Creek Chubs

[Champs]

When fishing with creek chubs for walleyes I assume lindy rigging is the preferred method of fishing. My question is it a good idea to give a little more line before setting the hook. With crawlers I tend to count to 10 and close the bail and then set the hook. Since this is a bigger bait I was wondering what the best method would be.

Champs

[JohnMickish]

Depending on the size of the creek chub, you can be in for a 60 count. I use creek chubs quit a bit when fishing for big walleyes. It's not uncommon to use up to an 8" minnow. This is a big bait for a fish to take. They can't just suck it in like a 3" shiner so they attack it sideways then turn it to swallow it. Be patient and try different counts but I would start at about 30 seconds and work up from there depending on the results.

[james_walleye]

We use 5" creek chubs quite a bit and i never give them more than 15 or 20 seconds and we pretty much never miss a bite. On occasion i've had them hit a 5" creek chub so hard my reaction was just to give it to them with the bail open and line in my finger. I've had 2 fish in that 28-29" range do that to me this year.

[Champs]

Thanks guys. I used the creek chubs last night for the first time and fished them through a few schools of fish on the sonar and never got a bite. I was lindy rigging with a red #2 hook and a six foot snell. Bummer.

Champs

[tacklejunkie]

Anybody know were one could buy creek chubs in the Duluth area?

I think they would be a kick [PoorWordUsage] bait in the fall

[PurpleFloyd]

How exactly are you fishing the chubs? I can get all of them I want in a local creek but don't know the best presentation to use.

Trolling? Still fishing? weighted? With a bobber?

I can get everything from the 3"ers to 8"

[JohnMickish]

I Lindy rig mine, SLOWLY!. I use a #2 hook and I hook it thru the upper lip. Sometimes I use a stinger treble hook and stick it in the back. Depending on the mood sometimes the fish will wack it hard and sometimes not. The cool thing about a creek chub is if you are using a good rod they are strong enough to telegraph what is going on. When a chub is about to get eaten they shake real bad trying to get away. You will feel that then the rod will either go dead or you will feel weight. Start feeding line at this point. I feed alot of line but the above poster dosen't. See what your fish want. A good creek chub will feel like you have a small walleye on when it gets nervous.

[james_walleye]

Haha that is the best fishingguy, feeling that chub get nervous. I lindy rig mine as well. I use a #4 hook and hook them through the lips. And yes you don't want to be pulling them very fast, let them dance down there. This spring on our trip to Dogtooth Lake ontario I put some big chubs on jigs. These were big redtails up there. But the same size chub. Fishing giant walleyes i wanted a big bulky presentation so i put them on bucktail hair jigs. There was one particular "tight" spot i wanted to slowly bounce them. Man was that fun. There is no ticky tacking around with something like that. Everytime they hit it was a freight train and it literally scared me everytime it was so fierce. We had 5 fish from 29-31" on the last 2 days (not exagerating, some of the pics are on page 52-53 of the walleye photo gallery post) on this and other fish in that 26-28" range. There was no problem for fish this size inhaling what amounted to a 7" presentation. It was so fun i started tying my own hair jigs and plan on trying it more.

[PurpleFloyd]

Hey, thanks for the tips. I will have to give that a try next weekend when I go to Madison Lake.

[Nathansdad]

I fish chubs from opener through freeze up. I seldom give them more than 15-20 seconds. I love the anticipation of the bite when i feel the minow strugling. As said above my hooking percentage is very high. I feel when using minnows they swallow them faster if fear of them getting away. Here's a tip....when fishing a school of fish tail hook the minnow and move very slowly. I have a higher hooking percentage and also fewer gut hooked fish.

[james_walleye]

Any of you guys able to get those chubs during the winter? Its something im going to try to do this winter. I've heard of guys drilling holes in these small creeks in the holes and catching them on waxies. I was messing around yesterday and hit a small creek that I catch some chubs in the spring and i caught 25 of them in 10 minutes. Just beauties. I guess i have my honey hole for this fall, and being a nice deep hole, maybe this winter.