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Winter Chub Fishing on the River - Your Roundup with Phil Spinks
With the river season now closed and spring just around the corner, my pike rods were put away in January and the chub fishing rigs and gear were dusted down for a few end of season chub fishing trips when it was a safer climate to do so.
Roving along the river with minimal gear, leapfrogging from one likely looking swim to the next is a style of fishing I really enjoy. This simplicity of chub fishing is partly what makes it so appealing. Simple baits such as bread and cheese paste will catch any chub that swims, from my experience.
Fishing for Chub on the Wensum and Waveney Rivers
So back to a few weeks ago, reel loaded, I kicked off my chub fishing with a few trips to local rivers, Wensum and Waveney. The Waveney seems to be improving on the chub front, with all the predation problems from both otters and cormorants it was great to see both numbers of chub and the odd bigger chub turn up again.
One particular morning on the Waveney I managed fourteen chub! The Wensum, on the other hand, seemed one step behind slightly, I did manage a few nice chub and for me fishing the Wensum is always enjoyable as it’s the place where my fishing all started as a youngster.
5 Pounder on the River Lea
Like many other anglers I had all sorts of plans this winter to travel further afield in search of bigger chub, I joined a nice stretch of the river Lea but sadly I only managed one trip down there due to a combination of time and the rivers being flooded so much this winter. The latest trip wasn’t a complete waste of time as a nice chub of 5lb 10oz put in an appearance.
As a few of you may know, part of my role at Angling direct is working with the media team. One project that I enjoy is filming my own specimen series, although pulling a rabbit out the hat for the ADTV cameras can be an emotional roller coaster at times. We had planned a chub fishing video for my specimen series and I felt my best chance of what I would class as a specimen chub would mean travelling out of East Anglia.
Big Chub on the River Ouse
After a very difficult day filming on a flooded river Wensum myself and Chris headed down to the river Ouse in search of a specimen sized chub. Day one on the Ouse resulted in two small chub the biggest being around 3lb! At this point, Chris and I knew a video was not on the cards. By lunchtime, on our last day of filming, I had one missed bite. I guess I may just work well under pressure! That last afternoon I managed to pull three rabbits out of the hat for the camera weighing 6lb 1oz, 6lb 5oz and 6lb 7oz. Check the video out on our AD youtube channel.
I’d planned a return trip down to the Ouse a few weeks later for another fishing fix. The plan was for me to have a couple of days fishing while my wife, Abbie, had a couple of days shopping at the nearby shopping centre. Sadly, I ended up at the shopping centre too as the river was unfishable due to it being over 2.5 metres up.
Teaching a Carp Angler to Fish for Chub
One more chub fishing trip was planned for the last two days of the season. Back down to the Ouse with Chris from work, but this time Chris would be leaving the camera at home and bringing his chub gear too. Chris is a very accomplished carp angler but had never seriously targeted chub before, but after filming the chub specimen series he fancied a go himself.
The river looked spot on, although our first day was incredibly windy. The strong winds made seeing the gentle bites very difficult. Chris got the hang of chub fishing fairly quickly and soon caught the two smallest chub on the stretch. Whereas golden ball here had a 6lb 10oz on his first bite. It was an immaculate looking chub although it was a repeat capture of the 6lb 5oz caught on camera a few weeks previously.
Fishing was tricky, Chris had the lion’s share of the chub including a 5lb 15oz and had got the bug for chub fishing. It was a very enjoyable two days and a great way to hang up the rods and end the river season.