The Coarse Fishing Guide

Latin name Leuciscus cephalus

The chub has a large mouth, thick set body and dark edged scales. It lives primarily in rivers, but can also be found in some lakes and canals.

Small chub can be found in shoals while larger chub are more solitary creatures with their own territories.

The chub is a favourite of river anglers and even very small rivers can hold quite large specimens, usually occupying the deeper pools where they make their home among the sunken roots of trees and bushes.

Baits

Chub will take almost any bait at times, including maggots and worms where there are not too many smaller fish to take the bait first, but firm favourites are bread in all its forms; flake, crust, paste, and cheese either used on its own, moulded on to the hook, or mixed with breadcrumbs to make a strongly flavoured paste.

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Tactics

A roving approach is usually best for catching chub in small and medium sized rivers. A leger rig using just enough weight to hold bottom should be cast into any likely spot; near bushes or trees in the deeper parts of the river, baited with a piece of bread or cheese or the tail of a large worm. Sensitive bite detection is rarely necessary as chub bite boldly and it pays to keep your hand on the rod when waiting for a bite.

After you have caught one, or perhaps two chub from a swim, it is time to move on. If you have a stretch of river pretty much to yourself, you can bait several swims with mashed or liquidised bread, and then fish each in turn, hopefully taking a fish or two from each as you return along the bank.

Tread carefully and try to be inconspicuous, especially on small rivers. Although chub will take a bait boldly, they are a cautious fish, and can seem to disappear into the depths if they are disturbed by an angler moving against the skyline or causing a noisy vibration on the bank.

Chub can also be taken on float tackle trotted through the swim, and the occasional chub will often be caught in a mixed bag of roach and dace, which can often test an angler’s skill with the light float tackle used to catch those species.