The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Just an idle query ... Did chub fuddling ever actually exist, or was it just a literary invention by the likes of Evelyn Waugh and Nancy Mitford?

This seems to be one of the rare cases where googling something does not produce a convincing or definite answer!

In the books, I believe that chub fuddling was presented as an actual trade or profession - which given that it happened just once a year, is vanishingly unlikely. But was it ever done at all? The concept seems to be that to "protect" trout (from competition by coarse fish on preserved fly-only stretches owned by the aristocracy) an annual event would be held to remove unwanted chub. The fuddling method was claimed to be first to throw in a lot of special groundbait which drove the chub into a feeding frenzy (or perhaps intoxicated them?) and then use teams of villagers to drive the pre-occupied chub into shallow water and net them out.

Well, given that chub scare so easily this does seem highly unlikely. But does anyone know more? And of course it would be nice to know what was in the special bait ...

Certainly with Evelyn Waugh Chub Fuddling might well have a meaning to the cognoscenti of nefarious activities known to take place in the Soho region of London in the 1920's,when he was a young man. Probably best to draw a veil over such carrying on as the delicate sensibilities of the membership of this site could be severely compromised. Waugh knowing the full meaning of this expression would then find it highly amusing to include it in his books under the guise of a village pursuit in rural England as a tilt towards the rural story tellers/ writers of an earlier period.

In the words of Monty Python 'he is a very naughty boy!'

Hope this helps.

As ever,.......

Moley

Special bait could only really have been wasp grub/nests or bullock's pith surely although as Moley pointed out I guess Evelyn Waugh's bait might have just been something else entirely.

Fuddle

verb
Gerund or present participle: fuddling

Confuse or stupefy (someone), especially with alcohol.

To go on a drinking bout.
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One can picture the scene as a group of well and truly fuddled individuals splash about in the shallows in the pursuit of chub. Hmm, TFF Chub Fuddling weekend next year anybody?