21/09/2024 - Crust Was The Answer Today
My best chub 5 lb 15 ounces
Over my lifetime I have had some extremely good chub fishing session, today I had one of those days. I was up and about around 0600 hrs this morning, after a brew, I cut up my Garlic sausage into hook size chunks for a size 4 barbless hook in readiness for the session on the river. The day started with a very thick fog, in fact it was so dense, I had thought “Perhaps the busses wouldn’t run until it cleared a bit”. Having bagged up my Garlic sausage, I also put a large white uncut loaf in the bag, in case the water temperature had dropped, if so I would use crust.
While having porridge for breakfast I read Mr “B’s” story of his Richard Walker day, it was excellent, has also were the pictures. An hours later I’m at the bus stop with a few other people from the village, the bus was on time, in Clitheroe my taxi was waiting, twenty minutes later he dropped me off near the river.After a fifteen minute walk in the thick fog, where I couldn’t see the other side of the fields or the riverside trees. I then climbed the stile before entering the wood it was dark and clammy, nothing moved, no sound of a bird. After about fifty yards I’m on the edge of a riverside field, this entailed a walk of around half a mile until I reached the river, I then had a four hundred yard walk upstream.
I was pleased to see the river had half a meter of extra water. My first job was to take the water temperature, I got a reading of 56 degrees F, I thought “This will do me just right” a few minutes later I heard a swirl from a fish then another swirl, “Are they chub or trout” I asked myself. I could faintly see the opposite bank. Just a few yards out I spotted a swirl, “That looked like a chub” I thought. I got the loaf of bread also my catapult from the bag, thinking “Let’s see what happens if I put in some crusts” I spent some catapulting bits of crust well upstream, I suppose it was fifteen minutes or more when I spotted a chub take a piece of crust then two more chub, Immediately all thought of using Garlic sausage disappeared.
It was going to be floating crust to start with. I used a soft Avon action rod matched with a Richard Carter centre pin reel loaded with 4lb Reflo float max line to which I attached a size 4 barbless hook. I sat myself at the head of the pool where the water was coming off the shallows, into a deeper pool about twenty yards long with lots of overhanging trees on the opposite bank. On my banks I just had a few bushes with one Oak tree at the bottom end of the pool.I spent twenty or so minutes feeding in crust and bits of flake, until I thought the fish were really in the mood for taking bread. By this time the sun was burning off the mist, as it did so the chub were really chasing the bread, in fact they sometime competing with anther other chub to see who could get the food first’. In four casts I had four chub between 2 and 3lbs all fish were in immaculate condition, I‘ve not seen better. Every now and again the fish would ignore the bread. In the next six casts I had three more fish, this time there were a bigger class of chub I reckon two of them might have gone 4lbs, after another quiet period I chose to fish a bigger bit of crust, still the chub were coming.
After two hours I’d had a total of nine chub and one trout. Every now and again I noticed some fish further downstream were taking crust, instead of casting the crust upstream then controlling it as it come down towards me. I cast a big piece of crust well downstream to see what would happen, it had travelled some thirty feet when a big pair of lips appeared to take the crust, then slowly submerged without the bait. I then had another four fish by casting upstream then watching the bait as it come down, it didn’t take long for a chub about 3lbs take the bait, in the next six casts I had four more fish on similar size. I decided to take a break, but continued sending a big bait downstream without a hook, to see what happened, one in six or seven piece were ignored, but the big one was occasionally taking a bait.
This fish seemed to be on its own in the area of the big oak. Keeping low I crept down the bank, then moved out in the field until I was below the oak. I slowly moved upstream in the hope of getting a good look at the fish, but the coloured water stopped me, apart from occasionally seeing it take a bit of crust.Back in my swim I sat there for around fifteen minutes trying to work out how I might just connect with the “Big One” as it was now known. I catapulted a big chunk of bread flake downstream, then watched it drift further down about fifteen feet, there was a swirl, the flake was gone. Ten minutes later I sent another bit of flake downstream again this was taken in a swirl.It was time to put a size 4 hook inside the next bit of flake, this time it was a bit bigger, After casting out I allowed the stream to pull line of the reel while I watched to see what would happen, this time the flake floated downstream from where it had been taken when it was free offering, surly the fish wasn’t that wise?
Ten feet further downstream the bait disappeared in a swirl, I lifted the rod hoping the fish had taken the bait. It certainly had, as the rod arched over and line was taken, I switch on the check. Saying to myself “This is the one I wanted”. With the extra water, along with the fast current, the fish had it all his own way, all I could do was to keep on the pressure, until it decided to go in another direction. I had to be careful that the fish didn’t get down in the broken water of the rapids with all the rocks.I decide to go off downstream in the hope I could get below the fish before it reached the Big Oak, I made it with about ten feet to spare where I was able to put on pressure from a different angle. The chub decided to try for the opposite bank where there were several branches in the water. I reckon it might have been around fifteen worrying minutes before I managed to get the fish in the net. It was immaculate, it looked as if it had just been minted. It was scale and fin perfect, one of the nicest chub I have caught, it had no flab, it was a solid rock like specimen as can be seen in the picture. What a good day.
Back to the News List
