Predatory Chub
Not many anglers realise that the chub is a predator. In reality it is an omnivore, eating just about anything that it can cram into it's large mouth, and there are times when it's varied diet includes fish and other living creatures too.
The chub is very opportunist making good use of seasonal food supplies and will be at the front of the queue when good food is in abundance. Much of the time this includes both air borne and water borne insects at their various stages of development. When necessary though, it can soon change to a fish diet. Not many anglers realise this fact, but those who do target chub as predators can enjoy some great sport using artificial lures or fish baits.
The vast majority of chub are to be found in rivers, but more and more we are finding populations turning up and thriving in lakes and gravel pits within river flood plains. They are becoming popular too as stock fish in managed fisheries and find their way into water supply reservoirs through pumping water into them from rivers. In other words, there are plenty of chub about to fish for and the variety of venues available makes for some most interesting fishing.
The chub is not an obvious predator. It's teeth stay well hidden at the back of it's throat. Known as Pharyngeal teeth, they are more than capable of stripping the flesh from a small fish or mammal.
They are particularly at home in clear water where their eyesight is legendary and a very cautious approach will be required to catch them. They do not particularly like coloured water, but will feed at night and often in very low water temperatures.
A good sized chub will weigh 4lb or 5lb. Specimens over 7lb were rare at one time but are being much more regularly reported. The current British record stands at 9lb 5oz.
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