On The Chub Trail – Part 2

Chub fanatic Dave Slater has had an almost lifelong love affair with fishing, an affair that began some 50 years ago, when he first picked up a rod. Much of that time has been spent chasing chub, a species he considers to be special. In this series of five articles Dave (“I’m not an expert, just experienced”) is going to share some of those experiences with us.

PROGRESSION

By the time 1990 came round Bill Neal, who had recently joined the Chub Study Group, had become a good friend. Bill had lived in the area for many years and had built up a lot of knowledge on the local rivers. We fished well together and learned a great deal from each other. The 1990/1991 season was a learning curve.

A Dorset Stour chub of 5lb 13oz caught in September 1990

I decided to spend all of the summer on a stretch of the Dorset Stour I knew held a large number of good chub. I spent a lot of time in the close season watching fish. I kept several swims baited up with hemp and corn and watched what was going on. Some of the swims seemed to be frequented more often by barbel and bream than by chub. Three of the swims always had chub in them and one of them seemed to hold more than the other two. I kept these three swims baited up all the time.

An old carp fishing dodge
I had found during the previous few seasons that the bites on corn seemed to be very tentative. I decided to use an old carp fishing dodge and to fish big hookbaits over a bed of particles, using cheese and meat over hemp and corn. Tackle was simple; I had a home made rod made from a 10’6″ Sportex fly blank and I used this with a Mitchell 300 loaded with 5lb Maxima and a Size 6 Drennan Carbon Chub hook. Bill and I both really rated these hooks. I touch-legered at all times and rotated three different types of meat and three different types of cheese. Most of my chub were caught on Spam, with bacon grill and garlic sausage not attracting as many bites. In the evenings the chub would sometimes prefer cheese. Plain Cheddar outscored the other two cheeses I was using.

Most of the bites were delicate plucks so I opted for long hooklinks. My conversion rate was pretty good as I was touch-legering. In July I was rewarded with a new personal best of 5lb 6oz and followed this up with another good one of 5lb 4oz in August. September was to be my best month of the season. I started the month with a brace of five pounders, 5lb 5oz and 5lb 2oz, on a morning session. This was the first time I had accomplished this. Another good one of 5lb 4oz was taken a bit later in the month and at the end of the month I caught what I had been after, a cracker of 5lb 13oz on Spam during an evening session.

A 5lb 3oz Hants Avon chub caught in March 1991

Liquidised bread as feed
I had multiple catches of 4lb-plus chub throughout that summer, something that was a new experience for me. Poor Bill struggled through the summer months but the roles were to be reversed in the winter. Bill is a superb winter angler and I learned a great deal from him. On the Stour he used liquidised bread as feed and caught most of his fish on cheese or bread, either using a cage feeder with liquidised bread, a straight lead or a float. On the Avon the favoured method was the maggot feeder or, sometimes, the float. Bill had a smashing feeder rod called the Shakespeare Concorde. Although it was a cheap rod it had a lovely action and at 11’6″ was the ideal length. I bought a pair of these and got on with them straight away. I learned a lot about feeder fishing from Bill and my results on the Avon were pretty good that winter, with some bigger chub than I had caught from the Avon previously falling to my rods. Bill’s results on the Stour that winter were as good as mine had been in the summer and we both finished the season with a formidable tally of big chub.

The 1991/1992 season was to be an even better one. I started on the stretch of the Stour I had fished the previous summer. I decided to use the Concorde’s instead of touch-legering. I often used two rods, fishing the second one below the baited area as a ‘suicide rod’, a trick I had picked up from Bill. The bites seemed to be more positive than they had been the previous summer although I was baiting up the same and using the same hookbaits. Had the bites been the same as the previous summer I would have had to stick to one rod and touch-leger with the occasional cast below the baited area to see if a lone big chub was lying behind the swim picking up morsels trundled down with the current.

A fat Dorset Stour chub of 5lb 9oz caught in June 1991

I caught a few more chub in the evenings after work the following week then decided to move to another stretch lower down river. I had a few days off work during the first week in July and concentrated on the new stretch where I stuck with the same tactics and caught a cracking chub of 5lb 12oz on my first day. It was a hot day and three very large chub swam over the gravel I had been baiting up. I just cast a large piece of cheddar in the middle of them and the smallest one grabbed it before it hit the bottom. Another good chub of 5lb 6oz was caught a few days later. Several more chub were caught from both stretches but no more fish over 5lb until October.

We had a Chub Study Group fish-in down our way and I took a friend on the original stretch. I put my friend in my favourite swim but he blanked. I caught a few decent chub to 5lb 4oz from another swim. I then moved on for the winter. I continued feeder fishing on the Avon with a reasonable success rate. I also took the decision to move onto other areas of the Stour. I enjoyed a reasonable amount of success on the Stour, but no chub over 5lb were caught. Cheese was by far the most successful bait. By this time I had started experimenting with cheeses mixed together and I was sure I was onto something.

Three over six for Bill but the end of the road for a while for me
Bill was doing exceptionally well that winter and managed to catch three chub of over 6lb during February. I deliberately had not rejoined the club that controlled the two stretches I had been fishing in January as I felt this would force me to be more adventurous in my choice of waters. I had some time off at the end of the season and couldn’t resist a quick early morning ‘guesting’ session on the stretch I had done so well on during the last two summers on the way to one of my new venues.

A lovely 5.12 summer chub caught from Dorset Stour in July 1991

The 1992/1993 season was mainly spent on the new stretches on the Stour. Nothing spectacular was caught but I was learning a lot by experimenting with different cheese mixes. I was not entirely happy with the hooks I had been using so switched to Kamasan B980’s in the larger sizes. I was still happy with Drennan Super Specialist’s in the smaller sizes for feeder fishing. I also started using Berkeley XL line and was very impressed with it.

For personal reasons I decided to pack up fishing at the end of that season. I found that I missed fishing, especially the company of my fishing buddies. Then I had a few days off in March 1995 and asked if I could join Bob Mills and Bill Neal for a day and just sit with them for a chat. When I arrived Bob informed me that Bill couldn’t make it and passed Bill’s rod to me to use. I enjoyed the day and went along again on another day to fish with them both. I decided that I would like to fish again the following season but, unfortunately, I had sold my equipment. The Concorde’s were no longer available so I bought a couple of John Wilson Avon Quiver’s matched with small Shimano reels and I was in business again.

STARTING AGAIN

The 1995/1996 season turned out to be an interesting one. I had seen some very big chub, certainly as big as those around today, in the years before my break from fishing. The main reason these fish were not caught was, in my opinion, mainly due to the vast shoals of chub that were around in those days. There were many three pounders to wade through before even catching the ‘fours’ and ‘fives’. On the opening day of the season I saw another giant chub on the Stour. It was by itself and I baited the swim with hemp and corn. The chub nosed the corn on several occasions and backed off. Eventually the chub disappeared and was not seen again for a few weeks. It looked well over 7lb.

A chub of 6lb 2oz caught from the Hampshire Avon in October 1996

I did some fishing on quiet stretches of the Avon for a few weeks in the evenings after work. I caught a lot of chub and really enjoyed myself. Cheese was the most successful bait and I did some experimenting with different mixes. A trip to the Stour in early July found me looking at the huge chub again. This time it was with several other chub. I thought it looked nearer to 8lb than 7lb. Most of the others in the shoal looked about 3lb and there were two slightly larger fish, which looked over 4lb. I baited up with hemp and corn again and the chub began to feed. After an hour or so the big one disappeared, never to be seen again. I eventually decided to catch the two ‘fours’ before going home. They weighed 5lb 6oz and 5lb 5oz. I shake when I think how big the other one must have been.

Back to the old haunts on the Stour and a long hooklink does the trick
For the rest of the summer I went back to my old haunts on the Stour. I had fun catching lots of chub, including a few ‘fives’. The best baits were cheese and garlic sausage. There was a shoal of chub which several anglers fished for, claiming they were uncatchable. Scattered hemp with cheese fished over the top soon sorted these out. The biggest I caught was 5lb 7oz but there were one or two really big chub in the shoal. The autumn and winter were mainly spent on the Avon fishing the maggot feeder. I really enjoyed this and caught lots of chub to 5lb 5oz. I had caught a lot of chub that season and hoped for some bigger ones the following season.

A Dorset Stour chub of 6lb 1oz caught in October 1996

I did a bit of tench fishing at the beginning of the 1996/1997 season before starting my chub campaign. The summer months were spent on the Stour with chub to 5lb 9oz being taken, mainly on garlic sausage. I decided to spend the autumn and winter on the Avon again. I had a week off at the beginning of October and fished with the maggot feeder. My first session produced several good chub including a brace at 5lb 4oz and 5lb 2oz, my first brace of Avon ‘fives’. On the second day I caught several chub and in the afternoon a big one appeared. The chub was sitting behind the shoal picking up maggots as they drifted down. I increased the length of my hooklink to 6 feet and the tip slammed round almost immediately. After a good fight a new personal best of 6lb 2oz was netted. The next day I fished the Stour with a friend. There were several good chub in the swim I was fishing but the minnows were making things very difficult. I decided to fish with maggots in the feeder and meat on the hook. The chub were attacking the feeder but leaving the hookbait after nosing it. I decided to use the long hooklink again as there was a large chub at the back of the swim. A piece of bacon grill was fished 6 feet behind the maggot feeder. As soon as the feeder hit the water several chub attacked it. After a couple of seconds the tip slammed round. After an incredible fight a chunky chub of 6lb 1oz was netted. Who says chub don’t fight? What an excellent result. ‘Sixes’ from two different rivers in two days, followed by a few more decent fish to finish the week off.

A PB to open November and Peter Stone picks me as the winner
A day off at the beginning of November saw my personal best increased further, on maggot feeder again. A 6lb 5oz chub was caught from the same Avon swim that the 6lb 2oz chub had been caught from. I caught chub steadily for the rest of the season with some nice ones to 5lb 8oz taken on the maggot feeder. I was very proud when I was awarded the Chub Study Group President’s Shield for the three ‘sixes’ in a month, as Peter Stone picked the winner of this himself.

Part 3 – “the next two seasons were very interesting, a time of consolidation and learning.”