dangermouse
Well-known member
Had my first session at our club pond today, went down with a couple of mates. A very enjoyable day but at times very frustrating too.
I can honestly say I`ve never had so many bites that I`ve failed to hit. I was fishing in about 3ft of water using a match rod and a pole float rather than a waggler. The pond is well stocked and contains lots of small tench and crucians as well as roach, bream and lesser numbers of rudd and perch, no carp.
I started off well enough with a tiny roach followed soon after by a better specimen of about 5-6oz. After that things became a little strange. The tactics were simple enough, chuck in 6-12 maggots then cast just beyond where they`d landed and draw the float back into that area. Bites were coming thick and fast, usually within 5 seconds or so of the bait hitting the water. The problem was that virtually every strike just met thin air. Over the course of the day I reckon I hit maybe 1 in 10.
My first thought was that the bait was being hit by fish like the first one I caught, probably one of last years roach fry. To try and discourage them I went from single maggot to double maggot and I did manage to hit a couple of better quality roach but things were soon back to how they had been. Float hits the water, wait a few seconds, float bobs under and pops straight back up. Not striking to allow the bite to develop didn`t work, after the initial show of interest it was rare to get so much as a knock. I tried dotting the float down as far as I could, I tried leaving more float bristle showing. I tried over depth, dead depth, under depth and nothing improved my hit rate.
I`m guessing it was just one of those days as both my mate and the angler to my left were experiencing the same thing to some degree. However if anyone has any suggestions I`d love to hear them.
The other weird thing was that I caught nothing but roach (apart from 1 possible roach/rudd hybrid). My mates fishing 4mm expander pellets on the pole caught a nice mixture of roach, tench and crucians. Although I know the regulars say that pellet does better on that side of the pond, probably because that`s where matches are fished.
As for the snakes . . . I`ve seen them swimming around the pond but this morning was the first time I`d seen one on land. I heard a rustling in the rushes to my left and saw a grass snake working its way towards me. I stood up to take a closer look and it vanished under the rushes. I didn`t give it any more thought until maybe half an hour later it slithered onto my platform and lay in the sun no more than a foot away from my chair. It didn`t stay there long, I guess it saw me move or scented me because it slipped off the platform and into the water. Just wish I`d had a camera with me.
I can honestly say I`ve never had so many bites that I`ve failed to hit. I was fishing in about 3ft of water using a match rod and a pole float rather than a waggler. The pond is well stocked and contains lots of small tench and crucians as well as roach, bream and lesser numbers of rudd and perch, no carp.
I started off well enough with a tiny roach followed soon after by a better specimen of about 5-6oz. After that things became a little strange. The tactics were simple enough, chuck in 6-12 maggots then cast just beyond where they`d landed and draw the float back into that area. Bites were coming thick and fast, usually within 5 seconds or so of the bait hitting the water. The problem was that virtually every strike just met thin air. Over the course of the day I reckon I hit maybe 1 in 10.
My first thought was that the bait was being hit by fish like the first one I caught, probably one of last years roach fry. To try and discourage them I went from single maggot to double maggot and I did manage to hit a couple of better quality roach but things were soon back to how they had been. Float hits the water, wait a few seconds, float bobs under and pops straight back up. Not striking to allow the bite to develop didn`t work, after the initial show of interest it was rare to get so much as a knock. I tried dotting the float down as far as I could, I tried leaving more float bristle showing. I tried over depth, dead depth, under depth and nothing improved my hit rate.
I`m guessing it was just one of those days as both my mate and the angler to my left were experiencing the same thing to some degree. However if anyone has any suggestions I`d love to hear them.
The other weird thing was that I caught nothing but roach (apart from 1 possible roach/rudd hybrid). My mates fishing 4mm expander pellets on the pole caught a nice mixture of roach, tench and crucians. Although I know the regulars say that pellet does better on that side of the pond, probably because that`s where matches are fished.
As for the snakes . . . I`ve seen them swimming around the pond but this morning was the first time I`d seen one on land. I heard a rustling in the rushes to my left and saw a grass snake working its way towards me. I stood up to take a closer look and it vanished under the rushes. I didn`t give it any more thought until maybe half an hour later it slithered onto my platform and lay in the sun no more than a foot away from my chair. It didn`t stay there long, I guess it saw me move or scented me because it slipped off the platform and into the water. Just wish I`d had a camera with me.
