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How to target bigger Chub advise please

Roger Hopkins

Roger Hopkins

Senior Member & Supporter
Failed miserably with the barbel this year and having never caught a chub over 4lb (sad I know) thought it time to give it a try!
Watched a few YouTube vids and the roving approach looks like the way to go to target the bigger fish, so when it gets colder will knock-up some cheese paste, grab a loaf and give it my best!
I’m on a baa ticket and usually fish the Avon and Severn below Worcester, a far cry from those lovely looking rivers on all those vids I’ve been watching, so the questions are...well...where do I start!!!
Any good advise please guys....and it’s December now so Happy Christmas all.
 
If you are going to catch big chub fish waters that hold them not all waters will do. Some local homework might help, you might have to travel. The best and most enjoyable way is trotting maggot. It seems you will be ledgering big Chub can be very careful feeders and will not often drag the rod over. I find fishing upstream with a ledger that only just holds bottom a bit of a bow in the line and a quivertip rod is the most consistent way. Get yourself sitting comfortable, hold the rod at all times and hold the line between thumb and fore finger. Your rod should be downstream of your bait, the bite will be a pluck followed by a dropback, strike the pluck. If you miss bites push the rod towards the bait at the first sign of a pluck and see if the chub holds on. Keep on the move until you get bites and then target the area this time of year they can all be together in one swim. Another good way to get them is a cage feeder balanced again to the flow with mashed bread and a piece of flake on the hook. The last two hours of day and the first hour of dark in Winter is the time to target them.
 
Thanks Mark, I would rather be float fishing but thought a static bait might find the bigger ones, keep on the move and try various swims, I read your post on 5nov ‘Roach’ sounds like a magical place that!
 
They are exceptionally clever fish. Their intelligence absolutely fascinates me.
there is nothing sad about your 4lb pb. That’s a cracking fish by any rivers standard and you’ll beat it I’m sure.
they are not difficult to catch if they don’t suspect anything’s up!
Big chub do test baits sitting on the bottom and they can avoid getting caught by plucking away at your bait. My best chubbing days come when I present them with a moving bait. Trotting or freelining a big lump of paste down has always caught me way more chub than static fished baits and I think it’s because they have a quick decision to make. Shit or get off the pot basically.
they love a snag/cover, they love pacy water they love slack water and they love the creases that separate the two. You can find them in just about any feature a river has to offer.
the only tip I could really offer to catching them is stealth. If they don’t know you are there and you have a rig in the water you’ll definitely stand a good chance of getting a few. If they suspect anything, you got no chance.
 
Float fishing with maggots is best when you know exactly which swims the chub are in. If you do not know the area it might be worth trotting bread flake with bread mash or roughly liquidised (the cheaper option to maggot) and fishing the whole stretch for a day just to find out where the chub shoals are.. Start at the top and work your way down stream, your bread mash will feed swims before you fish them. You can then target them with maggots another day, which if fed properly wind them up into a feeding frenzy. The advantage of maggot is that Chub will often spook off of big baits after a few. With maggot they find it very hard to not get tempted and numbers of chub, if in the swim, can be caught including the big ones. Just make sure you feed maggot then cast into the cloud. Lots of anglers cast then feed, all the feeding chub converge on the cloud of maggots with your hook bait going down the river on its own. You will still catch but the numbers will be reduced.
 
Not sure about targeting big chub on the Lower Severn. They're there alright, but finding them in miles of seemingly featureless 12 (NSL) to 30ft (flood) of water would be trixy. I'd start any chub campaign on the middle Middle Severn, maybe Hampton Loade way, and learn a stretch really well (as Mark has said) ... suss it with a float. You'd have the bonus of the large roach and large perch that are turning up this year.
 
Had quite a few good 4lb + chub trotting on the lower Severn last season.

6gr Avon float size 6 long shank hook.

Ideal choice of swim would be deeper slower section that widens and shallows with a pick up of pace.

Don't break up the bread mash feed too much in blender leaving some larger pieces.

Feed upstream every 2 or 3 casts. Ideally pop in a spare cage feeder rod and pull out as it hits bottom Be prepared to trot down 50 yards or so.

You will find a few hold backs of the float will add to the fish caught and bites can rip the tip round.

Often 4 or 5 fish will be it. Move on and repeat.

I fish the mash bread feeder in slower water, generally targetting inside cover like overhanging trees. Same size hook, 2 ft tail.

Generally bigger fish caught .

Ideal conditions? Clearing river, hint of colour.

Good luck
 
Wow! Loads to think about now, big thanks to all. Think all suggested getting the float rod out and sus out a few stretches first, learn whatI can, wise words methinks!
I enjoy the float fishing, probably guilty of being too static sometimes but finding some fish, on the float with the chance of a bonus roach, perch before placing a static bait sounds good to me!
Gonna nip upstairs and make some really big Avons now and dust off my 506!!
 
Roger. You can of course use Chubber but my eyes are not what they were.

For others AD have some excellent heavy Avons on sale that have a slightly longer top than normal. Ideal to shot down to the shoulder.

Just looked to link. Out of stock!!!
 
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I'm spoilt for choice down here with the Hants Avon and particularly the Dorset Stour, both have areas holding large populations of chub including some true leviathans. There are many ways to approach the challenge and I've had my fair share on maggot feeder with the well known inline Black Cap/ultra short hook link the historic classic. But I've not fished that, or similar, method for more than a decade. Trotting has been my choice, specifically in autumn/winter.

Those large populations and local knowledge make location somewhat easier and influence the tactics. The main aim is to get the chub to loosen their inhibitions and compete for the feed. The maggot feeder is great for introducing the feed but accuracy is compulsory to make the most of the method. Quantity of feed is not always compulsory but can help! I've sat behind a few very skilled "Black Cap" anglers at the top of their game and in the right hands and right conditions is extremely efficient. One classic example was the late Cam Cleary on a well known spot at Throop. He spent a good 45/60 mins feeding the spot with unerring accuracy via a Black Cap. He then decided it was time to attach the insanely short hook link culminating in a single maggot on a #20. He started to catch, continuing to feed at the same pace and accuracy. Any pauses in activity just saw him continue feeding. Cam's record on Throop was up there with the best. Whilst I didn't witness it, he is known to have removed the hooklink either by design or on the fence behind him, and continued to demonstrate how the chub were so uninhibited they were picking up the feeder to get at the maggots.

Loose feeding by hand (when trotting) is nowhere near as efficient at achieving that loss of inhibition but can be highly productive and for me far more enjoyable. In certain situations a bait dropper can also be very effective.

It took me until 2012 to get my first 7lb chub on the float from the Stour and have had a few more since. Had I fished with the feeder during that time, I'm certain I could have added a few more of those superb chub but who's counting!

I have a selection of rods but very much favour a pair of old JW Young 13ft Specimen Float. Sometimes I set up both, one always with a centrepin and top & bottom Chubber, Avon or similar, the other with a fixed spool and Waggler or Trent Trotter or similar.

I have a zillion floats but often favour the Clearwater range and sometimes those available from Dave Harrell.
 

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Graham,
Neil,
have just ordered a set of premier specialist Avon’s in 4grms to 10 grams!! I have a choice of rods, normal match rod, 15/17’ float rod, Avon rods I figure will do for the warks Avon, I have a 14’ Leeda commercial carp match rod, that I use for my tench fishing or a 13’ 1.75tc Avon rod I thought might handle the heavy floats needed for the Severn below Worcester
Thought about loading the reel up with heavier line for the Severn, any thoughts
Thanks again for everyones help
 
Yes. Good floats but make sure you use tight band if as I think alloy thin stems. Have a habit of riding up.

Two choices IMO the standard at 15ft float or the 14ft Leeda.

If the 15ft says a line rating up to 5lb or over probably that. If not the 14ft one.

I use a Hardy 14ft Specialist Float or a Shakespeare Mach 1 14ft. Normal line is 6.6 or 5.5 Silstar straight through.

Obviously let chub master Neil advise if maggots.....but I would definately start on bread on Lower.

Maggots a fair go on the WA.

Are you fishing BAA waters?
 
Will do, thanks Graham.....
pm will be on the way after the floats arrive, not made any bread mash before so need to check that out!
god bless YouTube!
 
Can't remember fishing anywhere lower than Kempsey, so don't know the lower river at all. Fished Worcester, Diglis and up around the Higley area quite a few times and had a lot of fun trotting. My normal set up with the JW Young rod, 8gm/10gm chubber or waggler worked well. I mainly used bits of meat or corn so hook sizes and hooklinks increased accordingly. Usually 5lb Drennan Floatfish mainline.

I can only imagine the lower river will be wider, deeper and with more powerful flow so don't be afraid of the weight/mass the larger floats can give you. Olivettes come in useful for bulk shotting but I prefer shot as they give me options to mess around with the shotting patterns.

My most used floats are Chubbers and Dumpy Wagglers @ 8gms and 10gms. Down here on the Stour in winter, IMO, the biggest mistake visitors make is trying to get a 6 x no4 stick float or similar to trot through the swim!
 
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