Tiddlers Galore!

Well I finally made it out for a while today. Such glorious weather that I couldn't pass up the chance to spend a bit of time by the water. My usual setup, 5m Pole, short 1.5m weightless rig, size 18 barbless hook and a pink maggot. Plopped the maggot in the margins and before it had sunk a foot it was taken by a tenacious 5cm Perch. Popped it back and tried again, float disappeared this time to a small 10cm Roach. Well half an hour later and another 5 fish, all tiny I decided I'll come back tomorrow and try further afield in search of some bigger game.

Tight Lines :)

Bigger Fish?

Well I decided to aim for bigger specimens tonight so went out a bit later, around nine, to an area I got my best Perch previously. Shipped out larger rig, hook and bait and waited. Not surprisingly there were small Roach leaping at flies occasionally but sure of my no small fish setup I carried on. Twenty minutes in I get a positively aggressive take and I'm sadly disappointed to lift my quarry straight from the water when setting the hook. Yes all three inches of Perch shot straight up in the air, till I settled and released it. What shouldn't have been even capable of getting the size 16 hook and two maggots in its mouth proved me wrong. Well and hour and a half later the same had happened another three times, all four fish under four inches and each sank the float as if it were some leviathan. Oh well so much for the bigger fish :)

Tackle Maintenance

While having rigs (line with float, weights and hook attached) already made up makes life much easier in the great outdoors, where wind and weather make it difficult to tie up, they must be maintained. This means checking for wind knots, tangles and the like when you’re in the comfort of your home. Wind knots, or unintentional casting failure knots, are a real pain as the line must be replaced as each creates a serious weakness in your line. You wouldn’t want to be about to land your personal best fish, having seen it, then your line snaps where you felt a tiny wee knot earlier but thought it not that important. Look after your tools and they’ll look after you!

Basics

Let me take a moment to explain my recommended setup. This can be for any pole, from a 2m whip to an 11m pole or even a long enough stick! The main item is the Rig, a 5-foot (1.5m) length of 3lb line starting with a figure of eight loop to attach to the pole tip. To this put on a light weight pole float, enough shot weights to set the float at a height so you can clearly see the tip then finish with another figure of eight loop but a little smaller than pole end. To this end I join a Drennan size 18 Barbless hook, I get these from Country Life which comes on a 2lb piece of nylon with loop already to loop to loop connect. I start with float about 2 foot (0.5m) from rod tip and adjust down if fish surface feeding. Favourite bait seems to be Pink Maggot more than any other colour.