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Finally a result on the thames


viney

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What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in a classic snaggy chub swim vs living in open water?

 

How does the balance of those advantages and disadvantages change as the fish gets larger?

 

I would say that relative to open water, the snaggy swim is positive for security from predation and negative for food availability and competition.

 

I would say that the larger you are, the less vulnerable to predation you are. A 6lb+ chub probably doesn't need to fear much but otters and lost seals. And perhaps giant mysterious Thames catfish!

 

The other thing I would suggest is that you don't necessarily need big chub to prefer open water for it to be the better option - you just need them to like open water enough, and enough more than their smaller brethren. If you've got a big tree with twenty small chub under it and one specimen vs open water with one specimen in it, chances are that under the tree the smaller fish will get to your bait first and put the swim down.

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Good analysis, but only snag is that small chub can infest open water also - dunno why, but lots of small chub came out of the Severn the other week, trotting open water.

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RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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Yes, that is true, depends on the situation. And small chub can be pretty snappy at following loose feed, which is probably something else to bear in mind.

 

I would say that it is generally the case, though, that the classic snaggy chub swim holds more small to medium sized chub than open water swims do.

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The ones I managed last winter although smaller than Rustys fish as he keeps reminding me came from an area lower down smooth steady flow 2from open water and one from the near bank bush but still not right next to the cover

Curiously despite throwing surface lures and shads around a lot this summer Chub have not shown which I have found a bit strange

We used to catch lots in the 2 to high 4 range from the next weir pool up on lives wire et all accidentally and yet I have never managed a good one to lures there either so there is one obvious conclusion

I am s#%t at lure fishing ..... Curious fish that have got under my skin a bit

We are not putting it back it is a lump now put that curry down and go and get the scales

have I told you abouit the cruise control on my Volvo ,,,,,,,bla bla bla Barder rod has it come yet?? and don`t even start me on Chris Lythe :bleh::icecream:

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Yes go on rub it in lol

They are a surprisingly good method for Chub which was why I found it strange I haven't picked up any good ones this summer for the hours I have been out

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We are not putting it back it is a lump now put that curry down and go and get the scales

have I told you abouit the cruise control on my Volvo ,,,,,,,bla bla bla Barder rod has it come yet?? and don`t even start me on Chris Lythe :bleh::icecream:

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I think all chub spend a certain amount of time tucked away under the bank/in the snags, but I don't think that's where they feed.

 

In good conditions, by fishing the classic snag swims, I think you are often fishing for chub that have moved out into open water. There are always exceptions of course and it differs from river to river, but my experience on the Thames is that open water beats the snags for big chub by about 5 fish to 1.

 

If a snag swim has decent depth under it, a nice flow and a hard bottom, it's likely to be a good spot anyway, and the presence of the snag just makes it better. But many lovely looking snag swims have the wrong depth/flow/bottom, often being too slow, shallow and silty for a feeding chub.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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On reflection, my comments at post #22 were based on recent experience on the Severn. On my local streams, we don't have open water, the banks are only a feeder-rod's length apart !

 

 

RNLI Governor

 

World species 471 : UK species 105 : English species 95 .

Certhia's world species - 215

Eclectic "husband and wife combined" world species 501

 

"Nothing matters very much, few things matter at all" - Plato

...only things like fresh bait and cold beer...

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