“I’ve never heard of an 8lb chub from a Northamptonshire fishery before – the biggest our stretch of the Great Ouse has ever produced is a 7lb 13oz specimen,” explained Milton Keynes AA chairman and Northamptonshire Chronicle and Echo angling columnist Trevor Johnson.
Chris Berry who manages the Wellingborough Lakes complex said it was the largest chub he had ever seen. He mentioned it to angling writer Bob Church who also said the he’d never heard of a bigger chub than that coming from Northamptonshire before.
“This fish is possibly an escapee from the Nene when we’ve had floods. It has been caught before on boilies by Dan Cook of St. Neots (see headline picture) and then it weighed 8lbs. It has been caught a few times before that and I believe it is now fattening itself up on fry and boilies put out by anglers for the lake’s carp.” said Chris.
Wellingborough Lakes comprises 4 disused gravel pits of 5, 12, 23 and 34 acres, with the 5 acre Island lake and 12 acre Heron lake situated south of the Wellingborough town at one site and the 23 acre Mill lake half a mile away to the south east of the town. The 34 acre Delapre Lake is south of Northampton town, all the lakes are along the Nene Valley. All four waters are run on a limited ticket syndicate basis to stop the waters being over fished and abused.
Caveat: We believe this story to be the accurate version, but because of a lack of photo and fuller information, details are still rather sketchy. If anyone knows of any other information they can add to it, please do so in the forums. Sorry that we have no photo of the captor, Jeff Twinning, with the fish.
FishingMagic note:
The fish at 8lbs in the main picture can hardly be questioned, but just as a comparison, Dave Slater caught this chub from the Stour weighing in at 8lbs 8ozs, picture right. Hopefully, Dave will later write an article for FM on his season after chub on the Avon where he’s aiming for a six-pounder in every month.
For details of Wellingborough Lakes go to their website by clicking here.
