Undertow

[Dave H]

Yes it's a

 

Used to be one of my pet subjects, I have been saying for years,that if you can get to understand the effect of 'tow on a stillwater, you are well on your way to finding fish. I do believe that fish, especially big ones, or bream shaped ones, get moved by 'tow, unless they fight it.

 

I did quite a long piece on one of the Wingham threads, describing how leaves and surface dust, can end up in a certain spot, usually where the 'tow loses momentum. At the exMKF "Mill" due to the shape there were several 'tows working at once, and you could see where they met as the wave pattern changed.

 

Fascinating subject...........

 

Den

It's something that i have never really come to terms with. There is little worse than trying to float fish in a heavy undertow. I just in general lay the float flat but it then only works sometimes. It is something i could really listen to about for a long time

[Anderoo]

Undertow is a really fascinating subject. I've been trying to properly understand it for years. It still baffles me.

 

I understand a few things. Some species like to be in the tow, others out of it. When baiting up I take it into account to try to avoid bait going everywhere. But I'm still no closer to understanding how it's likely to behave on any given day, or how changing conditions will affect it. Some days it will be really windy but no tow, other days tow will suddenly appear from nowhere, and on other days the tow will suddenly change direction. Very confusing! But extremely interesting, and a real factor in watercraft.

[Phone]

All,

 

I don't remember much but if you are interested in googling the two words I do remember are "lentic" (still water) and "lotic" (moving water). You can play around I guess?

 

Phone

[Dave H]

Especially in deep water as by the time the bait has got to the bottom it could be pushed one way or the other and then somewhere different and so on and on a hard water that is a complete waste of time.

Routes and depth of the fish are more important. I prefer those little areas of interest such as little gravel patches, under trees , Watching too on a regular basis. That's why topography is a must but i dont do it just for bars as many carp angler especially finds the bar and thats it it's bombs away skipper!!.

 

I drag it back from about my maximum distance i fish bar or no bar which is about 50 yards trying to find spots back from there. It really upsets the swim i know but i also believe it stirs up the bottom if just a tiny bit that may help. I remember in a new swim getting there at 9am and not getting my baits out until 8pm. Sometimes i have been dissapointed and spent all day and not feeling a decent little spot but i usually do but does it work this little patch of silt in the middle of knowhere attract fish?.....Rarely...

[RUDD]

On many occasions when fishing the pole along the bottom of the marginal shelf I have put a tight bit of feed using a pole cup in one spot and held the float over it without a bite. A gust of wind comes along and the natural reaction is to lean into it to keep pole as still as possible. The gust stops and before I can react I have dragged the float upwind in the direction I would assume any tow may be moving and had an instant bite.

Next put in the natural reaction is to drop bait over the spot the bite occured. Most of the time no bite develops and I can only assume the bait is now past the area where bait is getting picked up by fish.

This is why laying on or fishing a method with a big float such as a slider or big waggler over depth gets bites.

Yes the float is going the wrong way pushed by surface movement but by using a big float and dragging the bait along the bottom - the bait is moving very slowly and will be in the area where fish are feeding for at least a period of time allowing it to be picked up.

With a pole the same can be achived by going up a float size or changing to a more bouyant pattern fished ovwr depth and slowly dragged in the direction you think tow may be going.

 

Its not just deep water either, shallow venues are effected and I would have thought more quickly than deep venues to start with. I would also think that bigger and deeper venues will still have tow affecting them hours after the wind has stopped.

Edited March 15, 2013 by RUDD

[poledark]

As a "general" rule, on a small(10acres) and with an even bottom, the tow will be very easy to read. If the wind is blowing (and it is wind that causes undertow) then any wind along LH bank, wil push water down in to the corner where it usually turns right and then disperses as it flows sideways and back up the lake. I have known a few occasions when a real strong wind is blowing where the water actually goes straight back up the LH bank...I think this has to do with the extra volume and pressure of the wind and 'tow

 

A long lake with bars running length ways (Larky 2 ) will get a strong 'tow back up between the bars, on a SW wind on that lake, it went back up in the middle channel of 3 bars. (hope that is clear) On occasions the silt being stirred up at the southern end very quickly coloured up the water where it went back up.All other winds rarely effected any 'tow simply because the shape and the bars acted to stifle it.

 

Sutton No2 went crazy in a SW wind, and quickly ended up wizzing round, down one bank, along the downwind end, along and the up the leeward side. I used to get a stick about 3 feet long, tie a small weight on the end, just enough to make it sit upright in the water, and chuck it in. Half an hour later it would come sailing past having done a complete circuit of the lake!

 

At least the tides are easier to read

 

Den

[Dave H]

As a "general" rule, on a small(10acres) and with an even bottom, the tow will be very easy to read. If the wind is blowing (and it is wind that causes undertow) then any wind along LH bank, wil push water down in to the corner where it usually turns right and then disperses as it flows sideways and back up the lake. I have known a few occasions when a real strong wind is blowing where the water actually goes straight back up the LH bank...I think this has to do with the extra volume and pressure of the wind and 'tow

 

A long lake with bars running length ways (Larky 2 ) will get a strong 'tow back up between the bars, on a SW wind on that lake, it went back up in the middle channel of 3 bars. (hope that is clear) On occasions the silt being stirred up at the southern end very quickly coloured up the water where it went back up.All other winds rarely effected any 'tow simply because the shape and the bars acted to stifle it.

 

Sutton No2 went crazy in a SW wind, and quickly ended up wizzing round, down one bank, along the downwind end, along and the up the leeward side. I used to get a stick about 3 feet long, tie a small weight on the end, just enough to make it sit upright in the water, and chuck it in. Half an hour later it would come sailing past having done a complete circuit of the lake!

 

At least the tides are easier to read

 

Den

You are a joy to read. I think undertow is definately something i will have to pick your brains about

[Anderoo]

Some swims do seem to behave the same in terms of undertow in similar conditions, and some seem more erratic/hard to predict. On one gravel pit, there's a swim that fishes really well in a big SW wind - the bigger the better. It's mid-way down a bank with the wind going across you. In these conditions, there is never any tow, just a little bit of surface drift. I have no idea why. In the same swim with the wind from the opposite direction (NE) there is strong surface drift and also a very strong undertow. The swim always behaves the same.

 

There's another one that fishes well in a strong NE wind, as this creates a strong undertow that loops round some big gravel humps and then doubles back on itself along the bank. It happens every time there's a big NEerly. Fishing just off the flow, as you would fish a crease on a river, works well. Just think how much natural food is moved by the tow to these edges of flow.

 

Other swims are much less predictable. On one, the tow often moves from left to right throughout the session even though the wind direction remains constant. When tench fishing, I usually find its the part of this swim that's in the tow that produces, with the fish moving with the flow. The bream in this pit seem to prefer feeding in areas with no tow - but I think the better areas might be those where strong tow has deposited natural food in the day, then quietened down at night.

 

I used to fish a big shallow Surrey sand pit for tench, and this water was prone to huge undertow. There were no underwater features to disrupt it and so it was usually the windward bank that got the brunt of it, along with the wind. The NE corner was the most productive area in a big SW wind. I remember the tow and drift being so strong that when releasing tench, they had real trouble swimming through it to get back out into the lake. It was like trying to swim upstream in a river. I'm sure fishing on the end of the winds worked so well because large numbers of fish were physically forced there by the tow. You never needed to bait up because the fish were already there, just lob a feeder into the wind and wait (not for long usually!).

 

The little pond I've been fishing this winter has quite a bit of tow too, probably because (like the big sand pit) it's very shallow. I never noticed any pattern with it, but as I was after perch I'd move my baits put of the tow and onto the edge of the quiet water.

[Steve Burke]

 

Other swims are much less predictable. On one, the tow often moves from left to right throughout the session even though the wind direction remains constant. When tench fishing, I usually find its the part of this swim that's in the tow that produces, with the fish moving with the flow. The bream in this pit seem to prefer feeding in areas with no tow - but I think the better areas might be those where strong tow has deposited natural food in the day, then quietened down at night.

 

The little pond I've been fishing this winter has quite a bit of tow too, probably because (like the big sand pit) it's very shallow. I never noticed any pattern with it, but as I was after perch I'd move my baits put of the tow and onto the edge of the quiet water.

Andrew, I do like your idea about the bream! Food for thought!

 

I've mentioned before about perch being where undertow peters out. I first noticed this on another of the lakes in the complex where I did the Predators programme for Sky. This is T-shaped with a central island and the difference in undertow was quite marked in SW winds.

 

I know Wingham members have talked a lot about undertow, but it's a subject that's rarely mentioned in print. Den (Poledark) has and seems to understand it better than anyone I know.

[RUDD]

After putting in some defrosted casters during a bit of prebaiting yesterday I found they must have had a blast of one of Archie Braddocks essential oils.

I watched four slicks cut right across the water at 90°, to the direction the mini waves were travelling.

Still trying to figure that out but suppose surface tow/skim has to go somewhere.

Edited March 18, 2013 by RUDD