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Feedergum Rig for Chub

Paul Richardson

Senior Member & Supporter
Hi All
I have seen a few commercial videos featuring this rig, which is a small length of feedergum ( powergum) twixt hook-length & mainline. I believe it's designed for long range feeder fishing with braid, and the feeder-gum link acts as a shock absorber to prevent lighter hook link failing against head shakes, lifting smaller fish to hand etc.
I did try braid for chub but didn't like it and reverted back to mono, but every season without fail I lose some good chub just after hooking when they give a big old head shake and snap , say 6lb or 7lb Guru or DH hooklength like it's cotton. Typically I simply scale up the hooklink and sometimes it works , sometimes I can't buy a bite.If and when we ever got a low, gin clear winter river and I need to scale right down to say 4lb hooklink to get a bite, it gets even more precarious, hence my interest in this rig.
Has anyone tried it? Any feedback, good or bad? Does it affect the strike, as a lot of my winter bites are very delicate and I have to hit them? I'll no doubt give it whirl but forewarned is forearmed and all that.
Thanks in advance
 
I've used a powergum rig for roach at range. With 12-18""" of 14lb powergum inline with a maggot feeder and a short hooklength fished helicopter style between a couple of gripper stops, fished on a tight line, with a heavy hanger tight to the buzzer waiting for a drop back. Not tried it for chub.

If your fishing a dink-dink or a variation do you really need to hit the bites, surely they will hook themselves if your hooklink is short enough?
 
My first thought would be to Drennan microbraid hooklink in ~10lb b/s, and if my main line was braid I'd have a stretchy mono 3m leader. In crystal clear water they're going to see your hooklength anyway, even if it's only 4lb b/s mono/fluoro ... so show it to them, as a 'strand of weed'. At least you'll know you're unlikely to get snapped off.
 
Christ! Since when did a days chub fishing need to get this complicated. A decent 6lb line straight through to a hook. Add a little weight if necessary.
I catch bloody loads of em on the most basic of basic set ups.
They are spooked by your presence not by your tackle. I’d never go down to 4lb line or start messing with leaders, braid, links and knots and power gum etc. it’s just totally not necessary at all.
The absolute best bit about a good days chubbing is the total simplicity of the methods to catch them.
it’s almost a refreshing breath of fresh air to get back to basics and away from these over complicated rigs.
 
Christ! Since when did a days chub fishing need to get this complicated. A decent 6lb line straight through to a hook. Add a little weight if necessary.
I catch bloody loads of em on the most basic of basic set ups.
They are spooked by your presence not by your tackle. I’d never go down to 4lb line or start messing with leaders, braid, links and knots and power gum etc. it’s just totally not necessary at all.
The absolute best bit about a good days chubbing is the total simplicity of the methods to catch them.
it’s almost a refreshing breath of fresh air to get back to basics and away from these over complicated rigs.
So that's a no then??
 
Christ! Since when did a days chub fishing need to get this complicated. A decent 6lb line straight through to a hook. Add a little weight if necessary.
I catch bloody loads of em on the most basic of basic set ups.
They are spooked by your presence not by your tackle. I’d never go down to 4lb line or start messing with leaders, braid, links and knots and power gum etc. it’s just totally not necessary at all.
The absolute best bit about a good days chubbing is the total simplicity of the methods to catch them.
it’s almost a refreshing breath of fresh air to get back to basics and away from these over complicated rigs.
😂 🤣😂🤣😂 Can't argue with that. They seem not to mind 12lb b/s gear on the Severn anyway
 
Seriously Richard, I confess to having a tendency to tinker - guilty as charged.
I catch plenty too, on loads of different methods. Catch them when deadbaiting, when barbel fishing obviously, when bits fishing and so on.
And I agree , sometimes cheese paste, pellets , boilies, worms and the simplest of rigs works like a dream/ Mr Crabtree book/ Martin Bowler video or whatever. If only life and fishing was always that easy.
But, with respect, I know my own stretch and put plenty of hours in and for me to consistently catch big chub in winter, I have to apply different methods. And on them increasingly rare occasions when we have a low, cold, clear river, then to get to the better fish it's quite common to have to scale down. Fact. You scale down, you might hook them but these fish know what to do. I know, I've had it happen too many times, and when you're fishing for a bite I don't see what's wrong with considering options.
On the back of a flood , yes we can fish heavier and dare I say cruder.
We don't have big barbel up here compared to the South but we do have some big chub. My fishing partner has had 6 over 6 this summer, I've had a couple and that's what I'm targeting - big, old, wily fish in peak condition.

Regarding rods - I have used a Cadence #3 feeder rod - 1.5-2 oz tips - lovely rod, parabolic action but not too good at that tug of war with a big chub that's just been hooked and defaults to powering toward that snag it's been living in for 15 years.
Also used Drennan twin tips, Amorphous Feeder and Carbonactive - all great in open water/ swims - don't have many of them alas.
Just trying some Daiwa barbel rods with 2 oz tips - think they'll be good for close in roaming stuff, possibly too pokey for maggot feeder but I'll give it a whirl
Discussed this whole thing with Mark Tunley who is building me a 1.25 Torrix with spliced-in 2oz tip but no idea when I'll see that.Will be interesting.
As ever I appreciate your straight talking 👍 but don't necessarily agree on this one
 
A good explanation Paul and in the grand scheme of things we don’t seem to be that far away from each other regarding the fish we target. Round this way it’s very similar in the respect that a 6lb chub isn’t as uncommon as it once was and I’ve been lucky enough to get them to the very magical 7 in recent times. Big clever fish that know the score.
I must say though my heels are firmly dug in with the respect that I don’t believe extra light or complicated gear is the way to best extract such specimens.
I’ve always approached a chub day with 1 of two theories to catching.
I will either feed them out or stalk them out.
both of which doesn’t imo require going in under gunned. If I do think the odd big lump in there might be wise to my rig on the bottom then a simple switch to a moving bait usually resolves this.
cold days, clear water, tiny intimate streams with big wise fish, yeah....... I firmly believe simple, strong and very stealthy is the way forward.
any way it doesn’t help you in this case as your set to try new things so I hope it proves fruitful for you Paul.
btw regarding the torrix, your not alone. I think all rod builders are under the pressure of vast quantities of orders, not enough hours in the day and completely at the mercy of their suppliers. I think Avon’s and barbel rods from Harrison at the moment can take as long as 6 months to get blanks out now.
it will be worth it in the end I’m sure.
 
I had a summer 7-2 a few seasons ago - never thought i'd ever see one - one of about 10 that on that day were suicidal and smashing into a method feeder for barbel. A couple of seasons prior to that i had a 6 dead on lamprey and a 6-12 on a full bluey on the same day when piking.
So a fish that spooks at a 6lb hooklink will devour a 10" fish on a 30lb wire trace??? How do you work that one out🤔
That's why I love chub fishing.
See what happens Rich, chances of a clear river a long way off at the moment.I'll post my findings for posterity as I'm sure I'll give it a whirl.
Good job us anglers are patient. The rod will arrive when it does, plenty of others to blank with ;)
 
I had the pleasure of witnessing a Stef Horak masterclass at Troop a number of years back. 12.6 quivertip, 6lb mainline down to a 3-4ft fluoro leader and a 50g blackcap adapted to be fished in-line. 2" 3lb hooklength and a size 18 hook. Maggots obviously. I forget if it was 4 or 5 6lb+ chub I photographed for him that day he had several big 5's as well. Nobody else was catching.

He didn't loose a single fish.

You write-off line line methods for chub at your peril imo.
 
I had the pleasure of witnessing a Stef Horak masterclass at Troop a number of years back. 12.6 quivertip, 6lb mainline down to a 3-4ft fluoro leader and a 50g blackcap adapted to be fished in-line. 2" 3lb hooklength and a size 18 hook. Maggots obviously. I forget if it was 4 or 5 6lb+ chub I photographed for him that day he had several big 5's as well. Nobody else was catching.

He didn't loose a single fish.

You write-off line line methods for chub at your peril imo.
What a privilege fishing with Stef Horak.
I learnt a lot from a Swale old timer who told me with chub - " hit everything " which is why I mentioned striking. I've lost count of good fish I've caught striking the tiniest of indications which you might normally miss and attribute to a dace or minnow having a peck. This would be on a very simple running feeder rig between float stops so I can create a bolt rig if I need to. Twizzled loop to prevent tangles and loop-loop to hooklength - mainline 6lb - hook length the same if I can get away with it. And it's if I need to fine down, I might try a small feedergum link between the loops. I can't see how it will complicate anything, but only way to find out is to try it if I need to.
I use the Grub feeder in a similar manner to the Stef method with a really short hooklength and on it's day it is devastating, but not all the time.
If I'm sat in a known chub peg and feeding it , I might change tactics 4-5 times in a day until I can work it out, as no 2 days ever the same.
Last outing the only interest i got was a 5-5 on punched bread, but took me til mid -afternoon to get there after trying and failing with usual baits including flake, crust and various pastes. Mate fished his 'killer' boilies that had accounted for his summer 6s and blanked.
I used to fish traditional chub style - prebait a few swims, creep in and ambush. Just doesn't seem to work like it used to. We have more otter activity now, so the fish might not be there, or they shoal together more for safety? Truth is we don't know. Building a swim up match-style seems to be the order of the day.
 
Update
Tried this set up last week
Conditions absolutely perfect for bread
Got in the peg of choice which normally holds a decent head of chub
Hooked 7 lost 2 best ones in snags , one under the net!
No obvious pros or cons with the rig, two i
However I had the pick of swims and opted for the one I felt had the best chance of a few bites but the river just looked and felt perfect and I was drawn to a deeper stretch that is harder but historically throws some surprises, but I was so focused on trying the new rig I opted for the easier option
My mate arrived shortly after and was unsure as he’s not really targeted chub before
I recommended a swim that my instinct was telling me would fish well for better fish
Not long after putting in I got the call
“ come have a look at what I’ve got”
I was absolutely blown away- a pristine 6-10
Moral of the story - go with gut instincts but just Blown away seeing that fish👍
it’s a good job we are best mates 🤣
 
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