Feeder question

[Andy M]

Fishing a 35g feeder in about 5m of water with 6 lb mainline at about 40m distance, and keeping a tight line while the feeder sinks how much closer to the bank will the feeder hit bottom? Is there any general rule of thumb to work it out for different depths, distances?

 

[bullmoose_jackson]

At 40m distance with 5m of depth, you're talking inches rather than feet.

I have graphed it on a scaled drawing, and it really is very little.

One of the greatest myths in angling is that you lose yards off your distance by allowing a lead to sink on a tight line. Unless your venue is amazingly deep, you will not notice any loss of distance.

There is a trigonometry formula for this, but I can't find it at the moment.

Of course, a bigger concern is that when casting a feeder to a clip, the feeder can spring back against the rod tip, in which case you will end up with the feeder landing far closer to you than you might have expected.

 

[Andy M]

Thanks for the responses but two things still puzzle me. First, when the feeder does finally hit the bottom it takes several turns of the reel before I tighten up to the feeder (yes - I should count these and measure and will do next time out) also, given the resistance of the line as it is pulled down through the water I would have thought that simple trig would not give a reliable result and this is borne out to some extent by the amount of slack that there is when the feeder hits bottom.

 

[peter crabtree]

When you cast out let the feeder settle and slowly pull tight on your quiver by slowly sweeping your rod back to your side so it just registers. Then as you return the rod to the rest wind a couple of turns onto your reel. Using your reel to tighten up will only pull the feeder out of it's original position. It doesn't really matter if you just leave the line slack, bites will still register on your tip. After a minute or so your mainline will tighten down to your tip anyway caused by wind and tow on the water.

 

[Andy M]

OK, so am I correct in assuming that even in the circumstances I described I am OK if I am catapulting feed into pretty much the same spot as my feeder is landing?

 

[Craig Hunt]

It works out to be just under 1/2m

 

[Peter Jacobs]

OK, so am I correct in assuming that even in the circumstances I described I am OK if I am catapulting feed into pretty much the same spot as my feeder is landing?

At your stated 40m distance most anglers would be happy to get their feed within an area of the size of a dinning table around their hook bait.

Lots of practice, and testing different types of catty elastic and pouches, will see an improvement in your accuracy as well.

 

[Andy M]

At your stated 40m distance most anglers would be happy to get their feed within an area of the size of a dinning table around their hook bait.

Lots of practice, and testing different types of catty elastic and pouches, will see an improvement in your accuracy as well.

Well, mine is more like a banqueting table at present but at least now it seems I dont have to worry too much about my feeder being a good distance to the bank than where I think it is.

 

[Paul Morley]

I read in a Tony Miles article that 'inswing' was negligible and believe it. Re: feed other than in your feeder, either a marker float or before you do anything, find your catty range (particularly easy if it's the maximum it will go) hit the splashes made by a ball with a feeder cast, then clip up. Apart from the wind getting up, you'll be on target with both.

 

[Andy M]

Thanks Pete, I'll give it a try next trip.

 

[sam vimes]

Not a direct answer to your question (I suspect it's been covered), but you might find the following video of interest. Underwater footage of open end and method feeders being fished and the merits of different length hooklinks.

Underwater Feeder Fishing - YouTube