, three 5s (biggest 5.10) and two 4s, all on cheesepaste. Very pleased, a good result is normally one, maybe two fish so this was great

[The Flying Tench]

I've got a question re the 'battle of the baits' thing for chub. In basic books and articles on fishing it's often said that chub are omniverous, and it doesn't much matter what bait you put before them. It's more an issue of keeping out of sight. Yet other discussions suggest the bait is all important, eg debates re small baits, especially maggots, v big baits. Could it be that choice of bait is more important in winter? Or for really big chub? Or where the water is heavily fished? Or ...

[JV44]

John not sure c aught them on Lives/Lures/Bread/Cheesepaste/Paste special with lots of bits in iot/flavoured meat and sausage and maggot and worms ,Bread always works it seems but Matthew and myself just felt like concocting something in the samne way as a kid you would raid the pantry for bits to put in your groundbait and wind up your mate yours was the better groundbait but Im not telling you whats in it....6lb 12oz came out at the weekend to a match guy on a size 18 and whip double maggot don`t tell Matthew I need to get an edge now where was that advert for whips best do a google search........

[Anderoo]

I don't think it matter too much if you can drop it on a chub's nose BUT I do think what you bait up with matters a lot. On bigger rivers like the Thames, baiting up with mashed bread and then fishing bread has worked well for me, I think because the mash pulls them upstream for quite a distance. On smaller rivers like the one I fished yesterday, baiting up with half a dozen blobs of paste is as effective, you don't need as much pulling power because the fish are always much closer to you. (It's nice because fishing with paste is a thousand times easier than fishing with bread!)

 

What matters more on the smaller rivers is being really quiet, especially when the river is clear and cold. They are so easy to spook.

 

Edit - the reason I never use maggots is just because I'm never sure where the chub are on any given day, and most swims are empty. I don't want to spend ages building up a swim with maggots if there are no chub there.

Edited December 13, 2014 by Anderoo

[lutra]

I'm sure float and maggot isn't the most productive method for donkey size chub and it might take time and good angling to get it to work, but if you do get it right, you can be on for big bags.

 

Here's some good bags from Mat with maggot and a waggler.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CympRzoHHXw

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7IgNK1_Nig

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlPj8Ya5V0Q

 

Bread and corn are other baits that have produced big bags and some good chub on the float for me. My pb chub may have fallen back to the ledger rod, but i think my biggest bags and most enjoyable days chub fishing will always stay on the float.

 

As others have said, its not just the bait for chub (as they will eat lots of things), but its also how you feed and fish them.

[Chris Plumb]

Trotted corn - especially red corn is one of my favourite baits to tempt a big chub. Can be a bit hit and miss - some swims I've never had a bite on it - despite repeated attempts - but where there's a good head of trout it can be deadly as a bait - I'm sure they mistake it for trout eggs which they must see a lot of in the winter.

 

C.

[The Flying Tench]

I'm sure float and maggot isn't the most productive method for donkey size chub and it might take time and good angling to get it to work, but if you do get it right, you can be on for big bags.

 

Here's some good bags from Mat with maggot and a waggler.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CympRzoHHXw

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7IgNK1_Nig

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlPj8Ya5V0Q

 

Bread and corn are other baits that have produced big bags and some good chub on the float for me. My pb chub may have fallen back to the ledger rod, but i think my biggest bags and most enjoyable days chub fishing will always stay on the float.

 

As others have said, its not just the bait for chub (as they will eat lots of things), but its also how you feed and fish them.

Great videos!