I knew today that I had some free timethe question where to spend it .
Mike had been out Saturday with Phil
but the -5 temps made the fishing hard.
The weather had warmed over night
and we had the first lite rain for weeks.
My first thoughts was to make a trip to
the Dane, it takes me a good half hour
along the M6 and with the low temps
and clear water I had a feeling the going
would be tough .
I have had some nice fish off the local
brook , the recent good Roach on caster
was still at the back of my mind.
So when Pete rang to say he was
''playing out'' my mind was made up.
The last time I fished maggot I found aswitch to caster brought me more fish,
this was because I hid the hook in the
hard shell , I think the Roach have
been taking loose feed all the times
I've fished but seeing the hook avoided
my attempts to catch them . I looked
hard for a fine hook and the one I
chose allowed me to hide the hook
very well.
I also decided to fish small in every way,
I took the smallest stick float and cut the
stem down, this float needs 2 no4 shot,
I use Styl shot on the fine line, low diameter
lines are pre stretched mono and the slightest
damage weakens them. The Styl shot is best,
another advantage you can move it up and
down your line very easily ,if a fish runs into
a snag the shot moves avoiding lost fish.
I also used some of the new 0.08 hook-length
which as a good breaking point of nearly 3lb .
While doing this Mike rang to say he would
meet us for a few hours.
Mike was fishing the spot which had broughtus fish recently ,today they had moved .
Even though little rain had fell the water
had rose and also carried some colour.
So the hunt was on.
I commented to Mike how the spot upstreamwhere the river narrows may be worth a cast.
We both had a Roach each before I tried it.
The Roach seemed to be lined up forme a succession of ''solid silver'' winter
Roach followed.
Some of these fish must be approachinga pound Mike thought he had left is scales
in the car, when we got back he found them
in his pocket .... ah well .
This set up makes such a big difference,I have had quite a few Roach over the
last few months ,now with the new approach
I'm sure my catch rate will increase greatly.
On the river Dane quite a few years ago I had
some cracking Roach I used this method
but with caster to great success .On my recent
visits no Roach so this tactic may well be the secret.
I then got a little Perch followed by a betterone which I lost .If the weather stays a wee
bit warmer the next week or so should be
interesting .
3 comments:
Well done Tony,some very nice roach indeed.
Am dubious about the burying of hooks inside maggots. I would worry about missing too many bites.
I know it works with casters, but they have a brittle shell whilst maggots have a tough rubbery skin.
Surely hookups will be better if more hook is exposed?
Do you find you miss alot of bites when you are burrying the hook?
No probs can only remember bumping one fish on the strike and one came off mid fight which with the size of hook is a good % and the results speak for them selves. If memory serves only a couple of bites missed I had around 2 dozen fish so it's not a problem if you only have maggots , it's the difference between catching the Roach and not ,even if my hit rate was 50% I think it would catch you more fish .... if caster was available or you was on bread then yes fish a bigger hook . Thinking about it my Roach on the Dane years back was caught on pole and caster , over the last few season I have not had any largish fish but I have fished heavier on the pin with maggot may give it a try in the summer .
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