How low have you gone

[Iain Tutt]

Had a session down the Rother (Sussex) yesterday. Wind blowing quite strongly around 38mph. Anyway after 30 minutes at each peg without even a knock or bump i decided to give it one more go at the furthest peg. For some reason i was having trouble sinking the line. Never had this problem with this line before. Even tried to rub some Mole hill mud on it. Anyway about 10 minutes later i heard a splash, looking on the water to see where it came from i saw it. The biggest Otter i have ever seen. I watched it coming out of the water and then it climbed a low tree to shake off dry just like what a dog does, never knew that they could climb. After a while, it jumped back into the water, headed to a sunken tree stump and never saw it again.
Anyway back to the fishing, 20 minutes later i was in. After a good fight, Reeling in then back winding. This went on for a good 5 or so minutes. I landed a 5.11lb Chub. Most of the Chub average about 3-4lb here. So i was well pleased with myself. Tried to take a picture but in true smart phone form my battery was dead and with no one else around.
After i got home and putting my kit away i then realised that i had put the wrong spool on the reel. I put a spool on that was loaded with Drennan Floatfish. This explained why i couldn't sink it. But the thing that surprised me it was 2'6lb line. Love the stuff for Rudd and Roach but never thought i was strong enough for a hard fighting 5,11lb chub.
What's the lowest line have you used to catch Chub ?

 

[Steve Lewis]

4lb. Wouldn't go any lower than that (maybe a 3lb hooklink), but only because out of my two usual chub rivers one is incredibly snaggy all the way through, and on the other there is a very very good chance of hooking into a 5lb+ fish.

My personal best carp of 21lb, however, was caught on a float road and 3lb line. I was float fishing for tench at the time, in a lake where they were in abundance but didn't go much bigger than 4.5-5lb and where the carp were not in huge numbers and averaged about 10lb. But then this chunky leather carp swoops in and takes the bait. Fortunately I was fishing a swim with no snags or weed in the vicinity, so I could let it do its thing without putting too much pressure on the kit. The worst thing about it was that the carp was, obviously, played for a lot longer than it normally would be with more suitable carp gear, but after letting it rest in the net for a good 10 minutes it swam off fine.

 

[Dave Taylor]

2.4 link to 3.6 mainline on balanced gear for most of my chub float fishing Iain.
Just keeping a steady pressure preventing the fish from dominating generally works and doesn't necessarily mean a longer fight.
Have had a few decent chub as well as the odd uninvited barbel and salmon on that setup this season.

 

[Iain Tutt]

Well i'll be double checking next time. 2oz feeder on a 2.6lb is not a good mix. But it does show how strong FloatFish is. Next time it's back to my usual 6 or 8lb line.

 

[Joe Winstanley]

I've used short (3") hooklengths down to 3lb for big chub when fishing maggot feeder/dink-dink rigs, I know a very good angler that regularly drop's down even lighter to 2lb. I would never use less than 6lb mainline for legering though.

The strength quoted for Drennan Float fish (good stuff) is based on it's knot strength, its breaking strain is around 1/2 a pound heavier - although its probably a bit more than that I suspect.

 

[David Maddison]

Although I have not used Drennan Floatfish, the diameter for 2.6lb is more or less the same as the reflo power line I use at 4lb 12oz. 0.14 diameter!
If I had used the same breaking strain in the Preston line the diameter of 0.10 would be no where near as strong as the Drennan float fish. When you imagine the line stretching as well how thin it would be if it touches a snag, then the thicker diameter line will always give you a better chance imo.
So the a brand such as Drennan float fish will enable you go lighter than the lower diameter brands.

 

[David Maddison]

I used to buy Bayer Perlon line before all the fancy low diameter lines came out and used to land plenty of tench on the 2.1lb stuff.
Same diameter as the float fish I think? Maybe thicker?
I would probably not go any lighter than 2.5lb bottom for chub, but would be down to the swim I was in.
It makes a big difference if you know how much pressure you can put on the line with the rod you are using, before it breaks!

 

[Andy Bell]

Had plenty of decent chub to 4lb on Silstar Match Team 1.8lb bottoms to a size 20 or 22......... & that stuff is 0.08mm, used to use it all the time as a pole main line. excellent stuff!

 

[Stephen Crowhurst]

Il often switch down to a 3lb bottom with an 18 in clear conditions for Chub, the difference is often virtually instant. Last summer on Throop I had 2 Chub out upto 5.5lbs in about 10 minutes out of a swim that had been fished most of the day by another angler with heavier gear for a blank. I then cracked off at the hook, switched to a 5lb bottom to prevent further loss and it went dead. Switching back to the 3, bang on the drop. Followed by another surging run that I could t do much with (probably a Barbel) then I was out of 18s and the swim was ruined. That took all of 30-45 minutes in total.
In clear conditions they are very tackle shy.

 

[Mark Swaby]

Standard 010 hooklength for chub fishing at the moment on the float and catch plenty.In my Stour days used to use 011 and caught a lot of very big Chub to just under 8lb.I use balanced tackle,you would not believe what stick you can give fish on this type of gear.I would not use this type of tackle in severe snag swims,you have to use your judgement.I grew up match fishing and you get good at playing fish on light lines and tiny hooks if its going to cost you money losing them

 

[David Maddison]

I have one of my centrepins loaded up with 0.13 diameter Preston reflo power line ( 4lb 12oz) coupled with 0.11 (3lb 6oz) and a size 18 drennan super spade. I've not had any barbel on this set up yet but have had some good size chub float fishing.

 

[Dave Taylor]

Standard 010 hooklength for chub fishing at the moment on the float and catch plenty.In my Stour days used to use 011 and caught a lot of very big Chub to just under 8lb.I use balanced tackle,you would not believe what stick you can give fish on this type of gear.I would not use this type of tackle in severe snag swims,you have to use your judgement.I grew up match fishing and you get good at playing fish on light lines and tiny hooks if its going to cost you money losing them

Quite so Mark.
I learnt a lot from watching the likes of G.P. on the Royalty nearly 40 years ago bullying good chub on what I then considered very light tackle. Balanced gear and not letting them get their heads down at any stage was the key

The great thing about serving part of an angling apprenticeship on rivers like the Avon and Stour was being able to observe the fish's reaction to end gear and presentation in the clear water.
I often used to fish either a small clear bubble float or a little later on,.. crystals for the chub, but would sight fish with Polaroids watching the single maggot in amongst the free offerings and strike when I saw the white flash of the chubs mouth,..if you just watched the float the bait would have long been ejected.
A gallon of white maggots and a separate scoop of reds in the summer was the norm and I would just feed for the first 45 mins to get them preoccupied, confident and where I wanted them to be in the river.
Early morning and last hour 4lb straight through would take fish, but in between 2.5bs was the only way for continued sport. Even then they would sometimes part to let my bait pass through so I would then put a single red on the hook for a couple of trots which was an obvious wrong'en to them. When returning to a single white it nearly always got two more good fish straight away.
Great times and the hours just used to fly by.
Sorry that went on a bit!