bite offs..

[andyml]

hi folks,

 

i've been enjoying feeder fishing on the quiver for bream and tench at a large southeastern gravel pit but from time to time get fussy "bites" that don't fully develop and when i decide to strike them I either get nothing or a bite-off

 

any ideas what's going on?.....there are planty of perch around ....could it be eels?

 

i've been fishing a free running coil method feeder and a 4 or 5 inch hooklink with tanches 3000,corn and red maggots.

 

been fishin' for years still got plenty to learn...

 

thanks in advance <')Andy<

[Brian Carragher]

From the sounds of it you're getting bitten off by eels

 

As an experiment try fishing a dead minnow on a size six with a braided hooklength and see if you can connect. If they are eels and fish eating eels at that then you should soon find out as they will soon have your bait. If you are allowed try fishing two rods together, one on standard feeder tackle and the other on the minnow or very small roach, my guess is you will end up with some very big eels

[Jim Gibbinson]

Mussels.

[Leon Roskilly]

Mussels.

 

 

Once, fishing maggot beneath a waggler for tench on a silted up estate lake, in absolutely calm conditions, the float dipped ever so slightly.

 

Expectantly, I waited for the bite to develop, but that was it.

 

One small exciting bob, then all was still again.

 

Eventually winding in, I found my hook missing, as though someone, something down there had very carefully snipped it off with a pair of scissors.

 

I spent some time wondering what could possibly have done that, when the bailiff just happened to mention that there had been some reports of terrapins being seen around the lake.

 

 

From the description of the bite above, I'm reminded of fishing the gravel pits at Cheshunt, as a youngster, many years ago, when we would have classic tench bites, the float dipping, rising, laying flat, meandering, until sinking below.

 

Striking resulted in no contact at all.

 

Until one day I found a native crayfish, the first I'd ever seen, tangled in my line.

 

That was long before the invasion of signals, and crays could be taken home for a feast.

 

Once we kenw they were there, we'd fish for them with a dead fish tied to line and drawn in every now and again, just as we'd fish for crabs in the boating pool at Southend on Sea.

 

Yum!

 

 

It happens frequently when fishing bread for mullet in the estuaries, and here there is no doubt of the culprit.

 

Crabs!

 

I would expect freshwater crayfish and mitten crabs to act in much the same way.

 

 

From the way you have described the bites, I'm reminded of fishing in the gravel pits at Cheshunt next to the river Lea in my youth.

 

We were getting classic tench bites, with the float bobbing about, rising out of the water and laying flat, before sinking.

 

Frustratingly, we weren't connecting.

 

Until one strike had a small native cray flying through the air towards me, the first I'd ever seen.

 

Thereafter we'd fish for them with a bit of dead fish tied to a line, much the same as we'd target the crabs in the boating pool at Southend on Sea.

 

Yum!

 

(This was long before the days of the signals and the crayfish plague they bought to our waters)

Edited June 28, 2006 by Leon Roskilly

[poledark]

Mitten crabs....Crayfish....

 

Try upping the BS of the hooklink? Also "inch" the bait towards you a bit when you are getting the nibbles

 

Den

[andyml]

Thanks folks for your replies...

 

food for thought for sure....

 

since this pit is very close to the thames and, at one time, was connected i think eels are definitely in the frame as are mussels.....i've seen one or two large swan mussel shells in the margins occasionally but see very many more pea mussels covering small rocks also in the margins

 

I have upped my hooklink b/s so i'll see how i get on today.

 

brgds <')Andy<

[mark barrett]

Thanks folks for your replies...

 

food for thought for sure....

 

since this pit is very close to the thames and, at one time, was connected i think eels are definitely in the frame as are mussels.....i've seen one or two large swan mussel shells in the margins occasionally but see very many more pea mussels covering small rocks also in the margins

 

I have upped my hooklink b/s so i'll see how i get on today.

 

brgds <')Andy<

 

 

are there any chub in the lake?

 

if so i would be 90 per cent sure its them.

[Guest Josh Iddon]

are there any chub in the lake?

 

if so i would be 90 per cent sure its them.

Possible but not convinced 90%, if its that sure then surely it would be very regular bite offs?

 

Id say much more likely to be mussels, I have had that problem a few times at Walton on Thames, then I reeled a Mussel in with the line very frayed and about to snap around the Mussel.

 

Josh

[andyml]

hi folks,

 

went again last night and reckon i've sussed it.....

 

i'm sure it is perch - i almost launched one into a lunar trjactory last night i hit it so quick....and, embarassingly, the bite offs are due to me storing my hooks to nylon on a cheap spool with sharp slots which secures 'em...

 

at least i know now....and can move on....

 

looking for ways to conveniently store my hooklinks now that doesn't involve nasty cheap spools.

 

off again tomorrow

 

thanks again to all <')Andy<

[chris mc]

hi folks,

 

went again last night and reckon i've sussed it.....

 

i'm sure it is perch - i almost launched one into a lunar trjactory last night i hit it so quick....and, embarassingly, the bite offs are due to me storing my hooks to nylon on a cheap spool with sharp slots which secures 'em...

 

at least i know now....and can move on....

 

looking for ways to conveniently store my hooklinks now that doesn't involve nasty cheap spools.

 

off again tomorrow

 

thanks again to all <')Andy<

 

 

Why not get a rig wallet/bin?Or even make the hook links on the bank your self?

 

http://www.fishingmagic.com/review/reviewc...-/-Bins/v/1/sp/