Fishing away from a baited area

[Anderoo]

The fishing has been hard lately, but I've been catching a few tench recently by fishing off the baited area, or fishing a spot where no bait has been introduced. Fishing on the baited spot has been less productive. (When they were really going for it in previous sessions, fishing right on the bait was far more productive.) However, the areas I've put the bait on have been what I would consider the best spots in the swim - i.e. the spots where I think the fish would prefer to feed/find food.

 

So next time I am planning to try something a bit different - fishing the hookbaits on what I think are the best spots, and baiting an area close by that feels like a poor feeding area. A kind of decoy baited area if you like, designed to alert fish in the area to the presence of food but not expecting them to want to feed on it. Once in the area, they then might pick up the hookbait all on its own in the spot they hopefully expect to find natural food.

 

Has anyone tried this? Any thoughts in general about fishing off the bait?

[Renrag39]

Being tight, I often fish with no bait introduced especially on commercial type waters. I often have more success than others this way but that may be down to fish being wary of baited areas by either being caught or general disturbance, or it may be down to the fact that I'll freeline or link leger and have generally lighter presentation.

So, I guess I don't do it intentionally but I think it does work out that way for me at times.

 

Just a quick question Anderoo; Do you have a really light lure rod, i.e. <15g casting weight? If you do, or anyone else does for that matter, try freelining with that set-up. It's really good fun. I can also imagine it being deadly for Chub too! A 3lb Tench can give you the run around but still has enough guts for anything up to 15lb (or more imho). My biggest fish on my Cormoran Black Bull HC 1-12g is a 12lb Carp so far on 5lb mono!

Not got a great casting distance but an absolute killer within 30-40'! Happy Days

[AddictedToScopex]

Hi Andrew,

 

I would have thought that if they expected the natural food to be there anyway then it seems a little pointless to feed any areas at all if you dont intend to have a hook bait on it. If you can somehow figure out where they expect the natural bait to be such as underwater weed beds then sticking a hookbait in the middle of it would surely result in a catch. If I knew where the fish expected natural bait to be I wouldnt bother loose feeding at all. I would fish a natural bait in that spot as the fish would be there anyway if they were actively feeding.

 

I can understand fishing on the edge of a baited spot in case the more cautious (often biggest) fish are eating around the edges but to bait a spot away from your hookbaits seems like a waste of bait to me when you can feed and sit on the edge of it. Just my opinion of course and not something I have tried in a controlled manner but seems pointless apart from to prove you can catch when not fishing over bait which you know anyway. Using the bait as an attractor makes sense but then if your bait attracted them why would they not want to feed on it? If they woud feed on it then why not fish over it as you have been and as has proved successful?

 

If you do want to use an attractor as just that an not a feed then why not try scents instead of particles? Similar to a pike feeder where you use the fish oil to draw the fish in rather than spend a load of money chucking loads of other baits in. This way the fish are drawn in and you can fish any spot you like close by. You could fill a pike feeder with an oil you have made yourself with a scent in like tutti frutti and it will release over time. You can cast it out with the marker rod so that you know where it is and if you can work out the tow you can fish in the scent trail.

Edited June 11, 2012 by AddictedToScopex

[John Weddup]

The fishing has been hard lately, but I've been catching a few tench recently by fishing off the baited area, or fishing a spot where no bait has been introduced. Fishing on the baited spot has been less productive. (When they were really going for it in previous sessions, fishing right on the bait was far more productive.) However, the areas I've put the bait on have been what I would consider the best spots in the swim - i.e. the spots where I think the fish would prefer to feed/find food.

 

So next time I am planning to try something a bit different - fishing the hookbaits on what I think are the best spots, and baiting an area close by that feels like a poor feeding area. A kind of decoy baited area if you like, designed to alert fish in the area to the presence of food but not expecting them to want to feed on it. Once in the area, they then might pick up the hookbait all on its own in the spot they hopefully expect to find natural food.

 

Has anyone tried this? Any thoughts in general about fishing off the bait?

 

 

Hi Anderoo

 

My fishing for tench this spring has been hard whereas my bream fishing has been fantastic.

 

This weekend I was trying to catch tench again in a gravel pit that last spring I had many good catches of tench in and all I could catch was loads of bream. The problems us specialist anglers have to put up with.

 

I very often fish off the baited area due to my awfull innacurate casting.

 

When roach fishing in stillwaters I do use this type of feeding to catch the bigger fish.

 

I beleive many fish are caught off the feed area either by design or accident. I look at feeding baiting an area etc as gathering an interest by all species in a particular area not necassarily to catch apon it. When I night fish generally for the bigger fish I often feeder fish all day to catch smaller fish but keep up that interest with fish feeding all day to interest the bigger fish although they themselves are not feeding at that time.

 

I certainly think the bigger fish can be spooked by a bed of bait.

 

As an experiment bream fishing this year I have tried not baiting heavily, mainly due to late arrival, and just using a method feeder. This seems to have worked very well although catches the first of a 2 night stay are generally less than the 2nd night.

 

regards

 

John

[Anderoo]

Interesting replies - so what do you reckon is the effect of baiting a 'decoy' spot and fishing away from it, where you think the fish want to feed?

 

Would it increase the chance of catching?

 

Would it decrease the chance of catching?

 

Would it make no difference?

[Renrag39]

On heavily baited waters I believe it will increase your chances. On less heavily baited and larger waters perhaps less quantity but more quality. You could alwoys hedge your bets and fish 2 rods. One on, one off or just alternate and draw your own conclusions from your particular water/swim/technique.

 

Definitely worth a shot imo.

[John Weddup]

Interesting replies - so what do you reckon is the effect of baiting a 'decoy' spot and fishing away from it, where you think the fish want to feed?

 

Would it increase the chance of catching?

 

Would it decrease the chance of catching?

 

Would it make no difference?

 

 

Maybe the decoy spot is not so much about where the fish you want to catch will feed but where other fish may feed attracting the fish you want to the general area.

 

I would guess numbers of fish caught might be down compared with general size being better.

 

Even pole anglers fishing at 12 metres on a windy day find that due to the tow the fish and feed can be quite some distance away from where its carefull tipped in from a pot. This is generally in shallow water.

 

Take the extra distance we may be fishing at and the depth I wonder how much baiting is really tight anyway.

 

Other than match or rock hard winter situations I have never been a believer in tight baiting anyway so may easily be a believer in your theory.

 

John

[RPM]

Interesting thoughts but in practice, wouldnt this be difficult to measure?

 

I guess one could approach this by using some kind of control and measuring the results but how you would accurately guage the results with so many variables is beyond my tiny little mind.

[Renrag39]

Interesting thoughts but in practice, wouldnt this be difficult to measure?

 

I guess one could approach this by using some kind of control and measuring the results but how you would accurately guage the results with so many variables is beyond my tiny little mind.

I don't think it's a question of whether it works per se, it's just whether it's a viable tactic to try out I think and as you imply, will vary from venue to venue, swim to swim and change constantly day by day or hour to hour.

Too many variables like you say but personally, now it's been brought to my attention, I think it has happened like this before and I will definitely make a conscious decision to fish out of the area to garner better or more fish, perhaps with another rod where it is a viable option and to refrain from 'baiting up' completely on hard/heavily fished waters and match stretches.

[Dales]

I think to get a bigger picture of the impact that a baited area can have you need to fish clear water venues with some nice high vantage points to take a look at your baited area whether that is a high hill or climbing a tree. If you can see your baited or some ones elses baited area, you can often see fish react to it and shoal around it or give it a wide bearth so as not to swim over it.

 

To me a "baited area" is a feature in a bucket that you can take anywhere. Whether fish wish to feed over it or not I think it can have an effect on there behaviour. I think some fish are attracted to a wider area just because there is plenty of bait in it, they might not even want to feed but will "hang out" in that part of the lake/reservoir because of the bait and this is when you may pick them up in other parts of the swim.

 

I think beds of bait come in to there own as a "feature" on flat featureless lake beds when the fish will often home in and hang out in that part of the lake just because of a baited area but may never feed or get caught over or near it, sort of like a fish aggregation device.

 

For session style fishing, I am a huge fan of a major baited area. I do not always expect to catch over it but I do expect it to have an effect on the fish in that region of the water. I also think that by baiting a unfavoured spot in a swim you can (A) attract them to feed there or sometimes (B ) ensure they avoid it and get "pushed" on to other spots you think that can get caught on. I sometimes try to employ this tactic on clear water venues by using plenty of white crumb with flavour to bring them in to the region. During the day I doubt they will want to feed on that area but will hopefully be drawn in to the swim but then avoid that area and move off to other features in the swim and hopefully get picked off there during the day. At night when they may not be so cautious I would hope to catch them over the baited area.

 

I can't say it works all the time, but I get enough success to make me think there is a lot more to the use of bait then just to draw fish to a spot and catch them over or just off it.

 

If you know your water and swims very well, I think the use of clever baiting can effectivly close off routes to fish during the day (does not work well at night). If you assume that some fish will not cross or feed over blatent baited areas, you can use this knowledge to try to cut off patrol routes etc and try to funnel them to your chosen catching spots.

 

A baited area is never wasted even if you don't catch on it or have no intention of even fishing to it.

Edited June 11, 2012 by Dales