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Chasing chub....

Tony Koziol said:
Congrats on a massive pb Huanzhou, did you use the Mick Holgate Kingfisher rod to tame it ?
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No, I used the 9ft drennan mini feeder rod, the swim I fished has lots trees around, using a 11.6 kingfishes is not a possible. But I did catch a few chub with the kingfisher.
 
Ian Woods said:
I had a few hours on the river today hoping to christen the new drennan acolyte 14ft specimen float rod which I picked up a couple of weeks back.
Anyhow I did catch some fish with the rod, although nothing big enough to test it's metal properly. I caught a few chub of around a pound and a half to two pounds, a few average dace and two small barbel of around 3lb or so.
It felt absolutly freezin cold stood mid river in a northerly wind and I released all the fish where I was stood, although I wished i'd gone to the back and photo'd the first barbel caught with the rod ....too late now.
The 14ft rod felt great, as with tye 13 footer i'm looking forward to catching some more substantial fish with it.
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The 15footer felt sensational from the very brief play I had with it.
 
Richard Isaacs said:
The 15footer felt sensational from the very brief play I had with it.
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I have no doubt the 15 footer is a excellent rod.
I hadn't even handled the 13 or 14 footers but after taking a punt on the 13 and liking it as much as I do I just went ahead and got my local tackle shop to order me one.
Should I ever get a 15ft rod i'm quite sure it would be the specimen acolyte rod. I have been told by someone who owns one that the 15 footer is a little nose heavy, which really wouldn't bother me at all.
 
Ian Woods said:
someone who owns one that the 15 footer is a little nose heavy, which really wouldn't bother me at all.
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Yeah I had a pull on the 13 aswell. Felt very nice too but as a long rod lover I did prefer the 15.
I Didn't hold it long enough to feel additional weight in the nose to be fair.
I’m Highly impressed with them.
Probably won’t buy one mind. I’m more than covered for “power” rods.
 
I've got a cadence 14ft #4 rod arriving today. I can't wait to get it tested out against fast flows and barbel and chub. Leigh from cadence has very kindly put a counter weight into the handle to balance the rod perfectly. I know they are heavier that the drennan however they pulled near 14lb fish out from snag ridden swims!!
Also another vote for the diawa connoisseur (not the pro the pervious model) It helped me pull out 2 units of chub on light tackle from x2 snags. I Also feel the art of back winding made a massive difference. I'm pretty suits relying on the drag the fish would of either snagged me or the line would of broke.
 
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Hi Dave yes I hope I'm not opening up a can of worms here!!
I personally have a massive deep net that I place onto a long back stick and carefully place the chub into. They are often never in there for that long given that the rivers I fish are very small so action is pretty rapid if its going to happen. Its something I've adopted from following other far more experienced anglers than me. The thinking that chub being shoal fish go back and spook the shoal with there body language. Anyway that's my thoughts behind it. When fishing bigger rivers I personally don't do it, But I guess that itself raises a question? 🤔
What are your thoughts Dave? Cheers Jon
 
Jon Kennard said:
Hi Dave yes I hope I'm not opening up a can of worms here!!
I personally have a massive deep net that I place onto a long back stick and carefully place the chub into. They are often never in there for that long given that the rivers I fish are very small so action is pretty rapid if its going to happen. Its something I've adopted from following other far more experienced anglers than me. The thinking that chub being shoal fish go back and spook the shoal with there body language. Anyway that's my thoughts behind it. When fishing bigger rivers I personally don't do it, But I guess that itself raises a question? 🤔
What are your thoughts Dave? Cheers Jon
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Jon
I know it's a done thing in Chub angling.As long as the fish don't suffer from too many in a landing net at same time.
I prefer to release a good walk along river.
Landing a fish with a fish or more already in the net just don't feel right to me unless you take two landing nets then you may as well take a keepnet instead.
 
Mine is a separate landing net and like I say its massive (essentially a holding net i guess). It's only likely to have 2 or 3 fish most and usually smaller fish. These 2 fish were biggest the river gives there or thereabouts.
 
I knew it wasn't a good idea to go wading yesterday, the river was 17 inches above the maximum level I usually wade out in. Due to several factors I don't like wading when the river has this much water on, one of them being the power of the flow against me when standing on slippy bolders of various sizes, not being able to see the bottom and where I am stepping, and I really dislike wearing chest waders lol.
Anyhow, as I expected the session was a disaster, I only managed a chub of a couple of pounds and a small barbel. Even after pulling my bait pouch up high on my waist the bottom of it was in the water and my magg's got soaked and you know how horrible it is when that happens. Very shortly after catching the little barbel the wind picked up and it started raining...horizontal rain!... so I decided to cut the session down to less than an hour.
My drennan acolyte specimen float rods still haven't had their metal tested properly, fingers crossed for the next time out with them.
Even if i'd caught a large chub or barbel yesterday I wouldn't have waded back to the bank with it to take a picture, but I may have switched my camera on as I did with the tiddler yesterday...

 
Ian Woods said:
I knew it wasn't a good idea to go wading yesterday, the river was 17 inches above the maximum level I usually wade out in. Due to several factors I don't like wading when the river has this much water on, one of them being the power of the flow against me when standing on slippy bolders of various sizes, not being able to see the bottom and where I am stepping, and I really dislike wearing chest waders lol.
Anyhow, as I expected the session was a disaster, I only managed a chub of a couple of pounds and a small barbel. Even after pulling my bait pouch up high on my waist the bottom of it was in the water and my magg's got soaked and you know how horrible it is when that happens. Very shortly after catching the little barbel the wind picked up and it started raining...horizontal rain!... so I decided to cut the session down to less than an hour.
My drennan acolyte specimen float rods still haven't had their metal tested properly, fingers crossed for the next time out with them.
Even if i'd caught a large chub or barbel yesterday I wouldn't have waded back to the bank with it to take a picture, but I may have switched my camera on as I did with the tiddler yesterday...

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Pretty little barbel that Ian. 👍🏻
I had the same trouble with material type pouches and swapped to the Fox Aquos. Never looked back it’s a million times better than my old esp pouch.
Totally submergable water proof with a water proof zip up lid.
Never get wet bait again even if it rains.
Got loops welded to it too for your cati on one side and I clip a little pair of forceps to the other loop.
Best pouch around imo
 
Richard Isaacs said:
Pretty little barbel that Ian. 👍🏻
I had the same trouble with material type pouches and swapped to the Fox Aquos. Never looked back it’s a million times better than my old esp pouch.
Totally submergable water proof with a water proof zip up lid.
Never get wet bait again even if it rains.
Got loops welded to it too for your cati on one side and I clip a little pair of forceps to the other loop.
Best pouch around imo
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I recently got a drennan specialist pouch, I think it's similar to the aqua pouches like yours, I still haven't used it yet. The only downside to them for me is that they only have the one compartment. I virtually always take magg's and corn, so the esp pouch has been ok in normal river levels that I fish, it has a seperate front pouch which I can put the corn in. I'm not sure how i'll get round the issue with the drennan one, maybe put in a container, or placcy bag for the corn?...I don't know.
 
Ian Woods said:
I recently got a drennan specialist pouch, I think it's similar to the aqua pouches like yours, I still haven't used it yet. The only downside to them for me is that they only have the one compartment. I virtually always take magg's and corn, so the esp pouch has been ok in normal river levels that I fish, it has a seperate front pouch which I can put the corn in. I'm not sure how i'll get round the issue with the drennan one, maybe put in a container, or placcy bag for the corn?...I don't know.
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Yeah I used to slip discorgers and a packet of hooks etc in the front pocket of mine. It was a great pouch till the bottom got wet.
It was rare till I started fishing deeper parts of the Trent.

The container idea would work
I fish meat and casters a lot in summer. I put the casters straight in the pouch and my pre cubed meat in a small plastic bag before it goes in with the casters.
Not as good as 2 separate compartments for 2 bait types but definitely worth the swap for me.
The lid alone is excellent when it starts raining. Nothing worse than a bag of dripping wet bait.
 
Richard Isaacs said:
Yeah I used to slip discorgers and a packet of hooks etc in the front pocket of mine. It was a great pouch till the bottom got wet.
It was rare till I started fishing deeper parts of the Trent.

The container idea would work
I fish meat and casters a lot in summer. I put the casters straight in the pouch and my pre cubed meat in a small plastic bag before it goes in with the casters.
Not as good as 2 separate compartments for 2 bait types but definitely worth the swap for me.
The lid alone is excellent when it starts raining. Nothing worse than a bag of dripping wet bait.
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I'll give the specialist pouch a go if I fish in higher levels again, it is a nice little pouch and as you say the lid should be handy when it rains like it did yesterday. On the underaide of the lid, so it faces upwards when open there's a zipped up compartment for small items such as disgorgers, hooks etc, so that's prolly going to prove to be handy.
We have 40 to 50mph winds forecast round these parts for tomorrow, if they don't materialise I might get out and maybe use the specialist pouch.
 
Ian Woods said:
On the underaide of the lid, so it faces upwards when open there's a zipped up compartment for small items such as disgorgers, hooks etc,
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Oh really.
The fox doesn’t have that and i would have preferred somewhere to place those items again. I’m currently using the inside chest pocket on my waders now.

Might look at the drennan one myself
 
Richard Isaacs said:
Oh really.
The fox doesn’t have that and i would have preferred somewhere to place those items again. I’m currently using the inside chest pocket on my waders now.

Might look at the drennan one myself
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There's a picture of the underside of the lid on this ebay advert...


As I say, i've never actually used it so can't give a verdict on it, it might be a let down yet.
 
Ian Woods said:
I knew it wasn't a good idea to go wading yesterday, the river was 17 inches above the maximum level I usually wade out in. Due to several factors I don't like wading when the river has this much water on, one of them being the power of the flow against me when standing on slippy bolders of various sizes, not being able to see the bottom and where I am stepping, and I really dislike wearing chest waders lol.
Anyhow, as I expected the session was a disaster, I only managed a chub of a couple of pounds and a small barbel. Even after pulling my bait pouch up high on my waist the bottom of it was in the water and my magg's got soaked and you know how horrible it is when that happens. Very shortly after catching the little barbel the wind picked up and it started raining...horizontal rain!... so I decided to cut the session down to less than an hour.
My drennan acolyte specimen float rods still haven't had their metal tested properly, fingers crossed for the next time out with them.
Even if i'd caught a large chub or barbel yesterday I wouldn't have waded back to the bank with it to take a picture, but I may have switched my camera on as I did with the tiddler yesterday...

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Nice Ian enjoyed that bit of footage thanks for sharing. That was a proper bunch of maggots being displayed on that hook 😉. I'd love to be able to get those torpedoes on the float rod. I took my new cadence #4 to my local lakes yesterday in the hope of encountering lump alas i failed superbly with two tiny carp! 🫣
 
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