The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Ahh, the chub. Known as the chavender to some (us!), and thought of as old faithful to many. The big chub are wiley old buggers, and seem to have a 6th sense for danger, boldly feeding on free offerings, yet vanishing the minute a line is cast; i have seen it many times. When i was about 9 years old my best friend and i would spend every free minute on the banks of the wye trying to tempt offten seen, rarely hooked monsters that inhabited a small channel between the bank and an island. We would use luncheon meat, sweetcorn, maggots and bread. They were some of the happiest days of my life, and i wish i had a camera then, as i'd love to see whether the gigantic fish i remember actually where gigantic. I learnt so much back then about fish stalking without even realising it, as well as how to just keep quiet.
For some reason people are a little derogatory toward the chavender: 'just a bloody chub', 'only a few chub', 'got chubbed out' are word often uttered with contempt on the banks of the wye, which is a shame, as what these people don't realise is that the wye is a chub river first and foremost. Mind you. The same people are often wearing camo and fishing two rods that could land small whales.

I love Chub, but unfortunatley there are not really any good Chub rivers local to me. The river Wallington has the odd 3lber but mainly fish of 12oz - 1lb 8oz. I have been to the Kennet a couple of time, mainly Barbel fishing but we did have one Chub day on the Newbury stretch which resulted in my best Chub to date, a whopper at 5lb 10oz which did its best to try and pull my arm off!!!



Definitely a species I want to target this winter. Although fish to over three have been caught in the Wallington, the pond warden and bailiffs have all told me they've seen them over 5!!! Now thats quite a target from such a small river...............and a challenge I quite fancy :thumb:

Lovely chub pictures, the both of you. How can anyone not like chub.

Exactly, how could aybody dislike Chub, but it goes with many other species too, the elitist specimen hunters do tend to gain a dislike for anything that prevents them from catching their chosen target. Take big Carp hunters for example, catch an 18lb Bream from a massive gravel pit and spend the rest of the day with the raging hump!! Now give that fish to the Bream specialist fishing with a quiver tip and groundbait feeder and you've just made a man's season.

Crying shame but it happens all over!!!

My luck strike, conquest and an obliging chub. Caught on the long trot on the wye. Not a particularly large fish, but gave a great scrap in the fast water.

Super pic mate, loving that one!!!

ahhh my first love the chub! Any fish 4lb or over is a bloody good fish in my book! My biggest was a 6 ponder off the top on floating crust from my local river the colne.

The Sweetcorn Kid wrote:Exactly, how could aybody dislike Chub, but it goes with many other species too, the elitist specimen hunters do tend to gain a dislike for anything that prevents them from catching their chosen target. Take big Carp hunters for example, catch an 18lb Bream from a massive gravel pit and spend the rest of the day with the raging hump!! Now give that fish to the Bream specialist fishing with a quiver tip and groundbait feeder and you've just made a man's season.

Crying shame but it happens all over!!!

I recall reading an interview last year where an angler broke the British bream record but didn't claim it as he was carp fishing!
As for chub, I enjoy catching them. There are none too big around here, I've caught them to 2 1/2lbs on the river Cherwell but also had one of 2 1/4lbs from the Oxford canal last winter - not bad for the local cut!

I love Chub, as you can see from my Avatar.

Me? I love 'em.
They can be obliging one day, frustrating the next. They have masses of character.
I can't wait to be back on my little river, hoping one might be on the lookout for a bit of Warburton's.
The fish above was caught on the last day of the season on my Chapmans 500, Mitchell 300 combo.
This season I have quirkier combo that I think will suit the river and this species better.