It Was Chub At First Light

...But only after I'd drip-fed the swim with maggots to persuade to leave a big far-bank snag

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CHUB fall to the widest spectrum of baits and tactics of any fish, so we are spoilt for choice when it comes to pinning down a big winter specimen.

Force my hand to pick one approach, though, and float fished maggots would be hard to argue against as long as the river has a degree of clarity.

Even the wiliest of chub can lose their minds to a steady drip-feed of grubs, so let’s explore this method that I used to great effect on a recent trip to the Hampshire Avon.

The river was still dozing as I arrived at her banks, although the tranquillity of dawn was soon shattered by the honks of Canada geese on manoeuvres.

As the only angler here I could choose any swim, but I had no prior knowledge of the best places to fish.

No matter – a mix of guesswork, watercraft and foot-worn grass led me to a sweeping bend with a big snag just upstream on the far bank.

Normally I’d have wanted to position myself above this, but with a copse to my left there was no way of doing this. Instead, I hoped to draw any fish present out of the tail of the snag.

Only one bait would do this, and happily I had it in abundance… a gallon of maggots.

My intention was to feed slightly upstream of the debris so the maggots would be swept through the obstruction and back down towards me.

What I did for the next hour was catapult in a small pouchful of grubs every 30 secinds, and to ensure I didn't cut corners I'd purposely not yet set up my rod. That meant I had plenty to keep me occupied.

My rod was a 14ft Drennan Acolyte Plus, while for the reel I chose a standard fixed-spool model.