Chub Fishing: Best Baits, Rigs and Tips for Catching Chub

By Hooked Tackle · Last updated 16 October 2026
We are a tackle shop in Newmarket, and we sell Lark Angling tickets for the River Lark, one of the best chub rivers on our doorstep.

Quick Answer

Chub live under cover on rivers: overhanging trees, rafts of debris, undercut banks and the slower water beside the main flow. Bread flake, cheese paste and luncheon meat are the classic baits, with maggots trotted under a float a close second. Leger with a quivertip in winter; trot or freeline in summer. Stealth matters more than tackle, because chub spook easily. On rivers the season runs from 16 June to 14 March.

What Are Chub?

Quick answer: a thick-set, brassy river fish with a big white-lipped mouth that will eat almost anything.

Chub are one of the most widespread river fish in England. They have big, dark-edged scales, a broad head and a huge mouth, and their fins are convex, which tells them apart from a dace. One to four pounds is a normal chub, five pounds is a very good one, and anything over six is a fish to remember.

The British record stands at 9lb 5oz. Neill Stephen's record-equalling fish came from the River Lea in 2012, on a free-lined piece of cheese paste, which tells you a lot about chub.

What makes chub such good fishing is their appetite. They eat bread, cheese, meat, maggots, worms, pellets, slugs, small fish and crayfish, and they keep feeding in cold water when many other species switch off. That makes them a winter river angler's best friend.

Where Do You Find Chub?

Quick answer: under or near cover, close to the bank, out of the main flow.

• Overhanging trees and bushes. The classic chub swim. Chub sit underneath, out of sight of predators, and pick off food that drops in.
• Rafts and snags. Floating debris caught against a branch is a magnet for chub, especially in winter.
• Undercut banks and bends. The outside of a bend is often deeper and undercut, giving chub shelter right under your feet.
• Creases. The line where fast water meets slower water is where food drifts past and chub can hold without fighting the current.
• Weirpools and bridges. Deeper, oxygenated water with plenty of cover.
• Slacks in a flood. When the river is up and coloured, chub move into slower water near the bank, often in surprisingly small spaces.

Chub are wary. Approach a swim quietly, keep low and back from the edge, and avoid heavy footsteps on the bank. A pair of polarised glasses helps you spot them in clear water. If you can see the chub, assume they can see you.

What Is the Best Bait for Chub?

Quick answer: bread flake for most days, cheese paste in winter, luncheon meat in coloured water, and maggots when you are trotting a float.

Bait	Best season	Best method	Hook size
Bread flake	All year, especially winter	Quivertip leger, freelined	12–8
Cheese paste	Winter	Quivertip leger, freelined	10–8
Luncheon meat	All year, best in coloured water	Leger, rolled meat	12–8
Maggots and casters	All year	Trotted under a float, maggot feeder	16–14
Lobworm	Autumn and floods	Leger	10–8
Floating bread crust	Summer	Freelined on the surface	10–8

Bread is the bait to start with. A pinch of fresh flake on a size 10 or 8 hook, with a little mashed or liquidised bread fed around it, will catch chub on almost any river.

Cheese paste is the classic winter chub bait. It gives off scent in cold water when chub are hunting by smell, and it stays on the hook well.

Luncheon meat comes into its own when the river is up and coloured. Use a chunky cube on a wide-gape hook, or roll it along the bottom through the swim.

Maggots and casters are the trotting baits. Feed a steady trickle and run a float through, and you will catch chub along with roach and dace.

Our hook sizes guide lists the right hook for each of these baits. Use a wide-gape pattern such as Drennan Eyed Wide Gape Specialist Barbless (£1.95–£1.99) for bread, meat and paste.

How Do You Fish for Chub?

Quick answer: a link leger with a quivertip for most of the year, a trotted float in clear water, and freelining when you can see the fish.

The quivertip leger. This is the standard chub method, especially in winter. Fish a link of non-toxic shot or a small lead on a short sliding link above the hook, cast just upstream of the cover, and let the tip settle. A chub bite is usually an unmistakable pull round, and you strike as the tip goes. Use 6–8lb mainline and a 4–6lb hooklength, as in our fishing line guide.

The cage feeder. Swap the link for a cage feeder packed with liquidised bread and you lay a trail of feed right next to your hookbait. Drennan Stainless Oval Cage Feeders (£2.65) sit flat in the current and work with liquidised bread, meat and groundbait.

Trotting. Run a float down the swim at the pace of the current, with maggots or bread, feeding a few loose offerings every cast. A Drennan Loafer or Drennan Crystal Avon (both £2.39) carries enough weight for faster water. Our float fishing guide covers shotting and setting the depth.

Freelining. No weight at all, just a big piece of flake, a lump of cheese paste or a slug on the hook, flicked under the trees and allowed to drift down naturally. It is the most exciting way to catch a chub, and it is how that record-equalling 9lb 5oz fish was caught.

Lures. In summer, chub will hit small spinners and crankbaits fished close to cover. They are a great target on light lure gear.

In England and Wales, lead weights between 0.06g and 28.35g are banned for fishing, so use non-toxic shot. Lark Angling also bans lead shot on its water.

When Is the Best Time to Catch Chub?

Quick answer: from mid-June to mid-March on rivers, with winter evenings and dropping, colouring water among the best times of all.

• The river season: coarse fishing on rivers in England and Wales is closed from 15 March to 15 June, so river chub fishing runs from 16 June to 14 March. Stillwaters that hold chub are usually open all year.
• Summer: chub are active and visible. Stalk them in clear water with freelined bread, slugs or small lures.
• Winter: chub keep feeding in cold water. The last hour of light and the first hours of dark are prime time on a quivertip with bread or cheese paste.
• After a flood: as a river drops and starts to clear after high water, chub often feed hard. Luncheon meat and big pieces of flake are hard to beat then.

Plan winter evening sessions properly: dress for the cold, carry a headtorch, and check your club allows fishing after dark. Our winter clothing guide will keep you on the bank for that last hour.

Where to Fish for Chub Near Newmarket

Quick answer: the River Lark at Mildenhall and Barton Mills, about 15 minutes from the shop.

Lark Angling & Preservation Society controls around 8 miles of coarse water on the River Lark around Mildenhall and Barton Mills, and chub are among the species it lists. Membership is £30 for adults and £15 for concessions and juniors aged 12 to 18, and you can buy it from us at 88 All Saints Road. Its rules include no lead shot, a maximum of two lines, no unattended rods and a landing net with you at all times.

Our guide to the best winter fisheries around Newmarket covers the Lark at Barton Mills as chub and roach water, and the free fishing spots guide covers the Little Ouse and other local rivers.

How Do You Handle a Chub?

Quick answer: net it, unhook it quickly, and get it back.

Chub fight hard, often diving straight for the nearest snag, so step up your hooklength if you are fishing tight to cover and do not give them line. Use a landing net, unhook the fish on a mat or wet grass, and return it quickly, holding it upright in the current until it swims off. A triangle net such as the Korum Xpert Triangle Landing Net (£39.99) suits chub, tench and barbel.

What Most Anglers Get Wrong

Quick answer: spooking the fish before they have even cast.

1. Clumping up to the swim. Chub feel vibration and see movement. Approach quietly and keep low.
2. Sitting in one swim all day. Chub are often caught in the first few casts into a fresh spot. If nothing happens in 20 to 30 minutes, move to the next piece of cover.
3. Overfeeding in winter. A little mashed bread or a few loose offerings is enough. Too much fills the chub up.
4. Tackle too light near snags. A chub that reaches the roots is a lost fish and a broken hooklength left in a fish.
5. Using lead shot or crayfish. Lead shot over 0.06g is illegal, and so is using crayfish as bait in England and Wales.

FAQs

What is the best bait for chub?
Bread flake is the best all-round chub bait, followed by cheese paste and luncheon meat. Maggots and casters are the best choice when trotting a float. Chub eat almost anything, so carry two or three baits and see what they want on the day.

What is the best bait for chub in winter?
Bread flake or cheese paste, fished on a quivertip leger, especially in the last hour of light and after dark. Feed a little mashed or liquidised bread around the hookbait. When the river is coloured after rain, luncheon meat is excellent.

What is the best rig for chub?
A simple link leger with a quivertip covers most chub fishing: a few non-toxic shot or a small lead on a sliding link above a wide-gape hook. Swap the link for a cage feeder with liquidised bread to draw fish in. In clear summer water, freelining a bait with no weight at all is often best.

Where do chub live?
Mainly in rivers, under or close to cover: overhanging trees, rafts of debris, undercut banks, bridges and weirpools. They also live in some stillwaters and gravel pits. In floods they move into slacker water close to the bank.

When is the chub season?
On rivers in England and Wales, chub can be fished from 16 June to 14 March, because coarse fishing on rivers is closed from 15 March to 15 June. Stillwaters that hold chub are usually open all year, subject to the fishery's own rules.

What size hook should I use for chub?
A size 12 to 8 for bread, meat and paste, and a 16 or 14 for maggots and casters. Use a strong wide-gape pattern, because chub have big mouths and fight hard near snags.

How big do chub grow?
One to four pounds is a normal chub, five pounds is a very good one, and anything over six is a specimen. The British record is 9lb 5oz, a weight equalled by a chub from the River Lea in 2012.

Get Kitted Out

If you are starting from scratch, the Guru 10ft Feeder Rod and Reel Combo (£99.99) is a complete quivertip setup. For something stronger, the Drennan Acolyte 10ft Plus Feeder Rod (£229) is built for hard-fighting fish including chub. Add Drennan Specimen Camo XT line (£9.95 for 250m), wide-gape hooks and a few cage feeders, and a Matrix Compression Punch Set (£9.99) if you want to fish punched bread or meat.

Prices correct as of October 2026 — check the product page for current pricing and availability.

Not sure what you have caught? Our UK coarse fish species guide covers chub, dace and the rest. Pick up your Lark ticket and bait in the shop, or get in touch with any questions.