Big Chub From The Ribble

Ice in the margins on the Ribble in winter

So, big for the Ribble, in the real world, is any chub over 5lb, of which there are enough of those to give you a very realistic chance of catching a few each winter. A Ribble chub over 6lb? Yes, we’re always in with a chance on some stretches, but there are many anglers, and good anglers at that, who fish the Ribble far more often than I do, who have caught just one or, more likely, none over that magic weight, apart from John Conway that is who has, I think, caught three.

A 6lb 5oz chub from the Ribble in winter for Dave Colclough

What is particularly good about the Ribble is the very high average size of the chub which, although not true on every stretch, it’s certainly true of many of them. On most stretches it is far easier to catch a 4-pounder than one less than 3lb, apart from very odd fish that are obviously of a completely different generation. That’s part of the downside though for, on many stretches, there doesn’t appear to be many smaller chub coming through to replace the current big ones when they pass on, which may not auger well for the future of this great river. Best then, to make the most of it while the going is so good.

Location

How do you locate fish in a river that is, in many areas, too wide to talk to somebody on the other bank without shouting? From a stretch of water that looks the same at one end as it does at the other? Where the flow hardly varies over a length of several hundred yards? Not easy if you’re not at all familiar with her. What the Ribble does have in one or two areas is fallen trees usually at the bottom of steep banks on wide bends where the bank erosion has been greatest in times of flood. Even where the trees have been washed away they’ve left branches and roots aplenty which offer refuge to both chub and barbel. Generally speaking, however, there are not many rubbish rafts and overhanging trees, very few slow glides leading to shallow rapids where the riverbed rises steeply, and very few of those classic chub swims that flag the homes of chub on rivers with lots of character.

Fishing the Ribble in winter

But that doesn’t mean the Ribble doesn’t have character. Oh no, she has that in plenty, but most of it is beneath the surface and you have to look very carefully to discover it. Plain for anyone to see, however, are the disruptions in the surface where the bottom is rocky, and where there are fissures in the rock beds, but most times the character on the riverbed is subtle and therefore the influence on the surface is subtle too. If there is more than a light breeze blowing, causing a slight ripple on the surface, then those subtle creases and other evidence of riverbed character will not be visible.

It pays to set aside a few hours and wander the river with a float rod set up to plumb and feel the riverbed. Pick a calm day when you can search for character with the rod and plummet and be able to see how that character is registered at the surface. This is something you can do any time, but is best done in the closed season when you can’t fish, when you’ll do a much more thorough job without the distractions.

Much of the time though, the best way of locating Ribble chub is to get some feed in and fish, and then move and try another spot if you haven’t caught anything within a reasonable time. But do this at those times which you know offer the best chances of catching something. Not much point doing it when you’re not likely to get a bite is there? Earmark those spots where you catch fish, for they will be good spots most of the time, or at least, perhaps, until some massive flood shifts whatever it was that attracted them to that spot in the first place.

Tactics

Legering
If you’ve chosen one of the ‘obvious’ chub swims – wide bend, deeper on the far bank, which is overhung with trees, or has the roots of those trees still present here and there, then try it for at least 20 minutes with a big hookbait. Don’t feed anything, just slip a big hunk of bread or cheese to the hottest looking spot in the swim and see if that big old chub will accept it. You never know, feeding first and then fishing may just be enough to make him slip away and not return until he knows he’s safe. Well, that’s the theory, but I always think it’s worth a cast or two with no feed in an obvious chub swim just to ‘test the water’.

Cage feeder with liquidised bread

Failing that, or even following a success with that approach, the next best thing is to feed the swim with a few casts of a cage feeder loaded with bread mash or liquidised bread. Occasionally I use Gardner’s Pocket Rocket spod when I know I’ll be leaving the swim alone for long enough to allow it to settle. Do the same in another swim while that one is resting, and then you have another chance in an undisturbed swim if your first choice lets you down.

Many Ribble anglers use heavier tackle and the bolt rig/hair rigged (or banded) pellet approach and accept the inevitable barbel that come along at the same time.

Float Fishing
Given a few small variations on rig and bait the legering approach I’ve outlined is pretty standard for big chub anywhere, on any river in any part of the country, but how many specialists float-fish for big chub? Not a lot! And yet in the right swim it is a deadly tactic and far more efficient than legering except where your target is a single specimen, or maybe a brace or three. The Ribble, however, has big chub of 5lb and over swimming with a good number of smaller fish, and if you can float fish, and feed the swim properly, you can pick off practically the whole shoal, including the biggest ones.

Big stick and Chubber float

Although you can use a big stickfloat, a Chubber or waggler is usually the best option as many of the chub swims are mid-river or beyond. Fished with a 12ft to 14ft match rod, 3lb to 4lb reel line and a 2.8lb hooklength. A size 16 spade-end hook with two or three maggots or casters, is all you need, or a single maggot or caster with the hook well buried. I’ll go down to a 1.7lb hooklength and an 18s on days when I’m scratching. A 10’s or 12’s hook with bread flake is another good option.

The secret, for wants of a better way of putting it, is in the feeding. I feed with hemp and caster, or hemp and maggot, or hemp and mashed bread (whichever hookbait I’ve decided on) with the particle feed mixed at a ratio of twice as much hemp as hookbait. I either wade and feed by hand, or catapult the feed from the bank. Wearing a bait apron makes the job so much easier and much more efficient, for it cuts out the bending and helps you maintain that essential feeding rhythm. Throw feed in every trot down and regulate it according to how well they come on feed by reducing the amount you throw in each time rather than by reducing how often you throw some in.

Almost there at 5lb 15oz

Unless you’re fishing near to snags there is no need to worry about landing the fish. With a match rod and a modicum of skill you’ll handle them quite easily. Make your priority getting a hooked fish away from the feeding shoal as quickly as you possibly can, and then just coax the fish to the landing net. Why don’t I fish lighter when I’m legering? Two reasons, the first being that I often leger close to snags, and the second is that you just don’t need to. All fish will take a bait on a thicker, legered line more willingly than they will take a bait on a float-fished one, and the presentation of a float-fished bait is so much more natural on a finer diameter line.

The next time you’re on the Ribble, or a river much like it, give yourself a few hours of daylight so that you can give the float a go. You might find you’re in for a very pleasant surprise. And you’ll definitely be in for a big injection of pleasure if you get a shoal of big chub feeding and you start to pick ’em off one by one…….

Much of this article was first published in Coarse Fisherman magazine