bites on the drop

[dtry]

Hi
I'm new to match fishing, hoping some one can help out.
In Bob Nudd's article in last weeks Angling Times, he is talking about
dropper shots. He fed some small balls of groudbait and was fishing 3 ins
over depth. Later in the session he started getting bites on the drop. My
question is what do you guys do ....
Do you start fishing at dead depth or even off bottom, or add more
groundbait to try to draw the fish back to the bottom.
Or do you continue to fish over depth and just try to hit the bites on the
drop.

Dave

 

[Terry Comerford]

Shallow up three inches at a time, keep the feeding the same and try to find which depth the fish have moved up to.
Note the depth you were originally fishing at by holding your hook at the end of the rod butt, and make a mental note of where your float is along the rod.
So you can move back to the bottom without having to plumb the depth again.

 

[Tim Rogers]

If you find that the majority of bites are coming on the drop then shallow up as explained above' but with "practice" you will know how long it takes for your bait to hit the bottom and will see by the way your float behaves either going under or lying virtually flat or even lifting.So you will know your bait has been taken in mid water.So by leaving it set at your original depth you can fish both on the drop and also if you dont contact with a fish in mid water you have the added benefit of still taking a fish off the deck.

 

[jason fisher]

i've not seen the article but on still waters i'd use a long thin float and string small shot out down the line, then have a couple of casts with no bait on counting the time it takes for the float to settle properly then if it slows down in settling i know i've got a bite.

on a river then still string out the shot but with a stick float and watch the rate that it takes for the float to right itself in the water.

it takes a bit of practice to judge exactly where the bite has come but you will work it out.

 

[dtry]

thanks for the tips guys. I got the idea of how the dropper shots work, and that you watch you float to see when it sits correctly, but was unsure if you adjusted to the fish that have moved off the bottom or not. I think from what you have said, the best way would be to keep at the same depth and try to catch on the drop.
Would you feed heavier as the fish are compeating for the food?

 

[Tim Rogers]

Always feed to your bites ratio "little and often" is better than bunging in a load from the start
you cant take it out once youve put in in

 

[jason fisher]

dtry

you can move off the bottom, but i don't i fish full depth, if it's on running water you can check the float by breifly stopping the line coming off the spool, this will lift the hook up in the water a little too.