The hunt for a 7lb chub from the river Thames saw specimen angler Stewart Moss come tantalisingly close at the end of the season after recording no less than six 6lb fish up to 6lb 11oz. Targeting the waterway around Oxford, the Drennan International employee was after a ‘seven by design’, but in the process banked a string of fish over eight evening sessions of 6lb 1oz, 6lb 1oz, 6lb 2oz, 6lb 3oz, 6lb 5oz and 6lb 11oz.
“I fished the Thames around Oxford, rotating a number of stretches fishing and one or two evenings a week after work from Christmas until the end of the season,” Stewart told Total Coarse Fishing. “The target was to catch a 7lber by design, in which I failed, but I did catch over 40 Thames chub in the process with six sixes and 14 fives. The sixes all came within eight evenings during the last 20 days of the season.”
Stewart’s pursuit of a Thames seven saw him employ big fish tactics. Most of his chub came from targeting far bank features around 40 to 70 yards across the river in depth averaging between 6 and 8feet. The key to his approach though was the use of CC Moores Meteor boilies wrapped in Meteor paste – a bait which Stewart rates as the best boilie he has ever used for the species. Tightly hair-rigging a 15mm boilie to a size 9 or 10 Drennan Super Specialist Barbel hook, Stewart presented the bait on a 2 to 3ft hooklength of 10lb ESP Ghost fluorocarbon topped off with a PVA bag of around seven free offerings.
“The big chub can get very cute when caught before and when they suss out they’re being fished for, but rig changes keep them on the losing side,” continued Stewart. “I varied my rig arrangement between a running rig, a ‘delayed shock’ rig (where the free running lead hits a stop created with a grippa stop and bead 8ins up the line), and a semi-fixed in-line lead.”
As well as the string of sixes, Stewart’s tactics also snared a total of 14 x 5lb plus specimens, and the specimen angler’s already planning next season’s seven hunt.
“Two mates of mine both managed chub of over 7lb and they caught a fewer fish than me, so I seemed to be quite unlucky not to get an outright monster myself,” added Stewart. “But that’s another target for next season or the future.”
