Canal Chub — Checks and Balances

'Jim Sidebottom was fishing the Coventry Canal when a chub 22 inches long took a liking to his lobworm hook bait. 

Jim didn’t have any scales or a camera with him but estimated the fish at 9lb, and the catch was witnessed by two other anglers. Whatever its true weight it’s another example of the potential of the Midlands canal network'.

This report from the Total Fishing website intrigued me. Wouldn't it intrigue you if you were me, lived just a stone's throw from the water in question, and by way of local towpath gossip had gained a very good idea of where it was banked? 

Simon Daley and his big Stour chub

A 9lb chub is a very, very big fish indeed. But at 22 inches just does not seem long enough to me. I'd say somewhere between 23-25 would be about right for such a fish with normal body proportions. However, I have seen a 7lb chub up close because it fitted into my roach net (22 inches long from spreader to frame) and quite comfortably for the purposes of weighing. That fish was from the Dorset Stour and caught by Simon Daley on a size 20 hook to one pound bottom. It was remarkably short, but very, very broad and deep . It had all the proportions of a small carp. 

Nice cropping, Hatt...

So I went back through the blog archive (my essential and indispensable log) to the very first month and the account of the capture of my largest ever chub — a fish that I weighed at 5lb 9oz.

It was approximately 22.5 inches in length and 5.5 inches deep gauged against the 4.5 inch width of the Okuma centre-pin reel in the picture. But that fish was weighed on luggage scales. I bought them from Lidl on the way to the Severn at Montford Bridge where it was banked.

I think they may have been the first set of scales I ever owned!

I still have them hanging in the shed as a curiosity and am glad that I kept them by as such. Because just a little later and thinking that reading a little low for what was a really chunky fish, I proved them to be some way out of whack and bought a new set I could rely upon...

This train of thought precipitated my annual scales check. So I got all my current sets out, hammered a nail into the shed door frame to ensure absolute verticality and stability, and then checked each in turn and one against the other with a 2lb weight. 

Maximum capacities left to right.  4lb — 32lb — 11lb

All were fine, accurate, and most importantly they were in agreement giving readings just over 2lb because of the thick Lidl carrier bag used as a sling. And so my long standing PB roach weighed at 1lb 15oz 8dr on the rotary set still stands. 

Still can't squeeze that extra half ounce!

4lb brass Salter in 1 ounce divisions — 2lb weight plus carrier bag

Out of curiosity I then slung the 2lb weight beneath the luggage scales when I received the shocking news of the incredible underestimate of just 1lb 4oz...

Imagine what excess baggage charges must have damaged the shallow wallets of hapless Lidl customers having relied upon these contraptions at Heathrow!

Next I slung exactly 5lb 9oz beneath one of the good sets and checked it against another. Agreed weight. Then slung that weight beneath the Lidl set. Oh dear! 'Some way out of whack' is just what they were and at some considerable margin under.

So I added bits and pieces to the bag hung below the dodgy set to have it read 'exactly' 5lb 9oz and then hung that weight beneath the good sets. 

Crane 50lb set in half-pound divisions reading approximately 5lb 9oz. here or there!

11lb brass Salter in 2 ounce divisions accurately reading 6lb 5oz for the previous Crane 'estimate'.

6lb 5oz!!!

Good grief. That's quite a chub PB for a Coventry angler. Shame I'm stuck with 5lb 9oz till I beat it with a fish weighed on the good ones! There's no backtracking, I'm afraid. 

But at least I do know my current sets are all performing perfectly in tune and singing the same hymn...

So. About that chub report. Can it be believed? 

Well, 22 inches is not nearly enough length for a 9lb chub to my mind. 6-7lb perhaps, and at very best. Still, that's a very large and desirable fish and one that I'd love to have on my PB list. But not a potential record shaker, I think. 

What do I know? I've never seen a big old Coventry Canal chub, have I?

But I do have reports of where one or two might live. 

And they're not so very far away... 

PS. Mick Newey's comment with a link to the Chub Study Group proved useful. I drew a median average line through the table and got a reading of an average weight of 6lb 12oz for the length of 22.5 inches. It was a summer capture, and though a chunky fish across the back, probably not at full late winter weight in the belly. So I think 6lb 5oz more than reasonable for it. Subtract up to half an inch for good measure and it still seems spot on.

Still can't and won't claim it though!