Fishing World

Archive for August, 2010

For really big pike, one of the most reliable methods is freelining large static deadbaits such as half a mackerel, herrings, or an eel section. These baits are dense enough to cast a fair distance without lead, but casting distance will be enhanced by using frozen baits. For a half mackerel, trim the tail fin and section the body at an angle, thus maximizing casting range. It goes without saying that you should freeze your baits individually and make sure they are straight. It is no fun on a freezing winter morning trying to unravel a whole block of frozen fish, and it’s impossible to cast a herring shaped like a banana far.

You must utilize efficient bite registration when freelining for pike, in order to avoid a deeply hooked fish. It is therefore important to take in all the slack before attaching a drop-off pike indicator so you get instant warning of a pick-up. Make sure your indicator has enough weight to show drop-back bites. Very light arms may stay in place as the line is falling slack while a pike comes towards the bank with the bait. If wind or drift makes it difficult to tighten properly then you should use a little lead or a float. That bite must be seen immediately.

When freelining large deadbaits, a 20 lb (9.07 kg) wire trace at least 2 ft (60 cm) long carrying two treble hooks, in sizes 6 or 8, are suitable. The point of the upper treble is inserted firmly in the tail root, while the lower treble is nicked as lightly as possible along the bait’s flank.

For really tough-skinned baits, especially eel section, you can have problems pulling out of the bait and into the pike. You can either pare away a section of skin where the treble point is to go and then lightly hook into the flesh itself or, for long casting, nick the skin as lightly as possible and hold the trace in place for the cast by a tie of PVA string. It is a matter of personal preference whether you use barbless trebles or not; some anglers swear by them, while others have lost too many pike for their liking using them.

Whatever hooks you use, strike pike runs immediately and be properly equipped to unhook the pike quickly and without damage. Use wire cutters to snip off the barbs.

Although the feeder has wide application in stillwaters, the orthodox application of the swimfeeder is in streamy water, where its use is in ensuring a constant flow of bait down the current. A general rig arrangement is exactly the same as a sliding link with snap link swivels, the swimfeeder merely replacing the lead. In summer, feeder fishing in fast-running water is more effective the more often you cast and the more bait you use. This is particularly true when using maggots and the minimum bait to use is 4 pints (2.28 litres). Cost is obviously a limiting factor, but this is one technique where you can buy your bait.

Streamer Beds

Streamer beds are particularly good feeder swims, as careful positioning of each cast between streamer tresses ensures that the loose feed continually follows the same narrow band. Accuracy of casting with a feeder, and then ensuring it remains put after settling, gives the most efficient presentation possible. To prevent rolling, oval blockends are good for streamer work, and you may also want to carry a selection of clip-on leads to cope with brisker than normal flows. Use as long a tail as possible, up to 3 ft (90 cm), so that the maggot hookbait is free to follow the same undulating path as the streamer tresses. The density of the vegetation will be the limiting factor for how long that link can be before it becomes a handicap. Always fish the feeder free-running. Fixed blockends do not travel easily through streamer roots.

Main Species

The species of interest to the summer river feeder angler are roach, dace, bream, chub and barbel, and for all those species, except barbel, ready-tied super spades, in sizes 12 to 16, to 4.5 lb (2 kg) nylon are recommended. For barbel, a size 12 super spade is appropriate, but tie it to a minimum of 6 lb (2.72 kg) invisible line.

As well as maggots, feeder techniques are effective with all other baits, using open-ended feeders loaded with suitable loose feed. Obviously, open-ended work is best utilized in the streamier flows, where the current does the important bait distribution work. Of the larger baits, bread flake fished on a longish tail, in conjunction with a mixture of liquidized bread, grilled hemp and milk powder for visual attraction is a favourite. If you are using a flavoured bait, make sure that the feed is similarly flavoured.

Open-ended feeder work with particles is carried out in conjunction with “exploding” groundbait plugs, which blow the particles free of the feeder. This is achieved by the simple expedient of mixing the normal liquidized bread/additive combination with a quantity of dry sausage rusk. Only moments after the cast, the rusk absorbs water so quickly that it rapidly expands, causing an underwater bait explosion. The most used particles with the open-ended feeder are casters and sweetcorn.