A quick one

A quick hour before work, the river levels seemed fine but I couldn’t be sure about the colour so I grabbed the chub gear instead of the pike gear.

1.25lb Avon, 3oz tip, 5lb hypersensor straight through to a size 8 bread and cheese paste for bait.

The river looked great for this time of year but it was pushing through fast, which didn’t really matter that much as I was fishing the near bank margins. 3 pegs fished, 20 mins in each without a touch. Never mind, I don’t expect to catch on short off the cuff sessions like this, on the odd occasion I bank something I class it as a bonus.

Chub rods

I purchased an original Drennan medium feeder (a bargain at £25) for my chub fishing this winter, the main reason being you can store spare tips in the butt section of the rod. I’ve found fishing as light a tip as conditions allow a massive help when winter chub fishing. 

During a chub session on the final day of last season, on a different river but similar tactics, using a 2oz tip I was getting very delicate bites, very difficult to see and not something I would of usually struck at when chub fishing. However I did strike at one of them and it was a good chub. I went on to land 3 on that final session including a river best, would I of even seen the bites with a heavier tip? Probably not, I’m almost certain that if I was fishing with the 1.25lb Avon top (like I always used to whilst chub fishing) the bites wouldn’t of registered on the tip.

That’s where the medium feeder comes into play, one tip on the rod and another 2 in the butt, giving the option of changing tips to suit conditions. I’ve had a few chub on the medium feeder and it’s a lovely rod, lightweight with enough backbone to keep chub away from the snags. The medium feeders only downfall is that it doesn’t break down into equal lengths and is a pain in the arse to store in the back of the car built up, ready to go with a rig on.

I prefer carrying minimal kit whilst chub fishing trying to stay as mobile as possible, carrying a tube with a couple of spare tips doesn’t really fit in with this, maybe I can customise the newer rod to hold spare tips in the butt....