Am I nuts? Winter stillwater chubbing in 1 hour!

[RUDD]

Yesterday I arrived at my local pool at just after 3pm with a heavy map parabolix waggler rod, reel with floating 5lb line, a quater pint of red maggots, a drennan 14gram super scud, a small maggot feeder, a seat, a landing net and a few ready tied hook length.

 

The other anglers (all matchmen who I beat last weekend) there were packing up after taking small bags of silvers asked what I was doing and called me nuts when I told them, especially with the hour long time limit I had.

 

I sat down in a noted feeder peg (noted as anglers in all four winter league and in the fur and feather framed everytime).

 

I set up the rod and used a preston waggler attachment (snap swivel type) with only one number eight shot down the line.

 

I first cast the small maggot feeder full of maggots to a far bank spot near some snags once. I wanted a small amount of feed to attract small silvers to inturn attract a few bigger specimens into having a look.

 

I then proceded to fish the SCUD (which most would consider a VERY summer method) tight to the snags.

 

At first I had a few 12 to 14oz rudd (taking the maggots near the surface), then a few roach.

Then I saw the swirl I was waiting for quater of an hour later in the fading light.

 

The continued splashing of the scud (along with the small silvers darting about) had the desired effect of mimicking a feeder full of food and had attracted old big mouth.

 

I quickly cast to the swirl and the float didn't even reappear - the rod just slammed round as a chub snaffled the double red maggot and size 18 hook.

 

Is was only a small once of just over 2lb and several more of the same stamp soon followed. Last cast at 4.30pm (dinner round the outlaws at 5!!!!) saw me hook something rather large but I will never know what as my hooklength parted rather quickly!!!!

 

It just goes to show that thinking outside of the box and trying something completely different to the rest can be very rewarding and if I may say so myself alot of fun (which this method was as I knew the chub would eventually have a go).

 

Another point worth mentioning is how accurate I could cast the scud with very little effort - in the past I have tried heavy wagglers (5aaa or 3 swan) and struggled to get the float to the far bank let alone against the snags.

[Newt]

Excellent result any time and approaches amazing in January.

 

If any of the others stayed around to watch, I suspect you will see a host of imitators in the very near future.

[The Flying Tench]

Interesting, but what is a scud?

[Steve Walker]

There was a stillwater near Manchester I used to be a member of, years ago. It's a cut-off arm of a reservoir, so it's deep. It fished well through the year, but was a particularly good bet during the Winter and early Spring, when other venues could be very hard. Anyway, point is, it had a good head of stillwater chub, and like their riverine cousins they could be relied upon for some sport on even the coldest days.

[Steve Burke]

Good fishing, good story! Well done indeed.

 

I had 3 seasons stillwater chubbing in the early 80s on a couple of farm reservoirs. On one night fishing was allowed, and strangely the most productive time to fish there was after dark on the coldest of nights. The chub appeared to patrol the margins and a carpet of groundbait was often enough to stop them.

 

What was particularly interesting was that these chub had a pronounced predatory streak. Whitebait was by far the most successful bait overall, the only downside is that if I prebaited with it I caught carp - even in winter.

 

In fact in very cold weather whitebait very definitely outscored everything else. On the other hand, when the water temperature was high in winter (as it is now) small baits like caster and maggot were definitely superior. For the reasons for this see this article of mine: http://anglers-net.co.uk/authors/steve05.htm

[WickerDave]

Interesting, but what is a scud?

 

See http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=1261

[WickerDave]

I've been winter fishing my local gravel pit for the first time this winter, and spraying maggots and fishing maggot shallow (a couple of feet) in open water has picked up quite a few chub, along with lots of tiny roach.

[old novice - jeff]

is this it ?

[RUDD]

is this it ?

 

Its similer in that the super scud has two bulbs near the tip - the picture is of a scud - I was using a super scud.

 

the bulbs are designed to stop the float diving down to far.

 

They do not affect float sensisitivity - I have caught tiny perch and roach that completly sank the float.