THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

CHUB Leuciscus cephalus
Bucket List status – result
Graeme Pullen, 6.4.0 Chub River Kennet
I've described dace below as looking like small chub,
so it goes without saying that chub look like big dace.
The problem comes when they are both the same size.
Both are elongate fish, and while it will be possible for regular catchers familiar with the pair to
recognise the difference at a glance, the rest of us will need to look at the positioning of the dorsal fin
on the back relative to pelvic fins below to help sort things out.
If the dorsal fin has a convex upper edge and starts behind a line dropped down to where the pelvic fins
start, then it's a chub. If however it starts directly above the origin of the pelvics and has a concave
upper edge, then its a dace.
Chub also have a larger mouth. Colouration is usually a dark green to brown on the back, fading down
the flanks to silvery yellow underneath.
I have fished deliberately for chub, and I have caught them in good numbers in the past on the River
Ribble, River Trent, and occasionally in some of the small commercial still-water fisheries where they
can be particularly popular.
Indeed, the current record of nine pounds five ounces is a still-water fish. These days however, chub
are a bit of a by-catch for me, and if they are half decent, a bonus by-catch at that.
This normally happens when I'm fishing for barbel with ten to twelve mm pellets and a large open ended
cage feeder loaded with softened trout pellets. But bear in mind, I'm trying to pick out barbel swims,
not hot spots for chub.
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