The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

I haven't seen or heard on here of anyone catching chub off the top.

I used to love early mornings crouching behind my blackberry bush, I'd sometimes substitute the crust for blackberries if the chub were tentitive on coming up for the crust. If you could get them feeding by throwing small bits of crust upstream, you could sit and watch them through the bush and select the bigger fish.

Has anybody else fished for them in this way?

It's bloody good fun! And really exciting! My eldest lad and I do quite a bit on summer evenings at the bottom of the garden.

Fished my local small river one evening for the chub, didn't get any bites but noticed a few carp taking off the top, last chance saloon I decided to stick a piece of floating crust on to have a go at the carp, yep you guessed it, I hooked a chub

It's quite surprising how often this method is overlooked by anglers, you get them feeding on crust and very often you can pick off the bigger fish in a schole.

I love it.

I was demonstrating the principle of 'dapping' to my lad one day. We were using slugs as bait so I suspended one on the surface as I explained about silk lines and loch trout etc when it was grabbed but dropped by a chub. Not being slow when an opportunity is offered I set about a repeat and soon had a little fish of about a pound and a half.

Chub really are avid surface feeders and crust is brilliant, they'll take a matchbox sized piece without it touching the sides - great fun.

I have never had a big chub off the top. Fish to 2lb regularly take a piece of crust from the surface

Great fun on small rivers, nothing better than that shlurp as some big white lips break the surface

Summer months on the Teme - send 3 or 4 free offerings down and look out for the takes - send down 3 more one with your hook in it and when it gets to the hot spot hopefully it will disappear - count to three and strike and you should connect. Never caught a big chub with this method but cracking stuff all the same. I learnt alot about using a centrepin with this method trying to ensure my piece of crust moved like the pieces without hooks.

Back in the 70's I had a 4lb 2oz chub from the Roding drifting large lumps of freelined flake across a pool on a bend.... I used 4lb line and a size 4 hook.... my mate said "Wot you after... sharks....?"

Bluelabel wrote:].... I used 4lb line and a size 4 hook.......?"

same here chap!