Dave Harrell It’s time to set your sites on river chub
Big weights are on the cards now that rivers are dropping…
ICAN’T remember an October as wet as the one we’ve had this year. Most of our rivers have been high all month, but the good news as we approach November is that they’re now dropping, and that means we could be in for some fantastic sport over the next few weeks!
All fish will be hungry now, as they’ve been battling against high water with little in terms of feed for several weeks. Chub, in particular, will be on the lookout for your bait. Floatfishing is the best way to put a big weight together, and this week we’re looking at the tactics you should use for the perfect red-letter day!
If you’ve never tried this style of fishing, I’d urge you to give it a go soon, as the time will be right!
ALWAYS PLUMB UP!
Before I set up I always spend time using a heavy plummet to check the depth. You can also use a bomb for this exercise.
The way to do it is to attach a small buoyant float like a 2AAA
Speci Waggler on to the line with a rubber at the top and bottom. Tie the plummet or bomb on to the end of the mainline and then cast the rig downstream and ‘feel’ the weight hit bottom.
Keep adding depth until the float pops up above the surface. This will be your starting point in terms of the depth that you will set your float rigs at.
TIPS AND TACTICS
Once you are happy that you’ve got the depth correct, the next step is to select a float that will easily get to the distance you want to fish at. This will be governed by the distance you can get loosefeed
to, so always make sure you have plenty of size options.
Start with the rig set at full depth and feed every cast with a catapult. I usually feed directly in front and cast downstream to give myself good control.
From this point, you need to experiment with depth.
Add or remove depth initially in six-inch increments and fine-tune by adding or removing smaller degrees.
Hooks need to be strong, and I’d recommend using sizes from 16 up to 12 with two, three or four maggots on board.
Once the chub start to feed there are several ways you can go. These include fishing shallower so that your hookbait is off the bottom. The insert floats really come into their own in this instance, as they are less buoyant.
On some days it can pay to fish the rig overdepth. By leaving a good amount of float tip clear of the surface, you are adding to the buoyancy, which allows your hookbait to drag along the riverbed without the float constantly dragging under.