Best Baits for Summer Chub Fishing

This entry was posted on 29th June, 2021

Chub fishing, like with most forms of river fishing, requires mobility in order to get on the fish. With that in mind, travel light; rod(s), net, polaroid sunglasses, and a bag for your bait, keep yourself mobile.

Finding the chub is usually the most difficult part of chub fishing, once located they will usually fall to an enticing bait. There is a plethora of baits that will catch chub in the summer, or year round, but there are a few that deserve a special mention – here is our top 5 summer chub baits.

Maggot

Is there a fish in UK waters that wouldn’t be enticed towards your rig by a maggot? Chub are no different and will readily feed on maggots, whether yours using a simple float setup, or a feeder. 

Chub will attack big bunches of maggots, especially after dark in lower visibilty, but I find that the smaller the bait, the more success I get when maggot fishing during daylight.

Chub have excellent eyesight, among the best of all coarse fish, and are able to suss out a bait that isn’t behaving naturally – and will leave it well alone.

When the chub are feeding confidently, two or three maggots on strong size 16 hook is ideal.

To counteract the weight of the hook I put a handful of maggots in just enough water to half cover them and leave them for about 30 minutes. By then the maggots will have swollen up slightly and have an air bubble inside causing them float. These floating maggots are kept just for the hook.

Worm

You won’t find a worm that is too big for a chub, the mouth of a relatively small chub will be bigger than that of a 20lb carp! so go for the largest you can find, as this will add casting weight.

The bigger the worm, the more it can resist the attentions of small fish. If you don’t receive any interested within the first couple of casts it’s best to move to a new spot and try again as chub are likely to bite on the first, or second cast, it’s the splash generated by your worm entering the water which the chub are drawn towards.

Cheesepaste

One of the major benefits of cheesepaste over other chub baits is the strong aroma that quickly drifts downstream, drawing fish in from quite a distance. In low, cold-water conditions, this is not going to make a massive difference to your catches, as the chub are going to be reluctant to leave their snag. However, when the river is carrying extra water and colour a smelly paste comes into its own.

Bread

Bread, or bread flake, can be particularly deadly in the summer months. Much like carp, chub  will readily feed off the surface, especially when water temperatures are higher. With this in mind, freelining bread flake, as you would in the carp discipline, can be equally effective here.

The adrenaline rush from watching a chub take your bread off the top is a very exciting way of fishing and if you can find the fish you are almost guaranteed a memorable session.

Surface lures

Similarly to using bread on the surface, chub will also readily take lures dragged across the surface. If your session can coincide with dusk, when insects fly close to the water, you will have an even better chance of catching. Always remembering to be quiet when chub are involved, they can spook easily.

its always worth trying places where the water is running quicker, and the river bed features some natural rocks, roots and weeds. Water in that swims is usually a bit colder and richer in oxygen – chub love that.

If you've got the bug for river fishing, or you're trying to maximise your time on the bank throughout the summer months, check out this handy guide to fishing the UKs rivers in summer.