Wobbling deadbaits

[BoozleBear]

Smallish sections of Sprats make excellent Chub baits too, as does Herring...

 

Sprats also make wonderful eating, why more people don't eat them when you can get them at that price, I'll never know?

 

And no to a wobbled Perch, I've had a few curious tentative follows but nothing more.

 

 

Spratts are one of my favourite deadbaits on the canal. Never had a perch to one, but happy for old esox to appear in their place!

 

I wouldn't eat them because for the size of the fish the work getting rid of the bones is too much, and I can't hack bones even tiny ones.

 

Luckily they sell spratts down the market near me dirt cheap.

 

Cheers,

 

Simon

[The Flying Tench]

I've never really fished canals so I can't comment there, but it works very well on the (upper) Thames!

 

I've also never had a perch on a wobbled dead. Am I the only one to find that odd?

 

Can I ask your advice on the upper Thames? A friend and I decided we wanted to go piking in a thames weirpool, but most of them you have to get a season ticket. I looked at Abingdon on Monday, but it looked a bit big. A long way to cast, for example, for fishing the crease. I guess Abingdon is more middle Thames. Various people have talked about Lechlade, which presumably is smaller? I haven't seen it. I guess I want to try wobbling, though I think the other guy may be happy with ledgering. Would you say Lechlade would be a reasonable bet?

Having asked that question, a problem with Lechlade I think is that the ticket just covers the weirpool, and you have to get a separate ticket for the river. I guess the best thing of all would be a reasonably intimate weirpool plus a stretch of river all on one day ticket. I don't know whether there is such a thing?

 

For info I've had a couple of perch wobbling, one on sprat and the other I think on smelt. Nothing great, just fish around a pound.

[Anderoo]

Can I ask your advice on the upper Thames? A friend and I decided we wanted to go piking in a thames weirpool, but most of them you have to get a season ticket. I looked at Abingdon on Monday, but it looked a bit big. A long way to cast, for example, for fishing the crease. I guess Abingdon is more middle Thames. Various people have talked about Lechlade, which presumably is smaller? I haven't seen it. I guess I want to try wobbling, though I think the other guy may be happy with ledgering. Would you say Lechlade would be a reasonable bet?

Having asked that question, a problem with Lechlade I think is that the ticket just covers the weirpool, and you have to get a separate ticket for the river. I guess the best thing of all would be a reasonably intimate weirpool plus a stretch of river all on one day ticket. I don't know whether there is such a thing?

 

For info I've had a couple of perch wobbling, one on sprat and the other I think on smelt. Nothing great, just fish around a pound.

 

Hi FT, I haven't fished at Abingdon, I usually fish above Oxford. The river here is fairly narrow really with a few wider sections. I'm afraid I also can't help with weirpools because I've yet to try piking in one! I'm looking forward to it, but the last couple of seasons the weather's been all wrong. It's spot on now though (and has been for a while) so I need to get out soon. Things keep getting in the way, you know how it is...

 

I don't know Lechlade either, but I expect it's similar to my bit.

 

General tips would be to fish the features and ignore the boring sections. There will undoubtedly be pike in random places, but wobbling is all about playing the percentages game - you're travelling light and can cover loads of water, so why waste your time slogging a featureless bit of water? Unless you see a big swirl, or scattering fish, etc.

 

The best features I've found are shallow, weedy bays off the main current (in warm(ish) water); steep margins (6' or more straight off the bank), especially if reed-lined; any deep, slack area next to the bank; thick reedbeds on the outside of bends (when the current isn't too strong); areas where culverts or feeder streams/ditches join the main river (pike are often in the ditch facing the river, especially when it's carrying extra water and flow); bridge supports are worth a few casts. In the relatively featureless bits, if the margins are lined with reeds or similar, it's certainly worth a few casts along the margins. If you get to a spot where you think there must be a pike present and can't get a take, try putting a float on and fishing static for 20 minutes while you have a rest and a cup of tea. Sometimes that can work - more often than not when you reel it in to move

 

In cold water try to keep the bait about a foot or two off the bottom to start with and start slow. If the river's fining down following rain the pike are usually more active and you can speed things up.

 

Maybe we should have an AN wobblethon

[BoozleBear]

If you get to a spot where you think there must be a pike present and can't get a take, try putting a float on and fishing static for 20 minutes while you have a rest and a cup of tea. Sometimes that can work - more often than not when you reel it in to move

 

Funny, my friend Greg suggested exactly the same thing - if you come to a fave spot that's good for static deads and you want to stop for a tea / sarnie / smoke, then pop on one of those ball floats with a slit down the side and away you go!

 

Simon

[dant]

I think BB's last post contains one of the most important tips for all budding Pike Anglers. The tea/sarnie/smoke tip.

 

Always take along a flask of tea or soup even if you're not keen on the stuff, preferably bring it along in a flask thats nearly impossible to open, bring some very fiddly wrapped sandwiches and a packet of cigarettes or where possible roll-ups regardles of whether you smoke, if you don't have roll-ups just hide your lighter somewhere you'd never think to look.

I say this, as nearly without fail on a previously fishless afternoon, whilst you are trying to prize off the lid of your flask with your forceps (bending them in the process and spilling boiling hot soup all over your hands), trying to get through gaffer tapped doubled up plastic bags with numb fingers or roll a cigarette with your last Rizla paper that you've found in a long forgotten pocket, you will glance up to see your float slowly edging away from you at which point you will inevitabley drop your foceps into the water, spill the remainder of the soup, inhale the dry tobacco instead of licking the sticky side and strike into a Jack Pike of about 4 inches longer than your deadbait..

 

Therefore avoiding a blank..

 

This excellent tip also works with sea fishing but un-fortunately the steepling bite may only result in a 3 foot length of sticky red weed and a 3 inch Velvet Swimmer Crab..

[Anderoo]

 

So true! Answering a call of nature is another good way to invoke a take, as is answering a phone call from your partner.

[dant]

It reminds me of one of the first fishing lessons I learnt whilst Carp fishing when 12. Always have your landing net within easy reach, do not leave it 25 yards up the bank because if you do so, whilst retrieving it, you may well see your brand spanking new birthday present carp rod dissapearing across a 10 acre gravel pit at an extreme velocity...

[Neil G]

 

So true! Answering a call of nature is another good way to invoke a take, as is answering a phone call from your partner.

 

Yep...too true

 

Many a time I've had to rudely hang up on people to attend to a take!

[Dick Dastardly]

Yep...too true

 

Many a time I've had to rudely hang up on people to attend to a take!

 

I can live with being thought of as rude.......... its the damp underpants on a chilly day that get to me

Edited November 14, 2007 by BUDGIE

[The Flying Tench]

Hi FT, I haven't fished at Abingdon, I usually fish above Oxford. The river here is fairly narrow really with a few wider sections. I'm afraid I also can't help with weirpools because I've yet to try piking in one! I'm looking forward to it, but the last couple of seasons the weather's been all wrong. It's spot on now though (and has been for a while) so I need to get out soon. Things keep getting in the way, you know how it is...

 

I don't know Lechlade either, but I expect it's similar to my bit.

 

General tips would be to fish the features and ignore the boring sections. There will undoubtedly be pike in random places, but wobbling is all about playing the percentages game - you're travelling light and can cover loads of water, so why waste your time slogging a featureless bit of water? Unless you see a big swirl, or scattering fish, etc.

 

The best features I've found are shallow, weedy bays off the main current (in warm(ish) water); steep margins (6' or more straight off the bank), especially if reed-lined; any deep, slack area next to the bank; thick reedbeds on the outside of bends (when the current isn't too strong); areas where culverts or feeder streams/ditches join the main river (pike are often in the ditch facing the river, especially when it's carrying extra water and flow); bridge supports are worth a few casts. In the relatively featureless bits, if the margins are lined with reeds or similar, it's certainly worth a few casts along the margins. If you get to a spot where you think there must be a pike present and can't get a take, try putting a float on and fishing static for 20 minutes while you have a rest and a cup of tea. Sometimes that can work - more often than not when you reel it in to move

 

In cold water try to keep the bait about a foot or two off the bottom to start with and start slow. If the river's fining down following rain the pike are usually more active and you can speed things up.

 

Maybe we should have an AN wobblethon

 

An incredibly helpful reply on the practicalities of wobbling. I'd like to print it off. Does anyone know how I can print just one post rather than the whole page?

 

An AN wobblethon would be brilliant, though I guess it would have to be limited numbers. My problem is that I can't normally make weekends. My normal fishing day is Mondays.

 

I'll start a new thread to ask about weirs. Thanks for your help.

 

J