Swans in swim

[kleinboet]

Dunk, I agree with everything you say, however, it would appear that the angler painstakingly looks at all the swims in the lake and selects what he/she believes is the best swim available and proceeds to set up and fish, only to find that that particular swim is the one that is the one that the swans use most for natural food.

Is this coincidence or what?

[Dunk Fairley]

Probably not.

 

Swans, like any water bird, will find a good feeding spot quite naturally without any help from anglers. If I see Swans feeding on one spot though, I'll try and find out why. If it's a gravel bar, weed bed or shallow area, I'l fish on the leeward side (down wind) of it. This is because any food disturbed by the feeding birds, will get picked up in any current there is, and come to rest just off the edge of the bar, or weed bed.

 

This is a good situation. Firstly, there can be quite a bit of food built up in these areas, which can be quite silty. Secondly, any fish disturbed by the birds, but want to feed, will automatically check this area out first, before moving away. Finally, because the birds are feeding on the shallower areas, they don't (or can't) reach the area where your bait is.

 

In this instance, you will defeat the object of the exersise, if you introduce any feed at all.

[Julian]

Hi guys,

 

Some interesting points above. However, ruling out waters under five feet deep seems a bit excessive; as does the ‘hookbait only’ approach – I’d never be able to fish the Top Pool again!

 

I can see exactly where you are coming from though, Dunk - The issue of dealing with swans (and any other water birds) comes down to common sense. You just have to be aware that they are *always* on the look out for food, wherever and however they can get it. As you say, most have been conditioned to associating humans with food, an unfortunate situation but just another one of the many problems we have to work around as anglers.

 

quote:

---

Who is more successful, an angler who catches ten 20lb carp on a Swan free water, or an angler who catches one 20lb carp, where Swans are a constant pest and obstacle? Especially if neither has injured a bird.

---

You’ve hit the nail on the head there; it’s a case of seeing it as another challenge. Over the years I have watched swans on many different waters, and like humans, they all have their own characteristics and traits – and given a little time and effort you can learn to play them at their own game.

 

The main water I fish is about 5 acres, four feet deep (at most), with gin-clear water. In addition to a small head of large carp it plays host to swans, geese, and nearly every other type of water bird imaginable! Not easy to fish then, yet if you are persistent there is always a way around. Swans in general are stubborn, persistent and not as stupid as many make out. They will *always* have an eye (and an ear) on the main chance – all you have to do is make sure you don’t act and fish in a way that advertises the fact that you have food on offer.

 

Many anglers are their own worst enemy. When you first pull on to a water, have a look for any potential ‘winged’ problems. Usually, if a swan sees a new angler pulling on, the swan or swans will move near to the swim to see what the angler does. This is where you need to be careful – don’t put *any* bait in or pull out anything that looks remotely like a carrier bag, or make any noises that sound like crinkling carrier bags – the one sound they link to food more than any other! Also, keep all your groundbait, maggots, boilies, etc, inside your kit.

 

The swans will often come right into your swim to investigate further – let them. They will have a good mooch around near you but as there is no bait in the swim and if you don’t give them any food signals they will soon move off.

 

If you are looking to introduce a large bed of bait, wait until they are out of sight and earshot. This is another area where many go wrong. If a swan sees bait going in, it will make a mental note that bait is there – and it will keep coming back no matter how many times you try to shoo it away. If you are able to introduce the bait whilst the swan is away from the swim, so much the better; they are very crafty and will often move off then at the first sound be right back at speed and spot where the bait has gone in, so wait till they have moved a fair way off.

 

If night fishing on problem waters, it always pays to bait up in the 20 minutes before it goes dark – many water birds don’t look for food as much in the dark so there’s less chance of them finding it.

 

If you are determined to fish a certain swim and the swans don’t seem to want to move on, then there’s always the ‘miss-information’ approach. Take a few baits and walk a good way from the swim to an area where nobody else is fishing. The idea is to fire the baits to an area out of sight and sound of the spot you want to bait-up. If you can do it from an area where the swans can’t tell where the bait is coming from so much the better. Fire out a few baits near to them to get their attention, and then fire them at the desired spot. It helps to put them out at a depth where they can get at them. If they find a few they will stay in the area a lot longer than if the water is too deep for them to find any.

 

Once they are busy looking for the freebies, get your bait in – try and keep noise to a minimum and watch the swans as you are doing it – try and time it so that the bait lands on the surface whilst their heads are turned the other way. Also, try and keep yourself out of sight when you bait up. If they do a crafty and spot some bait going in and start moving towards you, then put a few baits in a different area and let them find and eat them. This will usually be enough to make them forget about the bait they saw going into your swim.

 

It can be a slow process, but the result in most cases is a swan free session, which is what you are after. What’s more, on some waters (like the Top Pool) I think the swans can actually tell certain people apart. Because I never give any food ‘signals’ to the swans when I arrive on the Top Pool; they now pay me no attention at all, most of the time they don’t even come over whilst I’m setting up, yet anybody else making noise, etc – they are all over them!

 

To be honest, on waters where there are a few fishing I don’t need to do a great deal to keep the swans off – there are more than enough anglers wearing big ‘come and get it’ signs around there necks to keep them out of my swim.

 

Julian

 

[ 22. December 2003, 06:04 PM: Message edited by: Julian ]

[PeterJC]

I fish rivers where there seems to be two "types" of swan. Those in the natural parts of the river are never fed by people (anglers included), here the swans generally ignore you. Lower the rod tip and they swim straight on past.

The other type are in the towns and on the quays. Here they are bread fiends, constantly being fed by parents with young children. These are a real nuisance (but can be worth putting up with because there are good chub to be taken underneath them - bait? Bread, of course).

One arguement that does seem to put people off feeding the swans is to point out that one of the main beneficiaries of left over bread are rats!

One last personal point, I find it rather sad that a bird as noble and graceful as a swan should be reduced to undignified begging of bread from humans.

 

Down the river this Weekend? - you bet.

Peter

[Gaz51]

All waterfowl has as much, if not more right to be on the lakes and waterways.

 

Yes, they can be a menace, Ducks particularly, but what right has anybody to kill such a creature. As anglers we are priveledged to see wildlife in it's natural environment. It is the human who is out of place on the side of a lake or river bank - it is not our natural environment.

 

Some anglers do respect the environment they fish in, others (who don't deserve the name "angler") feel it is their right to leave litter all around, and see wildlife as an intrusion of their chosen sport. Go down the pub instead a£$&hole, you're not an angler at all. :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Dunk Fairley]

PeterJC,

 

I know you'll agree, that any wild creature will drop on to the most easily available food source. The rats that eat the left over bread etc, will eat it, just because it's there. Rats/Swans/Ducks whatever, do not have the benefit of knowledge that such a food source is bad for them in the long run.

 

Humans DO have the benefit of such knowledge, that's why we (humans) all have a good, healthy, balanced diet and none of us are fat or under-nourished! Pahhh!!! I think not.

 

If we humans returned to a situation where we had to forage for our food from nature, instead of ASDA, we'd be much better off. As would our wildlife, if humans didn't feed them unneccesarily.

 

Return to River Cottage......YES PLEASE!!

[kendo]

There would as a result be more swims available,coz how many of us would survive without our local supermarket

[monkeyboy]

Ive caught a duckling by accident before, felt horrible with my self for not being observant enough. I was only young at the time so had to get this old man to give me a hand, we got the little thing free and it went back to its mummy.

The old bloke gave me a proper telling off!

 

Anyway I cant believe someone could destroy such a graceful creature.

If swans come into my swim then i try to shoo them off and if they dont budge a lift of the landing net usually does the trick! One sight of that and they dont come back!

[kleinboet]

Sorry for the delay in answering, Ive been away for the week. I agree with most that has been said, that if a swan comes into your swim, ignore him and he/she will soon leave, start chasing it however and they believe you have munchies or other goodies that you are hiding.

 

However, what I asked was how do the cygnets "learn" to avoid your line like the adults do?

[malevans]

We always had two resident swans on Dovecote that raised there young. Adults very intelligent, and taught off spring quickly. Until last year that is when I turned up to find 74, because I counted them. The swam straight through lines constantly and any baiting up in margins was futile. I had two rods taken out three times by swans whilst I was baiting up the third. However I found a boilie from catapult effective. But once in bivvy overnight it was a complete nightmare once swans were on the move in the morning.