Chub on the Eden 2009

I began fishing the small but rich river Eden during the summer months of 2009. I had been told that the river contains some good sized chub over 6lb. I had not been river fishing for many years and had no decent size chub to my name. On my first session I arrived at the river and was surprised at how narrow it was. I wandered down the free stretch and found a beautiful weir which I had all to myself. I could see some small chub darting in and out of the far bank picking up food trailing in the faster current. I tackled up, put a single white maggot on the hook and drifted it down the current. I picked up a few small chub of no more than 6 oz so I opted for a change in tactics. That was all I caught that day but I did manage to explore some of the river.

My next session was with a mate of mine. We were on the banks of the Eden when it was dark and heading to a small stretch that looked promising. I believe in simple approaches and believe they can be more effective when executed correctly. I free lined a lob worm on a size 8 hook, 6lb main line and a small blob of heavy tungsten putty around 10 inches from the hook. Instantly my line went slack and I struck into what felt like a good fish. Thinking it was a chub I grabbed the net but realised it was a massive perch. Once weighed she went to 3lb which was a personal best perch from a river (pictured below).

Half hour later my mate caught a beautiful 4lb 8oz chub on double maggot (pictured below) from the next swim. Things were looking good and we continued to fish swim after swim 15 minutes at a time down one mile of beautiful river.

We came to another weir where on the same tactics managed to catch a 3lb chub (pictured below) on lob worm and a surprise pike of around 14oz. That was all for the rest of the day so we retreated happy fisherman.

  

Other trips produced some chub around the 2lb mark in great condition. A few more pike also turned up on lob worm but they were only small. The river is beautiful and I will continue to update my blog as I fish it through the winter into 2010 hopefully catching one over the 4lb barrier. I did manage to see a fish of around 6-7lb in shallow water on an elusive stretch so there are monsters in there. Below is a 3lb perch and pristine chub caught from different stretches of the Eden.