Wintle's World of Angling - Quest for a 5-16 Chub

QUEST FOR A 5-16 CHUB A 5-16 chub? What the hell is Wintle on about? Well, for the past six years, I have been in the awkward position of a) living near to and regularly fishing one of the finest chub rivers in Britain (the Dorset Stour), b) failing to catch a six pound chub, and c) not knowing whether I did in fact land a six pound chub back in October 1999. So, to thwart any gremlins that might be putting the kibosh on my ever catching such a fish, and having caught a few five pounders over the years, I decided that a six pound chub is really a five pound sixteen ounce chub. Sorted! What happened back in October 1999? One mid week evening, I popped down to the nearest stretch of Stour, mainly to get rid of a load of leftover casters from a weekend match. The fishing was slow at best with a handful of small roach and all I had to show for two hours fishing. It was dark when I was the on verge of packing up, the float barely visible. At the end of the trot, it dipped and I struck into what initially felt like the bottom. Then the bottom moved! Slowly I eased the fish upstream. There were no kicks or runs, just a sullen heavy weight. When the fish was under the rod tip it gradually came up in the water to steady pressure. By now the light had all but gone but a glimpse of those tell-tale white lips indicated chub. I quietly slipped the net under the fish, still with the impression in my mind that it was a fish of about three pounds. It was only when I lifted the net that I realised that this was something special. It was a truly huge chub. I opened the lid of my tackle box as a grim reality flooded back. On the previous Friday, I had removed my scales when sorting out my tackle bag. With no other anglers on the bank, no keepnet, no camera, no scales, and only a pan landing net, there was no way of weighing the fish even though home was only three miles away. What could I do? I decided that measuring the fish to the fork of its tail and attempting to measure the girth might give me a clue once I had a chance to check with figures from other anglers. I can't remember what I used to take these figures, only that the chub was in very good condition, that the girth was sustained, and that the figures were 23” in length and 13.5” in girth. Those that I have discussed this with (like Dave Slater) agree that I probably had a fish that clinched six pounds. But not knowing has been a constant source of frustration ever since. Was it a genuine six pounder? Or did it exceed six pounds with ease? What I am sure of is that it wasn't seven pounds. What all this boils down to is that I would only get peace of mind when I did finally put a six pounder on the bank; weighed, photographed and witnessed. Let's go back to the beginning. I spent most of my early fishing career (career? Still waiting for promotion!) fishing the Dorset Frome with occasional forays on the Thames. The chub-less Frome meant that I had very limited experience of catching chub with just a few small fish from the Thames. But in the mid seventies, the weigh-in at a match on the Stour impressed me when an angler had a 3½lb chub. It looked a veritable monster to an angler weaned on dace and roach. Within a month, I increased my personal best chub to 3-10 by using floating crust, though it was hard to smile through the derision of the regular Stour anglers used to landing four pounders with a rare five pounder. At that time, very few Stour anglers ever caught a six pounder, and it was truly a fish of a lifetime. By the end of the seventies, and now with my own car and the freedom a car brings, my personal best chub went up in leaps and bounds to first 4-8 then 4-14. During the eighties, I increased this further with fish of 5-1, 5-3, then 5-8 (from the swim that later produced the phantom six pounder). Through the nineties, I had something of a big chub drought when many stretches that had formerly been very good failed to produce much at all. But 1999 was a bumper year, on the Avon at least (something that Dave Slater found as well). Since then, as I explained in my last article, I have been guilty of neglecting the most prolific big chub water of all, Throop. Sure, I fished it for roach, but only made the odd foray for chub, with a best from the water of 4-14 two years ago. When I was stocking up with hookable and loose feed pellets in Bournemouth Fishing Lodge, Neil Cooke, the owner, suggested trying boilies for the really big chub. He recommended Terry Hearn's “The Source” in 15mm. Though I intended mainly float fishing pellet for the chub, I certainly would try boilies. During my first week of intensively fishing Throop I concentrated on float fishing pellets. But in addition to carrying a float rod I also had a feeder rod, a reel loaded with 8lb line, and a bait box of boilies and 14mm halibut pellets. I had concentrated my efforts on evening sessions after work but come the Saturday I decided to try my luck during the afternoon. I had a swim in mind, and with few anglers about, it was vacant. It did not take long for all sorts of fish to appear; a trio of chub between three and five pounds, a little barbel of about two pounds, and a better one of eight pounds, as well as numerous dace, chublets, roach and perch. But catching anything soon proved to be hard work in the very bright sun. A little chub of a pound, chublets, roach, and even a tiny silver bream were all I had to show for a hard couple of hour's float fishing. Yet all manner of big fish briefly showed in the swim; even a big carp well over twenty pounds put in an appearance a couple of times. I rigged up the feeder rod, hair rigging a boilie on a no. 8 hook with a light (1SSG) link leger. Holding the rod for bites, it wasn't long before a gentle draw on the line resulted in a chub of about 3½lbs. That was it for the day, and as I had run out of time packed up. The following evening I had a session near the New Weir, just using boilies and feeding 6mm pellets, again using a link leger. Although the main swim was straight upstream, to my right a glide about three feet deep had a couple of chub about two pounds in it, and I fed this with pellets as well, as much to see what might appear there. In the main swim, it was slow for a long time but eventually I hit a drop back bite to get a chub of three pounds. The main swim remained quiet, with just one missed bite but to my side some bigger chub were starting to come into the glide for brief feeding forays. Gently dropping the boilie in spooked them for a few minutes, then they'd reappear, and amazingly (to me at least) head straight for the boilie. This happened four times, and I landed three chub, two just over four pounds and another three pounder. Between fish, I rested the swim for twenty minutes at a time, fishing the main swim. My confidence in using boilies was growing. Three days later I was back to explore another part of Throop. Having screwed up one good swim trying to tempt out some chub on float-fished pellet I decided to move swims. Another angler had pointed out several good swims the previous night and, finding one of them vacant, I got settled in and started to feed pellet for ten minutes. Whilst waiting for the fish to settle, I checked out the swim upstream. An angler I'd already bumped into twice in the previous ten days, Keith Little, was tucked in there. We'd discussed big chub previously; Keith reckoned that a legered bait offered a much better chance of a really big chub than float fishing, and with three over six pounds during this holiday alone who could argue (not even counting the other forty odd over six pounds to well over seven pounds he'd caught at other times). With the wind light, and a couple of hours left before dark, I decided to have a quick go on the float before patiently trying a boilie. First chuck, a 5-1 chub (the one shown in my last article). That made up for the earlier disappointment. With no more bites forthcoming, I switched to legering a boilie. What followed over the next couple of hours was intriguing if nothing else. Plucks, tweaks, trembles, but no recognisable bites. Keith came down for a chat, and we agreed that with fish active in the swim it was a question of periodically resting the swim, and being patient. There are bream in this swim and these could have been responsible for some of the activity as well as the chub. Then with only twenty minutes of fishing time left, I got a little drop back bite and struck. Mark and his 5lb 27oz (6.11) chub (all he needs now is few lessons on how to hold a fish, belly towards the camera doesn't look quite right! - Graham) With 8lb line I was in the position of not taking prisoners and after a short fight that involved heaving the fish out of the thick weed I drew the chub over the net. It was then that I realised just how big the fish was. The immense depth of this very dark fish was like no chub I had ever seen. The hook fell out of the chub's lip, it had only just held in a tiny piece of skin. I unscrewed the landing net head and weighed the fish quickly. It was well over six pounds. I grabbed my camera and the net, and went up to Keith. I forget his exact words but even a quick glance confirmed that it would be over six pounds. I asked him to do the honours with the scales: 6-11. When I returned to my swim, I checked the zeroing of my own scales with the net. This gave me the same weight that Keith had found. The fish was in excellent condition though obviously hollow having spawned some weeks earlier. I can only speculate what it would weigh at its best, well over seven pounds I guess. At last, I have a proper PB for chub. I have much to learn about Throop and its chub. The way I am fishing boilies owes more to the methods of Terry Lampard than the approach of many barbel anglers fishing on there though the heavy lead approach does pick up big chub. Whilst I have got lucky in one way, I am catching plenty of decent chub, certainly far more than I had all last season. It is clear that as the season progresses I will need to adapt to other methods - watch this space… So far, I have learned the following: It seems to help to have the boilie tight to the bend of the hook The lighter the link leger the better, just enough to hold is about right Resting the swim periodically can overcome the chub's wariness Accurate casting is essential Dusk is often the killing time That I haven't been so chuffed with a fish for a long time... And finally, for those that believe in coincidences, the date I caught this big chub was exactly thirty years to the day after I witnessed that 3½lb chub all those years ago.