Mick Vials visits the iconic Burton Joyce stretch of the River Trent to target chub using steak and mince!

There is some great roach, dace and perch fishing to be had on the nations rivers and while I do enjoy a day catching small fish there truly is something special about catching a big chub or better still… two! This statement is especially true when we get the chance to float fish for them and I recently had a true red letter day on my beloved River Trent at Burton Joyce.

Unless you live under a rock, you may have already seen the steak and mince video we shot for the NuFish YouTube channel. If you have seen it, don’t flick the page as I want to give even more detail to help you catch more chub with a float and if you haven’t seen it – you’re in for a treat!  

The Venue

As I briefly mentioned, I am fishing on the beautiful River Trent just downstream of the famous outfall at Burton Joyce. I have fished this venue since I was yay high to a grasshopper and have the most incredible fondness to the river.

It is a venue that has gone through many cycles but the reality is when I was young and learning my craft, the Trent was full of chub. They were not big fish but young hungry chub with 3lb being a big one but there were thousands of them.

Fast forward to 2025 and the chub population has changed. There are still lots of chub throughout but they are generally large fish with specimens of over 7lb not too uncommon!

Going off on a slight tangent here, the fish species go in cycles on any venue and in recent years dace and roach have been abundant and barbel stocks have been spectacular. But I fully believe the chub cycle is coming round, I have had several sessions on the river and caught small chub and in good numbers too and I think there is a comeback happening!

Unfortunately it is looking like the dace cycle is coming to an end but the beauty of this river is you never know from one year to the next and while they were hard to find last summer (2024) they could bounce back.

The outfall swim at Burton Joyce is a notorious fish holding area and last time I fished this swim the bailiff of the controlling club (Ashfield Angling Club) mentioned the peg held a great shoal of quality chub.

That was last year and I’ve been itching to get back for a crack at them.  

Bait! 

With chub on the mind there was only one bait (well two if you want to be picky) I was going to turn to and that’s the steak and mince combination. I can hear you now expecting me to be piling maggots or casters into the river. But in my experience on this venue in the winter, being more selective with steak is far more effective for chub. They quite simply love it.

I am not totally sure what is so attractive to the chub but they go mad for it. Perhaps it is the blood that leeches off downstream and the fish follow that trail up to the feed zone? I don’t know for sure but what I do know is as far as cold water chub baits are concerned this takes some beating and the good news is there won’t be many of your fellow anglers using it!

So what do you actually need? Well three things actually and let’s start with the feed. I am sure chopping steak up would work a treat but unless you have a bank account like Elon Musk I’d suggest loose feeding sirloin is off the menu. So we need an alternative and cheap beef mince is the ideal feed. Look for the stuff in the supermarket that has a decent amount of blood in the packaging. It can be a good idea to look for reduced stuff and whack a few packs in the freezer if you do find some. A couple of packs is ample for a days fishing and to be honest a single pack would probably do but I never like to be short and you can always refreeze the bait after a session.

Unless using a feeder we can’t really feed mince on its own and we need a carrier to get it down to the bottom of the river with some sort of accuracy. Simple brown crumb is ideal for this, I don’t want a flavoured groundbait as it could over power the natural scent of the mince. Brown crumb binds nicely when blended with the mince.

To make the perfect mix I have actually found it easier to use a whisk but it is possible with your hands and I think you could also do it in a food processor before leaving home if you wished.

I start by putting the mince into a bucket before adding a few handfuls of brown crumb. It is then a case of blitzing the two together until the mince is barely noticeable in the crumb. It will make a ball easily and stink of the mince. All of the blood will be absorbed and will leech out of the crumb giving off a slow scent trail and because the mince has been blitzed into tiny particles within the groundbait there isn’t really much to fill the fish up. It drives them crackers without giving them much to eat – much like shark fishing with a rubby dubby trail.

The only thing to be careful of especially when using cheaper packs of mince is the fat content. The cheaper packs tend to be full of fat which can make it quite buoyant. In fact on this very session I noticed before we started that my mix was floating. Simply adding water and slightly over wetting it did the trick and got the bait down even in this fast swim.

Steak comes into the equation for hook bait. For today’s trip I simply opted for some frying steak but look for the tougher stuff such as shin beef. You only need a small amount for hook baits and a palmful of chunks is enough.

I cut those chunks down into small pea sized pieces big enough to cover a size 13 hook. I am sure you could use larger segments when feeder fishing but I’ve found nice small pieces work best for float fishing like we are doing here.  

The Kit For The Job

The Trent can be a powerful and demanding venue and today we are faced with perhaps 18inches to two feet of extra water. This could put some anglers off and to be honest I do actually think cold clear conditions are best for this bait. But it will work in coloured conditions too as long as it isn’t liquid mud. Chub just do not respond to any bait in coloured rivers as a rule and the only species that seem to feed in those conditions are barbel and bream. Today though there is just enough visibility and I’m sure it will work.

I went off on a tangent there but we need to discuss the kit and a swollen river can still be tackled with a float providing you use the appropriate tackle. A long rod is a great starting point and I have a 15ft model here. I would even consider a 17ft rod on a deeper swim or even if there was more wind to try and counteract. Long rods make float control easier and the extra length helps steer chub clear of marginal snags, trust me they ALWAYS try and dive for cover under your feet – you have been warned!

I have matched this up with a sensible sized reel loaded with 4lb (0.18mm) DETEXION. This is fished straight through to a strong compact size 13 Kamasan B711 hook. On the subject of hooks for chub, I prefer traditional patterns. Modern wide gape patterns are not quite right and sometimes open up with chub and their rubbery lips. Small but strong hooks are key and a B711 is ideal for steak. If maggots were the bait of choice I’d go for a B520.

I am fishing straight through as I want the extra strength and when a chub takes steak they take it with confidence and I fully believe they are not line shy whatsoever with this bait.

Float choice is simple, big is nearly always best! As match anglers we are often trying to use the lightest float we can get away with but when fishing with baits like steak and bread, you need to use plenty of weight down the line to boss the river and get lots of control through the swim.

I have gone for a 6g bolo float today but would not hesitate to use 8g or even 10g to achieve perfect control. You need to to boss the river not let the river poss you. Remember we are feeding balls of feed in that are getting to the bottom so there is no need for short button style set ups here.

In fact I have shotted this with an ollivette and then a secondary bulk of four No8s halfway between the ollivette and the hook. Simple and tangle free is key!

Fishing Time

This is a relatively straight forward method particularly if you are already familiar with river float fishing. But for those who aren’t let’s look at the swim and discuss where to feed and how we are going to present the set up to the chub.

The outfall above me is creating a lovely flow line that means I have an obvious place to fish. It is a strong crease here and also a strong flow which will carry the bait and scent a long way down the swim. But that being said, fish will always come up stream to find where the bait is coming from. So with this in mind it is crucial not to feed too high up the flow line. In such a strong flow the temptation is to feed upstream of your fishing position thinking the flow will push the bait downstream and while this is true to a point, the fish will head upstream to find the bait and end up right in front of you. It is incredibly difficult to float fish a river, particularly a fast one, right in front of you. You have to get the fish feeding downstream of you and in an ideal world you want to be able to cast slightly down stream, get the float and rig set and fishing and then get your bites below that when the float is ready to run at the fish.

So for this reason I am going to feed my balls of mince about two metres below me on that crease line. I can adjust this once I work out where the bites are coming from but we always want to be getting bites below our fishing position.

Chub are funny fish and quite often the action will come early and late with maybe just the odd bite in between. These bigger fish definitely respond better at certain times of the day. So today I am going to kick off by throwing one ball of mince in and starting fishing immediately. I imagine it will take a few feeds to get a bite but quite often (especially in match conditions) your best chance of a chub is the first few runs through and don’t be surprised if you catch one within 10minutes of starting especially on a noted swim.

Today it has taken about 15minutes and several feeds before the float absolutely buries and the rod takes on that beautiful battle curve. You rarely miss bites with this bait and other than the odd rogue skimmer or roach, 99 times out of 100 when that float goes under it will be a chub.

The first one is always an adrenaline rush as even after all of these years I still don’t expect it to happen but you must concentrate on the hooked fish. A lapse in concentration will see them kite into the bank or dive for cover under your keepnet. As my old mate Tommy Pickering used to say “chub go to night school to learn how to snag you” and you must give them some backbone and show them who’s boss. You rarely have hook pulls with this species so you can give them plenty of pressure especially with a balanced set up.

After a tense but adrenaline filled battle the first chub is in the net and it is one of two things and both are possible – the first of many or the first and last of the day! You just never know with chub.

Fortunately for me it turns out to be an incredible day with seven or eight chub up to 5lb falling to that small pea-sized piece of steak. I’ve kept the bait going in every chuck and the fish have been very obliging.

There is just something about this bait that chub love and if you fancy doing a bit before the rivers close then give steak and mince ago, you may be very surprised!