22.08.13

Simple Tactics Fool Huge Chub - Dean Macey

Chub will always be my favourite fish. For some reason they just look so much bigger on the bank than anything else I've caught. So as you can imagine, I've spent quite a bit of time, mainly during the winter, targeting them. Now, over the years I have been lucky to trip up some very big fish and some that are considerably larger than the 6lb 10oz I have just caught, but none have been quite as exciting!
I arrived at the river to find most of the going swims taken, so instead of jumping into the best of the rest, I decided to get my walking boots on and go looking for a few new spots. I had been searching for about an hour and my eyes were just starting to ache when I spotted a dark tail gently glide under a bush in no more than a foot of water, and it looked quite big. Now, you can't fish for chub in 12 inches of fast-flowing water so I headed upstream of the fishes home and located a deeper channel to try and draw it out into. I fed small and medium Hinders Elips pellets by hand for about an hour. I stood behind a tree so that I wasn't seen by any spooky fish but had a good view of what was going on. Eventually the big ’un and a few other smaller fish, around the 4lb to 5lb mark, started to poke their heads out and show interest in my free offerings. At this point I started halving a few Mainline New Grange chops and introducing them every now and again. After a total of about two hours I not only had the chub feeding hard but I also managed to get the bigger fish taking the odd bait on the drop. Time for a rig!
Well, I say a rig, really all it was just a size-12 Korda Mixa tied straight to the end of 8lb Guru Drag Line, so simple. The tough bit was getting it in place without being seen! It took me a good 15 minutes to stop shaking, tie the hook on and get myself in a position to be able to keep feeding and lower the bait in at the right time. With butterflies in my guts like I was lining up on the start line in a major championships, I waited for the biggest fish to rise off the bottom and take a pellet on the drop. I then lowered my free lined half New Grange chop on its nose and in the blink of an eye the hook bait was gone! The fight wasn't one I’ll be telling my godchildren about, as it shook its head a couple of times and then just rolled into the waiting net. In truth, I was in such a mess by then that if it had put up a typical chub fight and tried to get me in every snag in the swim, I think my heart would have popped out of my chest! In the water she looked every ounce of 7lb, but she was so empty and came in at 6lb 10oz, my biggest chub of the season so far and one that I will always remember for the fact that I hooked her literally 12 inches from the rod tip! It doesn't get any more exciting than that! Awesome!

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