Can I catch a tench on a hair-rigged twig?

[The Flying Tench]

Not so sure there John as with the twig/bare hook thing we are relying on the fish just taking the bait "involuntary" With predators though they are more specific in what they actually take in,they NEED to target a specific "prey" I put prey in inverted commas as we all know pike will take most things that move from live fish to Smart Cast transducers! with the whole range of both live and dead things if moved in between! I could definitely take a Pike on a "jigged" or "worked piece of wood as indeed so many do on a regular basis with a plug! Some of the most effective Pike Jerk baits are simply a very slightly "shaped" plug of wood (hence the name). They have no "inbuilt action" and you have to impart all the movement to them that is required to "bring them to life" So A Pike on a "twig" is pretty much all ready "done"!

 

But a Perch? Truthfully I dont know John.You dont often get Perch grabbing strange things do you? Why? maybe better eyesight than Pike? maybe not so stupid as Pike? I reckon I could catch one on a length of rubber band in the right situation but this would obviously be down to the movement I could easily impart in to such. I have had Perch take bare hooks occasionally but this has been when Ive got them into a frenzy taking loose fed maggots on the drop and they've just grabbed anything that's fallen through the water with the handful of freebies.

 

So to try and answer with my views on your question (as not knowing the "answer" I cant give one!) I would guess that on a static piece of twig definitely not,a moving piece of twig unlikely!

 

Good question!

The reason I suggested it is that I was jigging for perch a couple of weeks ago with half a lobworm, and I could hardly get the bait in the water before little perch were after it. Next time I tried a plastic worm thing with a wiggly tail, and had no luck, but when i cut off the tail so it was just a 1.5cm piece of plastic I got one. Frankly, it didn't look like a fish at all, it was just a thing with a bit of action. This particular one was yellow, but other ones which I could have used were brown, and wouldn't have looked so different from a twig. So .....

[Andy Macfarlane]

I've caught carp and roach on carrot.

[Phone]

Andy,

 

Raw carrot?

 

Phone

[Andy Macfarlane]

Andy,

 

Raw carrot?

 

Phone

 

Yep....just cut out with a bread punch.

[corydoras]

Interesting post, Dick D.

 

A slightly different deviation from the original post. Andrew has already met the tench challenge. Is there anyone who reckons they could catch a perch on a jigged twig?

I reckon that could be done. When I was about 14 I was fishing for perch in the boatyard in Balloch, (the one at the southern end of Loch Lomond). I was using earthworms as bait, but was having no luck, but kept getting "line bites" when i wound in my line to change bait. I came to the conclusion that the perch were attacking my swivel on the retrieve. To test my hypothesis I dispensed with the worm and attached a small treble to a slightly bigger swivel and used the swivel like a spinner. Within a few casts I was catching fish.

[corydoras]

Double post. Sorry folks.

Edited June 6, 2012 by corydoras

[corydoras]

Humans can "taste" maybe - just maybe 1% of what a carp can taste (that's from Phone - the 1% without looking). After all, the taste/smell part of the brain in carp is NOT in their head but in their butt and runs the entire lateral line including the whiskers.

I don't get this matey. Carp are vertebrates and whilst they have incredibly sensitive sensory organs in the lateral line and barbels, the stimulus from these organs is transported to the brain by nerves.

[Ken L]

I've caught pike on a stick !

It came in a box with "Creek Chub" written on the side..........

[Phone]

Cory,

 

The processing center of nerves for the lateral line taste/smell function is in the tail - not the traditional brain. Carp can't taste/smell without this "tail brain". And maybe, just maybe, the same is true for pressure changes - but not positive.

 

Taste/smell are even more nearly the same sense in carp than humans. (I hate making human compairsons).

 

Phone

[corydoras]

Cory,

 

The processing center of nerves for the lateral line taste/smell function is in the tail - not the traditional brain. Carp can't taste/smell without this "tail brain". And maybe, just maybe, the same is true for pressure changes - but not positive.

 

Taste/smell are even more nearly the same sense in carp than humans. (I hate making human compairsons).

 

Phone

What is the proper name of this "tail brain" organ? Edited June 6, 2012 by corydoras