getting past the tiddlers

[Darren T]

After another day out today i have spent most of the day removing hooks from the mouths of fish less than 3 inches long. Despite the fact that the bait was as large as their little heads it didn't seem to stop them stuffing themselves.

 

I tried putting a dropper shot on to get the maggots down a little faster but that had next to no effect so i don't quite know what else i can do to help me get past these fish to the ones just a couple of inches larger that i know are there.

 

any tips?

[Mat Hillman]

After another day out today i have spent most of the day removing hooks from the mouths of fish less than 3 inches long. Despite the fact that the bait was as large as their little heads it didn't seem to stop them stuffing themselves.

 

I tried putting a dropper shot on to get the maggots down a little faster but that had next to no effect so i don't quite know what else i can do to help me get past these fish to the ones just a couple of inches larger that i know are there.

 

any tips?

 

 

Using Caster or Sweetcorn on the hook can often sort out the bigger fish. Also try to loose feed much more heavily so that some feed and your hook bait stand a chance of getting through. can get expensive if there are big shoals of them though!

 

Mat

[Errrm]

Using Caster or Sweetcorn on the hook can often sort out the bigger fish. Also try to loose feed much more heavily so that some feed and your hook bait stand a chance of getting through. can get expensive if there are big shoals of them though!

 

Mat

 

I would have to agree, I fished a lake last year which on some days in the right spot you got use a heavy float to cast 2 maggots out and then fish it as a lure, you'd be be catching basically a fish a cast. The only way I found to get around them was bigger baits like sweetcorn or feeding handfulls of maggots just before I cast out, this also had the advantage of getting enough bait down for the tench.

[Dales]

The best bet is to try to feed the smaller fish off by putting in plenty of bait.

 

If plagued with small fish, I often catapult in a pouch of feed every minute or re-cast my feeder every few minutes. The idea is to fill the little ones up quickly and I tend to find that all tha activity of the smaller fish can be a bonus as it alerts the bigger fish to the fact that food is around and they will often then drive of the tiddlers.

 

But as Mat said it can get expensive if you have large shoals to feed off, so I often use a lot of corn or particles, A hell of alot cheeper then a few pints of castors.

 

Bringing a selection of baits with you could help, such as pellets, particles, worms and bread and keep ringing the changes until you find a bait the tiddlers are not so keen on. Maggots are a top bait, but often it means a small tiddler a chuck.

[chesters1]

theres an old guy that fly fishes for rudd at my pond ,his trick is to have one of his tweed jacket pockets full of rock hard bread slices , he chucks a slice in and as it drifts away all the tiddlers chase it ,the larger rudd are left behind .

he always catches the biggest rudd on the pond because anything tried usually gets small ones the conventional way

[rarepleasures]

After another day out today i have spent most of the day removing hooks from the mouths of fish less than 3 inches long. Despite the fact that the bait was as large as their little heads it didn't seem to stop them stuffing themselves.

 

I tried putting a dropper shot on to get the maggots down a little faster but that had next to no effect so i don't quite know what else i can do to help me get past these fish to the ones just a couple of inches larger that i know are there.

 

any tips?

 

 

What shotting pattern are you using ?

If its shirt button the bait will tend to fall in an arc, better to bunch it all together.

Generally advice I'm been given is to have 2/3rds of the shotting weight around the float and the remaing third bunched together, with a bite indicator shot a couple of inches from the hook bait.

[ColinW]

If you aim to catch small fish then using maggots is probably the way to go about it!

So if you don't want to catch them, use something (almost anything) else. Casters are a good alternative because unlike a lot of baits, like sweetcorn, they never seem to "blow". By that I mean you don't have a couple of good days after which the fish run a mile at the sight of the bait. The obvious problem is price and availability, most places that sell decent quality you have to order them a week in advance.

"Feeding off" small fish is harder than you'd think, as there always seems to be an endless supply of hungry ones attracted by the ones that you are feeding. Chucking in floating baits tends not to make you popular

[Anderoo]

This is not meant to sound sarcastic or funny, but I'd fish somewhere else. On some waters, especially in warm weather, there's not a lot you can do to get past the tiddlers.

[gozzer]

If you're fishing close in, with a reasonable depth, and you feel you have to use maggot, then lay a carpet of bait with a bait dropper. Cast well out past the swim and reel into the baited area.

 

No guarantees but does work sometimes.

 

 

John.

[Darren T]

thanks for all the tips peeps. i also considered that maybe it was the particular swim i was on? i had large trees overhanging the bank to my immediate left and right and lily beds in the water in front of those. It was almost completly cut off from the wind that was coming down the lake and very secluded. There were 3 carp within 3ft of the bank directly in front of me stirring up the silt. even if i had had the gear top cope with them i dont quite know how you could fish for them that close to you.with heavy cover left and right and them feeding directly under the rod tip i would imagine it unlikly they would be nice and just rocket out into the open lake and more likly that they would just fly into the tree roots and wrap around some of them.

 

i was going tom head back to the lake tomorrow but with a new bed arriving on friday morning thats been called off as i need to find my bedroom. Hopefully i can get back next week. Maybe i'll look for a slightly more open swim.