Features of fishing for chub, what it looks like and where to look, description of the fish

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Chub is far from being the most popular fish, and its name is not even heard by people who are far from fishing. This is explained by the fact that the population size of the chub is several times lower than that of the same bream and roach. And this fish does not have any special gastronomic qualities. But among fishermen, the chub is almost the most popular “character”, because the ability to fish for this extremely cunning and cautious fish is considered the height of fishing skill!

Origin of the species and description

Photo: Chub

The redfin predator, in its habits and morphometric characteristics, is a typical fish for freshwater bodies of southern and central Russia. According to the accepted classification, the chub (like most fish living in Russian rivers, belongs to the carp family). In terms of its size, it is considered a fairly large fish. Adults reach a size of 80 cm and a body weight of about 8 kilograms.

Other names for this fish that have taken root among the people are “chub” or “smut”. Their origin is most likely associated with the large forehead of this fish. This peculiarity of appearance is explained by its flattened shape. In appearance, this predator is incredibly beautiful and bright. The chub, with its scarlet lateral and dark red dorsal fins, with large scales that shimmer in the color of old silver (this is explained by the presence of dark spots on the scales), is considered the most mysterious and cautious fish of freshwater reservoirs.

Video: Chub

The chub is one of the most cautious and timid fish that can only be found in freshwater bodies. This is where countless methods of catching it come from, actively and not so actively used by fishermen. After all, the easier it is to catch fish, the less clever people are in inventing ways to catch it - they use one, maximum two or three options. But in the case of the chub, everything is completely different.

Now 5-6 methods are actively used (not counting poaching), and experienced fishermen can list at least a dozen! So we can safely conclude that the chub is one of the most difficult objects for a fisherman to reach and, in addition to experience and dexterity, requires a person to have a thorough knowledge of all its characteristics and habits.

Interesting fact: Chub is a very aggressive fish. It bites so sharply that it can easily knock the rod out of the hands of an unsuspecting fisherman. A hooked chub exhibits extremely strong resistance - in order not to go into the frying pan, the predator makes “candles” and other “feints” in order to go into the saving snags, where it costs nothing to tangle the fishing line. According to experienced fishermen, the chub demonstrates its greatest strength during the first jerks. If you overcome them, then it will not be difficult to fish the fish ashore. Don’t be afraid to hook - the chub’s mouth is strong and will withstand it. But if you hook it poorly, the fish will most likely get off the hook.

What size and weight does it reach?

This representative of the carp family is omnivorous, so it grows and recovers quite quickly. At the age of two, he becomes sexually mature. At this point it usually measures about 20 centimeters in length and weighs about 1 kilogram. In the first seven years of life they grow especially intensively and can reach 80 cm and eight kilograms. From the recorded achievements among sports fishermen, it is known that the largest representative with exactly these parameters was caught in the Belarusian Republic.

But the average fisherman comes across chubs up to one and a half kilograms, with a length of about 40 centimeters. Smut grows differently in different bodies of water. It can be grown perfectly in a pond. It can reach a maximum of 60 cm and several kilograms. In a favorable habitat they live up to two decades, sometimes more. Their growth continues throughout life, although at a slower pace. Dimensions over 70 cm and weight more than 7 kg, the fish can reach a maximum age of about a quarter of a century. The largest chub has not yet been caught.

Appearance and features

Photo: What a chub looks like

The main morphometric characteristics of this fish, taken as the species standard, are:

• a thick, wide, slightly thickened head, which contributed to the origin of the name;
• cylindrical body;
• large scales shaded with a black border;
• a large mouth dotted with pharyngeal teeth (double-rowed), curved at the top into a hook.

Separately, we should dwell on the structure of the fins. The dorsal fin has 3 unbranched and 8 - 9 branched rays; in the anal fin their number is 3 and 8 - 10, respectively. The back of the chub is dark green, almost black, the sides are silver with a yellowish tint. The pectoral fins are orange, the pelvic and anal fins are dark red, burgundy, and the caudal fin is bordered by a black line.

Most often, chub are caught “on top” (that is, on a fishing rod without a sinker, with a recumbent float made of cork). They catch it with a grasshopper, a dragonfly, or even a cockchafer, but the first two options are better (after all, these insects often end up in the water). A long (4 - 6 meters), light and rigid rod (made of fiberglass or composite) with existing guide rings is used. Use only a spinning reel with a spool suitable for winding fishing line 0.15 - 0.20 mm in sufficient quantity.

It is impossible not to note the specific behavioral characteristics of this fish. In the fall, chubs leave their summer residences, gather in large schools, and already in September lie down in pits for the winter. All winter they remain there in a sedentary state and do not consume food - a very original way of organizing hibernation.

This is another feature that significantly distinguishes the chub from ide, roach, bream and other representatives of the order of carp fish. As the edges appear and the flood water level begins to rise, the chub leaves its wintering grounds. Before spawning, the population of these fish is divided into small schools and intensively begins to gain body weight.

How is it different from ide?

You can distinguish ide from chub by the following characteristics:

• coloring: ide scales are smaller and lighter, yellowish in color, the back is bluish, the sides are white, the gill covers are golden, the head is bronze, the fins are bright, up to crimson;
• head: the ide has a pointed shape, flattened, with a small slanting mouth and thin lips, smaller in size;
• eyes: ide is yellow in color, small in size;
• body: ide - high and flattened;
• anal fin: in ide - concave;
• color of meat tissues: internal tissues of ide are yellowish.

Where does the chub live?

Photo: Chub fish

The chub prefers rivers with high and medium water flow rates, riffles, whirlpools and cool water. This fish is almost never found in stagnant bodies of water (ponds, lakes and reservoirs), preferring to leave them for tributaries. The fish carefully avoids slow-flowing waters. Accordingly, it is almost impossible to find it in the lower reaches and mouths of rivers, although in the upper reaches the chub is usually numerous.

Sometimes it settles in the same places with trout and grayling, where other representatives of the order carp fish (with the exception of the minnow) are practically not found. The chub prefers areas with a sandy and rocky bottom, but this fish does not linger in earthy and shady places. The chub often comes out onto riffles and sandbanks; hides in pools and in the coastal zone, under willows hanging over the water (from them it is much easier for him to pick up insects that have fallen into the water). Of particular interest is the thick underwater snag.

Taking into account territorial preferences, the optimal place for hunting chub is the riffle area. At the same time, there are anglers who make a serious mistake: they stand right on the riffle itself, thereby dispersing the fish. After all, the chub most often stays near a riffle - a little higher or lower than it (hiding behind shelters: stones, boulders, water curtains). It would be more correct to position yourself 20-30 m from the riffle, gradually moving away from it 10-15 m downstream.

Now you know where the chub is found. Let's see what this fish eats.

Habitats

The Dodger loves high speed and, as a result, extreme currents. Practically does not live in bodies of water with standing water. It will not tolerate small doses of oxygen in reservoirs, ponds and lakes. The only exceptions can be flowing reservoirs with sufficient water exchange.

Recognizes warm small rivers of the Caspian, Black, and Azov basins. Found in Europe - Dnieper, Rhine, Elbe. In Russia it is not found further than the Ural Mountains - Volga, Oka, Don.

The selective predator is found in overgrown, secluded areas with a rocky or clay bottom.

What does the chub eat?

Photo: Chub in Russia

The main items on the chub menu are aerial insects, young crayfish, small fish and fry, as well as frogs. In this case, the main factor determining the diet of chubs is the size of the fish. The larger the chub reaches, the more clearly the habits of a predator appear. And by the time it reaches sexual maturity, this fish becomes a fierce aggressor, preferring to hunt small, runaway fish (most often, large and medium-sized specimens of bleak and minnows become prey for chubs, because they are the favorite delicacy of the river predator).

But most often the chub diversifies its diet - the “menu” includes flying insects and their crawling larvae that, by the will of fate, ended up in the water, as well as worms, mollusks that do not have a strong shell, tadpoles, young and adult frogs (a separate delicacy is frog and fish caviar), as well as mice and crayfish. Large chubs pay special attention to molting crayfish - apparently for their softness, since crayfish during this period are deprived of a shell. At the same time, “defenseless” crayfish show special caution during molting, so it is not so easy for chubs to feast on arthropods.

Chubs do not disdain plant foods. The habit of feeding on insects fallen from trees and bushes has taught chubs to swallow even berries and fruits that fall into the water. Chub do not refuse bread bait - even if the fisherman’s goal is to attract other fish. From all this, one not entirely logical conclusion suggests itself - the chub can be considered an omnivorous fish, but at the same time, it is an uncompromising predator.

Benefits for the body

Chub is primarily useful as a rich source of dietary protein, which is easily absorbed by the body. And this fact makes fish useful for everyone (with the exception of individuals with individual intolerance), since protein and amino acids are the main components for maintaining the health of the human body. Chub is useful for children during their growth period, under intense stress (mental and physical), for expectant mothers, people after illness and people in old age. The protein contained in fillet is necessary for muscle recovery, proper development of the body and the health of internal organs.

The calorie content of the product is low - only 127 kcal per 100 g of fillet. But in terms of nutritional value it is not inferior to the best varieties of fish and meat. The fillet of this fish is perfectly absorbed by the body, so it is useful for children, the elderly and people after illness. This product is also recommended to be included in the diet of people who want to lose weight.

All chub dishes are good sources of minerals and vitamins. This fish is useful for restoring reserves of iron, copper, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, and zinc.

Thanks to zinc, for example, chub promotes the production of enzymes in the body and restores male strength. Phosphorus makes this fish necessary for maintaining kidney and brain function, as well as for proper cell division. By the way, if you experience rapid fatigue or chronic drowsiness, try including chub meat in your diet - perhaps the body simply does not have enough phosphorus. It is due to the presence of iron in the chemical composition of fish that it is useful for people with low hemoglobin. Any diet against anemia should include fish, such as chub, which is popular in our region. If your nails are breaking, your hair is splitting and your musculoskeletal health has deteriorated, this also means it’s time to include calcium-rich chub meat in your diet. In addition, fish is useful for maintaining dental health and for cleansing the body of toxic substances, such as radionuclides and dangerous strontium.

Another beneficial component of this fish is omega-3 fatty acids, which makes this product beneficial for people with cardiovascular problems.
Most omega substances are found in fish oil. It also contains B vitamins, vitamin A, E, K. Nutritional value per 100 g

Features of character and lifestyle

Photo: Chub in the river

At first, after emerging from the eggs, the larvae are located near the shore, mainly in quiet places, mostly even in the grass, near piers and rafts. As the young grow older, they begin to move closer to the middle of the river, although they still avoid the riffles favored by large chubs and willingly nest near piles and reeds.

Closer to autumn, the young of the year go deeper. The shoals in which young animals gather are very large at first - they include several hundred and even thousands of fish, but the population of young animals thins out very quickly. After all, there are many other predators in the river, for which the chub is the same prey. And seagulls are not averse to eating fresh fish.

Young chubs are, to a greater extent, vegetarians - due to the lack of extensive hunting experience and the morphometric parameters necessary for catching large fish, the fish mainly consume algae, larvae, as well as adult insects that have fallen into the water. In the summer, when the young animals grow up, they already switch from plant foods to consuming crustaceans and mollusks.

In the spring, chubs swim even closer to the shore, because the diet of these fish is replenished with a “real delicacy” - earthworms that end up in the river at the beginning of the flood, as well as “high-calorie” chafers and other insects. In autumn, large individuals actively eat herbivorous fish and hunt frogs. And in order to store more fat for the winter, the chub dares to start hunting voles and other small mammals.

Interesting fact: Peculiarities of behavior leave an imprint on the chub’s biting pattern. The chub bites most greedily in the spring, in the second ten days of May and with the onset of the first days of autumn, when it gets a little colder. In winter, its bite weakens by an order of magnitude, but at the beginning and end of the icing period there is a slight increase in fish activity.

Time and fishing gear

The most successful time for catching chub is spring and early autumn. At this time, it is caught with donkeys, with float rods in the wire, with spinning rods and fly fishing. Sometimes bale fishing or tug fishing can be successful and exciting, when two fishermen stand on opposite sides of the river and “bale” the water with a fly or a grasshopper on a hook. The bait is on the line of two paired spinning rods. Also sometimes effective is the method of fishing with a long, light rod, from the top of which the line goes vertically down, as in winter fishing, and the bait, as in the drag version, “bales” on the surface of the water.

Worms, fry, frogs, chafers and their larvae, grasshoppers, and flies are used as bait Among artificial baits, wobblers, flies, and spinners work best.

Social structure and reproduction

Photo: Chub in July

Puberty in chubs occurs at the age of 4-5 years. Spawning occurs “in portions”; the fish prefer the river bed and rocky rifts to carry out this process. Spawning time lasts from the beginning of May to the end of June. Despite the extremely high fertility, the chub population is not as numerous as roach, crucian carp or bream.

This fact is explained by the fact that most of the laid eggs are carried away by the current of the unfertilized river (as already mentioned above, the chub settles only in reservoirs with fast currents, and a high percentage of egg death is a consequence of the choice of such a place of residence). In addition, the lion's share of chub caviar is eaten by other fish, and not only by predators. It has been scientifically proven that the champions in destroying alien eggs in the river are crucian carp, bream and roach.

In order for chub spawning to begin, the water temperature in the river must reach certain values. For example, in the southern regions of Europe, chub spawning begins at a water temperature of 12-17 °C, mainly in April. In northern European regions, spawning time comes in May-June (there the water warms up later). Fish always spawn close to their habitats. The fecundity of chub is high even in comparison with minnows and crucian carp - on average, a female lays from 9.7 to 200 thousand eggs during the spawning period. Sexual maturity of the chub occurs at the end of 2-3 years of life, when the individual gains a weight of 100-200 g.

Spawning

Spawning occurs in spring and summer. Lasts from May to August, and begins when the water temperature reaches 14-20 ° C, depending on the habitat.

During these periods they make short migrations to suitable spawning grounds. They do not spawn in standing waters.

Males become sexually mature at the age of 3-7 years, females at 4-8 years.

Their puberty is greatly influenced by external environmental factors.

During spawning, the males chase the female and she lays 20,000 to 30,000 eggs. The eggs are fertilized in shallow riffles and fall into the gravel, where they hatch into fry after 7-14 days.

The fry live in shallow areas of the coastline and gradually move into deeper and faster layers of water.

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The female can spawn up to several times per season; it is possible to create hybrids with other cyprinids, which become even more fertile.

Natural enemies of the chub

Photo: What a chub looks like

Adult chubs (those who have reached 2-3 years of age) feel quite at ease in all bodies of water with a strong current and a sandy or rocky bottom. By and large, these fish have no natural enemies left, because a large predator itself can fight back against anyone (and it’s unlikely that any fish will want to mess with a 5-kilogram chub). But it also happens that the chub is forced out of its hunting grounds by more organized and voracious competitors, such as ide and asp. Again, all of the above points are valid only for adult individuals.

Interesting fact: Chub is a valuable object of amateur and sport fishing. As noted earlier, it is very difficult to catch a chub, because the fish is very cunning and quickly “saws through” all human tricks.

But eggs, larvae and even young animals are actively eaten by all other predatory (and even herbivorous) fish, as well as some birds. As a result, it turns out that those fish that the chub eats with pleasure as adults are the main enemies of young predators! After all, they are the ones who destroy the bulk of the caviar. Taking into account the colossal percentage of death of fry, only a few survive to 2 years (mature age). But even despite this, the primary danger for adult individuals comes exclusively from a person for whom catching a chub with a fishing rod is considered a matter of honor.