Underwater observations - rudd, perch & tech

[Steve Walker]

Andy, I don't tend to use it attached to the baited line, because I don't fish with heavy enough braid to be confident of not losing it if it snags. In terms of rig safety - depends. If your analysis is that anything firmly attached to the line makes it a tether rig if the line breaks above that object, yes, it is. However - you could set it up in such a way that if the rig was going to break, it would definitely break below the camera, and provided everything south of the camera is safe, I don't really see a practical risk. To do that would mean using very heavy braid on the reel, much heavier than the terminal tackle. It would be safe, but it might not be optimal from a fishing point of view - ie, if you want the weakest link in your tackle to be strong enough to bend the hooks out of a snag, then your mainline is going to have to be stronger still.

 

I think you could probably get away with using the camera as a pike float - if you were worried about safety, you could set it up so that the camera would always float free in the event of a break and then hope to retrieve it from somewhere. I think with heavy enough main line, though, if it breaks it's going to go at the knot to the swivel or the crimps on the wire - you would need to attach the camera in such a way that it was not a weak point in the gear, and you wouldn't want to do it somewhere that there was any possibility of something cutting the line north of the camera.

[Steve Walker]

Thought about potting in some joker? Be interesting to find out if that gets their heads down (or if it just gets mopped up rapid-style by everything else).

One of these days I'm going to pack a feeder with live tubifex and fish a small worm on the hook.

That might well work, although most of the way through last night's session I put out a bait dropper full of chopped dendras. To say that it attracted a few small perch would be an understatement

 

I do think that perhaps getting the rudd, roach and perch working over a spot is a factor in attracting tench, though.

[chesters1]

More wires though ,i remember trying to cast balloons in the 70's but i suppose a transmitter on a baitboat all you need then is to get the signal from the camera to that

It could also drop of the rig and use gps to mark the position incase it all went tits up and you lost the camera

 

Theres a vid here but very misleading only part is wireless the water problem hasnt been overcome

Edited August 12, 2015 by chesters1

[Andy_1984]

video I posted above shows a break off above the camera, pike tows it about for a while before piking up another baited rod and thats how he managed to get the footage. can see how easy it would be in that scenario to get wedged between something, thankfully the bottom looks pretty clear of any dodgy snags.

 

thanks for a reply though Steve. you would be surprised how many people with the camera clam up when ive asked how safe it is.

[Steve Walker]

A live feed would be more immediately useful, but I do quite like having to wait until I get home to see what I could have won! Also, it gives you the information to help develop your strategies without being able to see what's going on there and then being part of the strategy.

[Steve Walker]

video I posted above shows a break off above the camera, pike tows it about for a while before piking up another baited rod and thats how he managed to get the footage. can see how easy it would be in that scenario to get wedged between something, thankfully the bottom looks pretty clear of any dodgy snags.

 

thanks for a reply though Steve. you would be surprised how many people with the camera clam up when ive asked how safe it is.

Yeah, I've seen that video. But then someone could use the same components you use to make rigs and set them up in an unsafe way, so the fact that someone managed to screw it up doesn't necessarily mean it can't be done right.

[Andy_1984]

Yeah, I've seen that video. But then someone could use the same components you use to make rigs and set them up in an unsafe way, so the fact that someone managed to screw it up doesn't necessarily mean it can't be done right.

 

of course that would be the wrong way to set a rig up with a solidly fixed lead (crosslocked to trace for example), something poach had taught me as pretty basic safe rig thinking. from what I can glean the waterwolf "is" to be setup like that which is a worry to me.

[Anderoo]

Steve, do you reckon these would work at extreme depth or would it be too dark? Is there a light that could be fitted? I'm thinking of the reservoirs in 40-80+ft... would be very interesting to see the zander on the bottom!

[Dales]

If they are not feeding hard I would still bait up with a little groundbait as I think this attracts them to your swim even if they do not feed over it. I feel it still pulls them in for a look and having fish in front of you even for short spells at least gives you a chance of catching them. My basic Tench fishing consists of putting in a decent amount of groundbait laced with very small food items hemp, maggots, casters or crushed boilie and mini pellets and then fish some thing small over it like double maggot. If they are feeding hard then I think you will pick them up on almost anything, but small items of bait is my preferred option.

 

However, when I am struggling for a bite and there is no evidence of Tench even being around i.e no fizzing, dirty water, rolling or line bites then its amazing how often a change in bait to something you are not feeding like a big bunch of worms or prawn can get you a bite. This does sort of fit in with the idea of "drive by" feeding when they may initially be attracted by the baited area but ignore the bulk of the bait but quickly grab the stand out item.

[Anderoo]

On the safety issue, I don't think it's that people clam up when that question is asked, it's more they roll their eyes and move on