theoriginalpikeflyco
Well-known member
Hi again, sorry chaps. Out fishing all day with the kids.
I'm glad this has sparked some bewilderment because I certainly am.
Ok, so I wont 'quote' in all the people I'm responding to in this as I'm trying to answer queries from a few posters.
Just to clarify (somebody mentioned large lures I think?). I'm not using large lures. They are little soft micro lures. What I have been doing is fishing them on increasingly larger hooks to see if it made a difference in deterring the Roach. I got up to size 1 Partridge Absolutes which a a fairly large hook and to be honest I found myself thinking the little lure just looked completely daft and unnatural at this stage as the shanks are as long as the lures.
And I haven't struck once. They are hitting hard and and self hooked pretty much 99.9% of the time.
the first time it happened, I thought it was a small Perch or one of those little juvenile Pike. When I seen it was a Roach I thought it was a fluke. After the first few Roach I thought something was still amiss ie - they weren't really meaning to gobble my lure. As a few sessions have went on and the increase to silly hook size took place, it became obvious that these Roach were attacking my lures.
I do get some bumps that don't turn into fish...but its repeated bump bump bump....and so on for a few seconds. And then eventually I end up with a Roach. When I seem to hit a batch of the big ones, everytime its a solid thump and every single one is hooke immediately without me having to lift into them or strike. quite frankly its just a case of lifting into the fish immediately to avoid the barbless hook loosing hold. there is nothing subtle about the way they are taking.
Actually it wouldn't feel unlike the sharp lightning quick thump you get when a trout snaps at one of your buzzers or nymphs fishing near dead drift.
I'm back from the house now for the week, but will be up again this weekend and will take a few pics of the lures and set up to post up...although it really is basic. The lures are visually pretty much just like any of the little Berkley etc variants...tiny fish imitations and grubs. I cut out the middle man and ordered a batch from one of the Chinese Wholesale websites (Bad form, I know!). Minimum order was 100 (random mix) but I think it worked out about £17/18 posted! They do weigh a touch you know...they are dense little things and that's what I have been playing with. I threw them my wifes digital baking scales which are accurate down to .something of a gram and they weigh aaround 5gms with 10 of the slighter larger grubs at 7gms...or thereabouts. Although I do have half a dozen a pal gave me that he picked up in a tackle shop and they had the same effect.
I don't take pics on the tube anymore having lost too much moneys worth in camera's and smartphones! And a few times haven't liked the faffing with the fish out of the water. I don't mind taking photos if I have somebody out as normally I wouldn't be fishing then. But normally I only bring out the camera to take pics of the kids fishing. But I think I still have a little waterproof case somewhere for my phone. If I can dig it out, I'll keep my phone switched on for a change so I'll snap a few photos for you. Suppose to be fair this probably warrants a few pics! My wife did witness me land a 2 when she was down to shout me up to the house for lunch...but really its all wasted on her...shes just not impressed by any of my fishing antics, unless I announce I'm taking the kids for the day!
I think the oddest thing for me is this...I know these waters hold extremely healthy populations of fish, and also very big specimens far exceeding accepted specimen size. So do a few others who specimen hunt 'quietly' on them. However, I know for a fact that if I was going on the hunt for big Roach via float, feeder, leger etc...I would have been in for a long wait and more than a few sessions of no really big Roach unless I struck it lucky early on. I have flogged these waters with flies of all shapes and sizes (trout lures and fluoro shaggy nymphs inc.) over the years hunting for Pike and Perch. Not once have I ever hooked another fish species accidently or otherwise on the fly.
I literally just thought I'd dabble with the dropshot rod as a change from chasing perch on the fly...and it more or less immediately led to what I have described.
And the fact that's its happening on so many different (admittedly closely neighbouring) waters has surprised me most.
As I say...a friend had mentioned his experience of this whilst dropshotting from the bank on another Irish water, but this was approx. 120ish miles away and he was catching a completely mixed bag of weights...although all Roach.
Put simply...I think I'd still be sitting watching my quivertip/float/indicator right now!
But what can I say...its been a helluva lot of fun and I'm certainly not complaining.
---------- Post added at 16:53 ---------- Previous post was at 16:21 ----------
Also see you guys have popped a few pics of fish caught on lures. and researching online I have found snippets here and there of this type of behaviour. I've never had the pleasure until now.
I have over the years dabbled in quite a bit of flyfishing for Rudd and have had great fun on one particular river.
and Iv'e had great fun with Hybrids on a few shallowish waters I fish were they aren't too shy at all of the float tube, and a mornings baiting up with a big cloud of mashed bread and liquidised sweetcorn results in a great evenings fishing using a little 4/5weight rod with a sweetcorn imitation monstrosity fished 2 rod lengths from the float tube (with a few free offerings of sweetcorn to kickstart the session)
I did spend some time over the years trying for Roach on the fly after reading a book on flyfishing for coarse fish but although I had a few bits of limited success here and there, it was always inconsistent for me.
But this is all flyfishing based....never ever had same fish on lures of any type...intentionally or not. In fact, I've never had as many Roach of such a size throughout my lifetime from a coarse fishing perspective.
I'm glad this has sparked some bewilderment because I certainly am.
Ok, so I wont 'quote' in all the people I'm responding to in this as I'm trying to answer queries from a few posters.
Just to clarify (somebody mentioned large lures I think?). I'm not using large lures. They are little soft micro lures. What I have been doing is fishing them on increasingly larger hooks to see if it made a difference in deterring the Roach. I got up to size 1 Partridge Absolutes which a a fairly large hook and to be honest I found myself thinking the little lure just looked completely daft and unnatural at this stage as the shanks are as long as the lures.
And I haven't struck once. They are hitting hard and and self hooked pretty much 99.9% of the time.
the first time it happened, I thought it was a small Perch or one of those little juvenile Pike. When I seen it was a Roach I thought it was a fluke. After the first few Roach I thought something was still amiss ie - they weren't really meaning to gobble my lure. As a few sessions have went on and the increase to silly hook size took place, it became obvious that these Roach were attacking my lures.
I do get some bumps that don't turn into fish...but its repeated bump bump bump....and so on for a few seconds. And then eventually I end up with a Roach. When I seem to hit a batch of the big ones, everytime its a solid thump and every single one is hooke immediately without me having to lift into them or strike. quite frankly its just a case of lifting into the fish immediately to avoid the barbless hook loosing hold. there is nothing subtle about the way they are taking.
Actually it wouldn't feel unlike the sharp lightning quick thump you get when a trout snaps at one of your buzzers or nymphs fishing near dead drift.
I'm back from the house now for the week, but will be up again this weekend and will take a few pics of the lures and set up to post up...although it really is basic. The lures are visually pretty much just like any of the little Berkley etc variants...tiny fish imitations and grubs. I cut out the middle man and ordered a batch from one of the Chinese Wholesale websites (Bad form, I know!). Minimum order was 100 (random mix) but I think it worked out about £17/18 posted! They do weigh a touch you know...they are dense little things and that's what I have been playing with. I threw them my wifes digital baking scales which are accurate down to .something of a gram and they weigh aaround 5gms with 10 of the slighter larger grubs at 7gms...or thereabouts. Although I do have half a dozen a pal gave me that he picked up in a tackle shop and they had the same effect.
I don't take pics on the tube anymore having lost too much moneys worth in camera's and smartphones! And a few times haven't liked the faffing with the fish out of the water. I don't mind taking photos if I have somebody out as normally I wouldn't be fishing then. But normally I only bring out the camera to take pics of the kids fishing. But I think I still have a little waterproof case somewhere for my phone. If I can dig it out, I'll keep my phone switched on for a change so I'll snap a few photos for you. Suppose to be fair this probably warrants a few pics! My wife did witness me land a 2 when she was down to shout me up to the house for lunch...but really its all wasted on her...shes just not impressed by any of my fishing antics, unless I announce I'm taking the kids for the day!
I think the oddest thing for me is this...I know these waters hold extremely healthy populations of fish, and also very big specimens far exceeding accepted specimen size. So do a few others who specimen hunt 'quietly' on them. However, I know for a fact that if I was going on the hunt for big Roach via float, feeder, leger etc...I would have been in for a long wait and more than a few sessions of no really big Roach unless I struck it lucky early on. I have flogged these waters with flies of all shapes and sizes (trout lures and fluoro shaggy nymphs inc.) over the years hunting for Pike and Perch. Not once have I ever hooked another fish species accidently or otherwise on the fly.
I literally just thought I'd dabble with the dropshot rod as a change from chasing perch on the fly...and it more or less immediately led to what I have described.
And the fact that's its happening on so many different (admittedly closely neighbouring) waters has surprised me most.
As I say...a friend had mentioned his experience of this whilst dropshotting from the bank on another Irish water, but this was approx. 120ish miles away and he was catching a completely mixed bag of weights...although all Roach.
Put simply...I think I'd still be sitting watching my quivertip/float/indicator right now!
But what can I say...its been a helluva lot of fun and I'm certainly not complaining.
---------- Post added at 16:53 ---------- Previous post was at 16:21 ----------
Also see you guys have popped a few pics of fish caught on lures. and researching online I have found snippets here and there of this type of behaviour. I've never had the pleasure until now.
I have over the years dabbled in quite a bit of flyfishing for Rudd and have had great fun on one particular river.
and Iv'e had great fun with Hybrids on a few shallowish waters I fish were they aren't too shy at all of the float tube, and a mornings baiting up with a big cloud of mashed bread and liquidised sweetcorn results in a great evenings fishing using a little 4/5weight rod with a sweetcorn imitation monstrosity fished 2 rod lengths from the float tube (with a few free offerings of sweetcorn to kickstart the session)
I did spend some time over the years trying for Roach on the fly after reading a book on flyfishing for coarse fish but although I had a few bits of limited success here and there, it was always inconsistent for me.
But this is all flyfishing based....never ever had same fish on lures of any type...intentionally or not. In fact, I've never had as many Roach of such a size throughout my lifetime from a coarse fishing perspective.
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Ive taken good roach on shrimps, whit baby dolls and loads from Rutland on buzzers, as well as other species.