Length of tail

[The Flying Tench]

In an interview with Fred J Taylor in this week's A.T. he explains why he introduced the lift method for tench. Tench feed (apparently) by blowing food in and out, and with long ledger links the bites weren't registering. With the lift method the shot is only (an inch? - there's a typo) from the hook.

 

I guess this doesn't always apply because I believe tench do sometimes run with the bait, but it must be an argument for short ledger links for tench.

 

Is this right? And are there arguments for long v short lengths for other species?

[Chubstar]

One of my favourite non float methods is a helicopter rig with the hooklink no more than 3 inches long with an extra strip of lead attached to the feeder to increase the bolt effect of the rig, don't seem to miss very many bites (to my knowledge!), but you can't beat the float for these, the lift method is fine if the lake bed is flat, but on the 3 lakes I fish with the big tench in, they have very uneven lakebeds and unless you can land the float in exactly the same place every time, the lift method is useless, the distance is also a problem...

[BoldBear]

When I am touch ledgering for Barbel at night with a short rolling light link leger (4BB or 5BB link) I sometimes use a short 5 or 6 inch hook length with no problems. but if the fish are known to be particularly line shy on the water I lengthen the hooklength.

Edited January 15, 2008 by BoldBear

[coarsefish-torbay]

I suspect it isn't quite as simple as choosing a tail length for a particular species. It can also depend on the style of fishing you do.

Look at the popularity of fishing The Method, it is used for most species of big fish nowadays. But previously we would have thought bream, for instance, had to be fished for with a long tail to give them time to take the bait properly.

[Anderoo]

Short hooklengths are very much in fashion at the moment, with the popularity of self-hooking rigs. If I'm fishing such a rig, I'd usually go for 6" as a maximum. Fishing running rigs I find it depends more on the conditions more than the species. If I'm trying to drop a bait into a snaggy hole on the far bank for a chub I'd keep it as short as I can to avoid getting snagged but if I'm fishing an open swim in clear water I'd make it longer to avoid spooking them. Similarly for tench, if it's a weedy bottom I'd lengthen the hooklength and fish a slowly sinking bait so it doesn't get drgged into the weed. If fishing over gravel I'd probably shorten it.

 

As a general rule, most of my hooklengths (excepting self-hooking rigs) start off at about 12" regardless of species. I've heard of people using them up to 6' for spooky barbel!

[nomadpaul]

In an interview with Fred J Taylor in this week's A.T. he explains why he introduced the lift method for tench. Tench feed (apparently) by blowing food in and out, and with long ledger links the bites weren't registering. With the lift method the shot is only (an inch? - there's a typo) from the hook.

 

I guess this doesn't always apply because I believe tench do sometimes run with the bait, but it must be an argument for short ledger links for tench.

 

Is this right? And are there arguments for long v short lengths for other species?

A lot of Tench also feed in a vertical position as opposed to the normal horizontal grazing . When a Tench feeding in such a manner 'sucks' in a bait , a longish hooklength would have room to swivel. A very short hooklink will cause an instant movement on the tell tale shot , causing the float to lift immediately.

 

I've also seen some feeder rigs where the hooklinks are 'strapped' very close to the feeder , as the fish were seen to be attacking the maggots coming out of it.

 

Here's an example of a short hooklink rig from The Tenchfishers website