Spinning for trout thread

[lutra]

Do we have any fans of catapult casting in da house ?

Open the bail, trap the line, swing the spinner towards you and grab the treble with your fingers behind all the points, pull back to bend the rod, point the rod where you want the lure to go and fire....

Great for tight spots but takes a bit of practice.

About thirty years ago as a young teenager i was shown the art of up stream spinning in small over grown Sussex streams vagabond style by the man himself. Once the lessons in the importance of keeping very low and sneaking up behind the trout had been drilled home i was next shown how to cast. I thought he was having a laugh at first as i knew very well by that age how to cast as I'd been doing it for years by then.

 

By the time we had work our way up the first 200 yards of stream Dave was about 6-0 up on me in trout, but i was about 6-0 up in over hanging trees caught. It was fast dawning on me that the strange little cast where your rod stays low out in front of you and hardly moves, yet your spinner travels out very low to the water landing inch perfect with a gentle plop under a bush maybe 40-50 feet away and having gone under other bushes to get there might have something to do with the score.

 

I could tell you how he does it, but if you didn't see first hand how good you can get at it you would probably think i was talking sh.......... and anyway he would explain it much better than me, so hopefully him will.

[Andy Macfarlane]

No doubt if I tried that, I'd break the tip of yet another rod...

[Ken L]

I could tell you how he does it, but if you didn't see first hand how good you can get at it you would probably think i was talking sh.......... and anyway he would explain it much better than me, so hopefully him will.

There are lots of variations on the underarm flick but the catapult is unique !

I can't tell you my thoughts the first time I tried it with a (then) new G Loomis GL3 but I've got way with it so far......

Edited May 10, 2012 by Ken L

[arbocop]

There are lots of variations on the underarm flick but the catapult is unique !

I can't tell you my thoughts the first time I tried it with a (then) new G Loomis GL3 but I've got way with it so far......

 

 

It works on the fly too.

[Phone]

Ken,

 

Casting catapult is a favorite of the short rod (5.6) guys who fish very tight spaces (i.e. mountain streams) Just buy yourself a new 5ft 6in G. Loomis GLX.

 

I might also add, while I like the 'Super Duper', The Mepps Aglia was recently ranked the #1 in the US. (sizes 1 to 4).

 

I too agree with the comments about presentation. I've never caught a trout spinning against the current. ALWAYS spin with the current when river fishing.

 

Phone

[Vagabond]

About thirty years ago as a young teenager i was shown the art of up stream spinning in small over grown Sussex streams vagabond style by the man himself. Once the lessons in the importance of keeping very low and sneaking up behind the trout had been drilled home i was next shown how to cast. I thought he was having a laugh at first as i knew very well by that age how to cast as I'd been doing it for years by then.

 

By the time we had work our way up the first 200 yards of stream Dave was about 6-0 up on me in trout, but i was about 6-0 up in over hanging trees caught. It was fast dawning on me that the strange little cast where your rod stays low out in front of you and hardly moves, yet your spinner travels out very low to the water landing inch perfect with a gentle plop under a bush maybe 40-50 feet away and having gone under other bushes to get there might have something to do with the score.

 

"Inch perfect" is the secret.

 

Lots of people talk airily about casting accuracy - very few achieve it. I have had several angling writers as guests on my trout streams - all of whom admitted that the words "accuracy" and "overgrown" which they wrote about in their articles on small-stream fishing had a new dimension on Wealden streams. Brian did better than most on his first attempt.

 

What do I mean by accuracy ? Go and put a teacup on the lawn - a measured ten yards from where you stand. Now try to cast a Mepps #1 into the teacup. Easy ?

 

Err yes - I forgot to mention there should be a clothes' horse halfway between you and the teacup, and you need to cast under the bottom rail

 

Try it - get out of your chair and try it. Please don't waste posting effort on saying its impossible.

 

A word about catapult casting - I use it sometimes when fly-fishing the said streams, (as arbocop said, it works) but have never used it whilst spinning - reason, you have got to retrieve the spinner to induce a take, and a catapult cast would put the spinner over the overhanging branches - which on my streams are only inches from the surface, whereas the underhand flick will send it under the branches.

 

By contrast, a catapult cast when fly fishing sends the fly drifting on or just under the surface, and the trout will take it close to where it went in.

Your troubles only start when a trout fails to take it, and you have to retrieve through a tangle of branches .

 

I have not yet had my morning coffee and I have a busy day ahead, so further details must wait (and you've all got Winghamitis, so won't listen anyway )

 

An account of the development of my trout fishing is in "Angling Vagabond" - for those who haven't got a copy, if you will pm me, I can provide a signed copy for £18 post free (or you can order it - unsigned - from a bookseller on line and pay through the nose)

 

If you can't bear the thought of my pocketing £18 (less postage) - you could instead buy the late Roger Standen's book "Always Fishing" - I taught him the method, (he learnt it well) and he gives a fair account of in his book.

[lutra]

"Inch perfect" is the secret.

 

Lots of people talk airily about casting accuracy - very few achieve it. I have had several angling writers as guests on my trout streams - all of whom admitted that the words "accuracy" and "overgrown" which they wrote about in their articles on small-stream fishing had a new dimension on Wealden streams. Brian did better than most on his first attempt.

 

What do I mean by accuracy ? Go and put a teacup on the lawn - a measured ten yards from where you stand. Now try to cast a Mepps #1 into the teacup. Easy ?

 

Err yes - I forgot to mention there should be a clothes' horse halfway between you and the teacup, and you need to cast under the bottom rail

 

Try it - get out of your chair and try it. Please don't waste posting effort on saying its impossible.

 

A word about catapult casting - I use it sometimes when fly-fishing the said streams, (as arbocop said, it works) but have never used it whilst spinning - reason, you have got to retrieve the spinner to induce a take, and a catapult cast would put the spinner over the overhanging branches - which on my streams are only inches from the surface, whereas the underhand flick will send it under the branches.

 

By contrast, a catapult cast when fly fishing sends the fly drifting on or just under the surface, and the trout will take it close to where it went in.

Your troubles only start when a trout fails to take it, and you have to retrieve through a tangle of branches .

 

I have not yet had my morning coffee and I have a busy day ahead, so further details must wait (and you've all got Winghamitis, so won't listen anyway )

 

An account of the development of my trout fishing is in "Angling Vagabond" - for those who haven't got a copy, if you will pm me, I can provide a signed copy for £18 post free (or you can order it - unsigned - from a bookseller on line and pay through the nose)

 

If you can't bear the thought of my pocketing £18 (less postage) - you could instead buy the late Roger Standen's book "Always Fishing" - I taught him the method, (he learnt it well) and he gives a fair account of in his book.

Cheers Dave, my next door neighbor has just suck his head over the fence and with the sight of me fishing for tea cups on the back lawn he asked if i had caught ewt. Still i think he already knew I'm barking mad.

[Ken L]

The best cast will depend on a lot of things but mainly your height above the water.

Where I can get access level or close to level with the river without bouncing and banging down a bank I 'm often to be seen squatting down to fire a catapult cast parallel with the water and under the trees.

I confess though that while the line is generally good, the length isn't the most accurate by some way.

 

It works on the fly too.

Yes, and with a little care, a great big lump of freelined bread flake too.

[Vagabond]

The best cast will depend on a lot of things but mainly your height above the water.

.

 

 

Nearly right, but the crucial thing is the rod tip's height above water. Even if you can't get down to water level yourself, if you can get the rod-tip through the branches and down close to the surface and have a few inches of freedom to make a backhand flick you are in business. For most of my small-water spinning, the rod tip is rarely more than a few inches from the surface, whether casting or retrieving..

 

Can't stand too much of this commando-style trouting these days though, not being as nimble at scrambling along steep banks, under bushes, etc etc as I used to be. Ten minutes, two trout, and I'm off home to rest my weary bones, clean up the bramble scratches, pull out the thorns (bramble, briar, hawthorn and blackthorn) and put antihistamine on the nettle stings (our local nettles sting through corderoy trousers)

[Andy Macfarlane]

The Mepps Aglia was recently ranked the #1 in the US. (sizes 1 to 4).

 

I too agree with the comments about presentation. I've never caught a trout spinning against the current. ALWAYS spin with the current when river fishing.

 

Phone

 

Doesn't surprise me at all. Great wee lure, which is why I make my own.

 

Mind you I've caught 1000s of trout fishing upstream, downstream and at every angle imaginable. Granted, I like to cast upstream but fish against the current? No problem at all.