Chub Fishing - Two PB's in one day
It was a cold Novembers morning, I was woke up by a ring on the door bell from my close friend jay, he was wondering if I fancied a session on our local small stream holding plenty of chub. I replied with a confident YES, I packed a small rucksack holding only essential items as we would be roving all day, I quickly grabbed my home made cheese paste from the freezer,
which was made from pastry and a variety of cheeses, it smelt really potent, we strapped or rods and nets to our bikes and set off, it was about a 30 minute bike ride to the stream, on the way we decide to stop at a stretch of the river Blackwater, as it was on the way, we say it was running through quite fast and it was up and gravy coloured, we had a quick dabble in a few likely swims to only receive a few knocks on the tip, we weren't expecting much as it is known to be quite slow at times with not many chub in there.
We carried on our trek, when we arrived at the stream it looked spot on nicely coloured not running to fast, we had a look at a few lovely looking areas before setting up,when we finally set up we set of to our chosen swims, I chose a nice over hanging willow to cast under, after 5 Min's I revived several knocks before a confident take, I lifted the rod to feel a jolty fight it took me up and down stream, after a short but powerful fight a high 1lb chub hit my net, even though it wasn't huge it was perfect with no markings at all just like many of them in there, we ventured on trying a few more swims with only a few knocks to say the least, as we walked on to mother stretch we discusses some of the Brutes that this stream holds, my good friend Fred has had them to 4lb 12 and we have seen them to over 5lb, but the thing was there was so many smaller ones to get through, I showed jay a likely looking area, he had a cast under a old dead tree in about 2 ft of water, it looked spot on, jay cast with some of my homemade cheese paste and received a few knocks within minutes followed by a healthy take, he hit it and didn't connect with anything he has another go and the same thing happened 4 times, I them said to him as he was getting the bite, sit on your hands until the tip has properly whacked round, he done this and sure enough he connected with it, we were both amazed at the power of this chub as it charged downstream using the flow on its side, he then teased it into the net and he was made up with his new personal best chub of 2lb 12oz a few congratulations were made before roving a but further on.
We made our way to a spot I knew held chub, intact the exact spot Fred ha the big gun from, we both chose our spots, almost
simultaneously we both received bites within 30 seconds I had a nice sized chub on whereas jays fish didn't connect, he came over told help do the honours suddenly the fish charged off, we caught a glimpse of its golden flanks, and estimated it to be a 2lb fish, the hooked pulled straight after, even though it wasn't a big chub it still would have been more than welcome, I had another chub from the same swim shortly after around 1lb, we moved on to a few more swims and had some lovely perfection in miniature chub, the light was fading around 4.30 so we got on the bikes and headed home.....
On the way back we discussed the session, we were happy with the results, especially jays new PB chub which was the main reason of the session after all, we went passed another spot on the blackwater on the way home were I had had previous good results, I knew for a fact it was hard going along there as I had fished it before and caught 6 chub in 15 sessions on there, I had the
deepest feeling that it would produce a chub that night with the conditions as they were.
we biked along the dark and weiry bank. as we arrived in a very overgrown swim, with a large willow which had fell down the the storm I said to jay this is the spot I can feel a fish coming from, he was kind enough to let me have a go there after all the effort I had put in that season whilst he watched and kept me company, it was coming up to 6 pm when I finally cast out my 10 gram feeder with liquidised bread and a 15" 5lb hook length with a size 12 Korum specialist micro barbed hook, I personally have a lot of faith in this hook with it being my favourite chub hook on the market, I also landed a 11lb barbel on these hooks from a Thames tributary back in October I used a lump of cheese paste wrapped on the hook and cast under some floating debris which proved a challenge in the pitch black, u got the cat spot on and it drifted under the debris, after 10 minutes I received some very minuscule taps I assumed this was small fish, after 20 mins we say the getting a bit larger then finally after a 30 minute wait the rod tip let out several taps to lead to a healthy bend I lifted the rod and I felt a solid lump on the end it charged off down stream like an angry bull, jay ran for the net as it played we knew would be a decent chub as average was a high 3 or a low 4, my previous personal bet was 5lb 1oz from the same river, after a very powerful scrapy fight the chevin graced my net, I thought it would be a 4 but as jay lifted the net he said it was huge definitely a 5 as he had never seen a chub if such size, we placed it carefully on the mat and unhooked it, I had a feeling deep down it could be a personal best but I estimated a high 4lber whereas jay said it was a mid 5, I revived it for a few moments whilst jay sorted the scales and the camera, I lifted it again onto the mat jay done the honers weighing it, as he lifted a huge smile grew upon his face I knew this could mean one thing, my heart started to race and I was almost shaking, he said 5lb 2oz, I was absolutely made up with the stunning chub a new PB aswell, jay took some wonderful trophy shots and we watched the beast swim back into the abyss, a few congratulations and thank you's were made before started to head of home, we were both very cold and wet on the way back, but did we care after that amazing moment? the answer would be no we didn't, in fact it was one the best moments in my 3 years angling, and it was great to share it with such company.
I know I will be back down the river as soon as I can.....
George Basham age 17
