River Wye Chub

[Mark Hewitt]

Speeking toa friend of mine yesterday, he tells me he's off to the Wye, fly fishing for a couple of days during the closed season. He goes on to add that during the same trip last year he spotted some very large chub on one stretch, and he intends to target them with his fly tackle.

Is he likley to get away with it, especialy when you consider his fly choice? He intends to try Bread fliessimilar to the ones used by Mullet anglers on the coast. Its hardley a typical approach for game fish?

Also has anyone tried bread flies for chub?They look alittle clumbsy for me, I would have thought a more refined and delicate approach would be better for large chub?

 

[Graham Whatmore]

I have never tried fly fishing for chub but I once watched a guy on the Usk fly fishing presumably for salmon or trout and cursing at the constant chub that took his fly. Imitation maggot-like flies would go down a treat I reckon and some of the buzzers look to be made for the chub and erm! dace and roach (why am I whispering?).

As they say, you won't know until you try but I bet you will catch something for sure.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

" large Chub . . . and he intends to target them with his fly tackle.

Is he likley to get away with it, especialy when you consider his fly choice?"

In all honesty Mark I sincerely hope he does not get away with it.

The Close Season is in operation, and these flimsy attempts to circumvent it really make my blood boil.

Fly fishing for Chub is a fun experience and Ihave had a fair bit of success <u>in season</u> fishing very bushy dry flies in the late evening and most Sea Trout patterns fished wet in the late afternoons.

 

[peter crabtree]

another choice of fly for chub would be early bluebottle,or a nice wiggly garden fly./forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gifboth these flies can be bought in the bait section of most tackle shops.

 

[ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)]

Are you advocating poaching ???

This thread should be locked -- or deleted -- as it is giving people ideas of how to get around the close season on rivers !!

 

[chub angler]

Closed season ETC put to one side Mark Ive seen someone catch loads of chub on a dog biscuit fly made from deer hair so he might have a good chance.

 

[Graham Whatmore]

Right Ed, get your tongue back out of your cheek now ! !

Peter, fly fishing is allowed on rivers during the closed season and if coarse fish happen to take the offering then how is that wrong, I have never come across a one fish bait in my life and I would hazard a guess that flies are equally unselective just as trout take maggots intended for proper fish. You can't have it both ways mate, if river fishing is to be banned then ban it for all types of fishing or better yet allowany type of fishing, fish aren't selective only anglers are.

 

[Dave Slater]

I have to agree with Peter and Ed on this one as although it is legal to fly fish I do not think it is morally right to target a species for which there is a close season in force. If they are caught be accident then this is a different matter.

Wherever you stand on the close season issue this is currently the law and I do not think people should try and find ways round it.

If the law is changed then fair enough.

 

[Bob Roberts]

Perhaps I can shed some light here.

The River Don in Sheffield is a mixed coarse and game fishery. Very little of it is 'owned' as such with much of the fishing 'free' in so far as no-one will prevent you from fishing. You might get mugged, shot at or abused but that's a different matter.

In my role as angling columnist for the Sheffield sports paper I was asked whether any method trout fishing was possible, in other words, could they float fish worms and what would happen if they accidentaly caught coarse fish when they were suposedly trying to catch trout?

So I contacted the relevant authorties for a ruling and they came back to me 24-hours later with ananswer that was quite simple.

You may fish with worms but if you accidentally catch a coarse then you should return it as quickly as possible and then move to a different swim where you are not likely to catch a coarse fish. If you continue to catch coarse fish after each move then you should stop fishing.

In the case of fly fishing for chub in the closed season, this is clearly illegal and anyone doing so with deliberate intent to catch a coarse fish out of season should be reported to the EA, charged and dealt with by the courts.

I believe you can target coarse fish in Scottish rivers all-year-round as there is no Scottish coarse fishing license (is there?) but I could be wrong.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

"So I contacted the relevant authorties for a ruling . . . "

Surely Bob the only 'relevant' authority is the EA, so I take it that is who you contacted?

If so, then I believe they would have also informed you that if you fish with worm then only if the hook has a gape of 1/2 inch or greater.

"I believe you can target coarse fish in Scottish rivers all-year-round as there is no Scottish coarse fishing license (is there?) but I could be wrong."

Generally Scotland has no close season for Coarse fish, however, I believe that for certain parts of the Esk river system that the England and Wales rules still apply, as do they for cetainstillwaters in Norfolk and allwaters within areas designated as SSSI's

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

<blockquote class=quoteheader>Dave Slater wrote (see)</blockquote><blockquote class=quote>

I have to agree with Peter and Ed on this one as although it is legal to fly fish I do not think it is morally right to target a species for which there is a close season in force. If they are caught be accident then this is a different matter.</blockquote>
Can't see what the difference is, accident or targeting chub, it is still being caught.

 

[Graham Whatmore]

Now that doesn't make a lot of sense does it Bob? A, because you can't fish with a float in the closed season - for anything and B, who knows if you are fly fishing for coarse fish or trout? Unless you tell them of course, not that I am advocating it ahem!

 

[Bob Roberts]

Peter,

Without digging through the files for a name which I really can't be bothered to do, the answer is yes, the Environment Agency, and no, they didn't say anything about using hooks with a gape wider than half an inch.

But you are risking opening a can of worms here because I have fished the Trent on occasion in the dim distant past in the closed season, quite legally, as back then in the days of Severn Trent Water Authority you could fish for eels using worms providing you legered and that the hook gape was greater than a half inch.

It was club rules that prevented you from doing this on most stretches.

Whether the same rule applies today I have no idea but the relevant fact is that you may catch a coarse fish accidentally but to continue fishing the same swim in the same manner with a chance of catching another appears to be the illegal act which fly fishing for chub in the closed season patently is.

Graham,

It should be one's own integrity that prevents one from targeting chub on the fly in the closed season, not the chance of being caught, surely?

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Bob,

I agree totally; "but to continue fishing the same swim in the same manner with a chance of catching another appears to be the illegal act which fly fishing for chub in the closed season patently is."

I also agree with you on the matter of it being a question of integrity, not to mention morality, not to deliberately target coarse fish on the 'fly' during the close season.

To my mind, if one were to be caught using a 'bread fly' or a 'pellet fly' on a river in the close season then you are guilty.

I have fished the Hampshire Avon, the Test and the Itchen for Trout for many years during the coarse close season and have only ever caught one Chub by accident, and that was late in May when retrieving a large bushy fly very quickly at the end of a session.

 

[ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)]

If it was black ..... wouldithave been a 'slug' fly ???

 

[Cakey]

Chub Angler ...how do you make a dog biscuit fly ?

 

[Cakey]

Chub Angler I know youve never fished the Lea before but what size do they go to in the Wye?

 

[chub angler]

Cakey click on the bread flies on Marks first post its basicly the same as the right hand one but brown because of the deer hair.

 

[chub angler]

The HDAA club record is 8lb 4oz the average size excluding chublets is 3lb but there are a fair few four andfives

 

[Cakey]

and where do I get the deer hair from Chub ?