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Fly Fishing in Greece
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| Chub (Leuciscus Cephalus) |
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| Written by Apostolis Lachanas | |||
| Monday, 30 August 2010 18:25 | |||
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Leuciscus cephalus or the common chub, is a fish of the Cyprinidae family and is found throughout Europe. The chub is very resilient to pollution and can easily survive in water with low oxygen content. It can usually be found in rivers, rapids and lakes at an altitude of less than 500 metres (1640 feet).
The chub is a good swimmer who is in constant search of a favourable location suitable for a short term stop in the search for food. When young, the chub congregates into shoals, but as it matures its penchant for solitude grows.
Main features The chub's body usually is long and thin with a distinctively large mouth. It has a greenish towards brownish back, depending on its environment, a side line that is clearly delineated and a whitish towards greyish belly. The chub is covered in medium sized, rather bright scales and even though it has average sized fins, its muscle strength makes it a remarkably fast fish. The chub can reach the size of three kilos (seven pounds).
Reproduction The chub reproduces in late spring (April-June) in very shallow waters. Its eggs are yellow and very small. It usually deposits them on rocks, sunken tree trunks or pebble covered river beds. Its growth is rather slow and it only reaches sexual maturity at the age of three to four years for males and four to five years for females.
Diet The chub is known for its voracity that can lead it to feed on even rubbish! However, its basic diet includes worms, small fish, insects, larvae, invertebrate and crustaceans.
Fly fishing The best days to fish for chubs are summer days when it’s hot and sunny. The flies that can be used are dry nymphs or streamers, similar to those used when trout fishing. You should seek for the chub near the river's or lake's banks. It is a very intelligent and combative, but also shy, fish that needs particular care when approaching, because it scares very easily, even from large distances.
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