Chub fishing and learning how to read the water.

[waveney_chubber]

Also, I'm always surprised to see lots of anglers barbel and carp fish in the middle of a river like the Kennet as nearly all my fish have come from right under the bank.
Think about it, if you were vulnerable to attack you'd protect yourself so having one side of your body tucked against a wall would make you harder to see, that's how I think a lot of fish work. By hugging a margin they only leave themselves open on one side. Also. A lot of natural food must fall in from the bank. The banks of the kennet are teeming with huge juicy slugs for example.
Oh well, that's my theory, seems to work on occasion

Agree with that. Quite amusing to see people casting into the middle of the river and expecting to catch chub. Imo the only time I would cast into the middle of the river would be if the was a feature such as a depression or snag. All of my big chub have come from the near margin well out of the main flow. The fish are not going to be swimming around in the middle of the river expending precious energy when they can keep station in a steady flow waiting for the food to come to them.

 

[Simon K]

These comments are way too generalised.

I can think of plenty of swims I target chub in where one rod will go more or less in the middle. It depends on where the flow and the crease is (if there is one) and how fast the flow is, the depth of the water and its colour, underwater features (not necessarily snags) and prevailing conditions.

And the same goes for barbel for that matter.

Funnily enough, the one and only time I've ever fished the Kennet (on a group fish-in), I was the only one to catch chub and..............they were in the middle of the river. The margin rod produced bream.

 

[Judas Priest]

Simon do you not think your Kennet experience could have been down to bankside disturbance pushing the fish out there. The Kennet is one of the country's pressurised waters and this may have an impact on margin fishing for chub being difficult. I've seen barbel and chub on the Kennet sit out in the middle during daylight hours yet come in really close during darkness.

On a lot of waters you witness anglers clumping about, dropping their rucksack and sling down, smacking rod rests about then wondering why there's no fish under their feet. I suppose that's why a lot then have to cast to the far bank for a bite with a heavy lead or feeder.
With a little thought as you approach the river and swim you often see fish under the near side. Use as little lead as possible, often only a single shot, and rather than swish the rod about above your head use a gentle underarm flick to get the bait in the water then by twitching the line tease the bait in to position.

Chub are renowned for being spooky.

Simon only first paragraph is for you, the rest is just me waffling.

 

[Simon K]

Simon do you not think your Kennet experience could have been down to bankside disturbance pushing the fish out there. The Kennet is one of the country's pressurised waters and this may have an impact on margin fishing for chub being difficult. I've seen barbel and chub on the Kennet sit out in the middle during daylight hours yet come in really close during darkness.

On a lot of waters you witness anglers clumping about, dropping their rucksack and sling down, smacking rod rests about then wondering why there's no fish under their feet. I suppose that's why a lot then have to cast to the far bank for a bite with a heavy lead or feeder.
With a little thought as you approach the river and swim you often see fish under the near side. Use as little lead as possible, often only a single shot, and rather than swish the rod about above your head use a gentle underarm flick to get the bait in the water then by twitching the line tease the bait in to position.

Chub are renowned for being spooky.

Simon only first paragraph is for you, the rest is just me waffling.

Difficult to say. I went into the stretch "blind". There was a pronounced 4 ft marginal shelf dropping to a deeper middle section. I found out later that I'd inadvertently picked the swim with a bunch of snags (branches) in the middle! I had a chub just on dusk and another at 11am the next morning, both from the "snags".

There was a small bunch of us there, spread out, but bankside disturbance was minimal.
The bream all came from the margin during dark.

On the deeper stretches of the Lea, where the flow's slower, the chub come 50/50 between margin and middle.

 

[Judas Priest]

Simon
On the lower Severn where it is up to 14ft deep the chub appear to be all across the river and I think this may have more to do with the depth giving them security than anything else as tree cover etc is not such an overbearing factor.

On the Dove, which as you know is much smaller and shallower, the fish are found in the main around snags and weedbeds, yet if you are quiet you can get them out in to the open and feeding confidently even right under your feet. We still see guys on this river though launching great feeders in to three feet of far bank cover and wondering why they are not catching and then moaning about it ain't as good as it used to be.

Creases etc as you say are brilliant swims on medium sized waters and on a strange water are ones to look for as well as snag pits.

 

[Simon K]

Simon
On the lower Severn where it is up to 14ft deep the chub appear to be all across the river and I think this may have more to do with the depth giving them security than anything else as tree cover etc is not such an overbearing factor.

On the Dove, which as you know is much smaller and shallower, the fish are found in the main around snags and weedbeds, yet if you are quiet you can get them out in to the open and feeding confidently even right under your feet. We still see guys on this river though launching great feeders in to three feet of far bank cover and wondering why they are not catching and then moaning about it ain't as good as it used to be.

Creases etc as you say are brilliant swims on medium sized waters and on a strange water are ones to look for as well as snag pits.

Yes, I think depth is cover in itself, especially where the flow is spread and not so pronounced between fast/crease/slow/. On the river bed the flow is probably fairly uniform across most of the river's width in such cases.
Finding subtle features such as small depressions would be an advantage I'd think.
When I used to fish Gallon of Maggot for the barbel in clear water on the Lea there would often be decent chub (and small fish) feeding in with them in the middle of the day.
A really enjoyable and successful method where you could look down on the fish in front of you and see everything that was going on.

I think creases produce best when the main flow is pushing through faster than normal conditions. E.g. rising flood through to fining down.
In the more canalised sections I fish, there's no real crease and the middle often holds fish as much as the margins.

 

[Judas Priest]

Agree wholeheartedly Simon.

The original post, I think, was about watercraft and what to look for. I'd say look everywhere but be quiet doing it, you could be surprised what you see.

 

[tink]

Is your river a slower flowing river? Just wondering - because I very occasionally do get a deep hooked fish - mostly with baits sensibly weighted.
This may be a massive generalization but I tend to get better bites on bigger rivers with a flow and shoals of competing fish........

The part of the river where i caught the fish from was pretty slow flowing. Say for example that i cast straight in front of me do i have the rod parallel to the bank facing downstream to 'go with the flow' so to speak?

Sorry for so many questions!

Tink
Have you tried holding the line and feeling for bites ?
When teaching kids I explain it's like trotting but without a float. Hold the line in your free hand and "trot" the bait through and around the swim. You'd be surprised how much more you can tell what's going on opposed to sat watching a rod top.

I've not tried it yet but its something that i'm going to be having a go at!

 

[chav professor]

If the river was slow flowing, shouldn't really need to feed out a big bow in the line. What feeding a bow does is allow you to hold bottom using less weight than if the line was directly taught to an anchored bait in a flow.

If I picture the scenario right (which is not necessarily right) I would touch ledger even though using a quiver tip - at least you can pay out some line if needs be to give a Chub more time for the bite to develop. I don't personally like touch ledgering using a solid top - the contact is sometimes too direct - the quiver tip cushions that initial 'lunge'....

Like the Priest says, it allows you to read what is taking place, plus you have a visual and tactile reference.