Wish Me Luck I Need It!

[Guest josh]

Abit cocky I know but im off fishing for the first time in 2 months soon to the River Mole. The last 8 times ive been out ive BLANKED! I wasnt even after carp!. I was hoping you lot could say a prayer to the fishing gods for me

 

If not any general advice advice for trotting the river in cold water after chub, roach,dace. im abit inexperianced in trotting as i normally fish the Thames at Walton where there not much flow.

 

Ive also seen 3 decent carp the biggest was 25+! easy. I could not belive it when I saw them because I never knew of any carp in the stretch. Does anyone have any advice for River carping? rigs, bait,ect

 

p.s I saw these carp in early summer. Could it be possible that they have moved on?

 

Thanks in advance for the prayers! and advice. Cheers, Josh

Edited December 17, 2005 by josh

[chavender]

for advice on trotting please look at the archive of articles on AN or you could take a look this article on my site http://www.angelfire.com/sd2/chavender/stickfloats.html

[Uncle Fester]

Josh, welcome to my club. I love blanking, it gives plenty of time to light that fag, drink that coffee without the unwanted intrusion of a fish.

Well thats what I keep telling myself. My personal best is one year without a fish, and I've found that the supreme way to guarantee a blank is to fish in the winter.

So if you do find the secret to getting the bu**ers to bite this time of year, don't tell me.

But seriously, I wish I knew. Rivers at any time are a mystery to me, but this time of year I really struggle. I think its gonna get less cold this week, so that should help. But I expect the big carp move off to the deeper water as soon as it gets cold.

Good luck,

Unc F

[Steve Randles]

Try the feeder! 6lb mainline, 3-4lb hooklength, size 4-8 hook, running feeder rig, 12-15inch tail.

 

Use breadflake the size of a matchbox on the size four and liquidised bread in the open ended feeder, fish upstream so that when your tackle has settled your rod tip is bent round to point upstream, your now fishing for dropback bites, any spring back on the tip should be fish on!

 

Use lobworms in bunches as an alternative bait and continully recast every 5 mins or so to build your swim. 3 loaves of sliced white bread should be enough for a decent 3-4 hour session liquidise all but save 6-7 slices for hookbait.

 

To further increase your chances try to get a liquid flavour called "Hot magic" made by Archie Braddocks, fantastic stuff at this time of the year..

[Guest rabbit]

Good advice Steve thanks

 

At least in the cold weather chub will always be the get outta jail card. I've been lucky this week in getting two chub over 5lbs, not a stunning result but to have a bend in your carbon gives me a real lift in thes dark winter days.

 

Did anyone see the predator programme on Sky?, they were using Lamprey sections for Chub and the the Chub were loving it, has anyone here used Lamprey? and what were the results.

[Guest rabbit]

Abit cocky I know but im off fishing for the first time in 2 months soon to the River Mole. The last 8 times ive been out ive BLANKED! I wasnt even after carp!. I was hoping you lot could say a prayer to the fishing gods for me

 

If not any general advice advice for trotting the river in cold water after chub, roach,dace. im abit inexperianced in trotting as i normally fish the Thames at Walton where there not much flow.

 

Ive also seen 3 decent carp the biggest was 25+! easy. I could not belive it when I saw them because I never knew of any carp in the stretch. Does anyone have any advice for River carping? rigs, bait,ect

 

p.s I saw these carp in early summer. Could it be possible that they have moved on?

 

Thanks in advance for the prayers! and advice. Cheers, Josh

 

As long as there is a decent flow on the river Josh trotting should be easy. Make sure you choose your stick float so you can see the tip at distance. I normally use a Dernnan Chubber type float with big bread baits on the hook, build up your swim with mashed bread IF there is some fish interest, and remember to loose feed well upstream of your catching zone.

 

The only problem I find with trotting in the winter is that the fish are not active and to have them competing for baits in a flow is rare. Far better I would suggest is to follow the afore mentioned Steve's advice , and use a feeder rig if possible. Lobworms can produce this time of year, also anything smelly you can attach to a hook!!

I will say a prayer for you

[terry t shirt]

Only advice i would give to river fishing at this time of year is have a lie in and dont be to eager to wet a line. Just got in been out all day caught all my fish in the last hour before dark. therestwo methods really

big baits and a roving approach or small baits trickled in a few at a time to draw the fish into a feeding mood

choose your swim carefully though because you can be twenty yard of a shedfull of fish and never get a bite.

[Norfolkdan]

Terry, what tactics/bait did you use today? And what did you catch?

[Comus]

Oh Lord,

 

Give Josh a break and let his bait those Carp take.

 

Amen

[Guest josh]

Thanks cosmus!!!! Went down there today for some trotting but there just wasnt enough flow in the river so I ended up fishing bread crumb in the open ended feeder with flake on the hook. I caught a few chub and roach but not much. No sign of those carp though, Do you think they could have moved on???