Fishing in a gale

[tony tinca]

The most dangerous and expensive!

I have seen many pole sections broken that have blown off rollers, many umbrellas get demolished - even seen a seat box connected to a brolley get decimated when the owner went for a pee and a sudden gust lifted it a good few feet in the air before dispensing into the lake!

The most scarey was a match that I refused to take part in due to the high wind.

One guy was late and had his peg drawn out for him. Half an hour later as he approached his peg a tree was blown over and crashed down right onto the platform he was supposed to be on.

The match was cancelled about a minute later as realisation dawned on the ***** who had decided it was safe to fish in the first place.

I have never seen anglers pack up so quick in my life.

 

Back to the thread - a closed face reel would have solved the line problems.

A very big waggler or loafer fished overdepth and undershotted may have helped a bit with presentation but floatfishing in windy conditions is a pig.

You could have tried a bit of lure work.

 

over the years fishing in matches ive becomed fairly seasoned with harsh weather and learned what i can and cant do. I still managed to break my pole twice in the same match a few years back , once because the roller blew over and then later i was stepping over my box and the wind blew me and i stumbled right over my pole which was back on the roller to destroy three sections . The noise it made was only matched by the uproar of cruel laughter from the rest of the field.

I fished a match at borde hill gardens fishery yesterday and it was a walk off and i drew to walk off 3rd from last so i thought oh well im not gonna get to fish where i intended , but to my amazement everyone avoided the bank where the wind was blowing into and i got as good as one half the lake undisturbed and was fishing into a south westerly .

Gotta say thou i had underestimated the wind but still managed the pole out at only 11m and could stable it by keeping the end down in the water and later on used the method and between them landed some unusually big match carp upto 13lb , but the wind did eventually take its toll and the last hour i couldnt do much as my hands had gone numb, but still did enough to get second place .

I can understand it would have been hard to catch smaller silvers thou and would have probebly favoured the sheltered areas the other side just to get a better presentation.

if i was pleasure fishing it would be shelter every time thou

[tiddlertamer]

What is the most effective angling technique in gales?

Is it touch ledgering? If so, how is this best achieved?

By moving the bait subtly around the swim? By pointing the rod at 45 degrees from the bait or straight towards it?

 

Any advice gratefully received.

 

Tiddler ‘’I've blanked on my last four fishing trips’ Tamer

 

 

Just to reiterate my call for some advice from experienced touch ledgering experts. It seems like a delightful way to fish but I lack experience, and more importantly, confidence in the technique at the moment...

[Vagabond]

Just to reiterate my call for some advice from experienced touch ledgering experts. It seems like a delightful way to fish but I lack experience, and more importantly, confidence in the technique at the moment...

 

Although I have caught plenty of fish by touch legering, I would not describe myself as an "expert"

Peter Stone, Fred J Taylor and some of their mates were really expert.

 

However, I will describe how I do it. It may not be the best way, but it works for me.

 

Make sure you are sitting comfortably, as it is important to keep the rod still. Assuming you are right-handed, tuck the butt end under your forearm, hold the rod in the right hand near the point of balance.

 

Rest the middle of your rod on the left knee - keep it still (that's why you need to be sitting comfortably - I will be sitting on my unhooking mat, keeping a low profile) get hold of the line between reel and butt ring with your left hand. Let the line run over your forefinger and under your thumb. Tighten to the leger weight, but not too tight or you will move it. (when you get proficient you can move the weight deliberately, a liitle bit at a time, and thus search the swim). It is a method designed for fishing with minimum weight, so link legering and the rolling leger are amenable to this method. When the wind blows, get the rodtip close to (or even under) the water

 

You mention confidence. Perhaps winter is not the best time to learn, as bites are less frequent and this is a method guaranteed to get your hands frozen quickly! Practise in summer, when bites are frequent.

 

You will feel the bites (that's why its called what it is) but you will also become aware of the line where it enters the water - bite indication there happens a split second before you feel the pull (except when the rodtip is underwater in strong winds).

 

The best way to learn is to do it - preferably when bites are frequent

 

Tell us how you get on.

 

There is however, no need to abandon float fishing just because a wind is blowing, but since most people that have replied to this topic are commenting in terms of legering, I'll start a separate thread about floats in gale conditions.

[tony tinca]

Although I have caught plenty of fish by touch legering, I would not describe myself as an "expert"

Peter Stone, Fred J Taylor and some of their mates were really expert.

 

However, I will describe how I do it. It may not be the best way, but it works for me.

 

Make sure you are sitting comfortably, as it is important to keep the rod still. Assuming you are right-handed, tuck the butt end under your forearm, hold the rod in the right hand near the point of balance.

 

Rest the middle of your rod on the left knee - keep it still (that's why you need to be sitting comfortably - I will be sitting on my unhooking mat, keeping a low profile) get hold of the line between reel and butt ring with your left hand. Let the line run over your forefinger and under your thumb. Tighten to the leger weight, but not too tight or you will move it. (when you get proficient you can move the weight deliberately, a liitle bit at a time, and thus search the swim). It is a method designed for fishing with minimum weight, so link legering and the rolling leger are amenable to this method. When the wind blows, get the rodtip close to (or even under) the water

 

You mention confidence. Perhaps winter is not the best time to learn, as bites are less frequent and this is a method guaranteed to get your hands frozen quickly! Practise in summer, when bites are frequent.

 

You will feel the bites (that's why its called what it is) but you will also become aware of the line where it enters the water - bite indication there happens a split second before you feel the pull (except when the rodtip is underwater in strong winds).

 

The best way to learn is to do it - preferably when bites are frequent

 

Tell us how you get on.

 

There is however, no need to abandon float fishing just because a wind is blowing, but since most people that have replied to this topic are commenting in terms of legering, I'll start a separate thread about floats in gale conditions.

 

 

Mt dad taught me to touch ledger for crucians with just a single bb shot , even when its a gale you just dip the end of the rod under the water and pointing at the rig so your hand is the very first thing to register the bite , if you have the tip at right angles then you might just as well be looking at the tip to register the bite as normal .

As regards to float fishing it is just a case of using as heavy a float as neccessary to combat the tow and if that ends up being to heavy then the ledger it has to be , but i find that the pole to be very good as long as you hold the end under the water and keep the whole thing low to the water , saturday i fished the pole with a 4x16 paste float so i could shot the body down under the worst of the wind and therefore hold a steady presentation .

[Vagabond]

Mt dad taught me to touch ledger for crucians with just a single bb shot ............. the end of the rod ......... pointing at the rig

Yes, as I said it is a method designed to use minimum weight.............and as I forgot to say, rod tip pointing at the rig (thanks for "pointing" that out ) - so you need to hold the rod, concentrate, and react quickly to a bite

[Steve Burke]

Touch-legering was one of the first techniques I ever learnt. Like Vagabond, most of the books suggested holding the line in the left hand and the rod in the right (if right-handed) so that you can give some slack line if you got a bite. I find it much more comfortable to hold the line in my right hand as well as the rod. If you get a take you can always push the rod towards the fish to create some slack if needed. It also leaves a free hand for feeding - either the fish or yourself!

 

It's not as easy to master as quivertipping especially if there's little current, but is often more effective. Plus you can learn a lot about a swim. It also means that you can rest your eyes, and even look around you. And of course you can still use it in the wind.

 

It's also very sensitive, and it's literally electrifying when you get a bite!

 

Unfortunately, you rarely hear or read about touch-legering these days.

 

Is anyone else a fan?

[Anderoo]

Richard had that whopping chub at the weekend by touch legering lobs! I've never been able to get on with it myself.

Edited February 8, 2011 by Anderoo

[Steve Burke]

Richard had that whopping chub at the weekend by touch legering lobs! I've never been able to get on with it myself.

 

There's an initial learning curve, but it's not that difficult. It's a whole lot easier than learning to cast a fly for instance, and that's not particularly difficult as you know.

 

Now upstream worming, that's what I call difficult! Even then it's largely touch-legering a moving bait. And it's very, very effective!

 

I learned to touch leger in the days before quivertips. I suspect their adoption is the reason that touch legering is a forgotten art.

[tincatinca]

In the days when money was scarce, touch legering was often employed both to fish static and moving baits on the river and also was the standard method employed for night fishing for bream on the canals. An excellent method as you can feel and learn to read all sorts of vibrations and plucks through the finger tips. A great way to fish for Chub when covering a lot of ground.

[Anderoo]

In the days when money was scarce, touch legering was often employed both to fish static and moving baits on the river ...

 

Ah, that explains it. Richard has 2 kids now