Chub Behaviour

[Barry Fleming]

For the rest of this season at least, I am trying to make a bit more contact with the chub on the Ribble. I can catch the barbell easy enough, (on pellet) but the chub are a different ball game. On the Dane which I have fished for some years I can usually get them crawling up my rod on most baits.
But I am struggling on the Ribble, which is a much bigger river.
Last week I started on paste and had a chub in twenty minuets. For some reason I switched to pellet and then had nothing for the next seven hours, as pellet is the usual bait on the Ribble I think I was panicking over the barbell and possible bigger chub that I could be missing out on.
If maggot or caster is used then I would be plagued with eels, so I am thinking of entirely blocking any thoughts of barbell out and concentrating on bread flake and paste, which will be more attractive to the chub.
The other problem is, with the Ribble being a lot wider, where do I start, in these summer months would it be better to look for faster swims with streamer weed, or the deeper channels, which are much slower. And do the chub switch position in the river once dusk falls.

If we can go back to the Dane for a while, I misfired some hempseed and meat into shallow water, and within about fifteen minuets there were seven chub hoovering it up which I could see quite clearly. When I put a hook bait to them, a chub picked my hook bait up then immediately spit it out. This happened another two times, then after that not a single chub came within two feet of my hook bait. They all swam around it; as though there was a sign on it saying danger keep away. I moved the hook bait about two feet, and a chub picked it up straight away, but this time I was waiting, and struck when the chub had it in it?s mouth. It was a nice 4lb fish. The thing was there was not so much as a movement on my rod tip all the time the chub were mouthing my bait.

Sorry about this jumble, but now we go back to the Ribble. During the last few hours into darkness, I decided to touch ledger, so pointing my rod at where my bait was, I held the line between my fingers. All I was experiencing were very gentle plucks on the line, (I had pellet on again.) when I reeled in my bait was gone, could this be the same thing as what was happening on the Dane or could it have been eels, as the eels usually give a more savage pluck.
Once again I?m sorry it?s a bit jumbled, but hope you can help me out.
Cheers
Barry.

 

[John McLaren]

Funny thing fishing Barry! I'm having very similar problems to you but the other way around!

It will be interesting to see the responses of others but my own feeling is that bread doesn't come into its own on the Ribble until the autumn. Free-lined slug is definitely worth a try and you will get chub on maggot but you need to trot to avoid most of the eels. Corn works quite well but this year pellet and boilies have produced also.

A couple of nights ago I was getting exactly the bites you describe on pellet at thought it was eels but thinking it through I now suspect chub, perhaps small ones, eels generally keep on going at the bait but these were intermittent jabs.

 

[Barry Fleming]

John,
It's exactly the same thing that is happening to the both of us. I think where I slip up is when dusk starts to fall,I put pellet on.This week I'll stick to paste and see what happens. It's just the thaught of missing out on the barbel and possible bigger chub, as I know that some bigger ones have come out on pellet.So am I spoiling my chances by switching over to pellet, as it is the chub I am really after.
Cheers.
Barry.

 

[Andy Norris]

Barry

I was on the ribble the other night, same night as John (Hi John!). I used paste on 1 rod and pellet on the other. Paste did nothing early on so I went slug hunting. 1st cast I got a really strong tug then nothing. About half hour later I got a few quick knocks on the slug, and I hooked into a fish. I thought it was a decent chub (which is to be expected on slug) but when I looked in the landing net it was a 2lb Eel!
I re-casted with a big lump of John Baker Chub Paste, and soon later I landed a "bootlace" eel, which had swallowed a size 6 hook!
I expected to get some chub on this paste, but Ive had next to nothing with this paste, and at ?8 a bag, im wondereding if ive been had by the hype.

Its difficult to judge which baits on the ribble differenciate between chub and barbel, but i tend to find barbel feed more on the pellet than the paste. John is right in saying that flake is probably a dead cert but from Autumn onwards.
Maybe you will just have to be a bit patient and wait a month or two when the eels are such a pain, then you can try maggot/caster over hemp.
I wont take those down the river at the mo, as I know I will spend most my night with Eels wrapped around my forearm!

Where abouts on the ribble are you concentrating your efforts for chub??

Cheers

Andy N

 

[Barry Fleming]

John&Andy,
Thanks for the replies, at the moment I am at Balderstone, but not the famouse bend swim.I am tempted to try Salmsbury but then I'm not only changeing my swims about but the area that I fish also. I'm just trying to get some stability with where I am fishing and what I am doing.
Cheers.
Barry.

 

[Derrick Hodges]

There are large Chub all over Balderstone. I don't usually fish it till a little later and couldn't even tell you what state the River is currently in. Before it became a mini Circus I would very rarely see anyone even at the weekends. I never fished pellet and although I didn't get as many Barbel I certainly had more Chub. I've tried almost everything on there but without doubt my best success has come on Bronze maggot. People will say its impossible to fish them in Summer. It is on a low river that hasn't seen rain but wait till it lags it down for two weeks solid, find a nice slack and pile in the Bronzies. The fishing has certainly gone down hill the last two seasons I hope its got nothing to do with the ammount of pallets that go in but everyone seems to fish them these days. Also had good success on lobs for Chub.

D

 

[Andy Norris]

Are there any day ticket stretches at Balderstone?
When people say they are fishing there, does that mean barbel alley on the WAA stretch?
Ive never fished down there but i used to walk down from balderstone hall lane to balderstone hall and buy a "ticket" to park. Last time i went down I couldnt park up at at all, big sign saying private land etc etc.
So is "balderstone" classed as lower house farm off Bezza lane then?
Not that im going down there of course, it seems every man and his dog already fishes it. Im just curious thats all.
Ive got enough on my plate with all the PAAS waters to trawl thru before I try anywhere else!

Cheers

Andy N

 

[Barry Fleming]

Derek,
One of the things I am waiting for is a good deluge of rain,or winter whatever comes first.I hope it will really open up the bait selection then.

Andy,
Barbell alley does belong to W.A.A. and it is the one off Bezza Lane. And sadly it is in danger of becomeing a bit of a circus. The good thing though, it is very well bailifed, seven days a week, I'm one of them.There used to be a day ticket on that stretch called Parkinsons, but not anymore.

 

[Barry Fleming]

I?ve just finished reading an old report from a well-known river angler who fishes the Trent. What he says is that when he uses sweet corn sized baits or smaller, then the chub just take the bait in one go.
But for larger baits, the chub then tend to pluck at the bait with the tips of there lips in order to try and dislodge it from the hook, as these are the bigger and wiser chub that have been hooked before, It sounds quite familiar to me, can anyone confirm this?
Cheers.
Barry.

 

[john conway]

Bread flake would be my first choice for Chub even in the summer; however, I?ve always fished it with liquidised bread in a feeder. About a couple of months ago I bust our lasses liquidiser and I?m not as happy with bread mash. Which brings me to one of my questions, what?s the best way to make a good bread mash for the swimfeeder? Second question when you fish paste on the Ribble do you fish it on it?s own? I?ve always fished mine wrapped over pellet, generally making a bait about the size of a big plum.

 

[Barry Fleming]

John,
How are you doing mate? With mashed bread, I use the recipe of G. Marsdens it works a treat, just type ( mashed bread) in the search box, but be sure to let it go stale first or you will end up with a load of stodge. The only other thing I do with it is to add a good helping of crushed cornflakes, (with a rolling pin) this really seems to bring a rich yeasty type of smell out in it. It looks good, it smells good, and by golly it does em good.

On the cheese paste bit, I coil a piece of wire around the hook shank (N0 6) the kind of thickness that you will find in the top of an old ballpoint pen. This holds the super soft paste of Tony Miles paste on without any bother.I just mould the paste around this without a pellet.
I sound like an expert don?t I. If only I was one chub behind you I?d be okay.
Cheers.
Barry.

 

[Barry Fleming]

John,
Sorry mate I forgot to say that with the paste I usually end up with something around 16-18ml size.
Cheers.
Barry.

 

[john conway]

Cheers Barry, the bit I was missing was the drying out the bread first, like Graham said I’d end up with a soggy lump. My technique over last autumn/winter/spring was to fish bread flake over liquidised bread upstream and on the tail end of the swim I’d put out a suicide rod with hemp and caster. At dusk I’d change the hemp and caster suicide rod for pellet and paste but continue with the bread flake on the upstream rod. I could concentrate on the bread flake rod for those shy Chub and would even touch leger if I felt in the mood. However, this all went to rat shit on the Balderstone stretch for several reasons. One; normally when fishing for Chub I’d use a fixed paternoster rig but if there’s a chance of Barbel in snaggy swims the last thing you want is to be trailing a swimfeeder or bomb on the drop link of a fixed paternoster on a hooked fish which loves hugging the bottom. Two; I’d prefer not to use a fixed rig for tough fighting Barbel in snaggy swims. Three; bloody eels and casters and four; I didn’t know the swims on the Balderstone stretch and for my original technique you really need a swim that’s not snaggy. Hence the reason why just at the moment on the Balderstone stretch I’ve opted for pellet and paste, not that I’m winging, I’m still picking up the odd decent Chub and you can’t ignore the fact that some very very big Chub fall to the Barbel lads fishing pellet and paste, but I would like to get back to the bread flake and liquidised/mashed bread, now I know the Balderstone stretch a wee bit better I’m going to give it another go especially during the day light hours and when the river is very clear and low. I reckon if I can crack the Ribble when it’s running low, I’ll at least avoid the mini circus which hit Balderstones when there’s a bit of water in the river. Once again thanks for the info

 

[Jason Lennon]

Well Barry, I have the exact opposite problem on the Tees at Darlington. I can catch chub all day - decent sizes too, but haven't had a sniff from the barbel all season so far (boo hoo! barbel's me favourite fish!).

The way I catch chub is so simple, even your nana could do it. Earlier this season, I tried a new bait, and by jove - I'll always take it with me now.
the bait is:

DYNAMITE BAITS - Meaty Fish Bites

They are pre-formed,ready to put on the hook, chunks of luncheon meat, glugged in a liquid attractant which triggers a SUBCONCIOUS feeding reaction in the fish.
There are 2 sizes available(in my local tackle shop): one for size 12-14 hooks, and one for bigger hooks(which I use).

I use a size 8 barbless, put the meat on the hook(make sure the point is showing)
and fill my feeder up as normal, cast in and wait for a bite.

I find that this bait works a treat, just keep your eyes on your rod, cos the chub go at it that hard, they often hook themselves and try to pull your rod in!!

One final piece of advice - if you use these(and I strongly recommend that you do), make sure you have some baby wipes with you - the oil the meat is glugged in absolutely stinks, and you dont want that smell on yer hands when you're eating yer sarnies!!

I have caught several big chub (6, 7, 8lb) with this bait(no record fish yet though! but I am trying! Where I fish is where the record chub came from) and I would recommend it to anyone.

Happy chub hunting!

 

[Jim Hinchley]

IMHO
On the Ribble at the moment its really difficult to exclusively target the chub due to the water levels and eels/barbel depending on bait size and selection.
If i were to target them at the moment i would probably favour corn over hemp or flake over liquidised bread.
Id be looking for well oxygenated water but with a bit of depth @ 3ft and as a real bonus the back end run off from a deeper pool.
As far as location goes id be fishing above Ribchester to significantly reduce the potential for a barbel.
Im also in full agreement with others that a stick float and maggot approach can reap good dividends whilst avoiding the snigs.

 

[Dave Slater]

The chub round our way are very spooky at the moment. I even had them spooking away from lobs yesterday evening. I caught three in the end, all on lobs, but it was hard work. They didn't want to know about other baits.

 

[Jason Lennon]

IMHO
When things are a bit tough and even my meaty fish bites wont work(which aint very often), I find live minnow on the hook does the trick.
size 8 hook, pass hook into mouth, and out again, just in front of and between the eyes. this leaves the hook point exposed, leaving the minnow alive, allowing the minnow to swim around.
Because the minnow is alive, fish a spot that you know to be relatively snag-free and only have about 12inches for your leader.
Again, this can account for some big chub.

 

[Jason Lennon]

by the way, the minnow wont come off the hook until something grabs it.


CHUB BEHAVIOUR:

During the day, chub will patrol an area of about 3-400m upstream & downstream of their lair in search of food.
However during the night, chub will roam literally for miles in search of food.

 

[Stuart Harvey]

"I have caught several big chub (6, 7, 8lb) with this bait(no record fish yet though"

Bloody hell, where do you fish?

 

[Jason Lennon]

Free stretch of the river Tees at Broken Scar in Darlington. You get big ones from most swims. I think I live under a lucky star when it comes to chub - I must be blessed. BUT I DONT WANNA CATCH CHUB! I'm getting sick of catching chub cos they dont fight back like a barbel does! All you get with a chub is one half decent run and then you reel em in, but it's like reeling in a brick! you get the occasional head shake on the way in,but that's it!

I WANT TO CATCH BARBEL!! but I cant find em!!
At least you have to earn a barbel before you get it in the net! U cant just reel a barbel in, A much better fighter overall. It's been a while since I've had barbel induced arm-ache. Cant wait til that lucky star changes from chub to barbel!
(wonder where those barbel went??)

HAd an eel induced arm-ache at the tees a few weeks back though. I didnt think they grew so big. and I didnt expect that from Broken Scar. That put up a good fight, took almost half an hour to get him in!