TRY OUT MY BUOYANT BAITS FOR CHUB NOW!
Paul Garner says getting more hook-ups can be a piece of cake... or anchored crust
IF YOU spend any amount of time fishing for chub you will know that they can be either the easiest or the most difficult of fish to catch.
Some days the quivertip wraps around time after time, yet each strike meets with thin air. Having filmed chub feeding underwater it is pretty obvious why this happens. When the chub aren’t feeding confidently, normally because the conditions aren’t great, they will pick up a bait on the edge of their lips and swim off with it at speed. Often, they will pick up and drop free offerings several times before taking them or, more often than not, letting them drift away. This means that the hook is unlikely to ever be far enough inside the chub’s mouth to catch hold. So the chances of hooking up are slim, at best. Fortunately, there is often an answer in the form of using a bait that is more buoyant than normal, making it easier for the chub to pick up. Hopefully it will now end up further back in the fish’s mouth, where it is far more likely to catch hold. Just as wafters and pop-ups have revolutionised commercial carp fishing in the colder months, so too have they improved chub catches no end. In fact, I would go so far as to say that a wafter or popped-up bait is an absolute ‘must-have’ when I am chub fishing, such is the difference I have found these baits make.
ANCHORED CRUST
Of course, there is nothing new in using buoyant baits for chub. Breadflake is naturally quite buoyant, and crust needs to be anchored down to counteract its natural buoyancy.
Both these baits are very effective, despite being as old as the hills. They are very cheap, and require no preparation either.
For short sessions bread is a great choice, especially when the water is low and clear and a visible bait can often bring an instant bite.
My preference is for flake, as I can alter the buoyancy simply by squeezing it to remove some of the air.
An unsliced loaf is best, allowing you to break off a 50p piece-sized
bait and moulding it around a size 8 hook.
Keep about half the loaf for hookbaits and mash the rest up in a bait tub with some water and brown crumb to bind it together to make a simple feed.
I like to introduce a handful of this bait into a swim before I fish it. Make sure that you drop the feed into fairly slack water to stop it being washed away.
BOILIE CAKE
A hybrid bait between boilies and bread is boilie cake. This is made by mixing boilie base mix with twice the normal quantity of eggs to produce a runny mix that can be poured into a well-greased cake tin. Baked in the oven for about 30 minutes, this produces a dense but buoyant ‘cake’ that can be cut into cubes and fished on the hook. This bait is a great alternative to paste hookbaits and is very easy to use, needing just a split shot just below the hook to anchor it down.
I like to stick with the same flavour bait whether I am using boilies, cake or paste, hopefully building the chub’s confidence in it as I introduce a small amount every time I fish.
THE LAZY OPTION
The easiest option, although one that does catch a lot of big chub by accident for friends targeting river
carp, is to just use a popped-up boilie or wafter.
The only problem with this approach is that the bait really needs to be fished on a hair, increasing the chances of the hook not finding its way into the chub’s cavernous mouth.
If I am pushed for time, though, then a pop-up straight from the tub and fished on a simple hair rig will still normally outfish a bait presented hard on the bottom.