Chub Fishing on Opening Day

Chub fishing on a Thames Backwater and the River Colne

I ARRIVED AT 4am at the backwater on the first day of the season 20065 and made my way to the river through a field of buttercups, daisies and long grass.

Having decided to fish the last swim where I’d spotted some chub from an earlier recce, I heard some commotion in the river as I approached it. It seemed some of the chub were still spawning, with one or two of the males pursuing a lone female in the shallows.

“I made my way to the river through a field of buttercups, daisies and long grass”

Nearby a lone barbel hung effortlessly midstream over a gravel run, there was no weed present but some overhead bushes on the far bank provided some cover for some quite large loggerheads that drifted in and out of them.

I decided to use a worm on the hook, hoping for the barbel with a chance of hooking one of the bigger chub.

My rig was simple; a 6lb line straight through to a number 6 hook and one SSG shot about 18in from the hook. First cast, (It felt great to be back) landed upstream and drifted under the nose of my intended quarry. His body quivered a bit, he inspected it and then ignored it. I decided to leave it out there, but it drifted out of his view.

I decided to cast again, this time as it drifted before him a small chub shot out from under the bush and grabbed hold of it. After a short tussle I returned him to the river, my first fish of the season, he must have weighed around 2lb. Amazingly after all this tumult the barbel remained undisturbed. A few more refused lobworms and after something spooked him (probably me) I decided to change swims.

The Thames’ backwater

The next swim was the very end of our stretch and required an upstream cast to land in a slightly deeper run under an overhanging branch. Not an easy proposition some might think, but with balanced tackle a doddle.

All you need to do is add enough SSG shot to the line to enable the quivertip to have a respectable curve pointing upstream. Having cast out, tighten down and if the tip keeps falling back without getting a ‘grip’ add some shot. Alternatively, if the tip bends right round before the shot dislodges, take some off. You just need to strike a balance so the tip is bent enough to show up a decent drop-back bite. Having decided to fish a bit of crust, I found three SSG shot to be just right.

It didn’t take long after I’d baited the swim with some mashed bread and cast out for the tip to give a classic drop-back bite. One second the tip was bent nicely, the next it was straight back and rattling away, that ‘s when I struck. Another chub of 2 1/2 lb graced the landing net. A few more casts proved unfruitful so I decided to change swim again.

The swim I choose had part of a broken down wall in it, that seemed to make the current flow even faster as it funnelled the stream away from the bank towards midstream. It also was a bit deeper here again with a gravel bottom. As sport had been a bit slow, I decided to try a bait and wait approach. I was itching to try out some new Elips pellets that had arrived in the post, so I decided to hair-rig one of these to a size 10 hook and laid out a couple of handfuls in the swim. It took two SSG shot to hold bottom in this more turbulent water. An hour must have passed before the tip wrenched around and stayed round. I struck and the fish tore downstream on its initial surging run. I thought I’d hooked a carp.

“just over 5 lbs, my first really big chub from this stretch”

I managed to turn him and on bringing him back towards me he leapt clear of the water and came splashing down with an almighty crash and tore off again. I turned him once more and getting him up to the surface saw the telltale lips of a chub. It didn’t take long before he was beaten and in the net.

Gazing him upon him I noticed I’d never caught a chub this big before. On weighing him with shaking hands he went just over 5 lbs, my first really big chub from this stretch. I stuck it out for another hour, but the sun was getting high in the sky so I decided to drive down to the river Colne and see If I could spot anything there.

The River Colne

I’d only recently joined a club on this section of the Colne and the club had left it right till the last minute to send me my card (arriving the day before the start of the season). On approaching the gate I saw a couple of guys conversing and decided to ask them If they’d caught or seen anything. One had said he’d landed a 4 1/2 lb chub and the other, an older man who wasn’t fishing, offered to walk with me along the bank as he had only just joined the club too and had decided to come down.

There weren’t too many swims and these were made up of wooden planks supported by scaffolding poles over the bankside, ending at the river’s edge. There was plenty of cover for the fish with overhanging trees and bushes on either side, lots of streamer weed and nice clean gravel runs.

The river also twists and turns and a small weir pool completes the picture. I couldn’t spot any fish in the first couple of pitches, but on approaching a bend in the river we noticed around half a dozen chub and a barbel that I guessed would have made double figures on a run between beds of weed. I tossed in a handful of pellets to gauge their reactions. The initial splash on the water scared them, but they soon came back to investigate and began mopping up the pellets. I threw in another handful and we moved on to investigate the rest of the river. The next few swims never contained anything and when we got to a small weir pool the old man had said he’d seen enough and headed back. I pressed on to the end of the club boundary, but only managed to spot a couple of chub under an overhanging willow that fled when they saw me and never returned.

I went back to the car and collected my tackle. On returning to the swim were I’d baited up, I continued feeding them for the next half hour, gradually throwing in handfuls of pellets every five minutes or so until the fish fully gained their confidence and the bigger chub began competing.

Sadly the barbel was nowhere to be seen. By the time I cast out the fish were actively grubbing around in the gravel and didn’t pay too much attention to me. It didn’t take long for the tip to settle and then violently arch round as one them picked up my Elips pellet and headed off for some deeper water on the far bank under a bush. I managed to turn him and bundled him into the net. It was another nice chub He weighed just under 5 lbs and I returned him a couple of hundred yards along the bank.

On returning I found the chub still in the swim, they didn’t seem to mind I’d just captured one of them, so I repeated the process, feeding every couple of minutes until they started rooting around again. I cast out and this time a 4 1/2 lb chub made off with the pellet for the sanctuary of the bush. I landed him without too much trouble and returned him from the same spot as the other. I returned and repeated the same procedure a couple of times, losing one fish in weed when the hook pulled, and then capturing another chub of around 3 lb. After the last fish, the fish vacated the swim, only returning to tentatively inspect the bait, but backing off from the hookbait. I decided I’d had enough with the sun now burning the back of my neck and headed for home.

Not a bad start to the season!