Drennan’s Stewart Moss spent dawn and dusk on the River Cherwell this week in search of big Oxfordshire chub.

The Cherwell is a tough proposition these days, with few but generally large fish – if you can find them! So Stew was very pleased to bag a whacking chub of 6lb 11oz, backed up with fish of 5lb 8oz, 4lb and 5lb 6oz! The two fish pictured in the net were the 6.11 and 5.6 – which came in successive casts. These big-framed ‘crayfish-chompers’ make a 22” Super Specialist Landing Net look almost small!

Roving quivertip tactics with 6lb Super Specialist Super Mono line and a simple link-leger rig to a Kamasan B983 Wide Gape Specialist hook, baited with a large chunk of cheese paste proved a successful strategy.

With the river in perfect trim and with ideal colour, a 1.5oz Glass Slow Taper Feeder Tip was ideal; balanced nicely to the weight of flow and signalling positive, confident bites that were easy to hit.

The MatchPro Medium Feeder 12ft makes an ideal rod for this type of fishing. It is easy to carry ‘made up’, fits a wide range of quivertips and has the ideal action to hook and play specimen chub.