DES TAYLOR “I’m after a 7lb canal chub”
Match anglers can be your big fish scouts
JUST before the lockdown a mate told me about some big chub he had been targeting on the canal not far away from where I was brought up in the Black Country. Big fish they were too, up to 7lb. At that news my ears pricked up, because I’ve been trying to get a seven off the canal for a few years now. I’ve had some success with a number of fish between 5lb and 6lb, but that breakthrough seven-pounder has so far eluded me.
So, guess what? It looks like this summer I will be heading back to my home patch to fish for some more of these interesting creatures.
The main problem is, the canal systems across the country are many miles long and these chub aren’t everywhere, although once you have found them they are very catchable.
They will be in the middle of towns, feeding alongside the old brick walls and bridges, while at the other end of the scale they can be found way out in the countryside lying beneath overhanging trees or under a moored-up barge, especially if it’s been there a while.
I suggest you have a word with the match anglers in your local tackle shop because they are the guys who hook these big fish. Indeed, on
some stretches the match lads that draw certain pegs will fish with heavy gear and win the day with big – and I mean BIG – chub. These lads are normally only too willing to tell you of heavyweight chub caught and lost, and this information can save you a lot of time in your search for these fish.
Otherwise, during a walk along the canal on a hot bright day you will see chub basking in the heat much the same as carp do, giving their presence away. Once found, these fish aren’t all that difficult to catch, especially at dusk or into dark if rules allow.
I fish all the usual chub baits, the exact same ones on the canal as I do on the river – breadflake and crust, cheesepaste or good old casters. A piece of crust popped up about 3ins off the bottom is my favourite dusk bait, with cheesepaste taking over at night, while during the day I go for casters on light gear.
To me, there is something special about rolling up to the canal a couple of hours before dark and setting up against a bridge that was built way before I was born.
Sometimes a small bush will be growing from the cracks in the bridge and that is enough to give cover to a couple of big chub.
Throughout the day lots of bikers, walkers and people going to work will pass these specimens and not have a clue such fish are so near, but I do. Come dark you will sometimes hear them roll or see them bubbling in the deep silt of the canal bottom.
A small knock to say hello on the quivertip, then the rod pulls round and you are into a fish that chances are has rarely, if ever, been hooked before.
Oh, I nearly forgot, another great tactic for chub is lures, especially surface poppers where an accurate cast beneath the trees on the opposite bank can see you enjoying one of the most thrilling moments angling has to offer.
My trick here is to cast and leave the lure in position for 20 seconds and then retrieve. Any chub that has been watching the lure sitting in the surface film and annoying it will take it as soon as it moves… great stuff!
The canals are no longer like open sewers and they hold some great fish besides the chub, so why not take a look this summer and have some virgin fishing all to yourself? I certainly intend to.