River fishing

[Inderblitz]

Hey all. I plan on going river fishing on a speech if the river mole that my club owns. I am new to river fishing as i tend to go syillwaters. So my main question is what kind of gear, rod, set ups will i need?. Ill need to travel light anyway as itl be 3/4 of a hour walk. What are wire traces and are they needed? Thanks in advance

[Newt]

Wire - what river, are there pike in that section of river, and do you plan to target them? In fact, some idea of what species you expect would be helpful.

 

I'm going to a local river this afternoon to target carp that rarely run over 20 pounds and will probably also catch some channel catfish that may run to 10 pounds. I'll use very different tackle than if I were headed to the Mississippi River to try for large gar or catfish (both of which can run over 100 pounds).

[Ken L]

As per Newt's point, you will need to narrow it down just a bit.

What river and what type of depth and flow does it have ?

What fish do you intend to target ?

What methods do you like to employ - float ? feeder ? lure ? Fly ?

[Inderblitz]

As per Newt's point, you will need to narrow it down just a bit.

What river and what type of depth and flow does it have ?

What fish do you intend to target ?

What methods do you like to employ - float ? feeder ? lure ? Fly ?

 

The stretch im fishing is the main stretch of the river and is at Mickleham, halfway between Leatherhead and Dorking.

 

The stretch is just over two miles long and is fairly shallow. According to my club it has a very large head of chub.

It also contains good numbers of roach, some dace, perch, bream and a good number of pike. Recent catches included a whopping 5lb perch a specimen 6lb chub and a huge 13lb barbel with pleasure bags approaching 50 lbs being taken on occasion.

P.S that was taken form the website so i don't know how accurate it actually is.

I have never caught a pike before, so say i wanted to target them, im guessing i would need special equipment. My main plan would be to use the float rod, doubt i would use the quiver tip there though.

[Ken L]

I have never caught a pike before, so say i wanted to target them, im guessing i would need special equipment. My main plan would be to use the float rod, doubt i would use the quiver tip there though.

 

I'm not looking to have a go but by your own admission, you don't have tackle that's remotely appropriate for pike and you have no experience of handling or unhooking them.

That's recipe for one thing - dead pike.

 

Can you not arrange to have a day's pike fishing with someone who fishes for them regularly ?

Same would be true of learning to fish a float properly to be honest but you could at least learn that by quietly sitting behind someone who knows what they're doing and watching where they fish, how they feed and how they rig and control their tackle.

[Inderblitz]

I'm not looking to have a go but by your own admission, you don't have tackle that's remotely appropriate for pike and you have no experience of handling or unhooking them.

That's recipe for one thing - dead pike.

 

Can you not arrange to have a day's pike fishing with someone who fishes for them regularly ?

Same would be true of learning to fish a float properly to be honest but you could at least learn that by quietly sitting behind someone who knows what they're doing and watching where they fish, how they feed and how they rig and control their tackle.

 

I'm not targeting pike, i was just wandering what i would need anything different in order to go after them. Call me a wuss, but, im scared of those teeth in its mouth

My main target would be perch and chub. I would one day like to learn how to target them, but as you rightly said, i would need to do courses and such before hand.

[Ken L]

The teeth do worry a lot of people to the point where I've watch people deliberately fish for pike on the far bank of a river only to unhook it with a stick, using a boot on it's body to keep it still before kicking the fish back into the water to die.

Pike can of course be handled safely if you use the correct fish handling methods but it helps to be shown and have someone who knows what they're doing there in case you loose your nerve.

 

Personally, I'd be inclined to fish lobworms on a rolling lead to target the chub, perch and barbel. If you've not fished rivers before, spotting bites can be interesting as the tip will be moving all the time because the lead is rolling.

Generally, though, if the tip springs back, it's the lead moving and if it springs forward, it's a fish.