A brief history
I had a book as a child, you know, one of those generic fishing books we all had. I still have it in fact, the details on the inlay tell me it was first published in 1979........
You can tell it is old because that fish at the top is a now very rare wild carp. Anyway, this book fascinated me, in particular the section on chub.
...........
The water was lapping at the top of my wellingtons. My brother and I were gingerly negotiating our way to 'Pear Tree Island' below Cotes bridge just outside Loughborough on the river Soar. I was very young and it was quite scary trying to get to the island. We walked very slowly under the bridge and across the weir before leaping from sand bar to sand bar to reach the fabled island.
It was a real red letter day fishing wise. We caught around thirty chub on worms we had dug up from our Dads allotment. The biggest was probably about two pounds, which to me looked huge.
Back home I opened up the book. Two pictures still stick in my mind. In one, Peter Ward is holding a glistening chub and the other a chap is pictured playing a four pound chub on the river Kennet. Wow, four pounds. That must be absolutely massive and at that time beyond my wildest dreams. I rather fear I looked at and read that section of the book more than any other in my lifetime.
Perspective
A few years later I was fishing a match, again on the Soar. Pegged on the twenty acre field I fished to an overhanging tree on the far bank. When it came to weigh in a had a chub so big the scales man insisted on weighing it separately. People came from all around to look. It weighed three pounds eight ounces.
Luckily for me my fishing mentor Simon was keen on Chub and we went in pursuit of larger specimens, a four pounder the target. Our river of choice was the Wreake in Leicestershire. We spent hours and hours down there, usually fishing into darkness. We had lots of threes but never a four. Typically I did lose a very big fish at Hoby, so they were there but tantalisingly difficult to catch. Simon had a massive chip on his shoulder about the Dorset Stour and Hampshire Avon producing big fish. If only we lived down there he used to to say, it would be easy.
Flicking through the 1993 book by two-time Drennan Cup winner Martin Hooper- Specimen Angling by Design I'm amazed that his PB chub was a very modest (by today's standards) five pounds ten ounces. He almost exclusively fished those two rivers Simon was so jealous of so even then big chub were very rare beasts.
A couple of years later the Trent started throwing up big fish and the chance of a five was a very real possibility. Simon went for them while I got sidetracked by the recently stocked barbel on the Soar. One evening I fluked a big chub on caster. It was four pounds ten ounces, a massive fish for the river at the time.....
At the turn of the century I moved to Lincolnshire and fishing became no more than a distraction from work, relationships and the like. Around 2012 I started back up again in earnest. I missed my river fishing so started doing a bit of research. Natural rivers were scarce but there were a couple and one of them had some chub in. Slowly but surely I started to catch them. Four pounders were relatively common and to me it was amazing fishing. It took me until February in 2014 before I had my first five though. 5lb 4oz.......
This picture reminds me of something Martin Hooper noted in his book. Chub can be notoriously deceptive in photos size-wise. Hold them out a touch and they can look massive. I'm not interested in deceiving anyone, least of all myself but take note of this phenomenon. Here's one you could put almost any weight you wanted to, it was 5lb 8oz.......
The following season I caught fives for fun. All over the river I was catching fish that I never thought possible. This culminated in a beast of 6lb 4oz in December 2015. A fish I never thought I would better. It really was an amazing fish to me. Not only did I never think I'd better it I wasn't much bothered about doing so. It was the pinnacle as far as I was concerned. A unknown six from a tiny Lincolnshire river, long forgotten by most in their desire to hook a three pound carp every cast from a variety of muddy puddles......
I had a book as a child, you know, one of those generic fishing books we all had. I still have it in fact, the details on the inlay tell me it was first published in 1979........
You can tell it is old because that fish at the top is a now very rare wild carp. Anyway, this book fascinated me, in particular the section on chub.
...........
The water was lapping at the top of my wellingtons. My brother and I were gingerly negotiating our way to 'Pear Tree Island' below Cotes bridge just outside Loughborough on the river Soar. I was very young and it was quite scary trying to get to the island. We walked very slowly under the bridge and across the weir before leaping from sand bar to sand bar to reach the fabled island.
It was a real red letter day fishing wise. We caught around thirty chub on worms we had dug up from our Dads allotment. The biggest was probably about two pounds, which to me looked huge.
Back home I opened up the book. Two pictures still stick in my mind. In one, Peter Ward is holding a glistening chub and the other a chap is pictured playing a four pound chub on the river Kennet. Wow, four pounds. That must be absolutely massive and at that time beyond my wildest dreams. I rather fear I looked at and read that section of the book more than any other in my lifetime.
Perspective
A few years later I was fishing a match, again on the Soar. Pegged on the twenty acre field I fished to an overhanging tree on the far bank. When it came to weigh in a had a chub so big the scales man insisted on weighing it separately. People came from all around to look. It weighed three pounds eight ounces.
Luckily for me my fishing mentor Simon was keen on Chub and we went in pursuit of larger specimens, a four pounder the target. Our river of choice was the Wreake in Leicestershire. We spent hours and hours down there, usually fishing into darkness. We had lots of threes but never a four. Typically I did lose a very big fish at Hoby, so they were there but tantalisingly difficult to catch. Simon had a massive chip on his shoulder about the Dorset Stour and Hampshire Avon producing big fish. If only we lived down there he used to to say, it would be easy.
Flicking through the 1993 book by two-time Drennan Cup winner Martin Hooper- Specimen Angling by Design I'm amazed that his PB chub was a very modest (by today's standards) five pounds ten ounces. He almost exclusively fished those two rivers Simon was so jealous of so even then big chub were very rare beasts.
A couple of years later the Trent started throwing up big fish and the chance of a five was a very real possibility. Simon went for them while I got sidetracked by the recently stocked barbel on the Soar. One evening I fluked a big chub on caster. It was four pounds ten ounces, a massive fish for the river at the time.....
At the turn of the century I moved to Lincolnshire and fishing became no more than a distraction from work, relationships and the like. Around 2012 I started back up again in earnest. I missed my river fishing so started doing a bit of research. Natural rivers were scarce but there were a couple and one of them had some chub in. Slowly but surely I started to catch them. Four pounders were relatively common and to me it was amazing fishing. It took me until February in 2014 before I had my first five though. 5lb 4oz.......
A month later I rattled the frankly ridiculous six pound mark with this fish of 5lb 14oz......
This picture reminds me of something Martin Hooper noted in his book. Chub can be notoriously deceptive in photos size-wise. Hold them out a touch and they can look massive. I'm not interested in deceiving anyone, least of all myself but take note of this phenomenon. Here's one you could put almost any weight you wanted to, it was 5lb 8oz.......
The following season I caught fives for fun. All over the river I was catching fish that I never thought possible. This culminated in a beast of 6lb 4oz in December 2015. A fish I never thought I would better. It really was an amazing fish to me. Not only did I never think I'd better it I wasn't much bothered about doing so. It was the pinnacle as far as I was concerned. A unknown six from a tiny Lincolnshire river, long forgotten by most in their desire to hook a three pound carp every cast from a variety of muddy puddles......
January 2018
One of my emailers Jez told me about a spot on the river I had never tried before. The first visit with Martin was a bit of a disaster as I had misread the instructions and we ended up abandoning our attempts to get to the river. A week later I was back alone and this time found it quite easily. I was going to try for the roach and hedge my bets by fishing quite heavy should a chub come along. Five pound double-strength may seem like an overkill for roach but its very fine and despite years of arguments with anglers from all spheres of the sport, I'm still yet to encounter a situation where my fishing has been radically improved by scaling down.
Sure enough my first fish was a chub, just over four pounds. It totally ruined the swim and after trying a few more spots I headed up the river to one of my usual roach haunts. My first three fish were also chub before I finally got a decent roach of one pound six ounces. It was hard going though and the fact I was catching chub almost by accident sowed a seed. Another move in the car and some Blue Stilton purchased on the way saw me better placed to target some hopefully bigger fish.
A quick search in my bag revealed I'd left my reels with stronger line on at home. No matter, with my soft rod I was confident of taming decent fish with my lighter set up. It wasn't really a serious attempt at catching massive fish after all, I would have been more than happy with a few bites.
After trying a few spots I settled at the top of the stretch and sat patiently with the winter sun shining down on me. The first pull on the tip startled me, so much so that I completely missed it. I didn't make the same mistake again though. As soon as I got an indication I took the rod of the rest and gave the fish some slack. It worked a treat and I was soon attached to something substantial. The really big chub tend to be slower than the smaller ones, stay deeper and fight more right under the rod tip, hence the advantage of a soft rod. What happened next is a slight blur. I weighed it four times. Each time with the same result. I genuinely couldn't believe it. In between 6lb 11oz and 6lb 12oz, I settled on the lower weight. Utterly gobsmacked. The fish of my lifetime......
The Holy Grail
My very first blog post was about two pound roach. I'd never caught one. I have since. For the vast majority of anglers a two pound river roach is still the holy grail, the one-four-seven, the nine dart finish, the four minute mile. The chub yardsticks may have moved over the years but the humble roach has remained staunchly resolute.
Word reached me of a big roach. I knew the venue. The trouble was I could just be targeting one fish. Plus it was caught some time ago. Nevertheless I started a little campaign. It was tough going to start with. Sure, I caught plenty of roach but they were mainly around the pound mark. Fabulous fish but not quite what I was after. Our old friend Dave Owen joined me one day and we both fished hard in a variety of pegs for little reward. I even did a little video to share among friends stating we had half, maybe an hour left to try and salvage something out of the day.
In desperation I moved one last time. Typically I started catching straight away. Three fish in three casts, only small but after the day we'd had it was nice to get some bites. I distinctly remember cocking up my next cast. It was far short of where I wanted to be. Never let it be said I'm not accurate and a stickler for detail when it comes to chasing big fish. I left it there, too lazy to reposition my tiny piece of flake. To my surprise I had a bite. It led me a merry dance and I was convinced I'd hooked a small chub...........until the blue sheen of a roach flank rolled in front of me. Simultaneously the best and worst moment in fishing. You know you've got something special and are praying it doesn't come off.
My very first blog post was about two pound roach. I'd never caught one. I have since. For the vast majority of anglers a two pound river roach is still the holy grail, the one-four-seven, the nine dart finish, the four minute mile. The chub yardsticks may have moved over the years but the humble roach has remained staunchly resolute.
Word reached me of a big roach. I knew the venue. The trouble was I could just be targeting one fish. Plus it was caught some time ago. Nevertheless I started a little campaign. It was tough going to start with. Sure, I caught plenty of roach but they were mainly around the pound mark. Fabulous fish but not quite what I was after. Our old friend Dave Owen joined me one day and we both fished hard in a variety of pegs for little reward. I even did a little video to share among friends stating we had half, maybe an hour left to try and salvage something out of the day.
In desperation I moved one last time. Typically I started catching straight away. Three fish in three casts, only small but after the day we'd had it was nice to get some bites. I distinctly remember cocking up my next cast. It was far short of where I wanted to be. Never let it be said I'm not accurate and a stickler for detail when it comes to chasing big fish. I left it there, too lazy to reposition my tiny piece of flake. To my surprise I had a bite. It led me a merry dance and I was convinced I'd hooked a small chub...........until the blue sheen of a roach flank rolled in front of me. Simultaneously the best and worst moment in fishing. You know you've got something special and are praying it doesn't come off.
I ran up the bank and up towards Dave with my arms held aloft, totally elated. I'd done it again. Just don't tell anyone it was a large dollop of lady luck. Two pounds exactly......
To further prove just how lucky I was I've revisited the river several times and the biggest fish has been one pound ten ounces. I feel like I am learning on every visit. If only it were a little closer to home I could justify fishing the last half hour of light that seems most productive more frequently.....
Other News
With two weeks off work I travelled all over the place. Two days afloat on the Thames after perch.....
Not only did I manage not to catch anything I didn't have a single bite on either day. That was a pretty hard pill to swallow but as everyone says, that's fishing. In fact it was the start of a really tough period fishing wise. I fished hard after a variety of species at a multitude of venues with very little to show for my efforts. A few perch up to just under three pounds, the roach detailed above and a few modest pike. Scant reward for all my efforts. One highlight was this bream taken while after perch. At eight pounds it's still a great river fish in my book.....
With two weeks off work I travelled all over the place. Two days afloat on the Thames after perch.....
Not only did I manage not to catch anything I didn't have a single bite on either day. That was a pretty hard pill to swallow but as everyone says, that's fishing. In fact it was the start of a really tough period fishing wise. I fished hard after a variety of species at a multitude of venues with very little to show for my efforts. A few perch up to just under three pounds, the roach detailed above and a few modest pike. Scant reward for all my efforts. One highlight was this bream taken while after perch. At eight pounds it's still a great river fish in my book.....
One upside has been the company I've had along the way. Benidorm Dave, Jez, Dave and Martin. I also had a visit from Nate Green and Joe Miller. One target was a perch PB for Joe but sadly I've kind of lost touch with my usual venues and I couldn't find any big enough for him. I managed to arrange a nice chub PB for Nate though. Again, right at the end of a long day in the last chance saloon......
The following day we concentrated solely on trying to get some big perch. It was a hideous day weather wise and the fishing wasn't much better. For a brief moment Nate thought he'd cracked it just before dusk. Sadly it turned out to be a rogue pike.....
On another day, afloat with Martin I also had decent pike that did a great impression of a very large perch to start with. It absolutely smashed my lobworm in the most perchy looking spot I've ever fished. Martin found a few reasonable ones in the end......
Benidorm Dave and I had a visit to our favourite pike venue. he beat me yet again with a fine fish of 14lb 10oz. Slightly smaller than we were expecting but the river fished very hard that day......
Tackle Talk
Drennan Acolyte 10ft Feeder RRP £179.95
Nobody ever has a bad word to say about the Acolyte range of rods. Whenever anyone talks about them superlatives abound. "Brilliant rods," say just about everyone I know. It kind of made me feel like I was missing out on something. I finally took the plunge on an ex-display model that came up for £120. So, is it brilliant?.....
I've used the rod for about a month now. It is beautifully balanced, super slim and light. It casts crisply and accurately even with a tiny 2-swan link. In almost every area it is a delight to use. It isn't perfect though, far from it, especially considering the faintly ridiculous asking price. A rod is essentially an extension of your arm and should communicate to you in use. It took me a while to work out the flaw in the rod but initially I described it to a friend as fishing short. After some thought I've worked it out. It's obviously 10ft long but when you hook a fish it doesn't feel it. Leaving aside the push-in quiver tip (which keeps coming loose) you seem to play fish with just the top section of the rod, about three feet. The butt is slightly too stiff, it has too many rings and the cork handle is too thick. I'm sure the stiffness is great for casting feeders and setting hooks but it feels ever so slightly wooden when you have a fish on. Were it £50 I would judge it far more favourably.
I'll leave you with this picture to illustrate my point. On the right is a Middy Nano-core 11ft feeder rod, the left the 10ft Acolyte. Just take a look at the thickness of that handle...........
Drennan Specialist Roving Bag RRP £34.95
I have a few fishing bags. I use them all the time. A Korum one has lasted nearly ten years and counting, a Shimano still going after five, an Imax one I've used for a couple. The Drennan has lasted approximately two months before becoming useless. Truly terrible......
Daiwa Lure Fishing Specialist Range From £59.95
Daiwa are bloody lucky I'm giving them a second chance here. The LRF rod they do is sublime but is far too brittle. I've broken mine twice and they aren't the only breakages I know of. Anyway, I bought the 7ft Dropshot 1-9g and the 7ft Small Plugger 3- 14g, mainly for Perching off my boat. So far, so good. As ever with Daiwa the rods are both very nicely finished. The dropshot rod in particular has a lovely feel and action. The white tip is sensitive enough without collapsing on hooking a fish. It's light and slim with a bit of power further down the blank should you need it.
The Small Plugger feels fairly robust and communicates well, even with 3g Jig heads. The only thing I would change is the overly large tip ring. The more I use it the more I like it. The fast recovery gives the impression of a stiff rod at first but it comes alive with a fish on.
Good, no nonsense tools and nicely finished and equipped. Definitely worth a look if you are in the market for upper-budget range lure rods.
The Small Plugger feels fairly robust and communicates well, even with 3g Jig heads. The only thing I would change is the overly large tip ring. The more I use it the more I like it. The fast recovery gives the impression of a stiff rod at first but it comes alive with a fish on.
Good, no nonsense tools and nicely finished and equipped. Definitely worth a look if you are in the market for upper-budget range lure rods.
Drennan Acolyte net head and 2m Super Specialist handle
From £18.95 and £37.95
I've been using this combination for a while now. As sods law dictates I've hooked the supposedly hook resistant net about a million times. To be fair it does take less time to free the hook. Other than that it has proved a deceptively versatile and robust net. The handle is light and strong with an easy locking mechanism. Not cheap but both should last long enough to make them good value.
Photography
Till Next Time.....
