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Your chance to catch big chub starts now

by Aidan Bordiuk |

Published on27th January 2026 at 2.20pm

If you love your chub fishing, now might just. be the time to get out after them as there have been some great fish gracing the banks from rivers up and down the country!

Ben Cross had a memorable session recently with his stepson Archie, banking their first big chub together.

“I've been teaching my 10-year-old stepson, Archie, to fish, and the other day he said he wanted to try for a chub. So we made some cheesepaste and headed to our local Dorset Stour.

“In the final swim of our afternoon session, Archie had a few sharp plucks on the tip, but missed the bite. He cast back out, and it wasn’t long before the tip indicated another shy tap before bending round.

“Archie struck into a hard-fighting chub that gave a spirited account of itself before I slid the net beneath his new PB.

“This was a truly memorable day’s fishing for what I hope to be one of the next generation’s keen anglers.”

HEAD TO ONE OF THESE RIVERS TO BANK A BIG CHUB THIS YEAR...

Archie Cross - 6lb chub

A chub over the 6lb barrier is a fish many anglers aspire to catch, and while chub do seem to be getting bigger, a specimen of this size remains the benchmark for many.

Although chub are well spread across the UK, they do differ in size, with many of the southern rivers seemingly full of big fish, while the further north you go, the less big fish are generally available to target.

One angler who hasn't let that stop him is Paul Bailey, who on a recent session to a Yorkshire river, managed to get his hands on this clonking 6lb 12oz chub.

“Landing a Yorkshire ‘six’ is always special and, during a recent evening session on the River Don, I did just that.

“I spent the first hour biteless but, just before leaving, I swung out my breadflake hookbait under some willow branches. I soon missed a good pull, but moments after recasting I connected with what was obviously a good fish.

“After a typical big-chub fight I guided it over the net cord”

Paul with the cracking chub

When Iain Mitchell set out to catch his first ever chub, any decent fish would have left him going home a happy man. So, you can imagine his delight when he landed this fish weighing 7lb 8oz as his very first example of the species!

The trip, Iain’s first on a river in many years, saw him heading to a southern waterway, where he fished a lobworm below a feeder packed with chopped worms and soil.

After casting out he had a savage take, with the fish diving under a boat moored opposite him. It then charged around at close range, even heading upstream at one point, before Iain netted his first chub.

The friend he was fishing with was, quite understandably, shocked by the size of it!

As first chub go, this is very impressive!

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