Some questions....

Well I'll do it in a list!!

1. How does weather affect the fish? Rain, sun, wind etc

2. When it's windy, what is the best float to use to minimise the float waggling about and moving the bait?

3. Do i have to have a quiver tip rod to ledger? Does it work best under certain conditions and what kind of setup is needed? (sorry 3 in 1 there!!)

4. Is worth using hair rigs and boilies? Will it make a difference?

5. Why am I so addicted to angling??

Thanks in advance

Andy

Apologies, wrong forum

You could write a book on any one of those questions mate!

One at a time, which one first?

Question Three.

I?ll have a go at answering this one for you mate.
You don?t need a quivertip rod to do ledgering work with. At one time I only ever used one when conditions were too rough for the float.
But now I use a quivertip most of the time. That is a rod with interchangeable tips, (different strengths) all depending how strong the flow of the water is, or even windy conditions.
Sometimes, I will dispense with one of the finer tips altogether and use my Avon top, again all depending on weather conditions. If it is calm I will use a fine tip on the rod, if it is rough, I will use the Avon top.

Effectively you are ledgering if you have a carp set up, you can use bite alarms, and bobbins, or even both at the same time. Either one will give you an indication of a run.

Each of the above can be gone into in more detail if you want to. As Eddie says, you could write a book on each question. So ask away mate.

I'll give a very basic answer to question 1 but Eddie's right, you could easily write a book about this!

I'll generalise and say that the best conditions are when there's wind on the water (stillwaters)and colour in the rivers. Also it should be cloudy but it doesn't need to be raining. Not too hot, and not too cold. So, our prevailing weather (south westerly winds, temperate and damp) is perfect

So basically, when the pretty weather girls are all sad, us anglers are happy!

Question 2 use a pole, or if float fishing with a rod and line a waggler float attached bottom only.

The deeper the lake, and the stronger the wind, the bigger (longer) the waggler.

Dot the float down and be prepared to let your float disappear momentarily beneath the peak of each wave, say to yourself 'now you see me now you don't' when you say 'now you don't' and the float doesnt reappear, strike, (likewise if the float stays above the surface strike also)!

Well i have to give you lot something chew over!!

More details... I was up on the canal... absolutely pouring down.... the water was rough for the canal.. my float being all over the place.... I used a bodied waggler i believe they are called... straight with a bulb at the bottom.... with the usual shot bluked with a tell tale about 8 inches from the hook... ( a bloke on a passing canal boat said i needed to get a life, tosser!!)

I wondered how the fish react to the rain?? Do they seek cover? or relish in the fact that most anglers are at home!! he he

Fish reaction to rain varies from water to water, and from day to day mate, no 2 days are ever the same, but you'll catch nowt sitting in the house so stay with it!

Usually on canals I go for dart type wagglers, often called 'canal greys' taking, say for example, from 2no 6 shot up to 2BB, with most of the bulk around the base of the float.

Then if the canal is really pulling, you can place a few tiny (no 13 shot) down the line, if you fish overdepth you can let these shots rest on the bottom, this will slow down or stop the movement of the float.

Thanks...

also while your here!!

I was ground baiting and loose feeding... i used white crumb with a red method mis as a cloudy ground bait and then i was loose feeding small expander pellets, with some luncheon meat and sweetcorn??

thoughts?

For general, typical canal fishing probably a bit too much food content mate!

Micro pellets are an excellent feed, very little, very often!

For groundbait white crumb is quite high in food, great when mixed really sloppy and fed as 10p size pieces with punch or squatts on the hook (slop and squatt/punch).

That said if you are after bigger fish there's nowt wrong with that approach!

Which canal do you fish Andy?

The Grand Union at Giffard Parl in Milton Keynes... at least that ain't got loadsa roundabouts on it!!

Sorry i didn't see Mr Moyes there... its ok you'll get over it!! ;-p

Sometimes in the conditions what Eddie says, it can also pay to let your float run through, ie hold it back slightly so that it goes through the swim slightly slower than the surface flow. Your freebies could be setling quite a way from where you think they are, so by letting the float go through, you have more chance of finding the fish.

i try to judge that to be honest Baz... But as a novice i guess its something i have to work on...

after all its all a learning curve like so many have said on here...

.. and i do appreciate you all going out of your way and taking the time to answer my queries

thanks

Like most canals Andy, they are full of fish and underfished!

It all depends on what you are hoping to catch, if you are looking for a mixed net of smallish fish with say the odd better bream and perch thrown in, maybe scale down your feed a bit, but if you are after a large net of bream or carp then just adapt your tactics how you see fit!

Re: football, not tonight, I am delicate!

We should have mentioned finding the depth first. Then mark your rod with a dab of tipex against your float. Then you can alter depth every ten minuets or so, and eventually go back to your original depth setting.

i always plumb first... until i have a good idea in my mind of the depth...

as for the food, i was up there the other day with maggot.. i had 36 perch out... from wuite a nice size one down to the bulk of which were no more than a few inches...

it did my head in and is ok for a while.. but i'd rather sit for longer and pull out a single bream... which i have had a few.. only to a pound or so .. but far more satisfying... i feel i have made more effort to catch them...

Using the likes of caster or chopped worm will sometimes give you the best of both worlds mate!

You'll still get bites but those baits often tempt better quality fish!

Usually, you will catch perch first, and then the roach move in, followed by the bream. Depending on what bait you are useing of course. Try feeding squatts and fishing maggot or caster.

Hi all,

I've been hard at it with varied results...

I've persevered with maggot, trying hard to dot my float down and strike early to avoid the perch swallowing the hook, as per everyones advice it has improved things, at least cut down on the amount of hooks I'm losing Although I tend to use my whip close in when I use them, seeing more as quick fun fishing while my float rod is sitting there doing nothing!!

Also my past couple of session I took with me some Middy hair rigged hook lengths and some orange 10mm tutti fruitti boilies... These seemed to bring poor results... Switching to hair rigged corn landed me my largest fish, a bream to date, nothing massive but i was a happy bunny!! Any advice for the use of hair rigs and boilies? I was also loose feeding regular with a couple of tins of Frenzied Hemp. That definately seemed to bring the fish in, though my bites were still low... I'm ensuring I plumb the depth and feed regular with the hemp, small expander pellets and a bit of corn now and again.

I'm intrigued now as to how to present the bait better, i'm using mainly a bodied waggler during the day, with a couple of shot down the line to sink the bait and a tell tale on the hook length, usually 6-10" from th hook. How can I make my bait more appealing? Do I need to have the corn or whatever a certain way on the hook?

I also take with me some method mix that i mix with crumb and ball in. Some dry dog mixer biscuits (I've been told to hair rig them and dip them in Marmite? Thoughts?) I've usually got a bit of bread and luncheon meat knocking about to... The wife brought me up some prawns the other day.. though i didn't have the heart to tell her I didn't use them!!

How often should I change baits? How long should I leave a rig out before changing things? What differences to my tackle setup could give me more bites?

All in all I'm really enjoying myself, whether I catch or not, I find it very theraputic!!! Just be nice to get a few more nibbles!!

Anyway, rambling again. Regards to you all and thanks for all the information I'm trying to put into practice!!

Oh and is it worth using a couple of block end feeders? Or ledgering? I have some small feeders and bombs in my box, unsure as how to set them up but willing to give it a go.

Cheers