Wobbling deadbaits

[Neil G]

Probably a fair few are. I was talking to someone about that the other day, and he mentioned that a lot of people blank (or at least, don't do too well) when piking because they always fish on the bottom, a la carping, when the pike are much higher up in the water with the prey fish. When wobbling you have a good chance of finding the feeding depth quite quickly.

 

Incidentally, I reckon in season carpers would catch more carp if they travelled lighter and moved around after/ahead of the fish more.

 

I'm not a carper at all but I've had the most fish by fishing close to the bottom when suspended baits under floats fished shallow have been ignored...could just be the venues I fish.

 

Agree with moving around though...good way of getting into pockets/hotspots and wobbled baits along with lures are ideal methods for this.

 

I've never wobbled baits but have twitched float fished deads/float ledgered deads and got quite a few takes & fish on the bank as a result.

[Anderoo]

I was thinking about trying this seriously at the weekend for pike, how do you rig the bait? Do you add any weight or just "freeline" and use the weight of the bait to cast/sink?

Sorry, I missed your reply earlier!I just use a normal snap tackle, hook one treble through the lips and the other in a flank so it's got a very slight curve and faces forward and add/remove swanshot as needed. Assuming you use a consistent speed of retrieve, when you cast upstream the bait will come back deeper than when you cast downstream, so you need to take that into account.That's it, it's dead easy, you know instantly when a fish is on (the rod tip knocks - takes are often gentle) so deep-hooking is unlikely as long as you wind down and lean into the pike quickly, and multiple catches are on the card because you cover miles of river. It's lure fishing with a natural bait basically. But because the bait is natural, a suspicious pike is more likely to take it after having a closer look.

I also don't do much piking, but most that I do has been wobbled smelt. But most of the pike I catch are only up to about 6 lbs, so I'm starting to experiment with bigger baits. (I know small static baits will catch big fish). In all honesty I regularly catch in one or two hotspots, but I'm pretty unsuccessful on other venues. I'd be interested to know whether Anderoo and others find they catch doubles by wobbling. It could easily be my technique needs improving.I'm thinking of having a crack at a Thames weirpool with a friend - not sure which one yet. Seems to me a mobile fish washing around in the white water ought to interest a discerning pike. Have others tried this?

Yes, in about the same proportion of doubles/littluns to other types of piking at other types of water (e.g. deadbaiting at gravel pits), but a lot more fish! I've never had a 20+ pike at all, so I can't tell you if wobbling loses its effectiveness when after the real big old girls

[dant]

I also don't do much piking, but most that I do has been wobbled smelt. But most of the pike I catch are only up to about 6 lbs, so I'm starting to experiment with bigger baits. (I know small static baits will catch big fish).

 

In all honesty I regularly catch in one or two hotspots, but I'm pretty unsuccessful on other venues. I'd be interested to know whether Anderoo and others find they catch doubles by wobbling. It could easily be my technique needs improving.

 

I'm thinking of having a crack at a Thames weirpool with a friend - not sure which one yet. Seems to me a mobile fish washing around in the white water ought to interest a discerning pike. Have others tried this?

 

Flying Tench, a wobbled dead bait is a killer bait when fishing weir pools. I've had good double figure Pike from the tiny weirpools on the smallest of rivers by either wobbling or freelining dead baits.

At this time of year weirpools would be the place I started of an afternoon of lobbing baits around. Every pool is different but I would avoid the real quickest of water as weirpool Pike are the kings of ambush often hanging just off the sides, out of the quick stuff, lurking around pilings, under the banks, close to any ledges and especially at the neck of the wier as it narrows down to the run-off.

If you lob out a bait hooked as Leon has mentioned, holding the rod with the bail arm open allowing the line to pass through the fingers of your spare hand and edging a bait through with the flow, holding it up every now and again or twitching it you could have an exhilarating days fishing!

[Dick Dastardly]

A top method and one I often use on a new water to locate feeding pike.Especially if Im limited to the number of rods I can use/safely use.

 

Shads are good but I like to be able to leave a wobbled natural bait stationary for periods and I dont think I would get pick ups on a stationary plastic!

 

Great method for a "quick session" as well.

 

I no longer use any fancy hooking arrangements or mounts just a simple snap tackle or even a single treble (dependant on size of bait/weed etc).As for baits I prefer Roach or small Rainbows (providing they are still silver) as they are tough and give off a good flash.

[Leon Roskilly]

It's lure fishing with a natural bait basically.

 

 

But with some real advantages over lures.

 

If you see a piky looking spot, with a lure you cast beyond it, then work your lure through it, but the lure is in the 'strike' zone for moments only, whereas with a wobbled bait, you can let it sink, or leave it suspended beneath a float, and twitch it, working it in the 'strike' zone for long enough to either be sure it's empty or else the resident pike is tempted out to play.

 

Similarly, with a current, you can drift the dead bait beneath overhanging bushes, and slowly work it back where you wouldn't dare risk a lure.

 

Then there's the subject of building scent trails

[Andy Macfarlane]

Since I've been mostly lure fishing over the last couple of years, there's a few methods I've left at the wayside, much to the cost of my catch rate I reckon and wobbling's one method that I'll be taking up again with proper zeal, since there's nothing quite like it IMHO.

Fly-fishing's right up there as another method I'll have to look into again but stupidly, I never invested in a proper outfit I felt happy with targeting anything bigger than 8 or so Lbs, from my local, over-fished ressie. I can't say for sure that flies would bring out as many big fish either. I sure caught plenty of jacks though and fly still remains as the method that's delivered me the most fish, however small, in a single session. That's another subject though.

As already mentioned, wobbling brings together many of the advantages of deadbaiting, lure fishing and to some degree, even livebaiting and it's definitely not a method that tends to bring out the smaller pike. I'm not certain but I think wobbling delivered my first pike over 15Lbs and I've had plenty more to 19Lbs.

I wouldn't compare wobbling to fishing with shads. The two disciplines are similar in their simplicity and appearance but the comparison pretty much stops there. Even an unweighted shad's behaviour and the way it's fished is different to wobbling with an unweighted deadbait. A dead fish is plainly a dead fish in appearance, odour and the way it falls through the water, which could be head-first, tail-first, upside-down or not at all!! A shad may look similar to a dead fish at first glance but it definitely doesn't smell the same, with or without additives and when falling through the water, it has a tendency to sink head-first and the tail keeps on kicking so long as it's moving. Given the choice between a bag of deadbaits and a selection of shads, I'd go for the deadbaits every time.

[Peter Waller]

Wobbling is just SO VERY GOOD! Rather than have the agro of a dead fish try using soft bodied shads rigged and fished as you would a wobbled deadbait.

[Dick Dastardly]

Wobbling is just SO VERY GOOD! Rather than have the agro of a dead fish try using soft bodied shads rigged and fished as you would a wobbled deadbait.

 

 

Serious question Peter-have you ever had a pick up on a static shad? I ask as I know you use shads a lot more than most of us.

[Andy Macfarlane]

Wobbling is just SO VERY GOOD! Rather than have the agro of a dead fish try using soft bodied shads rigged and fished as you would a wobbled deadbait.

 

That was my point Peter. I'm not denying a wobbled shad is well worth the effort and it was actually you who put me onto the idea but it just wasn't the same as the agro of dead fish I'm afraid. I suppose shads are somewhat easier to transport around in perfect condition though.

[jeff smith]

I've just been out today for a short session wobbling/twitching dead roach on the River Arun and had some success catching the same rather greedy 4 1/2 lb jack twice in an hour,but from completely different swims.The method has given me bigger specimens up to low doubles in the past,and i see no reason why the real big girls would not fall for it.

One trick i tried today is a refinement on the rig which i picked up from a pike mag.Basically it consists of a standard spinning trace,but attached to the bottom snap swivel is a korda maggot clip,and another length of wire slightly shorter than the bait with one treble hook .The maggot clip is inserted through the head of the bait to take the weight,and the treble is lightly hooked in the bait's flank, but not under tension.In use it seems to work well.The bait moves about enticingly swivelling on the maggot clip,and stays on well despite continual heavy casting.Having just the one treble picks up less rubbish if bumping the bottom,is less likely to tangle up in the net,and of course makes unhooking simpler.