Chub on the fly

[fergie68]

As part of a permit I have I have access to a river with chub in it.
It's fly only and I normally fish it during the summer for dace roach and trout and salmon/ seatrout later on in the year.
I've caught the odd small chub by accident but have heard there are some real monsters in there. They are mostly unfished for.
Anyone have any experience of targeting these fish on the fly. ?

[Gary Coggon]

Yes, used large moth patterns some years ago, albeit with little interest - probs my amateurish fly-casting… If I was going to try again, I’d love to fish something noisy like a Hopper Popper dry to see if they’ll clatter it like they do Jitterbugs and small surface alphabets. Just my ha’penny-worth…

[fergie68]

Aye large surface lures . Make a wake .
I'm not great at the dry fly and mostly use nymphs. I had a chub on a sweeny Todd intended for seatrout.
I think maybe a chernobyl Ant or something. ?

[squimp]

I’ve had quite few on rivers (and lakes) on big dries. Notably dry daddies.

A ‘hopper popper’ (as mentioned) or a gurgler minkie would also be fun.

[fergie68]

I should add there's pike in the river too so it could be interesting with the surface lure type things.

[fergie68]

Actually a guy tied me some wee mouse flys for a small lochan on Rannoch Moor with big trout in it. I never got the chance to use them.
Worth a go. ??
Anyone had chub on Nymphs .?

[Gary Coggon]

Those mice should have a bit of presence, so I’d certainly give them a go, especially if you can give them a decent wake.

Re the pike, how about a fine wire tippet - even just 6”? I use 12-15” of Novasilk (used Wonderwire before that) when lure fishing for them and they really don’t mind. 12 or 15 lb - I’d need to look at the packet to say for sure. Just a thought.

[fergie68]

I have some 15lb super thin wire I have used in the past on lochs with pike and it worked just fine. Think its drennan or cormoran . . I think I'd use that if I'm using mice etc.

[Gary Coggon]

Hope you’ll let us know how you got on, Fergie. Envious in the nicest possible way. Gary

[Monts]

Actually a guy tied me some wee mouse flys for a small lochan on Rannoch Moor with big trout in it. I never got the chance to use them.
Worth a go. ??
Anyone had chub on Nymphs .?

Yes mate, sent you a quick PM.

[Oldskoolfool]

Caught loads - recommend hopper patterns ,G&H sedge and anything buggy. Also try dog nobblers but be ready as they hit em hard! Sight fishing is best and approach from downstream if possible

[Catfish Paul]

I have caught a few chub on the fly...

Dog nobbler being very successful as mentioned already.
Pink was the colour they favoured but also black and Olive.

[fergie68]

Plenty to go on there.
Do you find the chub prefer the slower stretches of river .?
I have mainly been fishing the faster areas basically because I wasn't sure how to tackle the slower bits.

[Monts]

Plenty to go on there.
Do you find the chub prefer the slower stretches of river .?
I have mainly been fishing the faster areas basically because I wasn't sure how to tackle the slower bits.

All parts really, but some cover over there heads it's a good starting point. If I'm fishing a spider down and across, I tried to make an angle that the fly travels right under the cover.

In the warner months, it's good wading as close as you can get and drifting a Wasp,Hopper etc as close as you can get to them. Tippet wise I use 6lb or 8lb. Early season they can be suicidal and out in the open, but it doesn't take them long to get skittish.

Just good fun.

[fergie68]

Plenty to go on there.
Do you find the chub prefer the slower stretches of river .?
I have mainly been fishing the faster areas basically because I wasn't sure how to tackle the slower bits.

All parts really, but some cover over there heads it's a good starting point. If I'm fishing a spider down and across, I tried to make an angle that the fly travels right under the cover.

In the warner months, it's good wading as close as you can get and drifting a Wasp,Hopper etc as close as you can get to them. Tippet wise I use 6lb or 8lb. Early season they can be suicidal and out in the open, but it doesn't take them long to get skittish.

Just good fun.

Excellent stuff. It's early for the rivers up here but as I'm actually working 5 minutes from the river just now and will be for at least another week I'm going to take the rod with me and give it a few hrs after work next week.
Cheers guys.

[Oldskoolfool]

On retrieve generally prefer a dead drift if possible. Landing a fly with a splat can work if you can get it near to a fish ideally behind .

The occasion twitch can work esp on hopper type patterns made of deer hair or foam. For nobblers a retrieve to get it to duck n dive is best and they will hit them hard! Gernally I use a 4-5lb tipper without issue with a WF taper line.

[squimp]

In slow water I’d fish as per the previous post. Ideally a static dry with slack in the leader so it doesn’t drag.

If that doesn’t work then try small twitches. Just make sure the fly is buoyant enough to stay ‘up’.

Next step would be a fly designed to be moved and make disturbance eg gurgler minkie.

After that it’s wet flies either ‘down and across’ as a search technique or upstream targeting individual fish.

[fergie68]

I know whatvyou mean about the splat.
I use those chernobyl ants quite often for the trout and I'm sure that big lump of a flee hitting the water brings them up .

IMG-20230413-WA0010.jpg

[Gary Coggon]

Loving the Ant! If that doesn’t get a hit, nowt will.

Happy hunting, Fergie - been my favourite topic for a long while.

[fergie68]

I stopped off yesterday on the way home for a look at the river .
It looked dead as I'd expect at this time of year . Then up stream a shoal of fish started rising probably dace or roach . There's me No rod.

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20230428_141835.jpg

[Alex Fox]

I stopped off yesterday on the way home for a look at the river .
It looked dead as I'd expect at this time of year . Then up stream a shoal of fish started rising probably dace or roach . There's me No rod.


20230428_141446.jpg

20230428_141835.jpg

That looks nice, I have had a few floating a surface fly down to them when I have seen them hanging around in the sun on a small river in hertfordshire that ran around a trout lake, they weren't fussy to be honest.

[fergie68]

Hope they are still active next week the temperature has dropped since Friday its freezing today.

[Gary Coggon]

Any joy yet, Fergie?

Was reminded by a conversation yesterday with a pal who used to fish a certain Cheshire spate river I still do. Way back in the day, he and his Dad had lots of success with bushy dries so long as they had a red tail. He couldn’t recall the name of the pattern. Ring any bells with anyone?

[davelumb]

Any joy yet, Fergie?

Was reminded by a conversation yesterday with a pal who used to fish a certain Cheshire spate river I still do. Way back in the day, he and his Dad had lots of success with bushy dries so long as they had a red tail. He couldn’t recall the name of the pattern. Ring any bells with anyone?

This?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Tag_(artificial_fly)

[Gary Coggon]

Nice one, Dave. I’ll ask.

[fergie68]

Any joy yet, Fergie?

Was reminded by a conversation yesterday with a pal who used to fish a certain Cheshire spate river I still do. Way back in the day, he and his Dad had lots of success with bushy dries so long as they had a red tail. He couldn’t recall the name of the pattern. Ring any bells with anyone?

This?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Tag_(artificial_fly)

A classic grayling fly . We actually caught a lot of seatrout on the river Earn on a gold head version.

[Gary Coggon]

Yup, Red Tag it was.

[Gary Coggon]

But… he thinks something like a Soldier Palmer Bushy Bob would have been even better because of more pronounced wake.

[davelumb]

Yup, Red Tag it was.

[Oldskoolfool]

Red tag works and years ago I did really well with some large dapping flys - looked like a bottle brush!

Black and peacock spider is my go to forward wet fly but ivdo like a food daddy or hopper for surface work.

Also never neglect lures early season - done really well with a white dog nobbler