Only A Few Days Left To Catch Some Chub

I've been enjoying some very good chub fishing on the River Ribble either fishing the Edisford Hall water a game fishing syndicate, or the Prince Albert AS waters. But wherever you fish on the Ribble from Calder Foot downstream to the tidal at Shaw's Arms, you are in with the chance of catching some good chub, with a realistic chance of five pound fish, even six pounders are there to be caught. Sadly some stretches of the river look more like a rubbish tip than a delightful natural fishery which they should resemble. I feel privileged in having several miles of river to choose from, so I don't have to fish surrounded by rubbish, though having said that there are times after a flood when the banks can often be littered with bits of plastic, both from the farming community and the general public. I use several baits when chub fishing lobworms, sausage meat and Jungle paste. But the one bait that reigns supreme on this river, that's bread, either as flake, crust, or paste either flavoured or plain. The latter when the water is low and clear. Two styles of fishing work for chub, trotting the stream or legering. The secret when trotting is to make sure you have a float that will take 4 or 5 swan shot so you can boss the stream.

My chosen tackle when trotting is a 13 foot through action rod designed for lines between 4 and 7lb breaking strain, I usually use Gamma 6lb breaking strain, straight through to my hook which depends on the bait in use, Pallatrax barbless hooks are my choice in sizes 4's through to 8's. Remember not only do the chub grow big (Brendan Ince had a 6-2-0 fish a couple of weeks ago) but there are plenty of barbel. When it comes to the choice of a reel when trotting, I reckon there is only one model to use, that's a centre pin reel. Don't say you can't use one, go and take a lesson from Alan Roe in the art of Wallis casting. Remember a centre pin reel isn't a fashion item, its a piece of equipment that will allow you to present a bait correctly to a fish. Far better than the fixed spool reel variety. For legering I use a soft Avon action rod with 6lb Gamma line, either a centre pin or fixed spool reel, my choice of weight is usually LG shot lightly pinched on the line with a Pallatrax hook size 4's through to 8's which would depend on the bait in use. Along with a few open ended feeders and a bucket of liquidised bread that about covers all my needs when fishing for chub.

This week I fished sessions on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Monday morning I spent some time doing repairs to a couple of stiles and some fencing on my stretch of river Ribble, then it was off for a late breakfast at the Hillcrest Tea Room at Mitton, I can certainly recommend the food and service. Back home I sorted out some gear then headed off to the Ribble near Ribchester where I fished from about 2 o'clock to just after 8 o'clock, despite the strong wind and heavy rain the chub chose to feed. I had 11 chub and 4 barbel. Best chub went 5-7-0 with an average of about 4-4-0, the barbel averaged 4lb -5lbs all my fish were caught on a soft paste bait. I reckon the main ingredient in the mix was semolina flour, to which I added some Jungle flavour from Pallatrax. If I hadn't been holding the rod, I doubt if I would have caught more than a couple of fish. All the bites were just slight knocks such as one would get from a bit of rubbish drifting against the line.

Tuesday morning I was on the Edisford Hall water on the Ribble, after spending some time sitting in a hide, I shot a grey squirrel then went off and checked my mink traps. I was lucky today, finding a big black mink in my third trap. It had even pulled a load of straw which I had covered the trap with into the cage. After eating the bait it went to sleep. It wasn't the least bothered when I appeared. Quickly dispatching it with a shot to the head. That's another two vermin that want kill song or ground nesting birds and taking their eggs. Having reset my traps with fresh bait, I decided to try and catch some chub. The swim I chose to fish was the 'Clay Hole' walking downstream to the swim in the mud, was like walking through a thick glue like substance every step was hard work. On the way I stopped off at the weir pool where I got two chub on legered crust the second chub I reckon was a good 5lb plus. Fishing the 'Clay Hole' I chose to use a small open ended feeder filled with crumb using flake on the hook. in an hour I had four chub and two trout. For thirty minutes I remained fishless then called it a day.

Early Wednesday morning I walked both beats of the Edisford Hall water checking out my traps, not a single one had been visited, after putting in fresh bait and sprinkling salmon oil in the area I returned home to work on my new book.

Today Thursday the morning was bright and sunny by 10 o'clock all the mink traps had been visited, nothing had disturbed them so I decided to fish. Collecting a rod and bait bag from the car I walked across the field to the big ivy clad oak tree swim. I chose to fish a piece of crust casting out I let the bait swing under the far bank. I then checked the water temperature it was 38 degrees F as I chatted to Mick Holgate I told him how cold the water was saying I don't think I will catch today in the bright sunshine with a drop of 4 degrees F over night. Suddenly the rod tip moved slightly the line dropped back. striking I set the hook into a fish. Soon a chub was in the net weighing about two and a half pounds. In the next couple of hours I had four more fish the best about 3lbs. By 12 noon I was back at the cabin having a cup of coffee more than satisfied with my short session.