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Underwater observations - rudd, perch & tech


Steve Walker

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I had a float fishing session on Sunday night, and recorded it with the water wolf. Interesting.

 

I ended up with lots of small perch, some better rudd and a tiny tench. If you had asked me, I would have said that I started off catching perch and the rudd moved in later. Actually, the video shows that the rudd turned up fairly quickly and were about most of the evening. I was using fairly robust float tackle, 0.13mm line and a strong 14, so perhaps they just weren't fooled until the light levels dropped?

 

 

I also saw a few tench. I wasn't fishing for them, but their behaviour is interesting in the context of my failure to do well on this lake since I joined it last month. I've had quite a few tiny tench on the float, but only one decent one of about five and a half pounds. That came, not on small baits over particles, but on a lobworm. Watching the video, the tench aren't settling down and feeding, they are mooching through, having a quick mouthful (if that) and then leaving. So I suspect that I need to change tactics and look to present something large and tempting.

 

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Interesting Steve.

 

This tench look pretty skittish. One way to nick the odd one might be to put something bright and bouyant in front of them off-bottom, e.g. a bit of pop up fake corn. The bait seems to bring them over but they seem too nervous to settle over it. Also, bait an area and fish off to one side of it, away from the bait. I've done that before and it worked well.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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Yes, I think something that stands out could be the answer. I've been fishing popped up fake red maggots and fake corn with method feeder or pva bags, and baiting up with a jumbo swimfeeder. I'm now thinking something like a bloody big lump of flake or luncheon meat might do the trick. Also considering feeding that marginal swim with a bait dropper - it's about 15 feet deep a rod length out where the camera was, and by the time it hits the bottom bait is widely spread.

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Yes, I think something that stands out could be the answer. I've been fishing popped up fake red maggots and fake corn with method feeder or pva bags, and baiting up with a jumbo swimfeeder. I'm now thinking something like a bloody big lump of flake or luncheon meat might do the trick. Also considering feeding that marginal swim with a bait dropper - it's about 15 feet deep a rod length out where the camera was, and by the time it hits the bottom bait is widely spread.

 

I've been using little flat bed method feeders for crucians, and have come to really like them. They'd be good for this type of thing - just drop one down the ledge with some stiff method mix on it with a little bit of something (fake corn, whatever) as hookbait, no other bait - it's then that or nothing! The little 28g Guru ones are good.

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And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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Really interesting Steve and motivating me to get my Waterwolf out. It just shows how the fish can be in the swim and feeding and completely ignoring your offering. Made me think about the river, where I have failed miserably this year and Summer Pit where you can have a jacuzzi going on around your float, which just sits there motionless interminably! Do you find the Wolf works best close in over deep marginal swims - any tips?

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I experimented last night putting in a can of grated luncheon meat, a tactic which worked very well on a water I used to fish. I put it down with a bait dropper and a pole, which worked very well in getting it down with minimal spread, but I blanked and did not see a single tench nose down onto it although a few came through at midwater. So strike that tactic, I think.

 

I did see this visitor passing through, though;

 

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Really interesting Steve and motivating me to get my Waterwolf out. It just shows how the fish can be in the swim and feeding and completely ignoring your offering. Made me think about the river, where I have failed miserably this year and Summer Pit where you can have a jacuzzi going on around your float, which just sits there motionless interminably! Do you find the Wolf works best close in over deep marginal swims - any tips?

Main issue with it is water clarity, I find. The way I have been setting it up is this;

 

Standard foam float attached to the rear.

Heaviest nose weight fitted, such that it sits almost vertically when floating freely.

Heavy braid mainline tied to tail wire

Light mono link tied to nose loop, other end attached to 3oz lead.

 

So with the setup, if you let it settle with the mainline slack, it will hover above the lead by the length of the mono link, looking more or less straight down. As you tighten the main line, it pulls the camera back and adjusts the angle so that it continues to point at the lead. You could easily do the maths to work out the amount of line to retrieve to get the exact elevation and angle you want.

 

I have found that often water clarity is better closer to the bottom; there can be a lot of algae and zooplankton in the surface layers, so getting below that helps. Also, as light levels drop, you need to be closer to what you are filming. In either case, shorten the nose link or pull the camera back further so that it moves closer to the bottom.

 

If you want to position it exactly, dropping it on the spot with a pole is the best option - I just taped a bent paperclip to the end of the pole and tied a loop in the mono near the lead. Ship it out beyond the spot until the camera is over the drop point, then pull it back in and drop the lead next to the camera, in order to get the lead to drop straight down.

 

The deep marginal swims do seem to make setup easier, also they tend to be clearer of weed.

 

Final tip - trim the bloody nose knot properly, you will notice that I keep forgetting to do this and review my footage to find a tail of mono stuck up in front of the lens!!

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Skittish by nature i believe. Id opt for getting them on the feed confidently before showing them a rig. Been working well for me in shallow margins in a small pond.

That's exactly the problem with these fish, Andy; you can't get them to settle and feed confidently, they move in, grab a bite, bugger off again. I don't think they're being spooked by the rig, they just aren't getting their heads down to feed properly. Not like when you can get several fish confidently bubbling away, they're just not feeding hard.

 

I have a suspicion that they are largely nocturnal at the moment, but have not had the chance to test this with an overnighter; I did turn up for one only to find a notice on the gate saying there was a match the next day 8-11, which meant I couldn't fish through the night.

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