Pure frustration

[RUDD]

Went for a few hours Tench fishing last night 1900-2100 as it got dark.

Fishing the dam end of a small local clear water resiviour in a corner under an overhanging bush in 10ft of water around 10ft from the bank.

A tricky peg to say the least as from the bank the dam slopes very rapidly to about 11ft deep within 16ft from the bank.

Under the bush it is snaggy so anything hooked must be bullied away very quickly.

Not much casting room due to bank side tree's and need to get the float under the bush to get a bite from very wary shy biting fish.

To get around the depth, tree's and to get my bait where I wanted it I used a 5bb bodied insert waggler 5lb main line, size 16 with 3.6lb hooklength and a 14ft waggler rod (old shimano twin power 420).

Some might find it strange that I opted for a long float rod so here go's.

I have adapted my cast so that I hold the rod almost vertical with only a slight angle behind me - I leave about a foot drop between rod tip and float (fishing 10ft deep so thats 11ft of line). I cast forward very fast aiming to the right of the bush.

The float is feathered down and wound straight back under the bush by using the length of my arms and the rods 14ft length to guide the float. Once the float is in position I keep the line tight so that the bait drops in an arc and lands underneath on to the slope.

I then open the bale arm and by gently flicking the rod tip play out line as I move back to my seating position.

Its quite a lot of effort to get the bait where I want it but worth it.

After missing a few bites on pellet I mangaged to hook something which I think must of been a carp (water holds fish upto 30lb) and my rig got trashed.

I then hit another two bites and both fish came off. I then figured I need to strike at about 45 degrees with a bit of force.

This worked and in came a succession of very nice crucians up to 2lb's.

I then hooked what must of been a very nice tench that tested my tackle to the limit until the hook pulled.

By now I was using a small torch to see the float tip and hooked another run away train!!!!

I packed up very frustrated indeed.

In fact I was so determined to land a Tench that I fished the same peg at 6am this morning until 8.30 - same rig but with a 4.4lb hooklength.

Not a touch.

Downsized to the 3.6lb hooklength and hooked something big within minutes until the hook pulled and back came an opened up match carp pattern.

On went a heavier gadge hook and soon I had landed two crucians.

Another two fish that I am certain where Tench where hooked and lost to hook pulls.

Frustration - I have found the spot, have a rig that works, a bait they want but now need to figure how to get them out.

I may try ledgering using a screw in swingtip with my Drennan superspecialist as I am sure float fishing with heavier line wont work as the fish are spooky.

[Anderoo]

Frustrating, but I am very jealous of the crucians! I always seem to get drawn to those swims where casting is hard, or there are loads of snags to worry about. There's nothing like making it hard for yourself is there But like you say, if that's where the fish are you just have to work out a way to get at them.

 

Good luck for next time, hope to hear of lovely fat spring tench

[Steve Walker]

I used to fish a swim just like that - I used a variant of the lift method, using something like a 3bb Drennan Dart with a couple of #4 two inches from the hook and the rest under the float. Fished overdepth with a little cube of luncheon meat on the hook and feeding grated luncheon meat. Had some bloody good catches from that swim!

[Vagabond]

Frustrating, but I am very jealous of the crucians!

 

The crucians are biting like serpents!

 

Have been at gravel pit (which we both know well), for three days earlier this week, trying for early tench - no joy as a very cold NNW wind killed the fishing. Two anglers with more sense than me packed up early! I stuck it out as lots of migrant birds were coming in and being stalled by the cold wind. Norma was made up with that, watching nightingales, Cetti's warblers, whitethroats, sand martins and lots of other birds in between bringing to my swim bowls of turkey stew, prawn curry, fried eggs and bacon, rhubarb pie and home-made egg custard etc etc. So I just ate my grub, read my book and rebaited every two hours - not a nibble. The weather broke as we reached home, so I went after crucians in a local estate lake and got seven in a mixed bag with roach, perch etc. Just to show myself I hadn't forgotten how to fish!

 

Sea fishing in the Isle of Man next week - son-in-law has his own boat there.

[Anderoo]

The crucians are biting like serpents!

 

Have been at gravel pit (which we both know well), for three days earlier this week, trying for early tench - no joy as a very cold NNW wind killed the fishing. Two anglers with more sense than me packed up early! I stuck it out as lots of migrant birds were coming in and being stalled by the cold wind. Norma was made up with that, watching nightingales, Cetti's warblers, whitethroats, sand martins and lots of other birds in between bringing to my swim bowls of turkey stew, prawn curry, fried eggs and bacon, rhubarb pie and home-made egg custard etc etc. So I just ate my grub, read my book and rebaited every two hours - not a nibble. The weather broke as we reached home, so I went after crucians in a local estate lake and got seven in a mixed bag with roach, perch etc. Just to show myself I hadn't forgotten how to fish!

 

Sea fishing in the Isle of Man next week - son-in-law has his own boat there.

 

I know someone who was planning a 4-day session and went home after the first night! It's a funny time of year isn't it, waters can just completely shut off.

 

I've had a couple of little sessions fly fishing for small stream brownies this weekend, and that has been frustrating. I'm very rusty, and there's very little fly life around, so the fishing is hard. I was lucky to find a rising trout yesterday and nabbed him on a dry sedge, today nothing was rising so I tried the upstream nymph. I had one take that was all over in the blink of an eye, I didn't even have time to strike! I know it was a fish and not the bottom because I saw the flash of the fish as he took it and spat it out again, way too quick for me!

[lozza]

Well at least your getting bites from the fish in your swim. You must be doing all the right things to get hook ups in the first place are the fish you are losing due to hook pulls or line snaps? Have you looked at using a pole to get the bait in the right place?

[gozzer]

I had a similar problem in a very restricted swim, and tench were the target then as well. I got round the casting problem by making my floats in to sliders. I made some copper wire attachments that clipped onto an ordinary waggler, with the hole just big enough to use a stop knot. This swim was about 12' deep, but I set my stop shot at 5' and cast (under arm) past the baited area. Then by holding the line tight, the dropping weight pulled the float towards me. Striking 'through' the float, as opposed to 'into' it, made hook ups easier. 5bb might be enough, but you might have to go a little heavier, which will help the cast.

 

John.

Edited April 18, 2011 by gozzer

[RUDD]

Well at least your getting bites from the fish in your swim. You must be doing all the right things to get hook ups in the first place are the fish you are losing due to hook pulls or line snaps? Have you looked at using a pole to get the bait in the right place?

The pole is out of the question. Fishing that close in with that depth the rig would almost be as long as my top three.

I would have to use a heavy elastic due to the snags.

When striking I would have to whip the pole round and ship out into the lake to get the elastic to work and feel this would result in me bumping fish due to heavy elastic.

[Anderoo]

Several of the spots I had chub from last winter were very small gaps between hawthorn bushes/trees, and striking sideways or up was out of the question. The best I could do was, when I got a bite, reel fast until I felt the weight of the fish and then give it a very short sideways 'dig', and then aim to keep the rod in pretty much the same place for the whole fight. A long landing net handle helps when you get to that stage.