roach up in the water

[The Flying Tench]

In the case of carp, even when you see lots of them cruising round just under the surface, a ledgered bait can still work in my experience as there must be other fish on the bottom. Is this also true with roach?

 

There have been times when I have ledgered for roach, and caught other fish such as skimmers, but no roach. I've wondered 'is it because they are up in the water?' But you'd think that baiting up would bring them down to the bottom. But does it?

 

At close hand, of course, float may be a better option anyway, though personally I have a problem seeing a float beyond a couple of rod lengths away. I suppose the underlying question is 'Is ledgering for roach viable when water temperature is high?

[Martin56]

If the Roach are up in the water, a slow sinking single caster is hard to resist (on still water anyway)

 

Bury the hook by inserting the point in the top of the caster then turning it around inside rather than hooking it like a maggot.

 

Experiment with the shotting till you get the FALL right. Be prepared for an almost instant take & when the fall through has finished - put in again, loose feeding a few (say 6 or 10) casters first (every chuck) then casting among them (not the other way round or you'll miss bites whilst feeding)

 

Keep your casters in water on the bank, & use any floaters on the hook for an even slower sink BUT - Don't feed floaters!! Last thing you need is them taking from the top.

 

Might even need a No 8 shot 3 or 4 inches from the hook for the floaters??

 

A loaded waggler or wire stemmed stick is best as these cock very quickly for the almost instant bites you should have.

Edited June 21, 2018 by Martin56

[Steve Walker]

Martin, I have watched rudd ignore a single caster with a hook in it and no shot down the line while eating all the loose feed!

 

John, in my experience loose feeding can often bring fish up in the water. I used to rely on it, generally fishing on the drop and loose feeding little and very often to create a competitive environment. Heavy groundbait and/or feeding larger amounts less frequently so that it doesn't all get eaten as it sinks can get a carpet of bait on the bottom which will take them down in the water.

[Martin56]

Martin, I have watched rudd ignore a single caster with a hook in it and no shot down the line while eating all the loose feed!

 

John, in my experience loose feeding can often bring fish up in the water. I used to rely on it, generally fishing on the drop and loose feeding little and very often to create a competitive environment. Heavy groundbait and/or feeding larger amounts less frequently so that it doesn't all get eaten as it sinks can get a carpet of bait on the bottom which will take them down in the water.

But we're on about Roach, if memory serves lol.

[Steve Walker]

True, but I think it's likely that roach can be just as discerning. These were small rudd, four or five inches, turning their noses up at a caster on a 22 and 12oz bottom... Sometimes, they're just too tricksy.

[Martin56]

As you well know Steve, nothing works all of the time & they want it different on a given day but this works often enough to be well worth trying IMHO.

Edited June 22, 2018 by Martin56

[Steve Walker]

Oh definitely. And there are always a few mug fish!

[The Flying Tench]

Thanks both of you. Though, Steve, on some occasions I'm thinking of, feeding hemp and sweetcorn in quantity, it didn't bring them down. Maybe they just weren't around that day.

[Phone]

All,

 

I'm certainly no expert on dink fishing. However, it is my experience, you are missing the boat if you don't try ice cubes. I've caught a ton of fun fish using them as disappearing floats.

 

Phone

[BoldBear]

Ive been chasing Rudd shoals on the surface for years on my local private estate lake using a semi loaded onion waggler to get me out to the shoal and a shortish 18inch to 3ft unshotted hooklength, with all of the bulk directly under the float and the first foot or so of hookline closer to the float sometimes treated with a bit of floatant.

I catapult floating caster onto the surface to get the Rudd feeding on them and then overcast my float and wind it back into the rising fish.

Sometimes I can slowly bring a feeding shoal in closer to me by feeding closer and closer.

 

I can often catch decent sized Roach from just below the surface too, especially if I add a few slow sinking caster amongst my floaters; but too many sinkers would start to take the Roach further down in the water so to get them back up I would need to reduce the number of sinking caster.

Edited July 8, 2018 by BoldBear