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Fishing larger waters. Stick or twist?


AddictedToScopex

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Hi folks.

 

So as you may know most of my fishing is done on rivers. Somewhere I feel very at home and bery confident in tackling. With the closed season in force I have take to finding my thrills elsewhere and rather than sit on easy waters hauling carp after carp I have opted to target larger waters such as reservoirs in the hopes of unlocking some of their secrets. My first session went well but since then I have had two blanks. The previous one i managed 3 bites and lost 2 and failed to convert the 3rd bite. Today I couldnt even buy a bite.

 

I was using standard groundbait feeder tactics on the previous day and today I tried the maggot feeder for most of the day before switching to groundbait and corn for the last 3 hours. Nothing I did today could get a bite. I saw a chap opposite me catch 6 fish which really got me thinking what I could be doing wrong.

 

As I am hoping to attend wingham in May i wanted to ask what you guys would do on a larger water if the fish arent forthcoming. Do you stick to a spot and keep the bait going in in the hopes a shoal will move onto it or do you cast about til the bites start?

 

I tried two different spots today and neither produced and i played with hooklengths and presentations etc all to no effect.

 

For what it was worth, when i packed up I put the stuff back in the car and went to the guys swim to see if I could see any evidence of what bait he had been using. I saw discarded coarse pellets and corn so deduced he was using a pellet feeder with corn hookbait which was not too disimilar to what I was using. Frustrating to think that maybe i just needed to move around a bit as I really worked hard to keep the bait going in as I had always thought that was the right way when feeder fishing.

 

Any thoughts folks?

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Hi Rik, would the prevailing wind have been in that Angler's Face?? (& therefore at your back where you were fishing)

 

It's not always comfortable fishing facing the wind, but is generally accepted a better option as it drifts natural food towards the Angler + can usually fish closer in.

 

This alone can the key to success on still water - The bait thing being a more secondary element.

 

To quote Rex Hunt - "It's no good fishin' where the fish ain't!!" :uhuh:

Edited by Martin56

Fishin' - "Best Fun Ya' can 'ave wi' Ya' Clothes On"!!

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It was blowing from my right and his left and we were both at the end of the reservoir that it was blowing into. The same conditions I had when i had my pb. On this particular place you couldnt fish into it on this day as that end is quite shallow and weeded which makes things very difficult.

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It's early season and the temperature has really gone the wrong way the last few days. It will have made the fish (tench?) much less active and adventurous. Not much point in filling one spot in, in my experience when it's like that. Just keep trying different places with a few feeders full untill you find a few fish and then just feed to your bites as the fish are not likely to be mad hungry if you find them.

 

A tiger does not lose sleep over the opinion of sheep

 

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It was blowing from my right and his left and we were both at the end of the reservoir that it was blowing into. The same conditions I had when i had my pb. On this particular place you couldnt fish into it on this day as that end is quite shallow and weeded which makes things very difficult.

Maybe a good old fashioned - back to basics worm with Method feeder & soaked KRILL pellets.

 

I always use Qickstop hairs for worm when sitting it out for a bite knowing that it can't wriggle off like they do when hooked with a barbless.

 

A corn & worm cocktail can be deadly on Hard Days!!.

Edited by Martin56

Fishin' - "Best Fun Ya' can 'ave wi' Ya' Clothes On"!!

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Brian,

 

Sounds like that would have been a better idea. Will certainly try that next time. I worry when fishing larger waters that I am casting to a needle in a haystack unless I build a swim but if others have success that way then I would be daft not to gove it a go.

 

Martin,

 

Tried the worm approach the time before last and couldnt buy a bite there either. I too was using the korum quickstops to hair rig them. Tried corn too on both occasions as it was what i caight with in the first session. I guess if the fish arent there I need to tr to find them rather than relying on them finding me.

 

Another thing i plan to do next time is use lighter coloured feed as i had been using black crumb and black groundbait which they wouldnt have spotted well. When my mate was catching he had bright red pellets on a method feeder and the other chap mentioned from last time was using coarse pellets which stood out like a sore thumb against the dark bottom. I thought my dark groundbait would be good if they were shy of bright baits but i think it had the opposie effect of blending in too well.

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Martin,

 

The edge is a no go really as the water is very clear and the edges are really shallow and frequented by dogs and their owners so it is rare to see any fish there im told. Being a reservoir the edges is really shallow and then it just drops off to between 10-14ft.

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Brian,

 

Sounds like that would have been a better idea. Will certainly try that next time. I worry when fishing larger waters that I am casting to a needle in a haystack unless I build a swim but if others have success that way then I would be daft not to gove it a go.

 

Martin,

 

Tried the worm approach the time before last and couldnt buy a bite there either. I too was using the korum quickstops to hair rig them. Tried corn too on both occasions as it was what i caight with in the first session. I guess if the fish arent there I need to tr to find them rather than relying on them finding me.

 

Another thing i plan to do next time is use lighter coloured feed as i had been using black crumb and black groundbait which they wouldnt have spotted well. When my mate was catching he had bright red pellets on a method feeder and the other chap mentioned from last time was using coarse pellets which stood out like a sore thumb against the dark bottom. I thought my dark groundbait would be good if they were shy of bright baits but i think it had the opposie effect of blending in too well.

You could have a look at the ROBIN RED products?? The hard pellets are Pre Drillled for the Hair. & Soft are available + Glugs etc.

 

They have a full range of products.

 

All their stuff seems Bright Red!!

 

My Cousin who takes me fishing on our matches has had success with these, thought I haven't tried myself yet.

Edited by Martin56

Fishin' - "Best Fun Ya' can 'ave wi' Ya' Clothes On"!!

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Many years ago, I used to buy Sausage Rusk from my local Butcher to use as groundbait - can't get much lighter coloured or cheaper than that!!

 

Was pennies in the day but was always good enough to get the Chub going!!

 

Yes it was a bit coarse, but could be milled down finer with a rolling pin. (these days a blender)

 

That was when 2 shillings (10 p) was real money!!

 

A copy of the SUN newspaper was 2p around that time (Page 3 Included)

 

Or so I've heard - I'm a Times man myself Lol.

Edited by Martin56

Fishin' - "Best Fun Ya' can 'ave wi' Ya' Clothes On"!!

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