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Chub on the Fly

Graham Cornish

Fly fishing for chub is a minor tactic amongst coarse fishers and is mostly practiced by trout fishers who fish streams or rivers where chub are resident. Although I have a friend, Phil Sampford, who prefers to fly fish for them whenever possible and has caught them in every month of the year, except January.  Past trout fly fishing authors have occasionally praised the chubs particular attributes - their cunning and apparent aloofness on the one hand, their greed and willingness to take when trout may be definitely 'off' on the other.  This 'Jeckle & Hyde' character presents a challenge to the open minded fly fisher.

Like trout they can be seen and stalked, where water craft and hunting skills must be used to the full and the ability to present, particularly a dry fly, with finesse is often rewarded with a good scrap.  It has to be said though that unless you like fly-fishing for its own sake there are easier ways of catching chub. Since they are the supreme opportunist taking just about any bait presented in any way from the surface to the bottom, moving or still. But there are times, especially in certain summer months, when they can frustrate all efforts when fly fishing comes into its own.

I don't think chub become preoccupied with any particular food as might some other species, their nature precludes this, but I've found that in May and August, in particular, they appear to be some way toward it. Because of the close season on rivers, my May chub have been mainly accidental whilst trout fishing. Although the occasional trip North of the border or in the far West, where there is either no-close season or where worming is allowed, standard baits have been surprisingly ineffective, at least during daylight, compared with the fly.

I've also noticed the same situation on a couple of still waters I fish that contain chub and where one can now legally fish at this time of the year. Incidentally, on one of these, where the main population are chub, which is very unusual, the residents can be seen rising in almost any month of the year to 'buzzer' hatches, if its mild enough, to the exclusion of bottom feeding.

Generally speaking, early May sees a profusion of fly hatches and this is the time the dry fly comes into its own. Unlike later in the summer the artificial needs to be small, an Olive pattern fished dry or a buzzer fished in the surface film on say a size 14 hook have been successful for me. Nymphs and wet flies are also useful fished just below the surface on a greased leader.

Colours? Well green, brown and black will suffice, 'exact imitation' is not only impossible but unnecessary in my opinion -size of fly and presentation is the key.

Its often been written that fly fishing for chub requires the biggest, bushiest flies you can get and that they should be cast to land with an audible plop. This I suggest is only applicable in high summer - late June or July. In these two months chub are ravenous after spawning and will take anything that looks like a meal. It is also the time when they would expect large insects like caterpillars, beetles, bees, wasps, moths etc to find themselves in hot water as it were. This is the time when fly fishing is a little less exacting, a poor cast or clumsy delivery can be very productive and just as exciting as a pair of rubbery lips slurp down your offering, the line shoots out and a light fly rod takes on a parabolic curve.

Come August and perhaps early September fly-fishing really comes into its own. I've always felt August to be the worst Summer month for coarse fishing for a number of reasons. School and Summer holidays putting extra pressure on fisheries, low gin clear water, hot and humid weather (at least in years past), stacks of natural food, all contribute to shy, spooky fish disinclined to feed except at the odd interval on the occasional titbit.

Prolific weed growth excludes any method other than a floating bait and where floating bread crust or chum mixers would normally be very effective, the water flow is so slow, or even stationary that chub have all the time in the world to inspect and refuse a normal bait. Which they invariably do. This is where the small dry fly really scores. It needs to be cast accurately and gently to land like a thistledown to fish that are occasionally supping the odd natural although not feeding really seriously. This is often found in the late morning 'elevenses' as I call it, or the late afternoon - afternoon tea! Flies need to be small or very small tied on size 14-18 hooks as the chub are only taking the odd small natural.

In pre-pesticide days of yore when large insects like beetles, caterpillars and grasshoppers were more readily available, the art of 'dapping' the natural was advocated. In well bushed stretches of river where there's plenty of cover for the angler as well as the fish, this could be tried with artificial insects that can be had from the U.S.A. The only drawback is incorporating a natural movement to them - which is necessary to fool a chub at this time of the year.

A good idea is to tip the point of the hook of a large bushy fly with maggots, which are tough enough to cast with a fly outfit and will wriggle for some time giving the artificial 'life'. This can be drifted down to wary and suspicious chub hold up under overhanging tree branches and bushes where direct casting is impossible. You do need a buoyant enough artificial though, that will counteract the weight of the maggots. I find any large deer hair types such as Sedges or Deerhair bugs (USA) suitable. These will float all day without extra water proofing and with maggots attached will bog down in the surface film like any large heavy insect would of the type under discussion. The only time I've found that exact imitation really scores is when Daddy long legs are on the water. Chub rising to Daddies do so with vigour - they really mean it since its a decent mouthful. Hook a four or five pounder in September on a Daddy with fly tackle and you know you're really into something.

Although I said at the start of this article this is a minor tactic for chub fishing in general, when it needs to be done it can outfish any other method. It is also skilful and demands all the attributes of a true hunter. It can fool even the biggest and wariest chub. Two historical ones come to mind - the controversial ex-record of 10 1/21bs from the River Annan caught on a Brown Turkey (Sea Trout Fly) at night in July 1950 and more appropriately, a 7.14.8 caught on a Butcher from the Dorset Stour in September 1938, incidentally by a woman!