River bobbin question

bigchub · Jan 3, 2011

When fishing for carp on the river with bite alarms & bobbins (I have the solar fluoro bobbin heads with chunky chains) the flow from water keeps making the bobbin heads rise & fall giving false bite registration. Should I be looking at weighing the bobbins more to counteract the flow, keep my rod tips higher to keep more line out of the water, try back leading, or do all three?
Usually my lines are fairly tight. Could slackening off a little more help?

geoffmaynard · Jan 4, 2011

Every swim on every river in differing flow conditions will require a different approach. For example there is no way anyone could use a bobbin on the Thames when it is in flood - but in mid-summer the Thames is more like a series of lakes so then you can almost use lake tactics and get away with them. Personally I wouldn't bother trying to use bobbins on rivers from most of the year, I'd use heavy quivertip rods instead.

Back leading helps when carping on rivers not just for presentation but also because it helps avoid boat traffic. Again, not always possible when the river is pushing through.

Ian Gemson · Jan 4, 2011

When I have been out fishing the Thames I have had strong flow conditions and slow weak flow conditions. To cope I always take along some very heavy bobbins solar do a set off 35gram add on weights these are spot on for stopping the bobbin from constantly rising. However the debris in the water hitting the line will eventually cause the drag of the line to over come the weight of the bobbins. Try l; lifting the rod tips skyward high Beach caster style if boat traffic allows this can help. Slackening off the line can help a little but all you are doing is putting more line out to get caught by the flow of water and we are back to the same problem. Heavy bobbins are the only.

bigchub · Jan 4, 2011

Thank you for the replys. Luckily the part of the river I'm fishing doesn't have any boat traffic as it is the upper part of the Waveney (non tidal). Its more like a chub or barbel river with fast shallow gravel runs, deep holes, seductive slacks, bends, over hanging trees, creases etc in fact its stuffed full of features.
I would use heavy quiver tips but I feel that its going to be a very long waiting game and I don't want to be staring at the rod tips for 10+ hours. Other than that I could always use the avon tops in conjunction with bite alarms and not bobbins. Decisions, decisions.........

geoffmaynard · Jan 4, 2011

It sounds lovely. Can you stalk it in summer?

bigchub · Jan 4, 2011

You certainly can mate (if we ever get this winter out of the way!). I'm planning on spending a lot of time in the close season locating fish and have already earmarked some likely looking places.

---------- Post added at 20:03 ---------- Previous post was at 19:55 ----------

Here are a few pictures for you Geoff. Don't worry its not as narrow as it looks. The angles the pictures were taken from really are quite deceptive!

dannytaylor · Jan 4, 2011

what size leads are you using? Going heavier can help, ive used upwards of 6 ounce in the past. From experience on "big" rivers try a combination of lifting the rod tips high, heavy bobbins and large leads. To aid presentation use longer hooklinks. Try to avoid backleads these are otherwise known as "snag attractors"!!!

Something that may sound obvious is to choose good conditions. The bobbins lifting up and down sounds like its being caused by debris and weed hitting and and catching on your mainline. Maybe wait too fish until the river is fining down after heavy rain???

Hope some of this helps

---------- Post added at 13:09 ---------- Previous post was at 13:06 ----------

Sorry just seen the pics, maybe not as big a river as im use to fishing so my advice is maybe ****

.

Looking at them pics id try stalking or even pointing the rod at the rig. What about "stret pegging" like Martin Bowler did in catching the impossible

bigchub · Jan 4, 2011

dannytaylor said:
what size leads are you using? Going heavier can help, ive used upwards of 6 ounce in the past. From experience on "big" rivers try a combination of lifting the rod tips high, heavy bobbins and large leads. To aid presentation use longer hooklinks. Try to avoid backleads these are otherwise known as "snag attractors"!!!

Something that may sound obvious is to choose good conditions. The bobbins lifting up and down sounds like its being caused by debris and weed hitting and and catching on your mainline. Maybe wait too fish until the river is fining down after heavy rain???

Hope some of this helps

---------- Post added at 13:09 ---------- Previous post was at 13:06 ----------

Sorry just seen the pics, maybe not as big a river as im use to fishing so my advice is maybe **** .

Looking at them pics id try stalking or even pointing the rod at the rig. What about "stret pegging" like Martin Bowler did in catching the impossible

All advice is welcome mate. I'll be using 1-2oz leads (on a river this small I don't feel the need to be chucking big lumps of lead around) as I will be fishing at close range. I also don't want to go too much higher in terms of weight as I'm a bit paranoid about overloading my barbel rods (1.75lb Free Spirits). Stret pegging is certainly another option and that way I could use my centrepin and I really did love that bit in Catching The Impossible when he caught those river carp.

stu_the_blank · Jan 4, 2011

If you are playing a waiting game, you could try a line clip above the bobbins and alarms, or fish with the bobbins up tight and set the baitrunners to hold the line (looks like that’s what Danny has done).

If you are roving, the stret pegging sounds a blast!

Danny, is the River shown on your pictures the Dordogne? Looks gorgeous and vaguely familiar.

Stu

chav professor · Jan 5, 2011

use dog biscuits to locate the carp!!! they attack them just as fiercely on rivers as they do on still waters. Cut down on your waiting game if you can find some fish.. Had some sucess pre-baiting - but keep it cheap, you need loads of bait. Vitalin, half a bucket at a time at least otherwise just feeding bream and chub. good luck

dannytaylor · Jan 5, 2011

stu_the_blank said:
If you are playing a waiting game, you could try a line clip above the bobbins and alarms, or fish with the bobbins up tight and set the baitrunners to hold the line (looks like that’s what Danny has done).

If you are roving, the stret pegging sounds a blast!

Danny, is the River shown on your pictures the Dordogne? Looks gorgeous and vaguely familiar.

Stu

Yes Stu its the Dordogne. Its one hell of a river and a bit of a challenge to fish. Wanted to try something a little different from the usual commercial fisheries out there. It was like starting from scratch as i couldnt find very much info Re this river. There was plenty written about the Tarn and Lot so i just figured that this river would be similar in terms of the size of carp which it held. Wont go into too much detail here but after a bit of effort i started to get into fish. There were a lot of commons in the mid twenty pound class with the bigger fish being mirrors. Caught a lot of good upper twentys and had fish too 32Ib. Nothing special as i heard rumours of far bigger fish this was only scratching the surface.

stu_the_blank · Jan 5, 2011

dannytaylor said:
Caught a lot of good upper twentys and had fish too 32Ib. Nothing special as i heard rumours of far bigger fish this was only scratching the surface.

Don’t do yourself down Danny, that is a seriously good result. Yes there are bigger fish caught occasionally but few and far between. I’ve spent quite a few blank days on the big French Rivers, to get them feeding in front of you, let alone connecting with one, takes skill, patience and a bit of luck. These are mighty sheets of water and the fish are wild and can easily keep clear of you.

Well done.

Stu

tortoise100 · Jan 6, 2011

look at rollover indicators from zandervan you can put as much weight as you want on.

jef bertels · Jan 6, 2011

Chubman - some waters are begging to be stretpegged or quivered - that looks like one of them. Move about - an hour in each swim maybe - that way you'll keep your concentration up on the float or tip and you'll get to enjoy more of the river. Good luck.

Philip · Jan 6, 2011

thames_steve said:
Chubman - some waters are begging to be stretpegged or quivered - that looks like one of them.

I was thinking exactly the same and it almost seems a shame to fish that river with multiple rods or Carp Tactics. If you have to why not just poke a rod out through the marginal vegetation and lower a bait in off the rod top…then you don’t need any bobbin at all as it would be impossible to get a drop back. Just keep back from the edge and stay quiet. Plus you can be sure you loose feed is right on the money as you drop it in by hand.

On bigger rivers the only reason I use a bobbin in a current is to show a drop back so mine are tight to the rod. I have played about with paying line out and fishing a bow versus fishing a very tight line but the problem with paying line out is that if there is any sort of debris coming down its a recipe for a washing line of rubbish.
What is very important for me is that my lead stays put in a current as I don’t want it moving about dragging the hook and risking the point being masked by debris..not a good idea if you fishing a self hooking rig and relying on the hook point to prick. My aim is now to keep things fishing effectively for as long as possible. I think we miss far more opportunities than we realize because our rigs have been moved about and rendered ineffective by the time that big Carp finally moves in and takes the bait …but on reeling in it all looks ok so we don’t even realize it. Its one of the reasons I went back to fishing mono instead of braid on rivers.

bigchub · Jan 7, 2011

After reading peoples opinions on this matter I think it would be definitely be better to adopt a more roving style of fishing in the summer stret pegging or quiver tipping (in the same way I fish for chub chub) and leave the static fishing for the winter. I was also thinking of fishing two rods but I think it may be more hassle than its worth on a small intimate river like this.

River bobbin question

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