Disclaimer: These fish were caught before March 15th 2025...
With the 2024-25 coarse fishing season on our rivers over, we have time to reflect on what was a truly incredible few months of angling. Despite the pressures our rivers face from various sources, the amount of big fish captures this year was unbelievable, begging the question, has there been a better time for specimen fish, especially chub?
The end of the season saw some incredible fish landed to round the year off in style, with some truly huge chub banked.
With mild conditions rolling in for the end of the season, Ashley Holmes spent a few hours after work on the River Kennet at Burghfield, where he landed this superb chub of 7lb 13oz.
He started the session using a cheesepaste hookbait, which he cast to overhanging brambles downstream. But after a missing a few heavy knocks on the tip, only to retrieve a bare hook, he switched to a hair-rigged worm hookbait.
The next time he received an indication, Ashley held the rod and, when he felt another definite ‘tap’, he struck into solid resistance. The fish fought hard for the snags, but Ashley held firm and eventually had the specimen in the net.
WITH THE RIVERS NOW CLOSED, WHY NOT HEAD TO ONE OF THESE GREAT VENUES INSTEAD!
On a trip to the River Lea at Kings Weir, Neale Woodward spent two hours baiting a swim with maggots before catching this 7lb 11oz PB chub. It fell to two red maggots on a size 20 hook, which he trotted through the swim. When he connected to the fish, he thought initially that he’d hooked the bottom. But then, when the heavy fish started to move, he knew he’d connected with something rather special. It’s a chub Neale’s been after all winter, and it left him happy to end the season on a high.
THE BEST FLOAT RODS WILL HELP YOU PRESENT A FLOAT SO MUCH BETTER!
The rivers of Essex aren’t often in the headlines for big fish, but James Willsmer recently managed this chub of 7lb 8oz from a venue near his home in Chelmsford.
The stretch used to be known for good chub, but in recent years its stocks have dwindled. There are still a few good fish in there, as James has found in recent weeks, landing four upper ‘sixes’.
One of those, at 6lb 14oz, came straight after his mid-‘seven’, giving him two chub for nearly 15lb in as many casts on the float.
