Many thanks to Geoff Collins from Rushden in Northants for this fantastic account of his last few days of the season spent on the Great Ouse, landing some beautiful specimen chub on Drennan Barbel hooks and Supplex line.
Like most people I tried one afternoon in the last week down the Great Ouse to record my best ever catch of big chub. With the river starting to drop and the temperature in the high teens I just had to get out for a few hours in the afternoon and I’m glad that I did.
The session didn’t start well with a big fish lost first cast… typical! There was still a lot of flow on which made controlling the hooked fish very difficult. A move to a different area of the river and after about an hour I had a positive bite on paste which made me think I had latched into a barbel. Again, the heavy flow convinced me I had a barbel, especially as it held in the flow exactly as barbel do, and despite bending into it with my rod it held stationary. After a minute or so it kicked and came towards me at speed before dashing off just as fast again out into the flow.
What a fight! Probably the hardest I have had from a chub. On its second run to the bank it was expertly netted by my friend Chris. A really deep fish which measured at 56cm from tip on nose to tail fork along the side of its body. On the scales she flickered between 7lb and 7lb 1oz so I’ll call it 7lb 8drams. It was the biggest fish I had ever seen on this stretch but better was yet to come…!
Walking to another nearby stretch trying odd spots along the way I had a few more fish between 4 and 6lb on my special homemade paste before pitching up at another likely looking spot. Casting in I let the lead bump its way into the crease before a positive bite signalled another fish. This one fought almost as hard as the first – again taking full advantage of the flow. It bore towards some near-bank roots and I had to stretch out precariously to get an angle on the fish to stop it reaching, with my Supplex line singing as I did so.
Applying maximum pressure to try and avoid another lost fish, I bundled it into the net and looking down I was shocked to see it was even bigger than the other seven pounder. On the Avons we recorded a weight of 7lb 4oz and a new PB for me. It was an incredibly deep fish – no doubt it had been feasting during the floods. It was an amazing few hours which again proved to me that timing is everything. Just to prove lightening does sometimes strike twice I went back to an adjoining stretch for a couple of hours on the last day of the season and had 3 more decent fish including another big chub at 7lb 3oz!
Geoff’s usual chub set up is an old John Wilson rod combined with 8lb Drennan Supplex main line, to size 7 Drennan barbel hook with a 1/2oz ledger weight.
For more information on Drennan Supplex, as used by Geoff, click here.