Wary Chub
- Thread starter Andydj
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There is no best hooklength for big wary chub. On every new venue you fish it's trial and error until you hit the sweet spot.
You could ask people who fish the venue you have in mind how they target them, but half the fun is finding out for yourself.
You could ask people who fish the venue you have in mind how they target them, but half the fun is finding out for yourself.
Yes fair enough. I have a fair idea of what's what. I was just interested to hear whether anyone had any interesting thoughts they may care to share.
I have plenty of ideas of my own you can be sure of that!
It's a subject I am interested in. I have started to take a serious interest in big Chub after years of Barbel, Carp and river Pike Fishing.
Cheers.
no-one in particular
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When I caught big chub on one river I thought long hook lengths were best, less chance of them seeing the weight or split shots, more time for them to mouth the bait especially big ones like cheese or luncheon meat or sometimes half a dead bait. I would give them a bit of slack as well when I knew they were "on" the bait and wait a bit to watch the line or float moving deliberately before striking, otherwise it would just pull from their lips although that still happened sometimes. It is all a matter of timing it right depending on a lot of circumstances.
Makes sense. I am going to give long fluro hooklenghts a go. In the past I have used nylon with a short length of braid tied in at the hook end.
Whitty wasn't impressed! I have caught loads doing it but am interested to try some new ideas.
Another idea I have is a Cork ball hookbait either in a boilie or paste to take some of the weight of the hook and rig away though not a pop up. With the bait mounted on a short stiff hair the bait should rest on the bottom at the side of, rather than below, the hook. This is very like a Carp rig I have used very successfully (fluro D rig). Yes I know a Carp feeds very differently to a Carp!
I will report back how it works....or not!
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I think you may be overthinking your approach.
Sometimes longer hooklinks work, but then again it can work better with shorter hooklengths. You have to swap and change as the session progresses. I don't even use hooklengths. I fish straight through and adjust the length of what would be my hooklength at will by moving the split shot which is the stopper for my weight, if i'm legering that is.
One thing I would advise for certain is if you use a pelet or boilie, use a smaller one, say 10 mill and have your hook (a smallish hook) pulled snug up to the bait, if using meat or soft bait like bread or maggots etc, hook it direct onto the hook.
Sometimes longer hooklinks work, but then again it can work better with shorter hooklengths. You have to swap and change as the session progresses. I don't even use hooklengths. I fish straight through and adjust the length of what would be my hooklength at will by moving the split shot which is the stopper for my weight, if i'm legering that is.
One thing I would advise for certain is if you use a pelet or boilie, use a smaller one, say 10 mill and have your hook (a smallish hook) pulled snug up to the bait, if using meat or soft bait like bread or maggots etc, hook it direct onto the hook.
You may be right. Thanks for your comments. I promise I will be careful not to let theories get in the way of the things that really matter!
All good fun all the same.
Well I purposely left that out. But where I fish the target is 7 plus (never caught one). I think, and you may know this, it is more the case of finding the right swims avoiding the smaller fish.
no-one in particular
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I think the bigger thing with big chub is don't spook them, you will once you catch one, you may be lucky and get another one. The bait and method are not that important, they will eat anything and feed in any condition as long as you do not arouse their spookiness.
Yes definitely. Cheers for that.
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Not sure about that Mark, not 7lbers but i've had lots of sessions where i've caught over ten chub all over 5lb with some of 6lb plus and last year one in a group like that of 6lb 7ounces.
Biggest chub i've had was on it's own but caught amongst barbel and it was 8lb 4 ounce. That was caught on a large chunk of luncheon meat on a hair., maybe the barbel gave it confidence?
Amazing fish!
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Yes it was, but it was pure luck, nothing more!
no-one in particular
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They are amazing fish, I see from your reports on the HDYGO thread you often catch more than one or two. It has not often happened to me, The most I caught was 9 once from the same swim, this was by a bridge where they shoaled up in the winter. usually I catch one or two and they disappear; spooked. This often happened on the Avon, the pattern was small fish, then one or two chub and then it would go quiet for a while and then the barbel would show up. carry on with what you do, it works.
dorsetsteve
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The biggest advice I could give to you based on a few assumptions is to bait a few swims and let them rest. In my experience Chub are greedy things and normally the largest fish will take the bait first once they are feeding hard. If you can bait say three swims and leave them an hour before wetting a line and move in rotation.
There’s a reason why the biggest Chub, particularly in summer get nabbed on “Barbel” tactics. Have a think on that one.
There’s a reason why the biggest Chub, particularly in summer get nabbed on “Barbel” tactics. Have a think on that one.
I have sort of moved away from heavy baiting Steve because of my lack of success with Barbel last couple of seasons. I had concluded it spooked them nowadays but I will certainly be giving it all a rethink. I like your suggestion of baiting swims and fishing them in rotation. Sure I have done this in the past but this has been mainly on the upper Stour where there are more fish (smaller) and less people.
Most of the places I fish now if you leave a good swim you won't get back in it!
Thanks for your comments.
Stour and Avon yes.
Mark Wintle
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Assuming you're legering I used Kryston Krystonite Flourocarbon Coated Monofilament in 8lb for a hooklink for my Stour legering with boiles; yet to get a 7lber but had them well over 6lbs. The key to catching the chub was a very short hair and as little weight on the line as possible eg a link with just a SSG or two, that and making virtually no disturbance, hardly feeding at all, keeping very low at all times. I would hold the rod if possible and feed line from a loop in my left hand when I got a knock.