Dave Bourne

Lots of food for thought there guys thanks very much for sharing them with me. One last thought what about hook size,you talk about big circles Budgie , a big hook to me would mean about 3/0 what would it be in your case. I haven't had that much trouble with unhooking but its come close sometimes and i just don't want to go there. Thanks again for all the advice.

Thanks for the replies , however some of you seem to have missed the question.I'm happy with circle hooks what I'm trying to work out is the best way to rig them to be able to cast them a fair distance I like Mike Ladles way which I think is ok but he is fishing rivers with no need to cast any distance and he is wobbling the bait therefore the fish is taking a moving dead bait on the other hand i will be fishing a static bait. I have been thinking along the lines of a hair rig to leave the hook well clear of the bait but I'm not sure how are you rigging your baits budgie. Perhaps the answer might be to use 2 single hooks I'm not sure, any ideas.

Have any of you pikers got any ideas about rigging deadbaits on a single circle hook,mostly 6" roach or smallish mackerel. We will be fishing small lochs so casting distance will be 50-60 yards .

Entry No: 1 ----------- http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2272/182275..._176135b70c.jpg Galloway surf beach---early. ------------------------------ Canon powershot 02/11/07 Auto. 78k ------------- Larger Image Presented. Wiggly. -------------------

Excuse my ignorance but i want to add a photo to the November competition and i can see any where that tells me where to put it do i just addreply to the the last picture or do i start new topic or have i missed something. I'm sure you have answered this question before if so directed me to the the write page and i will read up myself.

I'm no expert at live baiting for perch however i have tried various methods , i was getting some very good fish on dead baits a year or so back and thought i would try lives to see if i could improve my catch rate. I had been using deads at distance so started fishing lives the same way i.e. on the bottom, nothing happened to the lives but i was still getting fish on another rod rigged with dead bait. My assumption was that the livebait was in effect hidding in the weed growth on the bottom, so i rigged a float/leger rig , i don't know if that is the correct term, but the set-up was a float on the surface a weight on the bottom and the bait tethered on a trace in between .This worked to extent but it still didn't catch more fish than the deads. So i tend to stick to dead baits , I'm sure lives would work else ware but they just don't seem to be effective on the water i fish,or perhaps I'm still fishing them wrong. But one thing is for sure fish baits do pick out the bigger fish, for me the lobs just bring small fish and roach. P.s. no pike on the waters i fish.

No Ian that was not me with the wind like it was yesterday I just kept to the east side looking for a easy time. I saw your boats fishing in the lea of the mull it looked quite uncomfortable further out. Were you getting much?

I was down the MOG myself yesterday my son and me were fishing about 100yds north of the flat rock as you say i couldn't believe the lack of dogfish it made a pleasant change . Couldn't find much else though but my son amused himself with the small wrasse. Pleasant day to be out even if it was just to top up the suntan. :D

Barbless trebles if it just about the tangling issue , the lures just drop out the net no problem. I used to crush the barbs down but i now take the whole barb off with a small grinder i.e. a dremil much better point on the hook and you get better unhooking anyway.

This fish went 4lb exactly caught this spring.

Super looking fish,that must go down as the biggest bass ever landed in Scotland. Well done the man that caught it and returned it. Ian B I think its time you started targeting these fish.

The reason for using circle hooks has nothing to do with dropped runs or missed bites and don't expect to catch more fish ,in fact compared to trebles i would think it will be less fish.But if your main interest is in fish welfare ,pike or anything else for that matter circles win hands down. This is what circles are all about ,lip hooking fish,easily unhooked and safely returned. If you want to see circle hooks used on pike have a look at Mike Ladles web site on the pike pages http://www.mikeladle.com/catch/catch91.html to see how the fish are hooked. It makes sense to me.

I don't think we can equate fish growth to human growth Leon,I realise a big fish is not necessarily a old fish but I would think most UK record fish are nearing the end of there life span. Things have changed in sea fishing in the last 20 odd years in the UK,at one time just about every fish you caught in the sea was killed whether it was for the pot or not, these day's we take a different view which on the whole I think is a good thing. During the summer months bass fishing is my main passion and I still take the odd fish for the table but I'm more selective, I'll kill a 3-4lb fish and return any larger fish I'm lucky enough to catch. I did kill a fish to claim a record many years ago and yes its mounted on the wall, but whether I would do it again or not? I don't think so, I doubt I'll get the chance anyway.

Yes you do need a leader the rule of thumb is to add a zero to what ever weight you are using i.e. 3oz lead 30lb leader ,4oz lead 40 lb leader and so on . This is not so you don't crack off but so you don't kill the guy next to you.

Interesting stuff this changing depth thing Steve most of the water i fish is very shallow (3feet) and i've seen fry crashing about on the surface being chased but no sign of a preditor this must be the reason. there are no pike in the water and only a very few trout. So i don't think i,ll be wasting my time to much with surface lures. Ken i realise a mepps would catch more fish but sometimes it's fun to catch fish using a different method ,certainly one as visual as popper fishing can be.

Has anybody caught or have knowledge of perch taking poppers or other types of surface lures. I've been thinking along those lines for a while but i would think the fish would need to be actively feeding in mid water to get much of a responce and i just have not had the conditions yet. What about types of lures etc. I've a few 5cm skitterpops what else would work?

You may be right tigger they may be mutants ( what ever that is) The only fish they could cross with are roach. I'm not good enough to tell if its a hybrid or not what do you think.

Last week when i caught the biggest rudd i was using 1/2 a perch ,before i cut it in half it would have been around 6"long the rudd took the tail end of the back half i don't think it could have got the broad end in its mouth. The water i was fishing is what i call a hungry water, lots of small fish if a fish of any speices is going to put on weight its got to eat the small fish, the rudd just see's a big lump of protein which it needs to survive.

Last year i started targeting large perch using dead baits ( small roach and perch) i had a few good fish ,but one day i was getting good runs but not connecting so i tried the usual things changing hook sizes,rig configuration etc.all with no effect untill i put on a smaller bait.First run hit the fish ,you guessed it , big rudd about 2lb in fact. Since that first fish i have hooked several rudd using this method all between 1lb 8oz and 2lb 10oz this last fish came to 1/2 a perch last week. I,m not saying this is the way to go i just find it interesting.

The other alternative is loch Dee which is in the same general area.

This fish came from the north of the loch about 2 miles north of Inveruglas it followed the lure in and took about a rod length out,hell of a shock when they do that, it was the only fish that did not take on the drop off.

Thanks for all the info guys just got back managed an hour or two here and there all lure fishing several fish mostly small best of the lot was this 14lb'er very pleased with it fought really hard even took me into a weed bed at one stage but steady pressure brought it out ok. All in all a good trip.

Thanks for the information Dunk, i have done a bit of pike fishing over the years but i mostly plug for bass during the summer months. I've never had a double on lures though and this is just to good an opportunity to miss. I will mostly be around the northern half of the loch so will be heading for the Audlui area which I've heard produces good fish. When i get back i will open this post again to let you know how i do. Thanks also to the others that have replied.

I will be spending a week in the loch lomond area soon and i can find any info regarding plug and jerk bait fish on the loch. First up is it allowed and second what are the most productive types of lures,its nothing to serious just a hour or two here and there when i can get away from the kids.