Chub fishing is a dynamic type of fishing, regardless of the gear used. After all, a nimble and fast fish discovered by an angler at his anchorage, even with bottom gear, will not allow him to simply sit on the shore waiting for a bite, but will force him to constantly be on the move, changing bait and reacting to sharp and frequent bites. It also helps the angler that this fish is caught throughout the open water season and only catching chub in winter is considered a futile activity. The wide distribution area of this carp species makes it possible to organize fishing trips for catching chub both on small rivers and on large waterways with moderate currents with the same success rate in catching a significant trophy.
Simple equipment for fishing sessions and baits that are mostly common in the fishing environment make catching large chub on the river accessible to most anglers. The topic of the presented article will tell a fisherman who is unfamiliar with the production of this interesting object for catching about the configuration of gear, choosing a promising hunting location and will reveal the secrets of what is the best bait in a particular season of the year.
Features of predator behavior
To catch a chub, you need to be familiar with the basic behavior of the fish. After all, this is a universal species of carp fish, which is an omnivorous fish that feeds on both plant and animal food. Yes, he is not averse to hunting for smaller fish, which often makes up half of his daily diet. The predator’s favorite hunting pattern is a wait-and-see position behind the underwater shelter of a food item floating past, or an insect that has fallen to the surface of the water, which will be picked up and instantly eaten by a swift throw of the fish.
Important! Fish are shy by nature and avoid noisy places. It even leaves its usual feeding points, having noticed extra suspicious activity on the part of the clumsy fisherman.
Unlike many fish species, chubs continue to actively feed during spawning in late May and early June. In warm water they try to stay in the shallows; as the water gets colder, they go to the depths of wintering points and noticeably reduce their feeding activity.
Donka with a feeder
The bottom fishing rod, if you prefer it, should be short and powerful. The sinker is chosen flat. Live bait is often used as bait. The cuts are made sharply and briefly.
A bottom fishing rod with a reel allows you to place a feeder. As a result, the fish, enjoying the feeding, forgets about caution and gets hooked. At the same time, the bait is not carried away by the current. But in the fall it will not be easy to catch a chub on such a structure, since at this time it is already moving away from plant food.
You can use both open and closed feeders. Open products consist of a wire frame with mesh and a lead load. They are filled with plant bait with a small amount of animal components. Flavoring occurs using vegetable oil or cake.
Closed feeders are made of plastic. They have special holes through which the larvae are removed. The type of fastening for both products is fixed or sliding.
On a quiet river, you can use a donk with a rubber shock absorber. The bait is a small fish. Advantages of the tackle: when using it, there is no need for constant casting; it can be used from 5 hooks at once.
The elastic band allows you to stop at several attachments at once. When fishing in the upper part of the water it can be:
- bleak;
- roach;
- Verkhovka
Plant baits and insect larvae are used both in the water column and when fishing from the bottom.
Where to catch chub
To search for promising points on rivers, they focus on trees and bushes hanging over the banks, from which all kinds of insects fall into the water. Also ideal are shallow shallows with fast currents, where underwater vegetation stretches in long strands along the current. Knowing the bottom topography, where there are pebble bases with occasional large stones, anglers catch chub by placing bait over such places.
Chub like to stay on the borders of calm and stormy water, standing near a whirlpool or breaker, waiting for an insect that has fallen into the water to float downstream or a small fish tired of fighting fast water. As a rule, promising places can vary in depth from 0.5 to 3 meters.
Catching chub in small rivers is extremely interesting
This strong fish is capable of breaking the fishing line and bending the hook. Once upon a time, when I first came to the small river Oshlu, I did not have much hope for a good catch. In some places you can wade across it without getting your underpants wet. But fish, I thought, still loves space and depth. But it so happened that I had to come here often. The first year I caught only small things: roaches, chubs. On the sandy shallows, the minnows were biting well. A good bite is great. But I still wanted to catch something bigger. Traveling along the banks of the river, I saw that in the pools there were schools of quite decent chubs. But the cautious fish hid as I approached. With a swing of the rod, the chubs instantly went into the depths and attempts to catch them always ended in failure. Very rarely was it possible to catch a larger fish using a bunch of small worms from the bottom.
Peculiarities of biting by season
Chub fishing begins in early spring, after the ice melts, in warm shallow waters. Fish activity increases with increasing water temperature and reaches its peak at the end of May, when schools begin to gather for spawning, continuing to feed throughout the entire mating season.
Important! All summer, when the chub bites relatively consistently and well, is considered the main hunting season. At this time, fish can be caught throughout the day, with greater bite activity in the early morning and at dawn.
In autumn, chubs become more capricious and sensitive to weather changes and especially pressure changes, when the bite can completely disappear and appear only a couple of days after it has stabilized. By November, chub bites become less and less frequent and disappear with the advent of the first significant frosts.
Read the report on chub fishing in December in the Krasnodar Territory.
Float rods
Chub fishing is often done using float rods. The following can be used:
- match;
- flight feathers;
- Bolognese tackle.
When fishing with float rods, you must use bait. When choosing a fly or Bolognese fishing rod, choose floats that are stable and can withstand the force of the current. The shape of the float is selected according to the fishing conditions. Basically, fishermen choose a round float.
Everything about a hook is important: thickness, shape, elasticity, shank length. Size can be taken from No. 1.0 to No. 18.0. Sinkers are taken in the form of a drop or a pellet.
How to catch chub
Almost all known fishing methods are suitable for catching this wary fish; the main rule is to maintain silence in the fishing area and camouflage the angler. Wade fishing gives good results when hunting in shallow waters. Even when catching chub with a float rod, this method significantly increases catches, since the fish practically does not see the angler, and therefore does not feel any danger. In deep sections of rivers, mining can be successfully done from a boat. Fishing for chub, with a rod and spinning rod, floating downstream and fishing in promising places, constantly produces significant catch results both in terms of the quantity and size of the trophy. We will discuss the most popular fishing methods in detail, considering the main specifics of chub hunting.
Spinning
Tackle for chub is selected with the most delicate parameters. Light and ultra-light semi-fast spinning rods are the most suitable tool for this careful hunt. The best results are brought by fishing from boats, which disturbs the caught fish to a lesser extent, therefore spinning rods are used as short in length as possible, equipping them with lightweight spinning reels with a monofilament cord no more than 0.2 mm in diameter. Autumn fishing and spring chub fishing using spinning gear are the most productive hunting times.
Important! During the pre-spawning period and in preparation for wintering, fish become more aggressive and are more likely to attack artificial spinning baits, which are carried out both with classic uniform retrieves and with twitching.
Suitable places for spinning fishing are considered to be areas free of vegetation on the borders with heterogeneous currents and a rocky bottom in water areas with depths of 1–3 meters. To fish places under low-hanging tree crowns, a technique is used to float a floating bait downstream to the end of the prospective fishing path, followed by leading the simulator against the current.
Float tackle
Chub fishing is carried out using a float rod, which is chosen based on the dynamics of fishing in the easiest way. The length of fishing rods for fishing from the shore is taken to be at least 6 meters. Bolognese tackle in the best parameters will provide both casting range and retrieve length. The telescopic fishing rod is equipped with the simplest spinning reel, loading the spools with 50 meters of monofilament fishing line with a diameter of 0.15-0.20 mm.
Important! Stick-type floats with masses of no more than one and a half grams do not alarm fish so much, especially if their color is in natural colors, reminiscent of natural objects that often fall into the water, such as twigs or stems of aquatic vegetation. Therefore, the brown and dark green color of the body of the float with only a bright red tip for greater visibility to the angler are the most suitable options for chub fishing.
The float is loaded with a garland of lead pellets, spreading them along the fishing line to avoid noisy casting and make the equipment more subtle. Leashes 40–50 mm long are set in diameter 0.03 mm thinner than the main fishing line. Hooks are used in the size and color of the bait. The range of hook numbers can vary from 8 to 14 sizes.
Feeder or picker
One of the most promising gear for catching chub in the summer is a feeder rod in one of its lightest varieties, picker. Areas with depths of 3–4 meters can be fished with pickers both conveniently and productively. They fish from the shore, at long distances, using braided line with a diameter of 0.08-0.10 mm as the main line. Feeders are made of plastic, with a total mass that allows you to keep the equipment at the bottom, depending on the strength of the current. Leashes are used monofilamentally, with a diameter of 0.12-0.15 mm, a length of 50-70 mm.
Important! To catch wary fish in the currents, an asymmetrical loop is used as a tying rig, as the most effective and efficient feeder rigging equipment in such conditions.
Donka
Among the gear for catching chub with live baits, one can distinguish a donka mounted on a spinning rod according to the catch principle. For the base, take a medium action spinning rod 3-3.5 meters long. The rod test should allow you to cast the equipment with a mass that will ensure anchoring of the equipment in the current. Typically, this performance characteristic will be at least 80 grams. The inertia-free reel with a clutch in this equipment plays the role of storing the thread and a device for casting and winding the cord, therefore there are no special requirements for the traction force and gear ratio.
For loading, a sliding lead weight in flat forms is used. A 0.12 mm braided cord ends with a fluorocarbon leader with a diameter of 0.2 mm, with a single hook number 8–10 with a long shank, which helps ensure the installation of live bait fish or small frogs.
Stage four - how and where to properly present the bait to the chub
When catching chub on the rifts, it is worth considering that the bighead willingly attacks the bait at the entrance/exit of the rift. Entrances with blockages of stones, snags, and washed-up sand must be treated doubly carefully. The chub often hides behind such obstacles from the direct jet of a strong current. In such places you need to throw the bait several meters above the expected fish position.
On a note! Such places can be clearly identified by characteristic turbulence on the surface of the water, as well as through polarized glasses.
In general, wiring across a riffle works by blowing an arc from the cord at a minimum wiring speed, especially when it comes to actively vibrating potbellied cranks. It is also possible to cast against the current, with the rod tilted to the water at a maximum angle and at a minimum casting speed.
It is better to start fishing from points located downstream, so that when fishing you do not spook the fish that are higher than the angler.
On a note! Chub love places where a turbulent stream borders areas of relatively calm water - in the language of anglers, “mirrors”!
Lures for riffles should be such that they can be cast at a minimum speed - floating and suspending wobblers of the crank or shad class, less often minnows, light spoons, spinners.
Rule! The chub does not like fast retrieves, therefore the most effective animations are those in which the bait works to drift - this is perpendicular to the angler, as well as 30 degrees upstream and downstream. Depending on the speed of the current, the angle of attack may change. The sector is being worked out in a fan-like manner, gradually working out all the horizons of possible fish parking.
Weather
The hotter it is, the more turbulent the water the chub prefers, which is why you should look for it in the rapids itself, in the central zone of the rapids. When the temperature drops, the bighead moves closer to the edges, to mirrors, and even to areas outside the riffle, but in close proximity to it.
Catching chub with spoons on the rifts:
Secrets for successful chub fishing:
Catching chub by rafting from a boat using a spinning rod
Chub can be caught using a spinning rod or by swimming from a boat, more details here, and in this material we recommend watching a video about fishing for chub on a large river.
Catching chub using a spinning rod (swimming fishing):
Be merciful, let go of your defeated opponent and let him please you or your brother spinner with another bite.
What bait is most effective when fishing?
Chub fishing in summer is carried out using bait. The bait should ensure the periodic release of large particles that float downstream, which especially attracts chubs to the fishing point. Fishermen have noticed that one of the most effective bait options is to place the bait downstream five to seven meters from the fishing spot.
Important! As a feeding mixture, ordinary black bread is used, which is crushed when dried and placed in a bag with a cell that allows you to hold the contents in a stream of water until it gets wet.
Soaked bread begins to be washed out in different fractions, which ensures the creation of a natural flow of feed particles falling with the current into the fishing zone, where the attracted fish will react to the main bait. Using this method, the feeding bag can be filled with boiled millet porridge with coarse breadcrumbs.
Preparing gear for catching chub using a spinning rod
A spinning rod for catching chub is selected according to the fishing conditions. Typically, its length ranges from 2.1 to 2.7 meters. It can be light or medium with dough from 7 to 30 grams. The rod is quite stiff, with a slow action that is capable of casting small lures over long distances. Since the chub actively attacks the bait, it is better to give preference to a more powerful and powerful fishing rod at the expense of sensitivity.
Since fishing takes place on rifts, in places with high currents, it is important that the rod blank has large diameter rings on long legs. They will minimize the possibility of tangling and overlap.
The spinning reel is mounted on a spinning reel with a spool size of 3000. Many people prefer to use the front drag, as it is easier to use during intense and extreme fishing. But it is also possible with the rear one, the main thing is that it ensures a smooth ride and uniform discharge of the line when playing fish.
We put a braided line with a diameter of 0.2 mm on the reel. It must be frost-resistant and not fluffy. Chub fishing often occurs near snags and in places with shells. The abrasive resistance of the braid is a priority for this kind of fishing. Since the chub does not reach very large sizes, a fishing line with a breaking load of up to 7 kg is suitable.
If you choose from monofilament fishing lines, then it is better to take fluorocarbon, or at least a rigid regular one with a diameter of 0.25 mm, and so that it can withstand 6-7 kg. If you take a fishing line with a larger diameter, you may not see any bites.
The best natural baits for catching chub
Universal and commercially available natural baits include maggots and small dung worms. But the best baits are considered to be all kinds of insects, which the fisherman has to stock up himself according to the period of their flight. Grasshoppers, cockchafers, butterflies and night crawlers are the usual food of the chub when they are abundantly present near a reservoir. This fish can also be caught using live bait. Bleak and small loaches are the most suitable option. Frog, leech, barley meat and crayfish are also food items that large chubs do not refuse.
Important! Among the vegetable bait for chub, it is worth highlighting fresh black bread, and I would especially like to note the excellent fishing of chub on the crust, soaked before serving.
The fish takes well on processed cheese, steamed wheat and oats, as well as peas and sweet corn.
Wiring when fishing for chub
Once upon a time, on early silvery-foggy mornings, a barefoot, blond boy loved to crawl to the edge of a high steep bank, carefully part the stalks of wheatgrass and peer into the water of a quiet, deep river.
Well-fed torpedo-shaped fish paraded slowly and impressively just below the surface, barely moving their black tails. Sometimes they picked something up from the surface with their fleshy lips, smacking their lips. With a sharp short wave, the boy threw small dry twigs into the water and quietly rejoiced when the fish quickly rushed towards them, tasting them. The boy raised his head higher, hoping to get a better look at the mysterious “blacktails”; the fish immediately disappeared into the depths, and after some time reappeared. A lot has been written about catching this beautiful, strong fish. Along with pike and the ubiquitous perch, chub is a desirable and fairly common catch for spinning fishermen in Ukraine. Among the many spinning lures that can be used to seduce this fish, wobblers, especially floating ones, have taken a strong position in the last two decades. Often, when communicating with sellers of fishing goods and going on the Internet, you can come across the term “chub wobbler”. I haven’t yet figured out for myself whether these are fats, or cranks, or minnow wobblers, which the participants in the conversation often use to catch chubs, and what the coloring and wiring of the bait should be. Obviously, everyone decides for themselves. "There is nothing like leather". I'll try too. On a hot June day, I catch perch not far from a dam blocking one of the many Vologda rivers. Small perch, up to 100 g, are tempted by twitching wiring. I release the perch back into the water, but it seems to bite again. I make a relatively long cast. Rapalovsky's 3-centimeter Original with perch colors flies to 15-17 m. And then the phone rings, I have to answer. Meanwhile, the wobbler splashes down safely and floats quietly in a very weak current. The second minute of some trivial dialogue is coming to an end, and then a powerful jerk of the spinning rod follows, the phone miraculously remains in the hands. The fight begins. It is known that the chub is a strong fish. A 400 g specimen brings real pleasure from fishing.
I again make a relatively long cast, close the line guide of the reel and wait tensely. The wobbler has a dark back, so it is not visible from the shore; you only have to guess the position of the bait by looking at the fishing line. I look at my watch – it’s the fifth minute of waiting. I feel slightly disappointed by the failure. The accidental nature of the capture is becoming increasingly clear. But then a jerk follows, and the fish is on the hook.
Then I tried to play with a wobbler. The pulls and jerks made the small perch bite. I replaced the Rapalovsky wobbler with a Salmovsky butcher with a “green tiger” coloring. The casting range has increased by 10 m. In addition, the color allows you to see the bait. But it’s quite boring just waiting for a bite, so I start reeling with twitches and stops. There are no bites, apparently the perch has also disappeared somewhere. By an effort of will I force myself not to move the bait after casting. And again there was a bite, and again it was a beautiful chub. But it's time to go home.
I share the results of my fishing with my friends, and two days later the three of us arrive at the pond. Various wobblers fly into the water. The results are similar: when moving, you either catch a small perch or nothing. And on free-floating baits, after a 2-3-minute pause, a chub bite occurs. Silver Salmovsky and black grasshopper Rebelovsky poppers are used. Their cheerful squelching instantly provokes the perches. But we didn’t come for them. Chub bites occur only on a stationary bait. Chub can be caught regularly with a weight of 300-800 g. In total, during several of those fishing trips I tried to catch with about two dozen different floating wobblers and poppers. I was unable to identify the most catchy ones. There were bites on any of them.
I look at my watch – it’s the fifth minute of waiting. I feel slightly disappointed by the failure. The accidental nature of the capture is becoming increasingly clear. But then a jerk follows, and the fish is on the hook.
At the beginning of September I again found myself on the treasured river. I decided to try chub fishing and quickly caught two handsome fish. Only small pike were caught by movement. A year later, again on a hot June day, I went 40 kilometers up the river. In these places, grayling is caught on the float rig. But that day he was not particularly pleased with the bites. Sometimes in the middle of the river on a wide reach, where there is practically no current, the fry was nibbled by a perch. Having unsheathed the ultralight spinning rod, I decided to catch a few specimens on the fly. Rapapov’s 7-centimeter orange Original splashed down at about 20 m, but a small loop of “braid” formed on the reel. I had to untangle the beard, and all this time the wobbler lay calmly on the water surface. Its orange color was clearly illuminated by the midday sun. After about 2 minutes of free swimming of the bait, it was attacked by a chub. Yes what! It contained more than 2.5 kg. I don't know what a chub wobbler should look like. But I have some idea about wiring, or a type of wiring. So, how is chub wiring done? But no way!
What to catch chub with
Truly sporty and exciting chub fishing is considered to be fishing using artificial baits. Today the fishing industry produces quite a lot of specialized baits specifically for this fish. Next, we will look at the main trends in this area, describing the features of choosing bait and the characteristics of the best options for artificial chub baits.
Wobblers
Small fats with slight depth are considered specialized wobblers for chub. Fats of various colors with their own small-frequency play are suitable for fast and energetic retrieves. Manufacturers produce wobblers of this type not only in fish imitations, but also in all kinds of beetles, grasshoppers, flies and bees. Fat sizes ranging from 3–5 cm in length and weight of no more than five grams are considered optimal tools for spinning chub fishing.
Read more about choosing wobblers for chub, as well as about implementing fishing techniques.
Some variants of mines no longer than 4–5 cm also show good mining results when twitching. The performance characteristics of both types of wobblers differ in their depth limit from half a meter to two and are available in a floating type. An active fish picks up the wobbler even when it falls on the water, even before the start of the retrieve. When fishing, the bite is characterized by a sharp blow with the predator immediately retreating into the depths.
Spoons
Among spinners, the preferred variants are rotating ones with a drop-shaped petal and its distinct silver color. It is to the glare of the petal that the active predator reacts. Rotating spoons move through the water without touching the bottom even after casting. The bite is completely identical to the fish entering the wobbler. When using oscillating spoons, preference is given to narrow products up to five centimeters long, with the same silver coating.
A new idea for catching chub with floating tackle
Time does not stand still. Every year, fishing tackle manufacturers improve the quality of their products. More advanced match rods, even faster reels and excellent quality fishing line have already appeared. So, if you take a good match rod and a light, high-speed spinning reel with high-quality fishing line with a diameter of 0.12 to 0.14 mm, you can build a completely new floating equipment. With this rig, a float is not needed at all. Instead of a float, I use a piece of floating fly line.
This is what it looks like. I tie a piece of fly cord to the end of the main line. The fact is that a meter of cord, say class 12, weighs about 3g. For a good rod, this weight is enough to cast, well, at least 20 meters. A leash with a hook is attached to the other end of the fly cord. Let me remind you that the cord is floating. Therefore, like a bulk float, it keeps the tackle afloat.
The advantage of such gear is that it is practically silent. When casting, it does not create such squelching, splashing and waves as a tackle with a float. And that means it’s not so scary for the super-cautious chub. Plus, the cord floats with the current more slowly than the float, which means your bait will look more natural and natural.
The only disadvantage of a floating line is casting against the wind. Nothing with this matter.
Although, I noticed that in bad weather or strong winds, the chub practically does not feed from the surface; it sinks to the middle layer or even to the bottom. Therefore, it makes no sense to catch it from the surface by rafting.
Yes, here's one last observation. When fishing with rafting, when your bait is a worm, you can use the so-called reverse retrieve, against the current. That is, it looks like this - they threw out the tackle, your worm swam along the stream to the intended place, but there was no bite. So now you can pull the bait towards you with the help of a reel, it turns out against the current. Often a chub attacks a worm with this type of wiring. But this trick mainly works only with the worm.
Where to look for chub?
The usual places for chub are narrow rivers with fast currents. Its stopping places are rifts, areas where the current intensifies. The bottom is usually hard in such places - rocky or sandy. Chub loves clean and running water. There is no point in trying to catch it in areas with a muddy bottom. It is not found in quiet bays where crucian carp and perch dominate. In this regard, the chub resembles saberfish. This beauty also prefers only fast areas, with the only difference being that saberfish still loves wider rivers. Chub are also actively caught under bridges, where the current intensifies. Here are the standard habitats of the chub:
There are a lot of chub in snags, near the coastal area with trees. Particularly promising are places along the shore with trees from which beetles, caterpillars, larvae and worms fall directly into the water. Naturally, chubs guard such prey.
In winter and late autumn, chubs concentrate in pits. This is a natural refuge for them. Therefore, at this time it is very important to feed the bait specifically to the pits. In the southern regions, where winter is not so severe and there are many thaws, chub are successfully caught in ice-free sections of the river.
The most promising places for chub fishing are rivers with a width of 30 to 60 meters. In such reservoirs there are many riffles and depths range from 1.5 to 2.5 meters. There are also pits 3-4 meters deep. Along the river, the water level changes frequently. This is logical, since a large number of rifts implies sharp changes in depth. If we systematize point by point, we get the following chub places:
- Pits 3-4 meters deep with exits to rifts. At the bottom there are medium and large stones and some grass. You need to fish alternately at the beginning, middle and end of the pit if you use one donk. We throw baits at different points when we fish with several tackles. In warm weather, they fish in the pits from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. In such areas you can count on catching individuals for 1 kg.
- Areas beyond the rifts. They are more extensive and it is not easy to understand where exactly the chub is at a given time. It is better to use one donk and fish for 15-20 minutes in one place and then change the dislocation. Here the main method is to search for fish, as when fishing with a spinning rod.
- Areas where the river widens and a rip current occurs. Here the water level may vary. These are classic chub habitats. It is best caught in such areas during the pre-spawning period, until April and in the summer. The food supply for him here is very rich.
- Areas that stand out noticeably from others. This may be a place where a narrow river flows into a larger one. Another place is an island, near which the depth immediately increases. They catch chub where the river abruptly changes direction, and in areas with steep banks.
- At night in summer, chub are caught at the exits of pits and in the coastal zone. He likes to go out to feed in search of toads and dragonfly larvae.
