With the possible exception of the Wye, the rivers you state, including the Severn, as it's a long river running through relatively flat landscape in mid and lower reaches, don't have the decent on them that Northern Spates have. This makes them very powerful rivers in the main that get very high rises and quick run offs.
As an example, the Ribble this summer had 5.01 metres on at it's high point, 15 hours later it had .6 m and falling and within 24 it was back at NSL.
Chub fishing on the Ribble isn't worth doing with more than 2 ft on as they rarely feed in such conditions. Better barbel fishing in these conditions as they feed hard and the big girls are out to play. As to fishing to creases, whilst there are a few but the nature of the river, bolder strewn, means the chub can be anywhere on it in the summer, autumn. Come winter they tend to congregate on the deeper bends. But the access I have means that's a 30-50yd cast across the river to get at them. The way I and my mates fish it is to cast across with one rod and halfway with the other. Invariably it's the across rod that picks the fish up.
What you don't really get on the Ribble is the classic raft chub swim to powerful in spate for rafts to form. Even a full tree falling in doesn't last that long a 3 m rise shifts it and there's lots of them.
As chub fishing in the winter is restricted by the spates and to low clear water or small rises. The bites can be any type, real wrap rounds to 3 or 4 in taps, in low clear water. In these conditions the bends can be benign and you can use a heavy q/tip with the rods set high and it's best to do so, as the 3-4 inch taps are more common.
Dual tip rods in my view are a must for Ribble chubbing, it gives you the option of the rod end or q/tip depending on the type of bites you are getting.
