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The chub is a non-classical predator. Many anglers catch the red-finned inhabitant of water bodies only with vegetable bait, others prefer spinning to donke or fishing from the surface, baits for which are small artificial baits. The chub practically does not occur in closed water areas, with the exception of reservoirs formed on the riverbed. With a competent approach, you can catch chub all year round, varying gear and fishing areas.
Chub and his way of life
The peculiarities of the behavior of a predator include a large mileage that the fish overcomes daily. The red-finned handsome man gathers in flocks of up to 5-7 individuals of the same size and makes circular routes that bring him food. If the wolf is fed by the legs, then the long body with a powerful tail helps the chub not to remain hungry, which helps to develop greater speed in the current.
The fish reacts to the slightest splashes, quickly moving towards the sound that was made. This phenomenon can be observed from large bridges, throwing pebbles or crusts of bread into the water. The chub feeds in the upper layer of water, picks up food falling on the surface of the water area.
The diet of the river dweller includes:
- insects and their larvae entering the water;
- flocks of fry and fish eggs;
- crustaceans, molt and young crayfish;
- young shoots of water plants;
- benthic invertebrate organisms.
Photo: Yandex Zen channel “Diary of a fisherman hunter”
Despite the extensive food base, it is extremely difficult to catch a chub. The fact is that the fish, located in the upper layers of the water, perfectly sees the silhouette of the angler and ignores most of the lures. If the chub is not detected during the first attack, then it is almost impossible to catch it. Sometimes a flock of “red-feathers” pursues a wobbler on the first posting, but does not attack it. On the second and subsequent casts, interest in the wobbler becomes less and less.
As a rule, the number of chub in the rivers is quite high, since the fish is considered a very rare guest in the catches. However, the population is heavily affected by poaching and illegal commercial fishing. Although the fish does not have exquisite taste, it can be attributed to the strongest river rivals.
In the cold season, the predator moves to deeper places with an average current, sometimes it comes across from the ice on a mormyshka or float tackle. With the arrival of heat and the departure of insects, the fish again rises to the upper horizons of the water column, where it spends the whole summer and part of the autumn. The chub often inhabits miniature streams and streams, where the fish does not reach “edible” sizes, but bites more willingly, since there is an appropriate food base in small water areas.
Ways to catch chub at different times of the year
Although the fish is caught year-round, targeted hunting for it is not an easy task. Fans of fishing this river predator have not only spinning rods in their arsenal. In spring and late autumn, when the chub sinks to the depths, it is perfectly caught from the shore with the help of a caster. Despite the close relationship between the starter and the English feeder, the second tackle for fishing for a white predator is not popular.
Spring fishing
When fishing a chub, spring can be divided into several stages: the time before warming, the pre-spawning period and warm May. Spawning at the chub takes place when the water temperature reaches 13-15°C.
Spawning begins in May and can last until mid-late June. Fish for spawning does not go in large numbers, so part of the livestock may shed their eggs as early as early May, and the other group at the end of June. The palatability of caviar is rather low and is not worth taking the caviar specimen into the catch. The fecundity of the chub is between 10000-200000 eggs.
Depending on the winter and the temperature regime in early spring, you can go out with summer gear as early as early March. In warm winters, a chub has been caught with a chub since the end of February. Fish activity rises with air temperature. In early spring, melt water enters the water area along with coastal runoff, which saturates the reservoir with oxygen, but makes it cloudy.
When the air temperature reaches 5-8°C, you can go fishing. It is worth remembering that the spring flood floods many promising areas, increases the current and makes deep zones even deeper.
For fishing, 2-3 snacks are enough, but many promising places allow you to use only one tackle. As a rod, you can use a budget telescope with a height of 240 to 300 cm. The length is selected according to the fishing conditions: if the vegetation above your head allows you to cast with a 3-meter rod, then it is better to use it.
Zones where the chub keeps in the spring:
- narrowing of rivers with a strong current and a depth of 2 m;
- steep sections with a reverse flow of water;
- places with deadwood, snags sticking out from under the water;
- exits from pits near large bridges.
The chub prefers a fast current that carries edible particles of plants, insect larvae and fry that have strayed from the flock. In such areas, the fish clings to the bottom and examines it for food. In early spring, you need to start fishing no earlier than 10 am, when the sun is just starting to warm up the air. Cloudy weather with strong winds is an unfavorable time to go to the river. A sunny, quiet day with spring echoes is best suited for fishing in March.
Photo: pp.userapi.com
Depending on the strength of the current, it is necessary to select the weight of the equipment. For early spring, it can reach 150 g.
Snap-in equipment consists of the following elements:
- stationary sinker with a flat bottom or hook;
- sliding feeder in the form of a watermelon or pear;
- two leashes up to 7 cm long;
- hooks No. 5-6 with a short forearm and a sharp sting.
The distance between the load and the feeder should be at least 40 cm. If you do not use lead, picking up a heavy feeder, the tackle will sink into the silt and lose effectiveness. The load serves not only as an element of holding the structure at the bottom, but also as a guarantee of hooking fish. When biting, the lead counterbalances the chub and a notch occurs. The bites of the chub on the bottom are always powerful, so the horns are not suitable as a stand for the rod, the fish can drag the tackle downstream.
Pear-shaped feeders have a longer reach, they are used on peals and large rivers, where long-distance casting is needed.
As a bait mix, purchased formulations or home-made recipes are used. Styrofoam balls serve as a nozzle. The color and smell of the foam does not matter, only its size matters. The foam should give the hook neutral buoyancy so that it can easily fly into the mouth of a feeding chub.
Summer fishing
With the departure of the May beetle and other insects, the chub rises to the surface and spends most of the time there. You can detect flocks with the help of polarized glasses; in summer they are perfectly visible right at the surface.
In the warm season, chub fishing is more dynamic. Now the fish responds well at dawn and dusk, it is difficult to provoke it to attack during the day. For rolling parts of the rivers, fly fishing with imitation of flies can be used. Fly fishing is only gaining its popularity, tackle is used in places with fast currents and shores free from vegetation.
The specificity of fly fishing does not allow it to be used in most promising places, so there are much more fans of spinning. For summer chub fishing, you will need a Short rod with a test of up to 10 g and a medium action. Graphite blanks are preferable, they can withstand increased load and are light in weight.
As lures for spinning use:
- wobblers;
- turntables;
- micro pendulums;
- unloaded silicone.
For catching chub, dark colors of wobblers with a rounded shape resembling a water beetle are selected. The most popular colors are brown and black with bright dots. Also, you can often find wobblers that completely repeat the shape of the May Khrushchev.
Micro-turntables and small oscillators are also often used. These baits show excellent results on small streams, streams, where fish peck throughout the daylight hours.
Photo: activefisher.net
In summer, chub should be sought higher than in early spring. Starting from May, he plows around the surface zone of the water area in search of food. With high activity, flocks of chub attack bleak.
Promising sections of the river for spinning fishing:
- rapids and rumbles with the course;
- the top layer of deep holes;
- areas near bridges and other structures;
- shady areas under overhanging trees.
The bait should be cast farther from the promising zone, passing the nozzle through the epicenter of the site. Although the chub reacts to a splash, if the bait falls nearby, it can scare the fish away.
Chub wiring can be twitching or monotonous. When the fish is active, it responds better to animated animation, with a high passivity of the predator, a slow draw should be used on the verge of a game crash.
On a small predator, turntables “maniacs” work perfectly. Their size is much smaller than the minimum products marked “00”, the maniac often comes across bleak and rudd, ide, roach and other white fish. When choosing a spinner, it is important to consider the price and manufacturer. The smaller the bait, the harder it is to make it work. Only 1 out of 5-10 miniature turntables works on the current.
autumn fishing
The chub, like other predatory fish species, gain weight before the freezing season. Even in September-October, the handsome redfin can be caught by spinning near the surface and in the water column, however, with a decrease in temperature, the fish goes deeper, where it is impossible to get it with miniature baits.
From October to December, anglers are armed with bottom gear again, using autumn compositions of bait mixtures. In late autumn, for catching chub, there is little base and breakdown as a bait. Each mixture should contain a significant part of the animal component, which can also be put on the hook. Chopped worm, maggot, bloodworm – all this attracts a white predator in the cold season.
Photo: fish-haus.ru
Despite the fact that bites become much smaller in autumn, the largest specimens come across on the hook. Experienced anglers say that in autumn you can count on a trophy catch if you choose the right place for fishing.
In October-November, you should look for fish in the following areas:
- sharp turns of the river;
- deep pits over;
- on steep banks;
- under fallen trees.
On warm days, the chub can rise higher, it becomes active and pecks near the surface. Even if the fish rises to the surface in November, it can be caught from the bottom, because the chub spends little time in the upper layers in autumn, it still goes to the bottom.
Fishing for spinning in late autumn does not bring much result. To get at least some bite, anglers equip rigs according to the principle of spaced equipment. Together with wobblers and turntables, sinking bombards or lead weights are used, with which the bait is deepened to the required horizon.
Winter fishing
When fishing from the ice, the chub has the same strong resistance, so redfin hunters do not close the fishing season. In winter, fish should be looked for near those sites where they were in summer. Change of location is not typical for the chub, it chooses sections of the river where it stays in shallow waters in summer, and goes to depth in winter.
In the cold season, the fish does not leave the current, it is caught on the rapids and rifts, if the thickness of the ice allows. The main tackle for fishing in the current is a sled. A heavy weight keeps the bait in the bottom layer, where the chub feeds. The fish will not approach the site without a bait mix, it needs to be given special attention.
As a bait use:
- pea porridge with breadcrumbs;
- millet, slaughtered with fresh cake;
- barley and other small cereals with store compositions;
- corn grits with half peas.
Winter bait for fishing on the current should consist of several parts: a heavy base, fine breakdown, a dark color dye and an animal component. Boiled or steamed porridge is used as a base, it is broken up with dry mixtures, bringing it to the desired consistency. Groundbait should lie on the bottom, gradually sending small particles downstream. On this edible path, the chub rises to the rig.
Photo: zaxvostom.com
The rolling tackle is a sinker in the form of a ring and several leashes extending from it downstream. A massive nod is used as a signaling device. The rod must be fixed on the ice with a transverse bar so that a brisk fish does not drag the tackle under the water.
Also, for fishing in calmer sections of the river, they use an ordinary float equipment or a tandem of mormyshkas. The chub responds to a smooth game in the thickness, so it can be searched for in baited holes with a nod and mormyshka.