Floating baits on a feeder rig

[sylvanillo]

Good morning,

From a beginner, another stupid question

So I have gone fishing on a stretch of the little Oxford canal yesterday. I know it was cold and the water was distinctly more coloured than usual, so likely not the best conditions for a feeder junior. But when a nice sun and a blue sky are calling, what could I do??

I tried a few spots that I know from the past when I was busy with predators, that all hold some carp and chub, staying 30 to 60 min on each. After 3 hours of effort, nothing at all, not even a bite.

One thing I was wondering is how to present a hookbait slightly over the bottom? so it would be highly visible and probably more attractive to the chub.

The feeder rig I use is a classic running one, with a long hooklength because I've found it worked damn well with chub, bream, barbel. At least in Belgium!!

So I'm thinking of a very floating hookbait, with a split shot a few cms ahead so, the hooklength is sitting on the bed and the bait is presented a few cms above the bed.

I tried a corn imitations, the packages say buoyant or floating, but when I put this fake corn plus a soft pellet or a natural corn, it doesn't float at all!!!

Otherwise, I could set a boilie which does float a lot, but that doesn't provide a variety of other hookbaits.

Is there anything especially good floating bait that I can then associate with something different, either a soft pellet, a mini boilie, a corn, a lobworm etc?

 

[peter crabtree]

Dry expander pellets float so try hair rigging one on a band and put a no8 shot 1inch from the hook. This will sit just off bottom and soften after a while. Take a selection of 4 6 and 8mm and see which works best.

 

[mikench]

You could also try bread crust using the same method with maybe a bigger shot. I've found sourdough bread crust floats well even when it's absorbed water.

 

[sylvanillo]

Oh thank you very much guys!
I will try both options then. Never seen an "expander pellet" and never tried a bread crust yet!
Thanks again.

 

[john step]

If they are proper sized chub you can buy a hyperdermic syringe and inject air into a lob worm to sit off bottom. Its an old trick for chub/perch/carp. it always comes with the warning not to inject yourself accidentally with air though.

 

[Notts Michael.]

Last winter I caught a few river Chub using a small (3/4oz) lead, and a bit of hair-rigged cork, wrapped in cheesepaste, about 18 inch hooklength and a size 12 hook, so that it was buoyant enough to waft in the flow and sit off the bottom, hoping to try the same again soon when the water drops a bit ;-)

 

[mikench]

A boille with a cork insert would also work . Look at the ESP/ Korda vid on bait drills and cork inserts.

 

[peter crabtree]

Probably not the answer to your question but on the Oxford canal (or any narrowish canal) you may be better off with a float set up. That way you could present your bait off the bottom and it would move around with the movements on canals in a more natural way. It's not as if you need to cast any great distance after all.

 

[sylvanillo]

Probably not the answer to your question but on the Oxford canal (or any narrowish canal) you may be better off with a float set up. That way you could present your bait off the bottom and it would move around with the movements on canals in a more natural way. It's not as if you need to cast any great distance after all.

Good idea. The only problem for now is that I'm just learning coarse fishing, I don't know float fishing yet. But yes I understand it would be a very good approach. And perhaps it's easier to learn float on a canal because it's very shallow, about 3-4 feet max I think. A bit different from the Meuse which was about 50 feet deep

 

[Another Dave]

A lot of people swear by stinky cheese for chub. Maybe try that instead of a buoyant bait if you think they aren't noticing it in the coloured water.

 

[markcw]

Try mini marshmallows also good for eating if you are peckish Where in oxford are you ? If you want to try float fishing on the canal, I can help you, also I have tackle for you to borrow if required I fished the canal circuit when I was living in the north west, also fished the oxford canal a few times over the years, it is very similar to the Shropshire union canal in the north west,I am now living in oxford and am free most days. Glad to help out if neede

 

[sylvanillo]

Isnt' it the best forum ever

All: I will try the cheese, the cork, the marshmallows, the lobworm injections... I didn't know coarse fishing could be so technical?!

Mark: I live in the North Hinksey area i.e. west Oxford. More than happy to meet!

So today, I've managed to go to the canal for 1,5 hours only, the idea being to test.

I've been trying one of your options, the bread one (or, shall I say, the Tesco option). I took a loaf of warburton white, perhaps not the best one, I don't know. Well, it didn't work at all. Not saying anyone has lied to me of course but warburton doesn't work for me. I tried hair rigging or direct on the hook, it dissolves in about 30 secs.

After this, I found a box of orange tuttifrutti pop-up in the bag. I used it both as a real bait and a way to maintain a second hookbait over the bottom.

Since the Oxford valley is turning into a ocean, the canal has some consistent current in many places. I tried to place the feeder between the other bank and this stream.

A bit later the rod nearly went out of the rest - problably a suicidal fish?

Well at least the "off bottom" presentation seems to work better, but I will also try the other options, and probably bread again but this time with the sourdough bread.

Have a good evening.

 

[markcw]

Hi ,sent you a PM regarding the canal,

 

[rich66]

I've been trying one of your options, the bread one (or, shall I say, the Tesco option). I took a loaf of warburton white, perhaps not the best one, I don't know. Well, it didn't work at all. Not saying anyone has lied to me of course but warburton doesn't work for me. I tried hair rigging or direct on the hook, it dissolves in about 30 secs.

Warburtons is usually the best I find, nice and fresh it has a good doughy texture that holds on the hook well.
Have a look at this link. I’ve used the fold in half method and works very well for me

Idlersquest.blogspot.com/2012/01/my-way-with-bread.html

Nice fish too

 

[markcw]

Warbys for me as well, I always get the thick sliced, find it stays on the hook if using punch or flake,and in summer a few pieces punched out using an apple corer and on a decent hook is an ideal bait for margin sized carp on commercials

 

[rich66]

I punch a load out at home and let them dry, really dry. Then put them in an airtight bag. You can hair rig 3-4 and get a big fluffy bait after a few minutes of it being back in the water. Saved me from a blank a time or two.

 

[sylvanillo]

Thanks very much for the expert advice.
A lot of things to try then.
Yesterday I was up on the canal and tried a piece of cork on a long hair, which then hosted different hookbaits: the excellent match minis or soft hookers from Dynamite. Didn't get any bite at all, very cold anyway, but the rig is ok: a small piece of cork is able to keep 2 of those hookbaits off the bottom.

 

[markcw]

Sylvain, it will be more convenient for me to arrange our canal visit after xmas The next few weeks I am back and to to Warrington, and in Yorkshire on Wednesday.

 

[sylvanillo]

Follow-up on the subject ... after several short sessions in different places. Thank you all for helping :bowdown:

All attempts done on small rivers for chub.

- Bread: so I did try it, both as hookbait and as ground bait in a feeder. I've been surprised by the almost instant activity that liquidised bread creates! That's particularly been the case when adding salt and any kind of spice. The problem I've found with bread is that it seems it attracts small fish first e.g. roach, small shoals of chub. But I'll definitely use it again.

- Marshmallow: I got a bag but unfortunately my daughter found it. Too dangerous at home

- Cheese paste over a piece of cork: good results with strong bites coming quickly. But it doesn't stay on the hook

At the same time, I kept on trying with pop-ups. And wao by far the most effective hookbait!
I've been surprised when visiting a well-established tackle shop in order to find smaller popups, when the owner said that chub 1) is never caught on a popup and 2) wouldn't care about the flavour. Well in my very very modest experience, popups have worked great, and also some of them work very well and some of them not at all.
The 14 mm from Rod Hutchinson work well. They have an outer layer that the fish attacks and then the rest of it comes easily.
A good thing with popups is that they help avoid smaller fish such as roach.
That being said, I also caught a pike on it!