Well here we are for the second blog of the new website, as I said in the first, these are just a bit of fun/interest, the sort of thing we might chat about on the bank. My first choice of discussion was always going to be stalking in the edge or floater fishing as these seem to be the only areas I can seem to hold my own in, out in the pond I find it hard preferring to see the carp feed to point me in the right direction! I don't claim to be an expert at floater fishing but when you clock up many hours you start to get a feel of what works for you. The number one requirement for floater fishing after all is you have to be slightly mad and find it totally addictive!
The reason being, to have any great success you have to put yourself through all sorts of pain, the sun for starters. We all know it can be a good time when it's hot and sunny and if you love your surface fishing, time passes so quickly and you can find yourself sweating like a long tailed dog in a rocking horse shop literally for hours without even realizing it. Uncle Jim is a great surface angler and the main reason is he is relentless! I once saw him on Willow push and push for takes on a day you would be hot whilst sat in the shade by a pool with a ice cold beer, it was crazy to watch and over what must have been 8 hours plus he fed, he caught, he grafted his way through a bucket load of fish and if I remember correctly a huge number of big fish, was it 6 thirties, could have been more. I was on the lake next door watching from the shade of the trees and it was tiring watching, like I said relentless.
It's the bird life, the casting in a tree, trying to sort a fresh rig with hands shaking because they are still taking. And the fish, well they know the game and it can be so frustrating with a missed take and turning left when they need to turn bloody right!! All together is hard work but it makes the highs all the better if you're mad enough to see it through, floater fish is like "Whores drawers" or the "Grand old Duke of York"!!!!!
The main points I'd like to raise are: Hookbaits, Hooklink length, lines & hooks.
The hookbaits is a real thing to mess with in every way. We all tweak our rigs to death to get bites on the bottom but most I feel don't when floater fishing. Different lakes seem to need different hookbaits. Some fish I swear on the busier venues have sussed that the hookbaits are more buoyant than the free offerings and unless this is addressed they are going to bend you over all day. Hookbaits can be balanced so they just hang on in the surface film and far less buoyant than the free offerings but this is not often done, hook on the top of the bait is the one on some lakes and others it has to be under the hook. Size of hookbait is again different everywhere you go, on one of my local lakes with a hookbait of 12mm or more your in for a long day 8mm or less and bingo. But the one thing that I just can't hide from is the colour, PINK makes so much difference on nearly every venue (not all) I've tried it, seeing fish time and time again swim past free offerings to get to my pink hookbait, I've seen it so many times now I'm 100% sure it's a big edge, have you guys seen similar in your findings??
Another thing is hooklink length, what do you guys go for? I'm totally sold on 2 foot or just under, the trend seems to be 6ft and I know why, with the old floater lines like DoubleStrength you needed 6ft to give it some stretch and if you tried shorter it was always going to break! But things move on and the 12lb Fox and 15lb Gardner floater line I use is so strong you could use 6inches with no problems. Some say you need separation from the controller so as not to spook them, well I've had more attempted takes of my controller than I have on me flippin hookbait it seems lol (Note to self: controllerhookbaits}.
Hooks, size 10's and 12's are more than enough for ANY conditions including heavy weed, the only trouble I have is getting the little buggers out of a fishes gob once it's all over!
Mega sharpened hooks also, your not going to dink your hook on gravel and twigs etc so you can go mad with the old file!!
Loads of prep helps also, I like to have baits of different sizes and of different buoyancies some with the hook balanced on the top and some underneath, a days floater usually starts with 20 plus rigs ready to clip on and fuzz out there with hookbaits on. I also like to grease up the line with vasaline every two to three casts as this really seems to help.
I'm also a chaser, see them cast to them, reel in if they move and repeat, repeat, repeat, Dan says it's like watching fly fishing as I whip it to a foam lol, but I find it's best for me with overcasting a tweeking back working sometimes and other times landing it bosh within a few feet to see them turn and go for the bait. Different places, different ideas.
I love it, simply can't get enough of it and as I write this it's been 3 months since I fished on the bottom other than one social night with the Cerney boys where I pub chucked a bag and had a BBQ and too many beers! The rest of my time has been one mad sweaty crazy rush on the floaters. The rain was just as good as the sun. I've chased them on low stock venues and big pits and if you are willing to keep feeding, they can't ignore it in the end, some days using 10k of rubbish biscuits to feed off the birds followed up with another 10k plus for the carp. I use the Lidl biscuits that are shaped like a mixer/pellet for the carp and at £3.30 for two kilos it's not bad (don't tell my sponsors ASDAL)!! Love the Nash and Sticky ones but not willing to sell the house to pay for a summer of fun ;)
So give me a message with your findings, love to hear things you have done that get an extra bite off the top, everyone does it differently, my mate Mike feeds and leaves the controller static and sometimes even uses a buzzer.... and many a time has outdone me on the top, but I hope I've set a seed! But for me it's short hooklinks, balanced hookbaits and don't forget the pinkies!!!
Be Lucky RagsRob
