Matt Hayes can normally be found targeting carp on the River Lea but due to covid laws, this has prevented him from night fishing so he decided to target some of the smaller species that the river holds and wasn’t left disappointed.

He told us “On this particular session I very nearly didn’t go as the weather was atrocious and I knew the river would be pushing up a bit, but I just needed to get out the house and thought there might have been a few slacks available to either catch a perch on a lure or a big chub on some cheesepaste. So I headed out to a stretch I’ve never previously fished and began walking the bank with my lure kit to find a few fishable swims and to try my luck. It was a waste of time though and as predicted, the river was just too high and coloured. Though, I did find a swim with a small area of slack water on the far bank under some overhanging trees so I nipped back to the car to exchange the lure kit for my quiver rod and cheese paste and returned hoping there would be a big chub lying in wait.

It took me a couple of casts but eventually I dropped the 2oz free-running lead rig into position. My hookbait was a hair-rigged corkball wrapped in my homemade cheesepaste. At first I thought it was pointless even trying but after 15 minutes, my tip knocked a couple of times before it went all the way round. I struck in disbelief and thought I’d hooked into a barbel as this fish was incredibly heavy and powered towards my near bank.

After picking up the slack it came straight to the surface and I saw the unmistakable flank and giant gob of a massive chub staring back. It looked like a bloody grass carp it was so big! I thought it would give me the run-around but it was just too fat to really do anything. It wallowed around near the bank like a double-figure carp for a bit before I was able to slip the net under her.

It was simply massive and at I guess I thought it would go 8lb and luckily there was another angler nearby so I asked him if would assist with the weighing and the camera. On two sets of scales this chub went 8lb 2oz and I couldn’t have been happier. My legs were shaking like jelly from the moment I hooked it to the moment I slipped it back. I’m so thankful I decided to brave the conditions and go fishing.