Fly fishing for Chub

[MikeT]

I hope to do some dry fly fishing for chub in the summer months, when weed growth in the lower Dorset Stour can make trotting a float into the best holding areas impossible. I've done some JCB pond fly fishing for trout, but don't know a lot about this mysterious cousin of Proper (Coarse) Fishing.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations for the sort of tackle I should be looking for? I'm starting from scratch, so I'll need a rod, reel, line and flies. I'm guessing a 9' lightish rod at #5/6 weight double-taper line to 4lb tip would do the trick- with the target fish being chunky 5-6lb chevins.

 

Cheers!

 

Mike.

[Steve Walker]

I did some fly fishing for chub last season, great fun. I used pretty much the tackle you suggest, slightly heavier at #6/7 though lighter would have been better. Big bushy flies, mostly daddies. Have to say, though, all the chub I caught were small, up to a pound or so. The larger fish didn't seem very interested in flies.

[Jeff S]

I suppose I use my favorite rod a bit too much. It is a 2/3 wt 7.5 foot five piece with double taper line and a 9 foot tapered leader with another three feet or so of a light tippet.

 

The river I fish is fairly shallow and clear enough to see fish moving about and nearly impossible to approach them without being seen. I have caught chub up to 3 lbs on this rod and even bigger trout. I would think going light is the way to go especially if you aren't using flies that attract pike. My favorite fly is a klinkhammer in any color you can get your hands on. The chub I have caught with it didn't hesitate.

 

This fly was designed to immitate an emerging caddis. The thorax actually breaks the surface tension of the water just enough to sit below the surface. It's a great design and even better if your sight isn't that great.

 

http://www.yorkofnorfolk.com/index.php?tar...;product_id=316

 

Sorry just had another look at your post and see you are going to target 5-6lb fish. In that case you are probably right on with your choice.

[Anderoo]

Tackle choice will largely depend on the river - if it's small and overgrown you'd be better off with a 6' or 7' #2-4 rod, if it's bigger and you need to cast further maybe a 9' #5-6. Fly rods are very bendy, even a 6' #2 rod will tame a big trout, so will be up to a big chub. Just hang on to your floppy hat

 

I've caught chub on the fly and it's great fun, but only small ones. The biggest was about 3lb and was on a weighted hare's ear trundled through a deep pool, all the others have been 1lb max and on dries in the summer. I'm not sure what the biggest fly-caught chub is, but bearing in mind their spookiness and the fact you can't overcome that with feeding, a 5lb+ chub would be an achievement indeed. Not to say it's inmpossible by any stretch, I hope you get among the biggies!

 

BTW with chub (and this is the opposite to casting to trout) it's often best to drop the fly just behind rather than above the fish. Casting behind them (this is also true when stalking chub with coarse gear) often triggers an agressive response. This is especiaally true if there is more than one fish, as they instantly get very competitive.

 

You have to get close enough to cast though, and not scare them with false casting - that's the tricky bit. It's all about stealthy approaches, hiding your shadow, minimising false casting, keeping the rod low or otherwise hidden, gentle casting and managing not to hook the tree you're hiding behind or the barbed wire fence behind you. If - or rather when - you spook a fish or group of fish, give them an hour or so and creep back later. You might get a second chance.

 

For flies, as has been said, big and bushy is best (sedges, white moths, daddies, etc.). Don't worry too much about matching the hatch, unless there's a big hatch of terrestrials like hawthorns or daddies (and mayflies, but that would mean you'd be fishing in the closed season for 'trout'... and before someone says it I know they're not terrestrial!).

 

If you scale down and fish the faster water - and you're quick enough - you can catch lots of dace too.

 

It's a lot harder than catching trout on the fly but brilliant fun and very rewarding

[Tony U]

I agree with the big and bushy approach with regard to flies for Chub, my best was a 4lb on a Claret Hopper, and in stillwater to.

 

Tony U

[Vagabond]

The larger fish didn't seem very interested in flies.

 

Some years ago, Chevin and I were spending a weekend with our families at Dick Walker's hut on the Upper Gt Ouse.

 

It was the close season, and we were doing maintenance work on the hut and facilities, in return for the privilege of fishing there.

 

Dick Walker turned up, and the talk turned to fly fishing. "By chance" Dick had a fly-rod in his car, and said he would have a go for the Gt Ouse trout in the run just above the hut.

 

Then followed a typical piece of Walker showmanship.

 

Whilst plying his line to and fro, Dick gave a short lecture on the huge size of the "trout", how they lurked under weed beds and had thick white lips, but rose to bushy flies, and could be led up and down the river like a dog on a lead.

 

...and blast me if a four-pound chub didn't come out of the weed bed and cruise up to Dick's fly.

 

What followed I would not have believed if I had not seen for myself. With a few deft rolls of the wrist, Dick made the fly follow a figure-of-eight pattern on the surface, and the chub followed it round the eight as if hypnotised. Not once, but maybe a half-dozen times - each time the chub opened its mouth to engulf the fly, Dick pulled it a bit further away (it was the close season, remember). I'm quite sure he could have caught it if he wanted to.

 

Dick was full of tricks like that

 

...but yes Steve, when I fly-fish for chub, I too find only fish of a pound or so will take.

Edited March 28, 2008 by Vagabond

[bluerinse]

My Fly fishing for chub used to be a hard days fishing, only catching the odd small chub, I then saw a TV show (I forget which one) were the chap used big black fly’s under the surface, I tied my own, it looks a bit like a tadpole when wet its is about the size of a ten pence piece when dry, this then fished up river in to holes and around the back of obstacles such as rocks, logs, roots etc.., you need to try and get it to hang (not easy on flowing water) when the current starts to move the line this is when you get the take, I have had some great chub on this method, you don't need to be able to see the fish, just look for likely spots. Its quite hard to get it right, but once you have it works, I normally shack the rod from left to right as I am at the end of the cast, this forms lots of bends in the line (like ~~~~~~) this then hangs the fly for a little longer before the current starts to move the fly, the takes are brutal and I catch all size of chub, the occasional perch and I even have had roach.

[lutra]

Ive had 1 or 2 better sized Chub (3-4lb) when fishing for salmon with big salmon flies.

[goosequill]

Some years ago, Chevin and I were spending a weekend with our families at Dick Walker's hut on the Upper Gt Ouse.

 

It was the close season, and we were doing maintenance work on the hut and facilities, in return for the privilege of fishing there.

 

Dick Walker turned up, and the talk turned to fly fishing. "By chance" Dick had a fly-rod in his car, and said he would have a go for the Gt Ouse trout in the run just above the hut.

 

Then followed a typical piece of Walker showmanship.

 

Whilst plying his line to and fro, Dick gave a short lecture on the huge size of the "trout", how they lurked under weed beds and had thick white lips, but rose to bushy flies, and could be led up and down the river like a dog on a lead.

 

...and blast me if a four-pound chub didn't come out of the weed bed and cruise up to Dick's fly.

 

What followed I would not have believed if I had not seen for myself. With a few deft rolls of the wrist, Dick made the fly follow a figure-of-eight pattern on the surface, and the chub followed it round the eight as if hypnotised. Not once, but maybe a half-dozen times - each time the chub opened its mouth to engulf the fly, Dick pulled it a bit further away (it was the close season, remember). I'm quite sure he could have caught it if he wanted to.

 

Dick was full of tricks like that

 

...but yes Steve, when I fly-fish for chub, I too find only fish of a pound or so will take.

 

Vagabond - that was a fantastic story about my one of my all-time angling heroes!! What a privelidge that would have been to witness. I frequently walk up and down that stretch of the ouse and get a 'heady' experience thinking about the legends that trod those banks..... thanks for that!