I’ve just spent a weekend in chub heaven. It wasn’t easy fishing and we had to work hard for our fish, but boy did we catch some big chub. Let me tell you about it….
Every year in early March a group of fishing buddies and I meet up to celebrate the end of the coarse fishing season with three days of fishing punctuated by two nights of drinking. This year we decided to base ourselves in Stony Stratford and fish the Upper Great Ouse. Although it is noted for its big barbel and perch the most prolific fish in the Upper Great Ouse is the chub. And they grow big.
Friday
Mick Beecroft and I arrived at the river at around 9.30 on a cold, grey morning. We’d just started to sort out the tangle of rods and assorted tackle in the back of my car when Dave Tipping and Martin Lofthouse turned up. Once sorted, we split into two groups with Mick heading downstream and Dave, Martin and I heading upstream. My plan was to fish for a shoal of bream that I knew of, but if unsuccessful, to work my way back towards the car park fishing for chub.
Dave and Martin soon dropped into nice looking swims leaving me to trudge on towards my chosen swim about half a mile upstream. This swim is located just below a sharp bend with a powerful push of water on the near side and a large slack on the far bank. Whilst primarily a bream swim it has also produced big chub and perch in the past, so it gave me plenty of options if the bream weren’t playing ball.
My plan was to fish the crease between the fast water and the slack, whilst trickling in a steady stream of maggots down the near side to give me a second option. I set up my standard chub gear of a quiver tip rod, 8lb mainline and a 0.13mm Reflo Powerline hook length. As I was to be fishing maggot I attached a size 16 hook and clipped a Kamasan Black Cap feeder to my lead link.
For the first half hour I cast regularly to build up a bit of bait in the crease swim. I then ease off, only casting if there’s a build up of rubbish on the line. Mick reports his first chub – 5lb 5oz. I switch to the inside line. Half an hour later Mick reports his second chub – 5lb 12oz. I switch back to the crease. Mick then reports another big chub and I crack. I soak some bread in my mash bucket, gather my gear together and set off downstream.
11 foot Aspindale Avon Deluxe
It’s not far to the first likely looking swim. The river pushes powerfully round a sharp left hand bend, the outside of which is lined with the dry, yellow stems of sedges. The main flow looks turbulent and uninviting, but just below the bend, the sedges dampen out the turbulence and there is a narrow strip of smooth water close to the bank. I creep up and drop a handful of mash into the head of the smoother water. Off comes the size 16 and on goes a size 12, a 1/4oz bomb is clipped on to my lead link and I’m ready to go.
I set up my rod rests so that only the quiver tip is poking through the sedge stems and then relax for 15 minutes with a cup of tea. I then pinch a small piece of flake onto the hook and lower it carefully into the swim about 10 ft downstream of my rod rests. I set the rod in the rests and crouch down beside it to wait. Five minutes later the rod tip pulls slowly round and a frantic battle ensues before I net a nice chub of around 4lb. The chub has caused a fair bit of disturbance in the tight confines of the swim so I don’t bother recasting and gather up my gear.
The next swim is a classic raft swim on the inside of a bend. Access from upstream is difficult, but there’s a large eddy below it which allows me to fish it from below. As before I feed a bit of mash and give it 15 minutes before casting. This time I’ve got a longer wait before I get a tentative bite which I don’t attempt to hit. I give it five minutes before retrieving and recasting. This time the bite is more positive and I land another 4 pound chub which again trashes the swim.
By now the overcast has cleared and it’s a bright afternoon. I fish several more swims without success before settling in my last swim as evening draws in. I get another medium sized chub as it gets dark and decide to call it a day.
Later that evening in the pub Mick and I discuss the day’s fishing and it’s clear that the best strategy had been to move regularly and to fish the float. We hatched a plan for …..
Saturday
After a sharp overnight frost Saturday dawned fine and clear. Mick and I arrived on the bank about a mile upstream from where we’d fished on Friday to find that the river had dropped about a foot and cleared out considerably. Our plan was to explore the stretch thoroughly by float fishing flake and feeding mash.
The secret to success when fishing like this is to start at the upstream end of the length that you intend to fish and work your way gradually downstream, following the trail of mash and topping it up at the head of each swim. When fishing like this you really don’t need to worry too much about fishing to features as the chub will move out into mid river to intercept the bread particles as they drift downstream.
The river here doesn’t have the classic pool, riffle, pool profile it has further downstream instead it consists of long glides with short faster stretches. During the Summer it is lined with flag iris and the frost blackened stems now guard its margins. I’m slightly nervous as I tackle up as the only float rod I have is an 11 foot Aspindale Avon Deluxe that I’ve just finished restoring. With whole cane butt and middle sections and a fine cane tip I’m a little worried whether it’s man enough for extracting big chub from the snaggy margins. Still, it’s all I’ve got with me so it will have to do.
My reel will be a Match Aerial loaded with 6lb WB Clarke Match Line with a hook length of .13mm Reflo Power Line tipped with a size 12 Drennan Super Spade. My float is a 2 swan Drennan loafer. I prefer the centre pin for this sort of fishing as I find it makes trotting in even paced water much easier that using a fixed spool reel. Centre pins give you the added advantage of being able to wind a fish steadily back upstream without spooking them, a big advantage when chub fishing a narrow river.
The only pool on my section of river looks chubby so I waste an hour fishing it without success. Whilst fishing the pool I’ve been trickling mash down the margins below it and I now move down to trot along the trail of bread. My plan is to give each swim 10 trots of around 30 yards and if I haven’t had a bite by then to move downstream. I’ll overlap the trots by around 10 yards as I’ll have a lot more control over presentation at close range if I need to present a bait close to a feature.
My first swim doesn’t produce any bites so I move down about 20 yards feed a handful of mash and start again. This swim has a slight bay with a clump of weed at its head about 20 yards downstream and I make sure that my float passes as close as possible to this feature. Sure enough on my third trot the float dips sharply under. I don’t strike, but wind rapidly into the fish (when trotting for chub I’ll only strike if this method doesn’t work) and continue to wind steadily once I make contact.
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| Sean’s 5lbs 2ozs chub. |
In most cases the chub will follow the constant pressure upstream for a fair distance before spooking. This gives me a chance to get it into a position where I have a good degree of control so I can deal with any lunges into the margins. The chub soon wakes up and powers off across the river. It’s obviously a good fish and I’m going to find out how good my rod restoration was! After a few dicey moments when the chub lunges for the marginal weed I pull it over the rim of my net and pause to admire a scale and fin perfect 5lber. It goes 5lb 2oz on the scales – a nice way to christen my new rod.
I give the swim another 10 minutes without any further success and then move again. The new swim is the bottom part of the long glide and it starts to shallow up at around 25 yards. I’m just preparing to move again (I think it was my ninth trot) when the float dips slightly towards the end of the trot.
On the next trot I hold the float back as it enters the shallower water and I can almost feel the bite on my rod tip as it jags under. This is a much smaller chub of around 3lbs and I manage to drag it upstream without disturbing the rest of the shoal. Over the next half hour I land three more chub around the same size and then decide to move in search of better things.
There’s now a long stretch of river where there is too much marginal vegetation for me to fish safely, but below this there’s a swim which is almost a carbon copy of the swim from which I landed the 5lb 2oz fish earlier in the day. This time the bay is only a few yards below where I have to fish from so I creep carefully into position and fish kneeling down.
The first few trots yield nothing so I run the float down inches from the marginal weeds. It’s shallower here and I have to hold back hard and inch the float downstream. Just as the float reaches the top of the bay it slips smoothly under and I can see it arrowing away across the river. I wind into the fish and battle commences.
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| The 5lbs 5ozs fish |
This fish really tests the little rod as it continually attempts to bore into the massed ranks of the iris stems. I have to be careful not to smash the delicate top section and I keep the rod as low as possible, moving up and down the bank to maintain the best position to exert maximum pressure. After a 5 minute tussle I slip the net under another big chub which goes 5lb 5oz on the scales. I Give the swim a rest whilst I have a well earned cuppa and then try a few more trots. I get two very shy bites so I decide to rest the swim and come back later.
It’s now clouded over and a fine drizzle starts to explore the gaps in my clothing. The wind has shifted to a sneaky downstreamer and I struggle to present the flake in the next two swims I try. I decide to return to the swim where I got the 5lb 5oz fish and fish on the quiver tip.
I fish the swim for another hour without success, but as the evening draws in the breeze drops and I give it one more go on the float while I can still see. On the second trot the float sinks rapidly away just where I was fishing on the ‘tip. This is another decent chub of around 4 ½ lb. By the time I return it It’s getting dark so I pack up and head back to the car. Mick has done slightly better than me with ten fish to 5lb 8oz.
Sunday
Sunday is purgatory. I’ve got a seriously upset stomach from last night’s curry and for the first two hours I struggle to present a bait effectively in a brisk downstream wind, bright sunshine and a low, clear river. Just to rub it in Mick has released his shoal of pet chub into the river further upstream and has reported seven fish so far with two going over 5lb. I then lose a really good chub under a far bank bush so I decide to chill out for a while and fish the quiver tip rod.
The afternoon draws on and Mick is up to seventeen chub to my none; I move down to a swim just above where I lost the fish earlier in the day. I feed some mash upstream and drop a piece of flake on a straight ledger rig into a small gap in the bushes opposite. I’ve taken off my light hook length and I’m fishing my 8lb reel line straight through to the hook as I’ll have to hold hard and not give any line if I’m to extract a chub from this swim.
I start to get indications almost immediately, but I’m sure they’re not chub and this is confirmed when I strike at a more positive bite and hook a 6oz roach. I keep feeding mash upstream and recast each time the roach bites ease, trying not to hook another fish. As the light starts to fade the roach bites cease suddenly and I crouch over my rod, assuming that something large has scared the roach.
I get a gentle indication which doesn’t develop so I risk a recast. Ten minutes later I get another gentle pull, but this time after a short wait the rod tip pulls sharply round. I strike, lift the rod high and clamp down hard on my spool as all hell breaks out under the bush.
The rod absorbs the frantic lunges of the fish and it changes its mind and heads rapidly across the river towards a near bank bush. A shorter battle ensues under this bush before the fish tires and I work it upstream to the net. I have to sit down when I see it properly as it looks enormous, and sure enough the scales go round to 5lb 13oz. I’m back in chub heaven!
The big 5lbs 13ozs beast.
If you haven’t fished the Upper Great Ouse then you are missing some seriously good chub fishing. Over the weekend, the best fish to our group weighed 6lb 2oz with fish of 5lb 14oz, 5lb 13oz, four at 5lb 12oz and numerous other 5lb fish backing this up. One in four chub caught by Mick and myself was over 5lb which is phenomenal chub fishing by any standard. The river is not easy and it rewards a mobile approach, but the fish are certainly there for the catching.
We stayed with Flick and Mick Levitt at Fegan’s View in Stony Stratford and we fished several lengths of the river in the area. Check out the Milton Keynes AA web site for more information, but several other clubs in the area also have day ticket fishing.
