‘You just can’t beat catching chub on the float’
And as for bait, it’s got to be lobworms!
AS I WRITE this, I’m starting to think that for the first few weeks of coming out of lockdown I’m going to overdose on floatfishing on rivers and stillwaters. I’ve missed it so much.
When I talk to anglers face-toface or on social media I often get asked: “If you could use just one tactic and one bait for just one species of fish, what would you choose?”
I thought this week would be the right time to answer this question in some detail. So, what single species would I fish for, and why?
Well, this may shock you but I think it would have to be chub, the reason being I could fish for them on rivers, canals and stillwaters. They can be caught on all manner of baits and methods, everything from the humble maggot under a float to a piece of bread or a worm on leger gear, or a dog biscuit on the surface.
Chub, being predators, will even take lures worked deep or on the surface, and they are suckers for nymphs or buzzers fished on a fly rod. In fact, I can’t think of a bait or a method that won’t work for chub, so it’s a no brainer for me why I have picked this species.
But what if I had to restrict myself to just one way to fish for them? Well, that would have to be the float because although there are more successful ways of catching bigger bags and heavier specimens there’s something special about seeing a float bob at the surface and then slip away. That feeling as a fish nods on the tip of a nice light-actioned float rod sums up chub fishing for me.
What about the one bait I could use? Again, that’s easy, it would be a lobworm. I can’t think of a fish that won’t take a big juicy lob.
Even pike, big ones at that, will do so. I’ve lost count of the times when I’ve been fishing a worm for perch, chub or roach on the river and a pike has grabbed it instead. It’s a great bait that every species loves.
That just leaves one type of venue, another no brainer for me. It would be the upper reaches of a river, wading out in the flow, with dippers, kingfishers, wagtails and wrens watching me fish and buzzards, ravens and kites flying overhead. I’ll be trotting a float and getting excited every time it goes under. Will it be a small brown trout, a minnow, a grayling or even a big rogue roach or chub?
I’d do that in the morning, then it would be up to the car to cook a fry-up and make a pot of tea before going back for the afternoon session – pure heaven.
I haven’t been asked what my one season of the year to fish would be but I can tell you autumn would win. It’s a time of change in the landscape. For a few short weeks our countryside can compete with anywhere else in the world, with so many types of trees and bushes turning different shades as the daylight hours dwindle down.
It’s as though the fish know winter is around the corner and food is becoming scarce, so they need to get their nosebags on. When fish eat a lot, you catch a lot – happy days are here again!