Help needed please

[Phone]

Colin,

 

This may be to 'basic' (naïve) but I've never found Brit anglers to be less helpful than anywhere else in the world. Don't burden yourself with a lot of "crap" at first - rod, reel and a bit of end kit will be enough for your first trip to a commercial. "Ask and ye shall receive" Take a bit of a lunch and share with the fish as bait. Baits will also be available close by the lake of your choice. If you get the "fever" for carp fishing (or any other species) detailed questions can be answered on Anglers Net.

My advice is go with the purpose of having a good time, do a little visiting, and come home relaxed.

 

Phone

[John S]

Today went to the tackle shop and got a 10ft match/waggler rod told them what I wanted it for and told it would be fine

 

That should be a good rod to start off on, most of my fishing is on the waggler (I normally only cast out a carp rod if the smaller stuff aren't feeding). What make/model is it? One important thing is to find a good tackle shop and stick with it, the owner will soon get to know you and should be able to advise you on other matters, Amazon and ebay can't give that sort of service

[Vagabond]

how do I know if I'm fishing at the right depth.

That's a question a good float angler will be asking himself at frequent intervals !

 

Answer is to experiment with moving the float and trying different depths.

 

Also, pay attention to how far the lowest shot (which should be a small one) is from your hook. Start with about 8" If you get bites but the fish come off, lengthen the hook-shot distance by an inch or so. Conversely if you don't seem to get bites but your bait is missing when you wind in, shorten the hook-shot distance an inch or so. The optimum distance will vary at different venues, and even from day to day at the same venue.

[colinc1968]

It's a Ron Thompson match 10ft

 

It's a Ron Thompson match 10ft

[colinc1968]

Ron Thompson EVO concept match 10ft

[BoldBear]

When I'm fishing for Roach and other similar species of shoal fish at this time of year I would usually start fishing on the bottom at first and feed a few loose fed items of bait (Maggots, Pinkies Hemp Corn etc.) every minute or so.

 

Feeding (amount and frequency) is very important, whether Im feeding just a single maggot every minute or a palm full of maggots every couple of minutes (even if bites are non existent at first) it can make a lot of difference to your catches, and I cannot stress this enough if you are wanting to catch shoal fish consistently

 

At this time of year when the water is very cold I would usually only feed 4 or 5 maggots or pinkies every couple of minutes, (or even 1 or 2 grains of corn if the temperatures have risen) and I'd be prepared to increase or decrease the amount of feed and frequency of my feeding depending on the number of bites I am getting.

 

If I am getting lots of bites further up in the water I will try increasing the number of loosefeed maggots and extending the time between my loose feeding to try to get them feeding back on the bottom again.

 

I will usually be using size 18 hooks and 2lb hooklengths when I am using maggot or punched bread baits, however during really cold spells I find that it often pays to move down a hook size or two and use smaller baits like pinkies or squats, and even finer hooklengths.

NB: That's if your 10ft Ron Thompson rod can handle these lighter hooklengths and tiny hooks and isn't a commercial float rod which may be more suitable for fishing for slightly larger fish species.

 

Here are a couple of standard shotting patterns that I use when I'm fishing depths of around 4 to 7 ft.

 

 

One other thing that you may find at this time of year is that in very cold water Roach and other shoal fish will tend to shoal much tighter and tend to be more reluctant to move around as much so if you are not getting any bites at all it often pays to change swims until you find them.

 

I hope this gets you a few fish on the waggler and starts you off on the right foot.

 

Tight lines

Keith

Edited February 26, 2016 by BoldBear

[BoldBear]

Oops Repeat post sorry

Edited February 26, 2016 by BoldBear

[colinc1968]

Thanks everyone for the help and advice I will keep u updated on my first trip....and I will more than probably need more advice