Chub

By Alex Clayton · Updated 23 October 2026

The chub fish is a thick-set member of the carp family, dusky silver to bronze, with a blunt head and a mouth far wider than its size suggests. Its stronghold is the lowland English river, but it also lives in canals and some stillwaters.

Chub eat almost anything and keep feeding in cold water, so they are worth chasing in midwinter. They also spook easily, and a careless approach empties a swim fast.

If you searched for “chubb fish”, it is the same species. The double b is a common misspelling.

Below: how to tell a chub from a dace, the real British record, where to find chub, the rules in England and Wales, and the baits that catch them. For the rest of the family, see our guide to other UK coarse fish.

Chub at a Glance: Key Facts

Every figure below comes from the official record list, the Canal & River Trust or a wildlife trust, all linked under the table.

Fact	Detail
Scientific name	Squalius cephalus; the British record list and the Canal & River Trust still use Leuciscus cephalus. Both names are in use.
Family	Carp family (Cyprinidae)
Typical size	30 to 40cm; a good adult is typically 4 to 5lb (1.8 to 2.3kg)
Maximum	Usually quoted as up to about 4kg (8lb 13oz), although the British record is slightly heavier
British record	9lb 5oz 0dr (4.224kg), Andy Maker, 2007
Lifespan	14 to 20 years
Diet	Omnivore: insect larvae, worms, molluscs, crayfish, small fish, berries and plant matter
Spawning	Spring into summer, once the water reaches around 14C
River close season	15 March to 15 June (England and Wales)
Status	Common, no conservation concern

Sources: British Record (Rod Caught) Fish Committee listings, January 2026, Canal & River Trust, Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust, GOV.UK.

How to Identify a Chub, and Tell It From a Dace

A small silver fish comes off a fast glide on the float, and nobody on the bank can agree whether it is a chublet or a dace. One look at the anal fin settles it.

What a chub looks like

A chub is dusky silver with a brown-bronze sheen across the back and flanks. The snout is blunt, the body rounded and thick-set, and the mouth is very large for the size of the fish (Canal & River Trust).

The scales are big and edged in dark pigment, which gives the flank a netted look. The dorsal and anal fins have convex edges that curve outwards (Inland Fisheries Ireland). The lower fins are reddish, and the dorsal fin and tail are charcoal grey.

Chub vs dace

Dr Mark Everard, writing for the Canal & River Trust, picks out the fin edge as the clearest difference. Check it first, then confirm with the other features.

Feature	Chub	Dace
Anal and dorsal fin edge	Convex (curves outwards)	Concave (curves inwards)
Mouth	Wide and blunt	Much smaller, set slightly downwards
Fin colour	Stronger red on the lower fins, charcoal dorsal and tail	Pale, often pink or coral on the lower fins
Body	Thick and rounded	Slender
British record	9lb 5oz 0dr (4.224kg)	1lb 5oz 2dr (0.599kg), River Wear, 2002

The record row doubles as a shortcut. A fish well over 1lb 5oz is almost certainly a chub, because as a dace it would beat the British record.

Chub or grass carp?

On commercial fisheries, grass carp are sometimes mistaken for chub. Check the anal fin: the chub’s convex edge is the giveaway.

Still unsure? Photograph the fish side-on with the anal fin spread and compare it against our fish identification guide. The silver bream is another silver fish that beginners regularly misname.

How Big Do Chub Get? Typical Sizes and the British Record

Some websites quote a British record chub of over 10lb. The official list says otherwise.

The British record chub is 9lb 5oz 0dr (4.224kg), caught by Andy Maker in 2007 from a water listed only as “Southern Stillwater”. That is the figure in the British Record (Rod Caught) Fish Committee coarse listings dated 30 January 2026.

Bigger chub have been reported but never ratified. Fisheries.co.uk, for example, mentions a reported 10lb 11oz fish from the Severn. Without a successful claim to the committee, a fish like that is a story, and the 9lb 5oz fish remains the record.

For everyday expectations, most adult chub measure 30 to 40cm and a good adult weighs 4 to 5lb. They are slow to reach those weights and long-lived, at 14 to 20 years, so a big chub has usually survived a lot of anglers.

Records can be broken, so check the current committee list before you quote one.

Where Chub Live: Rivers, Canals and Stillwaters

The British record chub came from a stillwater, yet most anglers think of chub as river fish. Rivers are their stronghold, but chub also do well in canals and some lakes.

Distribution

Chub are widespread in lowland England and rarer in Wales and Scotland (Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust). They are not native to Ireland, where the only river with a recorded population is the Inny. Inland Fisheries Ireland asks anglers to report any chub they catch, so check its page for the current reporting details.

Rivers

Chub stay close to cover. On a river, look for:

overhanging trees and bushes
undercut banks
rafts of floating debris caught on branches
weed beds
steadier water beside a faster flow, such as a crease or the tail of a glide

Canals

On canals, chub tend to hold on the far side, tucked under overhanging brambles and among tree roots. Carl Nicholls, fisheries and angling manager at the Canal & River Trust, names the Staffordshire & Worcestershire and Shropshire Union canals as waters known for big chub.

Commercials and stillwaters

Some fisheries stock chub because they keep feeding through winter, although they may not breed in still water, so numbers depend on restocking. Many of these lakes also hold tench and bream. Stock lists change, so check with the fishery before you travel.

The contrast with bream is useful. Bream roam open water in big shoals, while chub tuck themselves into cover, so put your bait by the snags rather than out in the middle.

Chub Through the Year: Spawning, Winter Feeding and the Close Season

The calendar decides when chub feed and when you can legally fish for them.

Spawning

Chub spawn from spring into summer, once the water reaches around 14C, scattering their eggs over gravel and vegetation (Canal & River Trust). The river close season covers much of that period.

Winter

Chub keep feeding in cold water, long after many other coarse fish slow down.

The rules

Rivers, England and Wales: you cannot fish for coarse fish on any river from 15 March to 15 June (GOV.UK).
Canals and stillwaters: most are open all year, but private waters can set their own close season, so read the byelaws and fishery rules.
Take limit from rivers, England: each day you can take up to 15 small fish, 20cm or under, across a list of species that includes chub. Measure snout tip to tail fork, and return anything else unharmed (GOV.UK).

You also need a rod licence, and our fishing seasons guide covers the dates in detail. For Wales, check Natural Resources Wales for take limits and byelaws; for Scotland, the Scottish Government; for Northern Ireland, DAERA.

In spring, fish a canal or stillwater until the rivers reopen on 16 June.

How to Catch Chub: Baits, Hooks and Methods

Float fish maggots on a chub river and the small fish swarm in while the bigger chub stay out of reach. Three decisions fix most of that: match the bait to the water colour, size the hook to the bait, and fish close to cover.

Best baits for chub

Bait	When it works	Notes
Cheese paste	Winter, coloured water	Ranked first for winter chub by Phil Spinks
Bread flake	As the water clears; canals	Spinks’s second choice; a Canal & River Trust canal hookbait
Luncheon meat	Rivers in winter	Fifth in Spinks’s winter ranking
Lobworm	Canals and rivers	A large worm on the hook is a Canal & River Trust canal recommendation
Maggots and casters	Float fishing with loose feed	Chopped worm and casters help draw chub into a canal swim
Small spinners	Where the fishery allows lures	Listed by the Canal & River Trust as a canal method

The ranking comes from Phil Spinks’s winter chub guide for Angling Direct. It is one experienced angler’s guidance, not a rule.

Hook size to bait

For large baits such as paste, flake and meat, Spinks recommends a size 6 or 4 hook. Go smaller for maggots and casters so the bait behaves naturally in the flow. Whatever the bait, use a hooklength strong enough to stop a chub diving into the snags it lives beside.

Methods

Link ledger or light feeder. Put a big bait right beside cover and wait. In cold, coloured water this is the standard approach.
Trotting. Run a stick float down a steady glide with maggot or caster, feeding little and often. In shallow, fast water, a chubber-style float carries bigger baits better.
Canal fishing. Fish tight to far-bank cover with bread or worm, as the Canal & River Trust recommends.
Small lures. Where the fishery allows them, small spinners will take chub.

If a swim has been disturbed, move on rather than sit it out. Spooked chub rarely come back that session.

Handling Chub and Keeping the Swim Quiet

The first good chub of the day can cost you the rest of the shoal if it fights on the surface.

A hooked chub thrashing about up top can spook its shoal mates for the day. Keep the rod low, keep the fish deep, and steer it away from the feeding area before you bring it up to the net.

Once it is in the net, look after it:

wet your hands before touching the fish
use an unhooking mat
support the body rather than squeezing it
return it quickly
follow the fishery’s rules on keepnets

As covered in the rules section above, any chub over 20cm caught from a river in England must go back.

Frequently asked questions

What is the British record chub?

The British record chub is 9lb 5oz 0dr (4.224kg), caught by Andy Maker in 2007 from a water listed as "Southern Stillwater". That is the British Record (Rod Caught) Fish Committee figure as of January 2026; check the current list, because records can be broken.

Can you fish for chub in the close season?

Not on rivers in England and Wales, which are closed to coarse fishing from 15 March to 15 June. Most canals and enclosed stillwaters stay open all year, but local byelaws and the fishery's own rules still apply.

What is the difference between chub and dace?

A chub has convex anal and dorsal fin edges, a much wider mouth and redder lower fins. A dace has concave fin edges, a small mouth and paler fins. A fish well over 1lb 5oz is almost certainly a chub, because it would beat the British dace record.

Are there chub in Scotland or Ireland?

Chub are present in Scotland but rarer there than in lowland England. They are not native to Ireland, where the only recorded river population is in the Inny, and Inland Fisheries Ireland asks anglers to report any they catch.

Is a chubb a different fish?

No. "Chubb" is a common misspelling of chub and refers to the same species, Squalius cephalus. You will see both spellings in search results, but the correct name is chub, with one b.