Favourite Chub Hook

[bigchub]

We seem to have been over this old ground many times before and I'll say it again - Hair rigging DOES work for chub and can be a very effective method. The secret is to have the bait hair rigged as tightly as possible to the hook. This way the fish can't pick up the boilie without picking up the hook as well.

[steph mckenzie]

If Hair Rigging doesn't work then how does Bob James catch the fishing Pellet on a pellet band, it's the same principle, the bait stand free from the hook.

I have caught all of my Chub on Hair Rigged Stewing Steak ....... ok i've maybe only had 20 Chub or so but still caught them on the Hair Rig.

How do people catch Chub on Boilies, do they side hook them ..... no i don't think so.

[cg74]

Originally Posted by steph mckenzie

If Hair Rigging doesn't work then how does Bob James catch the fishing Pellet on a pellet band, it's the same principle, the bait stand free from the hook.

Well I wouldn't call that hair-rigging, it's not exactly much different to the way most anglers nick maggots onto a hook is it??

[bigchub]

Originally Posted by steph mckenzie

If Hair Rigging doesn't work then how does Bob James catch the fishing Pellet on a pellet band, it's the same principle, the bait stand free from the hook.

I have caught all of my Chub on Hair Rigged Stewing Steak ....... ok i've maybe only had 20 Chub or so but still caught them on the Hair Rig.

How do people catch Chub on Boilies, do they side hook them ..... no i don't think so.

I think what Chav meant was its not "the thing to do" when purposely setting out to catch chub. It's not the first thing people think of when trying to catch chub.
I started using bolt rigs and boilies when anglers on my local river, at the time, were having lots of chub "trouble" when trying to catch the barbel. All I did was target the chub instead of the barbel with heavy leads, large hooks and boilies instead of the normal link legers or very light weight feeders and bombs that people were using. In other words, I did the very opposite of what they were doing, and cleaned up while they sat motionless behind their rods.
My sequel to my Big Chub on Boilies article will be appearing at the end of this season and that will certainly ruffle a few feathers and open more than one tin of worms.

[Bob Hornegold]

Originally Posted by chav professor

Is hair rigging a reliable method of tripping up chub? I don't mean the odd fish - but sustained use resulting in a better than average hook-up and landing rate of chub...... I mean anything can have its day!

When i suggested 'am I missing out not using a bolt rig and hair for Chub'.... it opened a can of forum worms to say the least........

I suspect if bolt rigging was a good method there would not have been any nonsense about - 'you don't wanna do it like 'at'! - brigade.... I just suspect that it is not a method best suited to this species or a method that works all the time! Otherwise, it would be a generally accepted method - rather than be met with 'the why would you want to 'cheat' and catch them with an underhanded method like that'... it doesn't seem to bother people when considered as a method used for other species. (in-deed if it was effective, I would be just as inclined to use it as anyone else).

Being a forum and a place where every line can be picked apart and misconstrued. I am not being judgemental, just curious as I am yet to be convinced. Does bolt rigging work for Chub????

--

I think it's 6x7lb+ Chub to my mate and I have caught a few more.

I rest my case and No I won't be doing an article, for the reasons above.

Bob

[Simon K]

Originally Posted by chav professor

Is hair rigging a reliable method of tripping up chub? I don't mean the odd fish - but sustained use resulting in a better than average hook-up and landing rate of chub...... I mean anything can have its day!

When i suggested 'am I missing out not using a bolt rig and hair for Chub'.... it opened a can of forum worms to say the least........

I suspect if bolt rigging was a good method there would not have been any nonsense about - 'you don't wanna do it like 'at'! - brigade.... I just suspect that it is not a method best suited to this species or a method that works all the time! Otherwise, it would be a generally accepted method - rather than be met with 'the why would you want to 'cheat' and catch them with an underhanded method like that'... it doesn't seem to bother people when considered as a method used for other species. (in-deed if it was effective, I would be just as inclined to use it as anyone else).

Being a forum and a place where every line can be picked apart and misconstrued. I am not being judgemental, just curious as I am yet to be convinced. Does bolt rigging work for Chub????

In short....................yes.

I spent some several years on the q'tip for them, then a friend showed me the Fine Art of Boilies and Bolt-Rigs and, to be honest, I rarely deliberately target chub with any other method.
I've caught a lot of chub up to an ounce under 8lb and all of the better fish have come to the boilie.

The long-hair vs short-hair debate is a difficult one. I have used both with great success and couldn't pick one over the other. The 7.15 came to a 2-inch hair.
And I saw that fish rise, cast a 2 ounce lead 5 yards directly upstream of it and hooked it less than 10 minutes later. So much for big leads etc spooking them.

Apart from anything else, I can fish hard venues with confidence in the middle of Winter where one bite in 8 hours would be a good expectation and know that I'm not going to miss that "lightening" bite and then throw my rod in the water in frustration because my frozen hands wouldn't respond in time!

I do still fish a quivertip when the mood (and weather) takes me though.
Likewise a bolt-rig maggot feeder. Now that's a fun method with a few fish in your swim.

Hooks? Sharp and barbed and, unless I'm on maggots........big.
They have Big Mouths.

[chav professor]

Originally Posted by Fred Blake

Based on my experience (which is admittedly limited to small and medium rivers, up to Hampshire Avon size) the combination of bolt rig and hair would seem to be the best way to avoid hooking chub! Whilst they certainly gulp the bait down and give easy unmissable bites on occasion, more often than not they can be quite difficult to hit. They tend to pick the bait up in their lips and back off with it, which is why it helps to feed them some slack as soon as the first pluck is felt. Mounting the bait on a hair just makes it easier for the chub to pick the bait up without getting the hook, and using a bolt rig simply causes the bait to be pulled out of the chub's mouth again almost straight away.

I prefer to create the exact opposite effect - hook in the bait to maximise chances of the chub actually having it in his mouth when I strike, and the means to feed slack line to a taking fish.

I'm not anti-bolt rig either; far from it, as I use the principle to good effect for carp, tench, bream and roach.

See this is my experience (though limited to the Hampshire Avon) - barbel, carp and bream are regularly tripped on the bolt rig style set up, but I have only had one chub to this set up, though this only my experience from only three seasons as a visitor (maybe 15 odd days fishing). I get plenty of rattles that I have felt may of been chub.

You could argue that the method described by BigChub makes a compelling argument for bolt rigging for chub - but if you think about it -the method described is in fact usually asosiated with barbel and not chub on a typical river???........

I have caught Chub on hair rigged and banded pellet but rarely bother - but when I do this is with a light linked ledgered.... this is where the method does not work on Bigchubs old river.... so maybe the change was accepted and the fish tripped up or 'cleared up' with a regularity that enabled a solid hypothesis.

Typically my techniques mirror Fred's et al that I try and reduce and keep resistance to a minimum - that is not to say this is the only approach.
But compare how confident a bait is taken when free-lined or up-stream ledgered to that of a ledgered static bait (howver carefully balanced) - I sense that the reduced resistance techniques may have more longetivity and give more confident bites!!

I still stand by my thoughts that as a generalisation Bolt rigging isn't that sucessful otherwise the popular angling media would have normalised it as a technique (you know, Bowler, Lampard, and others Catching Chub on the bolt and trying to sell the gear to do it)... Maybe, hook choice is going to be more critical and we will be Carpchubling!

As for hair rigging - if you want to use a tough bait - hair rig its got to be!

I certainly don't think along the lines of 'its not the done thing'!
I suppose I just wanted to liven up the thread really!!!

[Simon K]

[QUOTE=cg74;1017252]

I didn't know Bob was an advocate of this technique but a real exponent of it is SimonK, and after my last attempt at explaining it on here being berated so much, I'll leave it to Simon or Bob too describe the rig mechanics, if they wish...



QUOTE]


Well, that's only because I spend more time than Bob on my chubbing, but it was Bob's "innovation" I copied.

Short, stealth links with the last inch peeled. Hair coming off as the bend starts, short or long I don't think matters. Backlead. Put kettle on.
Simple.


Also, we've taken Bowler chubbing, but the silly ****** insisted on using a float*. He'll learn.


Edit: A smile just came to me as I remembered him calling us and saying "Ummmm............Where's the river gone?"
They'd been doing some engineering works upstream (unknown to us) and the river level dropped 3 feet while he was running his float through and trying to build up the swim. How we laughed...............



and carried on with our piking.

[Bob Hornegold]

Originally Posted by chav professor

I still stand by my thoughts that as a generalisation Bolt rigging isn't that sucessful otherwise the popular angling media would have normalised it as a technique (you know, Bowler, Lampard, and others Catching Chub on the bolt and trying to sell the gear to do it)... Maybe, hook choice is going to be more critical and we will be Carpchubling!

As for hair rigging - if you want to use a tough bait - hair rig its got to be!

I certainly don't think along the lines of 'its not the done thing'!
I suppose I just wanted to liven up the thread really!!!

Chav,

You really are a XXXX at times - re Carpchubbing !!

I was going to explain the mechanic's of the rig, then I thought - No, let them get on with it.

Goodnight.

Bob

[chav professor]

Originally Posted by Simon K

In short....................yes.

I spent some several years on the q'tip for them, then a friend showed me the Fine Art of Boilies and Bolt-Rigs and, to be honest, I rarely deliberately target chub with any other method.
I've caught a lot of chub up to an ounce under 8lb and all of the better fish have come to the boilie.

The long-hair vs short-hair debate is a difficult one. I have used both with great success and couldn't pick one over the other. The 7.15 came to a 2-inch hair.
And I saw that fish rise, cast a 2 ounce lead 5 yards directly upstream of it and hooked it less than 10 minutes later. So much for big leads etc spooking them.

Apart from anything else, I can fish hard venues with confidence in the middle of Winter where one bite in 8 hours would be a good expectation and know that I'm not going to miss that "lightening" bite and then throw my rod in the water in frustration because my frozen hands wouldn't respond in time!

I do still fish a quivertip when the mood (and weather) takes me though.
Likewise a bolt-rig maggot feeder. Now that's a fun method with a few fish in your swim.

Hooks? Sharp and barbed and, unless I'm on maggots........big.
They have Big Mouths.

The maggot bolt rig!!!! yes, thats a reliable method especially if you have chub competing and coming up to the feeder (Throop originated!) not really an issue on the types of river we have in this part of Suffolk.

Still reckon you could just as equally be missing fish because of the heavy lead, just as equally as a chub will turn and ignore a freelined offering because it senses something it doesn't like. Never a simple solution with specimen fish other than every method has its day - even bolt rigging as it seems!

I still don't understand why bolt rigging for Chub causes so much heated debate other than 'does it work'? this is where the debate or argument for its use or fitness for purpose becomes clouded.

It is a solution to a problem! On the rivers I fish, part of the problem is not the number of bites you may recieve in a day, rather, how can you be selective and avoid the smaller examples...... Different rivers, different problems, different solutions IMO.

Do I use or have I used hair rigged bollies? Yes - will I ever Bolt rig for chub? probably not, but never say never as they say!!!