Angling methods you've pioneered

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

Are there any angling methods, styles you have either "invented" or adapted or pioneered on your local waters?
I can't lay claim to any, though I do have a trick where I empty half of tin of sweet corn in to a bait box and then throw this in to the margin to mimic an angler throwing bait in at the end of a session. I've caught a few carp in the margins on sweet corn doing this but whether the trick has made any difference I'm not sure

 

[andreagrispi]

I always keep my rigs as simple as practically possible - they serve me well

 

[Specihunter]

I perfected the sleep technique

 

[flightliner]

Used to have problems in wintertime with the sun rising on my back fishing for roach on the stickfloat/ stretpegging on a small shallow midlands river back in the eighties, people skylining from the top of the flood bank didnt help either. The roach would dissapear in an instant and you had to wait till dusk for more action most days.
Put a big sheet of black polythene on the waters surface at the bottom of the swim eventually before first light one winters morning , it was purpose made with polyballs at the corners and along the edges, finally tied to bank with string.
It worked a treat, the roach found the dark shadow on the surface and riverbed to their liking. After that it was a simple matter to let the float downstream and then let the bait hold under the poly sheet.
Huc a duk comes to mind, it was brilliant but its a special case sort of thing for shallow water in situations described.
If you can find an old 1980s copy of "Coarse Angler" you will read it in the fuller version.

I have also developed a bait delivery device that puts the spod rocket and the spomb to shame but it is too expensive to patent, I used it regularly on the Trent for Barbel in the nineties but when the crowds started to appear I stopped using it for my own good. Its been in my garage in a cupboard for years now.

 

[geoffmaynard]

Put a big sheet of black polythene on the waters surface at the bottom of the swim eventually before first light one winters morning , it was purpose made with polyballs at the corners and along the edges, finally tied to bank with string.
It worked a treat, the roach found the dark shadow on the surface and riverbed to their liking. After that it was a simple matter to let the float downstream and then let the bait hold under the poly sheet.

Very cool
I once tried playing music to fish with underwater speakers, I tried using a battery-powered fan to make surface disturbance for catfish, kite-fishing to present a bait at long range on Wraysbury res... I've tried all sorts of silly-beggar stuff over the years but I never really caught any more than anyone else

 

[flightliner]

Very cool
I once tried playing music to fish with underwater speakers, I tried using a battery-powered fan to make surface disturbance for catfish, kite-fishing to present a bait at long range on Wraysbury res... I've tried all sorts of silly-beggar stuff over the years but I never really caught any more than anyone else

Geoff-- wasnt that done earlier by some guy using a Dez o conner record -- perhaps you should have bought one?:wh:wh

 

[Bluenose]

I have also developed a bait delivery device that puts the spod rocket and the spomb to shame but it is too expensive to patent, I used it regularly on the Trent for Barbel in the nineties but when the crowds started to appear I stopped using it for my own good. Its been in my garage in a cupboard for years now.

I'm interested in hearing about that!

 

[peterjg]

The following were my own ideas though I'm sure others had also thought of them:

In the early 80s I came up with what is now called the 'helicopter rig' - it was years before I actually saw it in print.

I used to use (1980s) polystyrene (meant for sea fishing) marker floats which would cast very poorly - it was a revelation when I glued vanes to the same floats!

I came up with the idea of using a bent piece of tubing on a hook to simulate a bent hook - again years before I saw it in print.

In 1991 I made a pair of bite alarms with 8 different 'noises' (hand grenades, machine guns, etc) as a bit of a joke - I ended up actually using them for 17 years until the PCB packed up. Very silly!!!! Caught 3 English 40s using them though.

I made a remote extension speaker from a cordless door bell. My mates used to say that every time I had a run people living nearby would keep going to their front doors! Very silly!!!

My son went one stage futher by making a remote speaker from an old mobile phone. He used to joke that his rods could be in Australia and he'd still hear the run! Shame about the time lag!

Many years ago I started to use a closely toothed dog comb to tie hair rigs - still use it.

Rig boards.

Spill proof spods.

I made a trebushey (dodgy spelling) (siege machine) for firing out balls of groundbait. It worked but looked ridiculous! Very silly!!!

Lots of other dopey inventions - too silly to mention.

I'm sure I wasn't the first to invent these bits and pieces but I can claim that they were thought up quite independently.

 

[Titus]

Method feeder, adapted from a rig my south African mate showed me incorporating an inline semi fixed open end feeder and a short hooklength, The big meat in the margins with the light bobbin on a long drop, obvious really when you watched the match lads throwing half tins in at the end of a match. The uni rig for barbel fishing, a link swivel for the lead or feeder, a couple of inches of stiff silicone tube and another swivel then the hooklength, a logical follow on from the John Roberts feeder boom, the barbel time bomb, groundbait and pellets in an open ended feeder, common on the Severn for years before Matty told the world about it and another obvious adaptation from the match world.

Once again I'm not claiming to have invented any of them, they were just ideas who's time had come, much like many great discoveries, they were developed independently by several people who had no contact..

 

[flightliner]

Quote:
Originally Posted by flightliner
I have also developed a bait delivery device that puts the spod rocket and the spomb to shame but it is too expensive to patent, I used it regularly on the Trent for Barbel in the nineties but when the crowds started to appear I stopped using it for my own good. Its been in my garage in a cupboard for years now.

I'm interested in hearing about that!

Strange isnt it, you are immedietaly interested as I think many anglers would be (thank you), but when I approached two differant companies with the idea they wer,nt.I told both that they could view it on condition that it would,nt be pirated and leave me in the cold so to speak and was told to have something written up by a legal eagle, I asked if they would go halfway with the costs but they declined, I did make enquiries at the time but decided it was a bit rich so hence the hiding in the cupboard thing.
Sad really as it does so much more than the more popular bait delivery items on the market and the angler and the industry have lost out.
Not only that but it can be used not only by the speciman fraternity but the match and pleasure guys also as its size can be modified to suit all parties
Any tackle manufacturer looking in on this can veiw it but----as stated above.

 

[dannytaylor]

Ron will be along soon to tell you all that these methods where in actual fact developed/pioneered first in south africa during the dark ages

---------- Post added at 12:00 ---------- Previous post was at 11:59 ----------

Flightliners idea for small river roach is brilliant :w

 

[Titus]

The method feeder was.....The only difference was someone gave it a daft name and publicised it.

 

[flightliner]

Flightliners idea for small river roach is brilliant

Thanks for the compliment Danny,The poly sheet is still in my garage somewhere but the little river is but a shadow of its former self tho last winter I found another little river-- A trib of the Trent - not the idle- where I may ressurect it cum the cold weather as it has the right depth and flow and no other anglers using it-- took some finding but its showing a bit of promise-- the sunny days are pretty lean tho hence the possible revival.
ps-- the last time I used it a dog walker came up to me and asked if I had caught any fish. I played it down a little saying it was a poor day and he replied, " no wonder mate when you get idiots throwing ruddy sheets of polythene in the river"
Had to laugh!

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

interesting to see "ordinary" anglers coming up with solutions or "new" ideas

maybe if we just publisied our ideas when we get them the "name" anglers of today would not get the merit (and this is not aimed at Ron)

 

[Philip]

I suspect someone somewhere must have done it before me but I certainly "invented" flying backleads in as much as to say that I thought of the idea myself before I ever saw one in a shop or in print. Mine was basically a tiny bomb attached to a snap link on a run ring and held about 3 foot up the line above the normal lead by a stop. Cast out under arm the top lead landed at your feet and the bottom lead whizzed out into the river with the line between the two pinned down. It worked really well for Barbel and I went to great pains not to let anyone see me using it.

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

One thing I can claim and it can be proved

I started the Who won June's caption comp inquery

LP: we want answer
FM: You want answers?
LP We want hte truth
FM: You couldn't handle the truth
LP: ok

 

[nicepix]

Like others have said; not necessarily new methods, but ones I've come up with before seeing someone else's idea:

Trotting with fly-fishing nymphs rather than bait.

Ledering with fly-fishing caddis imitations in fast, shallow rivers.

Using a sliding zoomer float with worm bait and fishing it sink and draw to search for perch or trout.

Using milk in my groundbait to make a cloud in shallow, clear water.

Putting a cork one and a half times the depth above a deep diving plug to keep it near, but off the bottom on a weedy canal I fished.

When fishing off my kayak using a dog chain below my downrigger weight to stir up the bottom ahead of my lure or bait. The chain was adorned with cable ties to flick the sand and silt up.

Tying a fly specifically for flounder. It sits on the muddy bottom of an estuary hook point uppermost, and can be twitched back causing puffs of silt to rise behind it. (Also works great for chub in gravelly shallows where it resembles a bullhead).

The thing I am most proud of though is finding unfished waters and catching wild fish from them using whatever methods are appropriate. In the UK I had some great sport with specimen barbel, chub, perch, trout and mullet from swims that had never seen anglers. My current targets are barbel from a couple of virgin swims on the Vienne and some monster carp from a tiny un-fished corner of a massive well fished reservoir.

 

[geoffmaynard]

Geoff-- wasnt that done earlier by some guy using a Dez o conner record -- perhaps you should have bought one?:wh:wh

This was years before that advert.
Probably the most successful idea I had was using a otter/planer board on the Ebro for catfish at long range.

 

[chav professor]

Open bail arm for Chub on slow sluggish rivers...... Can't say I am the only person to have ever done it, but probably the first to describe it in print.... and never come across the idea before......
http://www.fishingmagic.com/features/coarse_fishing/specimen_fishing/15550-winter-chubbing.html

 

[nicepix]

This was years before that advert.
Probably the most successful idea I had was using a otter/planer board on the Ebro for catfish at long range.

The problem of delivering baits long distances has always intrigued anglers.

In a 1904 book in a chapter dedicated to fishing for Mahseer there is reference to tying an anglers bait to a plank of wood with a light cotton thread and allowing it to drift downstream before being yanked clear of the wood. An early version of the bit boat.

In Cyprus, after the tourist season has finished you will see groups of anglers clustered around fires on the beach with their rods stuck up in the air in typical continental fashion. Their baits are dangling under polystyrene blocks about 10 cm cubed, sometimes 200 metres or more from the coast. The rafts are blown out by the wind, carrying the baits with them. Now we have pike floats with sails attached to do the same job.

Zane Grey wrote about big game fishing off California using kites to skim flying fish baits across the surface of the sea. The bait and line would break off from the kite when a marlin or swordfish took the bait. Imagine that with today's controlled kites.