Pike bite indication: Drop-off vs. Bobbin

[Andy_1984]

rear drop off fanboy here, not affected by wind as much as bobins are, give a much more acurate indication if its a fish as it wont move otherwise

[Emma two]

I don't static bait fish for Pike from the shore very often, when I do I use my rear drop offs only. Electronic alarms I find ineffective unless sitting very close to the rods and then bites are registered by the drop off. Are there alarms made with sounds other than the 'pip pip' thing?

[wayne baker]

Drop arms for me all the way, You cant beat the low resistance when you get a take. I some times use a front buzzer as well especially if im fishinig at range just to give me a little early warning of line movement. But in recent seasons with the use of braid i rarely find the need.

I know a lot of guys that use bobbin type indicators and use them well. but the troouble i have seen with some anglers is they will get a couple of bleeps and ignore it, Putting it down to liners etc With a backbiter drop arm type if it is set up correctly it will pull out or drop back with the slightest pull on the line and you have to investigate and reset it.

[Andy Macfarlane]

I had a couple of odd bleeps yesterday and Andy_1984 will tell you, My whole setup is bombproof yet I got a couple of odd little bleeps. I sat and stared at the drop-off head for 5 minutes and nothing. Not a twitch, not a bleep...nothing. I put it down to line-bites and then when I finally would my line in I found several feet of light mono wrapped round my trace. There was no tackle attached to the mono but it made me wonder if some poor fish was out there tangled to this line, which in turn was making my alarm bleep. I did say in the Disaster thread that this was No.1 swim choice for noddies and that would probably account for the line being there but it does my head in that people fish at that kind of range and depth with such fine mono. I'll never know what was actually going on but you can't help feeling that something out there was having a hard time trying to free itself from this stuff. The good side of fishing head says I unwittingly freed something from a horrible lingering death.

But this all comes from Wayne's post about people ignoring the odd bleep. The odd bleep should always mean something is happening along the length of your line and to ignore it completely is just callousness.

 

.....Regards.....Andy.....

[Andy_1984]

I had a couple of odd bleeps yesterday and Andy_1984 will tell you, My whole setup is bombproof yet I got a couple of odd little bleeps. I sat and stared at the drop-off head for 5 minutes and nothing. Not a twitch, not a bleep...nothing. I put it down to line-bites and then when I finally would my line in I found several feet of light mono wrapped round my trace. There was no tackle attached to the mono but it made me wonder if some poor fish was out there tangled to this line, which in turn was making my alarm bleep. I did say in the Disaster thread that this was No.1 swim choice for noddies and that would probably account for the line being there but it does my head in that people fish at that kind of range and depth with such fine mono. I'll never know what was actually going on but you can't help feeling that something out there was having a hard time trying to free itself from this stuff. The good side of fishing head says I unwittingly freed something from a horrible lingering death.

But this all comes from Wayne's post about people ignoring the odd bleep. The odd bleep should always mean something is happening along the length of your line and to ignore it completely is just callousness.

 

.....Regards.....Andy.....

 

 

with a realy solid setup like we use (big chunky screw in bank sticks and rear drop and even blowing a fair bit) there is no way that beep was anythign else other than line bite or as we seen later, being tangled in mono and possibility of a fish also being tangled.

 

i cant rate those fox rear droppers highly enough for bite indication, which was what you had on that setup aswel. but they realy do need to be used with fairly hefty bank sticks to stop any movement what so ever and you wont get false indication, i know i havnt and its been 2 years using the same one and lets not forget the adjustable weight on its shaft, if the conditions are windy set it near the top to keep pressure on the line, if you cant and find it keeps falling of or sliping down set the weight to the back and in between for a bit of both conditions.

 

 

ive seen the new fox dropers with the gate like clip for securing the line, i dont know how well these work as opposed to older style fox dropper with the curby grip like line clip

Edited February 17, 2009 by Andy_1984

[Guerilla]

Thanks for all the responses.

I had a go with a front alarm and front mounted swinger. I was really pleased with the setup; it was fairly windy but the adjustable sliding weight let me balance the swinger, and by tweaking the baitrunner clutch, I was confident that the rig was sensitive enough to detect any interest.

 

I was going to post a pic but in view of the comments from the Andies re: solid rear bank sticks, I think I'll give it a miss

 

On my few previous Piking trips I've had problems retaining the bait on the hooks. By using a deadbait casting clip I managed to get the leger rig out a fair way an fish some of those swims I couldn't reach with a float rig. I couldn't quite get it out as far as I'd like, but that's a different topic.

 

I'm looking forward to the zander/pike fish in to pick up some more tips!

[Andy_1984]

Thanks for all the responses.

I had a go with a front alarm and front mounted swinger. I was really pleased with the setup; it was fairly windy but the adjustable sliding weight let me balance the swinger, and by tweaking the baitrunner clutch, I was confident that the rig was sensitive enough to detect any interest.

 

I was going to post a pic but in view of the comments from the Andies re: solid rear bank sticks, I think I'll give it a miss

 

On my few previous Piking trips I've had problems retaining the bait on the hooks. By using a deadbait casting clip I managed to get the leger rig out a fair way an fish some of those swims I couldn't reach with a float rig. I couldn't quite get it out as far as I'd like, but that's a different topic.

 

I'm looking forward to the zander/pike fish in to pick up some more tips!

 

solid rear bank sticks are not realy required but do help with stabalising the bite alarm and droppers by quite a lot in bad weather conditions

[poledark]

Nobody seems to have mentioned what happens when you get a drop back. I seem to get as many drop backs as I get ones pulling out of the bobbins.

 

Den

[Dick Dastardly]

Just another reason that rear drop offs get my vote Den.

[wayne baker]

solid rear bank sticks are not realy required but do help with stabalising the bite alarm and droppers by quite a lot in bad weather conditions

In theory if your using a running lead you should get a drop back but we all knoww this isnt the case, my personnel opinion on why this happens is mostly down to the nature in which a pike takes a bait, when it flares its gills and sucks in the bait and surrounding water its forward motion creates enough disturbance to shift the lead from its position on the lake bed. Like on most ocaisions the fish doesnt always move off straight away and just sits there. so the slackening in the line how ever slight registers as a drop back. A pike could approach the bait from any angle but in the case of the fish facing you as it strikes that would account for a good percent of takes starting as a drop back movement. This is my opinion i might not be right but what do you other guys think.