Seven strikes of large chubs in a row is a remarkable result. Tony Miles needed as many as seven different lures, to confirm the theory, which he had almost forgotten.
You surely know it perfectly well – a lively discussion continues, some angler presents his, convincing sounding theory, and a moment later everyone forgets the whole conversation. One day, while fishing, they suddenly remember words they once heard, and it often turns out, that it happened at the most opportune moment…
Over a year ago, I was talking to a friend about catching chub. Then he told me, that he had found out many times, that after catching a large fish, the bites suddenly stop. At the moment, however, when he made the lure more attractive with some scent, for example, by sprinkling it with a flavor, he almost always had another bite. A friend of mine then risked a theory, that it is not the smell itself, but a new bait (even if it smells different) provokes another cautious fish to bite.
This truth is known as the world: fish learn quickly, and there, where they are often released back into the water, many natural lures lose their original catch. Every angler will confirm this. One was new to my friend's theory: observation, that the effect of avoiding a bait does not manifest itself after a few days or weeks, but right after hauling the first fish. I admit honestly, that during that conversation I didn't even realize the idea of changing the lure to another one right after catching the first fish. After all, it is against the nature of fishing. No sane person likes the bait, on which he caught a beautiful fish a moment ago.
A full-day trip
I quickly forgot all this discussion. It reminded me only in the fall of this year.
On that fateful day I went fishing on my favorite river. I chose a nice place, I put a bucket of groundbait next to me (soaked bread and hemp seeds) and assembled the rods. The river flowed very calmly in front of me. A few meters below, at the height of the wicker bushes growing on the bank, the riverbed narrowed and the current of the water sped up considerably. I decided to bait regularly throughout the day with small bait balls and thus bring chubs to the chosen place. I secretly counted, that nice barbel will appear in the fishery in the evening.
I had a choice and a color – fresh toasted bread, yellow cheese cake, worms, canned corn, breakfast luncheon and… a piece of salami (this sausage tastes good not only to people, also chubs and barbel).
First bite
For an hour 9 into 14 nothing happened. Fortunately, the weather was good, the sun was shining and it was very nice. In the end, I got my first take. The fish took on my favorite bait, that is, the flesh of toasted bread slightly kneaded on a hook. I was fishing with a light ground line and after casting the lure into a deep gutter in the middle of the river, I let it slowly flow down to the bank. At the time, when the light weight was under the branches of wicker hanging over the water, the line taut, and the quivering tip of my rod fell into a rhythmic resonance. After the jam, the fish started to run away immediately.
In autumn and winter, chubs are very brave opponents. Because except for a few clumps of buttercups, there were no other obstacles in the river, into which a towed fish could enter, it was only a matter of time before the chub was introduced to the landing net. The muscular fish was almost two kilograms. I released her back into the water in a quiet cove several dozen meters below my position.
No, I thought to myself, now it will start. Soaked bread and hemp "did their job", I won't wait too long for my next bite. About sweet optimism. For three hours I let my bread bait drift downstream, I kept on tempting and nothing! I even tried to provoke bites by pulling the lure upstream with very short jerks.
It was a proven trick many times, however, this time it is not a date to fall for any fish. Hopeless situation.
Another bait
Around 5 p.m. I came to a conclusion, that perhaps my hemp groundbait has already drawn barbel to the fishery. So I changed the line to a slightly stronger one, tied the bigger hook and dropped yes again. make my bait (this time a cube of breakfast luncheon) flowed under the wicker branches.
The take was violent and almost immediate. The signal tip quivered before the lure had even hit the bottom. At first, I thought, that she took the barbell, however, after a while it turned out, that it is a full chub and a bit larger than the first. Soon another cube of breakfast luncheon landed in the same place, however, this time nothing happened. Half an hour passed and wondering, why he doesn't take anything, I remembered talking to my friend. Since changing the lure to another one ended up catching a fish, why shouldn't I try again. A minute later, instead of luncheon meat I was catching two grains of canned corn. Within another minute, I started hauling the third chub. The fish was so crazy on the rod, that compared to the two previous fish, it gave the impression of a large specimen. In fact, this chub was smaller than the previous ones.
To, that switching to a different bait resulted in a bite again, it gave me a lot to think about. One time – it could have been a coincidence, but twice? I decided to check it out.
I threw the rod again with two grains of corn, however, I made up my mind, that if after fifteen minutes I don't have a take, I'll change the corn to a cheese pie. It happened so, as it should happen – for a quarter of an hour no fish became interested in maize, while for the cheese dough I caught a fourth chub. This fish also took right after casting the line.
Not as planned
Later, the events followed a similar scenario, although not so, as planned. For two new lures (rosewood, a piece of salami) again I had one take right away, with this, that I could not hook these fish. It was the best proof of that, that the remainder of the chub from the herd circulating in the hunting ground had become very nervous and she was taking extremely carefully. Later, there was a break in the taking and only in the evening I managed to start a nice chub on a sandwich with the flesh of bread and cheese cakes. Unfortunately, I was still haunted by bad luck and I also lost this fish this time, but at the very end of the haul. After examining the hook carefully, it turned out, that the blade was clearly bent. So the fish probably had the bait already in its gullet and the hook bent (he failed to get in) on the hard throat teeth of the chub. Summary: seven strikes (four caught fish) for seven different lures, one day, in one place – this is the best proof of my friend's theory.
If the bites stop immediately after catching a fish, there is only one advice for this - how to switch from one bait to another most often.
