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.
