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chub help

Paul Boyle

Paul Boyle

Senior Member
Hi all
just moved into a cottage 100 or so yards from the river tame in hopwas staffs:)
The river its self has a lot of streamer week about 30 yards wide and at the moment about 3/4 feet up with quite a strong flow ill say about a fast walking pace. I have been prefeeding for the last four days with 10/8 m pellets and sweetcorn,

I know the river holds a good head of 4/5 ilbs chub,also dace roach and a lot of jack pike,this part f the river is very seldom fished as the land ownr doe,s not allow anglers,but i have permision to fish it.

could anyone give me some advice ! the streamer weed is pretty thick and using lightish gear ,6 lb diawa line might be a problem with landing the chub in the weed ,i dont not want to up my line because i would like to go for the roach also.

To put things simple i have this water close by and would like to spend a lot of my spare time after work geting to know the river and its species.

Ill post some pictures here soon so you could see the river.

How would you go about this river ?
Paul
 
Paul, I'll assume the river isn't plagued with signal crayfish.

First thing I'd do is scrap your line and spool up with something better, Ultima Power Steel a far better bet as though streamer weed is not the most abraisive weed in the world, you can guarantee a good chub will inveriably get well entangled in it.
Your chosen breaking strain is fine though.

I'd opt to fish nearside if possible, rather than casting across the river and having to drag a fish back through it.

Chub being on the whole a lazy fish tend to lay up in creases between fast flow and slack water and best of all is if the crease also has shelter very close-by.
Perfect scenario, over hanging tree over slack water with a raft covering faster flowing stream.
So the big chub can dart out from its slack lie up to intercept food being carrried down in the flow.

Big chub are naturally very wary, even in the absense of angling pressure, so go for as sensitive a quiver tip as is viable.
Again fishing the nearside aids with this and reducing the amount of lead needed to hold bottom.

Bait choice, the list is endless, naturals; worms, slugs, bread, corn are all fine, equally so are pellets, meat or pastes (cheese or HNV).

Simply select a few swims throw a few freebies in, leave for half to one hourand fish for 30mins and move to the next swim.

And watch out for the farmer....
 
Paul, I'll very interested to see how you get on. I cross the river at Hopwas every day on the way to and from work, and always glance at it as I go past, wondering about the fish in the stretch and wishing I could drop a line on for an hour or so before making my way home. Is the stretch you'll be fishing near the bridge visible from the bridgel? I'll keep an eye out for a lone angler!

There are barbel in the Anker just up from where it merges with the Tame, so I'd have thought there would be barbel at Hopwas too, albeit not in large numbers. I'm told there are some reasonable Zander in the canal as well, in case you fancy a change in the winter.
 
Cheers colin

Not sure about the crayfish as yet ,and i cannot afford the Ultimer this week (rent week )but ill try the Diawa for now.Plenty of natural baits around these parts slugs snails an worms so ill start with them.

Ive only been feeding one nicelooking swin behind a large over hanging willow with a raft on both sides down stream about 30 feet there is a slack part of the water ,ill go out and feed again tonight about 6.30 and give it a go tomorow or sunday.No problems with the farmer he is my landlord :) so i have about 1/2 of a mile to myself :):).

Might have problems with holding the feeder to the bottom with the 6lb line ,i think 3oz wont do it at the moment even in the slacks as the water is very high.

what type of rig would u suggest ?.and also i was going to use one of these carp style lead eject rigs to help with the weed.

Andy the water is about 1/4 of a mile downstream from the bridge at hopwas,The land under the canal you cannot fish the farmer is a very moody so and so i hear ,as for the canal its full of zander ,i did a closed season challange with a friend last year and he beat me with a 17 lb carp,i could only manage 7 lb i think it was,plenty of good fishing from the canal closed season i can tell you,thay have a a good head of perch in it to up to 2lb.
I also had A 5 chub to.

Thanks again Colin and ill let you know how it go's

alb
paul
 
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Although it may be starting to go a bit cold now bread on the top is always a good bet in weedy swims. When the weed dies back ledgered bread should work in any swim containing chub.


All the best Tatty
 
Prefeeding last night at 7pm and the river was in full flood ,local floods plains are also flooding.Dropped a lead in having a feel about in a few places and it was a nightmare,deris coming downstream was very heavy,mostle dead streamer weed.

Not sure how long it will take for the streamer weed to clear off :confused:.

Dropped a few bits of corn in and the chub though small were taking it on the drop,there a good head offf chub in there for sure but fishing it is imposible at the moment.

Pictures to follow if i can manage to download them on this old laptop.

alb

paul
 
Paul, TBH I wouldn't bother pre-baiting unless either chasing pressured fish and I was trying to get them onto my bait, but chub tend to accept baits as food very readily, its more about where and how you present your bait.
Or pre-baiting can be used to try and get chub to feed away from cover, especially appropriate on rivers are subject to issues of predation and chub are reluctant to break cover in daylight.

Rig wise:
Ordinarily I use a paternoster rig as it offers everthing thats needed in a chub rig; minimal resistance felt by fish, less weight required to hold bottom and it offers the option of presenting a bait slightly off of the bottom, which contary to popular belief is preferred by chub.

But in flood go for a simple running as the paternoster rig is a magnet for weed and any other debris coming through.

In normal conditions I would say try fishing in the clear pockets inbetween the weed beds.
No feeder just a stright lead unless you think a viable shoal can be built up, best off throwing a few hook bait offerings so if they'll sit on the river bed they will do so where your hook bait is sat or if its a bait that will drift (bread, worms) make sure it does so at roughly the height at which your bait is going to be presented at.

Paul you wrote:
"i was going to use one of these carp style lead eject rigs to help with the weed."
I'm not quite sure what rig you're refering to??
 
Hi Paul, who said they couldn't afford £4 for a 100m of line but wants to dump a lead in the river with every fish?:D

Seriously though its a completely un-needed piece of kit, if fishing a running rig there is no need to have a safety lead clip.
If I was still worried about tethering a fish and/or snagging up on tons of weed, I'd use plastercine instead of a lead weight.

Or if using a paternoster set up, you can weaken the link line from your mainline to the lead by simply tying a few granny knots in it.
 
YOU DEFO wont be needing lead clips!!!..As colin has said your rigs need to be as light and resistance free as possible..I only use plastercine for my chubbing in a very very weedy river and also when its not..So far this season ive had chub to 7lb+ and a few 6lb+ and lots of 5 and 4lb+..I only use just enough plastercine to hold bottom together with a light as possible quiver..;)
 
Craig Wood said:
YOU DEFO wont be needing lead clips!!!..As colin has said your rigs need to be as light and resistance free as possible..I only use plastercine for my chubbing in a very very weedy river and also when its not..So far this season ive had chub to 7lb+ and a few 6lb+ and lots of 5 and 4lb+..I only use just enough plastercine to hold bottom together with a light as possible quiver..;)
Click to expand...

Craig, do you mould the pasticine around a float stop or similar on the main line, or just mould it to the link swivel where a conventional lead would go?
 
I just put the plastercine around a small swivel and also further up the line to act as a very light backlead..Ive found plastercine to be best because you can get the required holding weight spot on and still keep the rig relatively low resistance..:)
 
chub

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Had this cracker at 7lb 4oz using the above method..
 
Hi alex..I use braid as mainline and also hooklength..The plastercine as a rule does stay on unless the fish runs through weed which it then drops off as intended..Ive found braid mainline to be much better for getting fish through weed also the chub dont seem as spooked by it as they are on mono..I fish throop on the stour and these chub have seen it all mate so abit more cunning is needed to catch them..;)
 
Had a few hours tonight but only a chublet to show for it !
Started about 6 and fished to 9 .
Theres chub about but thay wasnt just having it...mybe they feed a bit later on in the evening ??

Try again in the week ...lots of jack pike chasing silver fish about ,im not sure if this would put the chub off ....the larger ones anyway.
The river was about 1 1/2 feet down from friday.

Paul
 
IMO the best period for big chub fishing is the first 4 hours of darkness, moreover if the river has any issue with predation, feathered or furred.

And yes pike, even small ones actively feeding will put chub off of the feed but once dark that should stop.
 
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