Over the last few weeks, I've hooked chub every time I've been piking. Most have been lightly hooked, mainly because I'm not giving them time to chew the bait, and have come off. I managed to land one today, 4lb on the dot, there isn't much that they won't eat!
In my experience, lamprey and smelt are taken with ease by chub, other baits tend to be ignored (though I've had a decent one on a whole sardine before now). Im certainly going to be adding lamprey / herring chunks to my armoury of chub baits, as they seem to be taken with gusto, and none of these quick bites either, they seem to sit there and chew the bait (as you can see in the picture), leaving a slow nodding on the rod tip. Today, I had a feeling it was a chub, so when I saw the nodding, I say and waited until the chub noticed it was hooked and bolted, which was about 20 seconds or so. Quite exciting holding the rod awaiting the slam of the tip, and knowing it's about to come. The use of baits that are rarely seen works very well with chub that are pressurised, and that have got used to the bread flake / meat / cheese paste / pellet baits. A clear sign of shy chub are quick, unhittable bites- if you are suffering from these, I would highly recommend a new bait, like steak or lamprey (or even pigs liver / heart). I've found that bites are, all of a sudden, very confident and unmissable.
That leads me onto my next point - how would I fish for chub safely, knowing the possibility of pike taking a bait. So, I'm going to give this stuff a try, apparently it can be knotted (dubious) but at the very least it's supple, which would be ideal for chub fishing.
Enjoy!
Temperature - 6C, rising to 8Csteady.
Air Pressure - 1010 hPa slowly rising
Levels - normal, a little coloured
Interesting! Just started quiver-tipping for Zander on my local river. Have had a few and these also just give a nod, nod nod on the tip before moving off. However, but have had other seemingly "unmissable" runs where I've struck into thin air! Suspect Mr Chub might be responsible then. P.S. I use the 20lb soft strand for the zander - knotless knot. Cheers, Ian.
ReplyDeleteCheers for that - I'll give the soft strand a go, using knottless knot. I might also give it a try with small livebaits for perch....
DeleteThis would be perfect mate
ReplyDeletehttp://www.askari-fishing.co.uk/__WebShop__/product/fishing/fishing-accessories-5/rigs-traces-2/steel-hardmono-traces-2/saenger-iron-claw-authanic-wire/detail.jsf
Ignore their claimed invisibility coz it aint, far from it in fact, but what it is is very soft and suple for a wire, it actually feels like braid. Might take some searching to find it in the UK i'm afraid and Askari have a min order of £35 from memory but you could spend the rest in their lure dept very easily!!!
Rob,
DeleteThat looks spot on, cheers. Your not wrong, I can see me spending a lot more than £35!
Email me mate i'll send you a bit to have a go with. Not sure I can stand the guilt of making you look at those lures :)
Deleterob.thomo66@gmail.com
Hi Rob,
DeleteGot the sample in the post, not had chance to use it yet, but plans afoot in the next week or two!
Much appreciated