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Peter Jacobs with an in-depth look at short whip fishing. “Far from being a brainless method, fishing a short whip can be an exciting, fruitful and rewarding experience,” says Peter’,’Rigs made up ready for whip fishing are a must!’
Short whip fishing was once described by a well known match angler as, “fishing with your brain taken out!” and for many years I too subscribed to that particular theory.
Then as an aspiring match angler I was quite amazed to see the dexterity, experience and rhythm that were required in order to master this unique and rewarding method.
Far from being a brainless method or indeed one for match anglers alone, fishing a short whip can be an exciting, fruitful and rewarding experience.
In both Europe and Scandinavia the short whip is widely used on both rivers and lakes in matches and pleasure sessions alike.
I was therefore a little surprised on returning to the UK after many years in Scandinavia to find that the short whip rarely featured in matches over here. Maybe this has something to do with the rise of commercial fisheries, but then again it is still an excellent river method, so I am unsure of any particular reason why this should be so.
Not Just a Match Method
When teaching youngsters to fish (regardless of age) I will invariably utilize this method if for no other reason than to get them catching fish as there is nothing more off-putting for kids than hours of boredom interspersed with a few moments of thrilling interlude.
Given that there is no reel to contend with, no casting per se, and typically being as close to an instant method as is possible, then I believe that there is no better method with which to begin a young angler’s career.
Beginner’s only?
This is not to say that it is only a beginner’s method. In the years when I targeted carp from all over the UK (now that is an admission that I rarely make in public) I would always have a small selection of whips in my holdall for those long hours between runs. Many of the lakes I fished were well stocked with both roach and rudd, and during the middle of the day I would happily target these obliging fish often catching upwards of a hundred fish in very short periods.
Match Method
As a match angler it was a method I often employed to boost what would otherwise have been a mid-section weight into a framing weight and I found that by regularly feeding the short whip line you could keep fish in that area for hours at a time.
Ready made rigs are a must
I weight my rigs so that the bulk will take the float down to the beginning of the tip and the dropper will sink the tip to about half its\’ length. As you will invariably get the fish feeding higher and higher in the water by constant feeding the dropper shot gives an excellent indication of on the drop bites. Sometimes it is simply a case of cast, count to five slowly, strike and swing in the fish with little or no indication on the float at all.
Feeding
In keeping with many other styles the key to success is in the feeding. To start with be wary with both quantity and quality of the feed that is going in as you can easily feed-off even a shoal of small fish. Although once the fish are feeding confidently then an acorn-size nugget every drop in is actually enough but keep it going in every cast.
I prefer to use this little and often approach and my usual feed is quite a wet mix of either Sensas Surface or Sensas 3000 Ablettes. To the mix I will add a small quantity of pinkies rather than maggot but I will usually fish a big maggot on the hook. The reasons for this are two fold, firstly I can catch quite a few fish in the same maggot by making sure that it is threaded up the hook shank worm fishing style, and the second is that I want a slightly larger hookbait than feed bait as an attractant.
Feeding and Fishing Patterns
My experiences from match fishing taught me that you can very quickly exhaust even a relatively large shoal of small fish by continuing to fish and feed on the same line and I soon learned that by fishing alternately at the 10 o-clock, 12 o-clock and 2 o-clock positions and only taking 2 or 3 fish from each area you can make the line work for much longer.
It can also pay great dividends to have a spare whip set up at 1 to 11/2 meters longer than that which you are using. Every now and then give this longer whip a try and you might be surprised at the size of the bonus fish that were sitting just outside your line of feed cautiously looking on.
Rhythm Not Speed
I have noticed that short whip fishing has been referred to as \’speed fishing\’ in some articles in the angling press.
Short whip fishing was once described by a well known match angler as, “fishing with your brain taken out!” and for many years I too subscribed to that particular theory.
Then as an aspiring match angler I was quite amazed to see the dexterity, experience and rhythm that were required in order to master this unique and rewarding method.
Far from being a brainless method or indeed one for match anglers alone, fishing a short whip can be an exciting, fruitful and rewarding experience.
In both Europe and Scandinavia the short whip is widely used on both rivers and lakes in matches and pleasure sessions alike.
I was therefore a little surprised on returning to the UK after many years in Scandinavia to find that the short whip rarely featured in matches over here. Maybe this has something to do with the rise of commercial fisheries, but then again it is still an excellent river method, so I am unsure of any particular reason why this should be so.
Not Just a Match Method
When teaching youngsters to fish (regardless of age) I will invariably utilize this method if for no other reason than to get them catching fish as there is nothing more off-putting for kids than hours of boredom interspersed with a few moments of thrilling interlude.
Given that there is no reel to contend with, no casting per se, and typically being as close to an instant method as is possible, then I believe that there is no better method with which to begin a young angler’s career.
Beginner’s only?
This is not to say that it is only a beginner’s method. In the years when I targeted carp from all over the UK (now that is an admission that I rarely make in public) I would always have a small selection of whips in my holdall for those long hours between runs. Many of the lakes I fished were well stocked with both roach and rudd, and during the middle of the day I would happily target these obliging fish often catching upwards of a hundred fish in very short periods.
Match Method
As a match angler it was a method I often employed to boost what would otherwise have been a mid-section weight into a framing weight and I found that by regularly feeding the short whip line you could keep fish in that area for hours at a time.
Ready made rigs are a must
I weight my rigs so that the bulk will take the float down to the beginning of the tip and the dropper will sink the tip to about half its\’ length. As you will invariably get the fish feeding higher and higher in the water by constant feeding the dropper shot gives an excellent indication of on the drop bites. Sometimes it is simply a case of cast, count to five slowly, strike and swing in the fish with little or no indication on the float at all.
Feeding
In keeping with many other styles the key to success is in the feeding. To start with be wary with both quantity and quality of the feed that is going in as you can easily feed-off even a shoal of small fish. Although once the fish are feeding confidently then an acorn-size nugget every drop in is actually enough but keep it going in every cast.
I prefer to use this little and often approach and my usual feed is quite a wet mix of either Sensas Surface or Sensas 3000 Ablettes. To the mix I will add a small quantity of pinkies rather than maggot but I will usually fish a big maggot on the hook. The reasons for this are two fold, firstly I can catch quite a few fish in the same maggot by making sure that it is threaded up the hook shank worm fishing style, and the second is that I want a slightly larger hookbait than feed bait as an attractant.
Feeding and Fishing Patterns
My experiences from match fishing taught me that you can very quickly exhaust even a relatively large shoal of small fish by continuing to fish and feed on the same line and I soon learned that by fishing alternately at the 10 o-clock, 12 o-clock and 2 o-clock positions and only taking 2 or 3 fish from each area you can make the line work for much longer.
It can also pay great dividends to have a spare whip set up at 1 to 11/2 meters longer than that which you are using. Every now and then give this longer whip a try and you might be surprised at the size of the bonus fish that were sitting just outside your line of feed cautiously looking on.
Rhythm Not Speed
I have noticed that short whip fishing has been referred to as \’speed fishing\’ in some articles in the angling press.
