Autumn Leaves ..... Grrr!

Fishing a mill-pool yesterday afternoon - wind bringing showers of leaves from the trees - pretty, pretty autumnal shades of yellow, red, brown and orange
Getting lots of bites on double maggot, 3 dozen or so small roach, rudd and hybrids! - nice!
Missed loads of bites 'cos didn't see float go under - due to persistence of vision in the red end of the visible spectrum - that's the problem when using an orange-tipped float on a background of orange-tipped leaves floating on water that was orangey muddy with the reflection of orange vegetation filling in the gaps between those b---dy leaves!
Switched to a lime-green tipped float - but even that seemed to glow orange after a while!
Pretty, pretty Autumn leaves! .... Grrrr! mg:

Lyrics to a French tune by Johnny Mercer, sung by either Frank Sinatra or Nat King Cole back in the 1950s - one of the great songs of love, age and regret. I love Autumn Leaves.

Paul Boote said:

.... - one of the great songs of love, age and regret...

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It could be an oblique reference to the previously mentioned phenomena of persistence of vision in the red end of the visible spectrum - caused not by the memory of shades of autumn leaves but 'pink eye' a known common side-effect of Viagra et al!
That would account for the 'love, age and regret' angle as well!

I find I am using black topped floats more and more. I always have a marker pen handy when float fishing.

greenie62 said:

It could be an oblique reference to the previously mentioned phenomena of persistence of vision in the red end of the visible spectrum - caused not by the memory of shades of autumn leaves but 'pink eye' a known common side-effect of Viagra et al!
That would account for the 'love, age and regret' angle as well!

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Jim Gibbinson wrote a great Mr Crabtree tench-fishing spoof for a magazine many years ago:

"See the little pink eye, Peter? I had a real skinful last night."

Small sliding floats come into their own when the surface is leaf-strewn - it's far easier to drop the short rig into the gaps than to lay out a full-depth rig without picking up leaves.

I wonder if purple float-tops would be worth an experiment? Probably not a good fluorescent colour (though some purple/dark blue flowers seem to really glow as dusk falls - how do they do that?), but just as a plain pigment, they may do the trick.

Did a post recently about floats with replaceable tips, can't understand why more float makers don't make them. My favourite colours are black and white.
Marker pens are not a great answer - its not easy to switch it to white when you have blacked it out!

Following on from Alan Tylers post above; We have some 'Aster' in our garden which produces an extremely bright mauve/blue, (an almost indescribable colour) which stands out both in bright and subdued lighting. Today, in bright sunshine they were the one flower which stood out amongst the varying shades of autumn, which, as we know range from pale yellow thru to bright gold.....and then differs again in shadow or full sun.
The colour is almost luminescent such is the level of brightness and I can't help thinking it would certainly be a better option at this time of year.

Of course, the colour would need to be produced by a paint manufacturer and this would probably mean it's a no-go, but IF they could get the colour about right and then add tiny flecks of 'glitter' (found in some paints) it might just answer a lot of questions.
I would imagine a thicker top float would give it more chance to stand out amongst the floating leaves and debris....

For the record, 'Aster' come in a myriad of different colours from reds to yellows et al, but this littler beauty is a real shiner!!

ps Alan.......I think 'our' idea could be a winner so I'm happy to share the millions that will flow in once Drennan sees sense and makes a few..........................some chance eh??

Tee-Cee said:

Following on from Alan Tylers post above; We have some 'Aster' in our garden which produces an extremely bright mauve/blue, (an almost indescribable colour) which stands out both in bright and subdued lighting......and then differs again in shadow or full sun.
The colour is almost luminescent such is the level of brightness and I can't help thinking it would certainly be a better option at this time of year.

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A big Thanks :thumbs: to you and Alan for coming up with this bit of inspiration - you'll need to think of a name for the colour which is 'almost indescribable' so you can patent it's usage - maybe 'dayglo mauve' - maybe not!

Well until Dave Harrell starts making his range of dayglo mauve Sensitip wagglers - I may extemporise with a fluorecent night-glo tip on the float - even I should be able to see one of those!

Tight Lines!

There are two options I take. The first is using glasses. Certain tints and/or polarization helps. Different eyes will see greater benefits from one tint or another (amber, yellow, green etc). My own preference is for Drivewear lenses which are polarized and have a light dependent tint. I use them when required, even in relatively low light and on cloudy days.

The second option is to use a float that retains the sensitivity of a fine tipped float but is actually much thicker. The floats I took a punt on earlier this year, and found I liked immensely, are the Dave Harrell Sensitip wagglers. What looks like a solid orange (or yellow) tip is actually a cross head. Very visible but still with the sensitivity of a much finer tipped float.

Was also having trouble with leaves at Chiddingstone Castle this Sunday just gone. After a bit of mucking about, I found a good balance between a heavy float rig (Very windy!) and a very visible float tip that sat quite high.

flatfour said:

Was also having trouble with leaves at Chiddingstone Castle this Sunday just gone. After a bit of mucking about, I found a good balance between a heavy float rig (Very windy!) and a very visible float tip that sat quite high.

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The following link points to one of Mr Drennans articles on how to use his Driftbeater floats:http://www.drennantackle.com/articles/driftbeaters.pdf

Their visibility - when slightly undershot - can be just the thing to 'stand out from the crowd' (of leaves) and having a sight bob on top helps even a bog-eyed old git like me spot them normally!
Tight Lines!

greenie62 said:

The following link points to one of Mr Drennans articles on how to use his Driftbeater floats:http://www.drennantackle.com/articles/driftbeaters.pdf

Their visibility - when slightly undershot - can be just the thing to 'stand out from the crowd' (of leaves) and having a sight bob on top helps even a bog-eyed old git like me spot them normally!
Tight Lines!

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Interesting read, thanks for that. :thumbs:
May well be worth a go.

Unless I've missed it nobody has talked about distance. By this, I mean how far out are folk fishing from the rod top that they cannot see a float top?
I agree totally the leaves are a problem, but surely if they are that bad then fishing at any distance (ie casting over a leaf strewn swim) is a bigger problem in the first place, let alone see a float top once the thing has settled in the water !!
I don't say it's easy to find the best method in autumn conditions, but perhaps some are trying to fish too far out AND spot a silly orange tip sitting 10mm above the surface.....

Greenie suggests having a look at driftbeaters; Good call IMHO (you have to start somewhere!) and although the sight bob on the tip must help, I suggest this float doesn't necessarily need to be shotted down to a dot - the very thin stem, IMHO, still keeps the thing sensitive and if painted black, and fished no more than a metre or so from the rod tip, with 10/15mm of stem showing it can work okay....
And before anyone suggest otherwise I have used this float in such a manner and it can work very well, although for the ' 2mm max float showing above the surface' type it may suggest 'just not sensitive enough' sort of opinion.....

Yes, I agree that fishing in this manner limits your scope in that you cannot fish at distance, but I have seen, countless times, the ability of folk to ignore 'close in' fishing and instead cast to the horizon and over the top of fish in front of them !!!

Let me give you another scenario around sensitivity; In the 'old days' when enormous bodied floats 12/14" long, such as Zoomers et al where in vogue and where casts great distances were made by matchmen, the amount of float left above the water needed to be sufficient just to see the damn thing and yet it was still a sensitive float simply because of the shotting arrangement, and not because of the amount of float showing. I know 100% that I caught fish in this manner and a 6" roach took the float under without a problem even with 2" of float showing !
No, not ideal, but it worked - because, as I say, the shotting was spot on !!!

All I'm suggesting is fish a little closer in, have more tip showing, experiment with colours and as Mr Vimes suggests, try different glasses/lens....

It's a case of working with what you've got and using a bit of common, rather than sticking a float four rod lengths out and then crying foul !!

Good luck though, and please ignore the above if you know better !!


ps On the sensitivity thing; Didn't I read an account years ago by that master of the float Ivan Marks, who, when faced with bream at some distance actually taped TWO very long floats together to give an 18" beauty (or was it longer?) just so it would carry enough shot to reach the fish ! From memory it worked a treat and caught the fish simply because the shotting was dead right !
I will go to my grave believing the shotting is just as important as the amount of float above the surface - in fact, IMHO more so !!

Others will surely disagree......................and why not!!

ps Sorry to prattle on; Just for the record I still love to use a home made onion type float comprising a cane stem with a balsa ball at the top that is shotted down so just the 'dome' of the balsa is showing (almost flush with the surface) and this is massively sensitive. Just a touch and the float is gone !
Difference is, I don't use it at autumn time !!!

Tee-Cee said:

Unless I've missed it nobody has talked about distance. By this, I mean how far out are folk fishing from the rod top that they cannot see a float top?
.....
All I'm suggesting is fish a little closer in, have more tip showing, experiment with colours and as Mr Vimes suggests, try different glasses/lens....

It's a case of working with what you've got and using a bit of common, rather than sticking a float four rod lengths out and then crying foul !!....

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Hi TC,
Having got a nice swim 'going' a couple of rod-lengths out, with not a leaf near, banging out nice roach and hybrids every other chuck, - the wind swirls around, changes direction and the resident mat of leaves moves across the line obscuring the target area!....Grrr!
The fish are there and taking - I'm a little loath to change the swim! - hence the problem with not being able to see the float tip/bites!

Of course - the inevitable happens - I start feeding another area - clear of leaves - to fall back to - try dropping my bait in there - a couple of bites - job done? - No! - the wind shifts a smidgeon and the leaves start to drift across the new swim! .....Grrrr!

Having had 8 eye operations over a 5-yr period, and now have reasonable vision, there's not a lot can be done to improve my vision with glasses other than for reading - however my eyes are a little 'slow' - "Where's that float tip gone? - Oh - it's not there - must be a bite - strike - Ah, there it is!". Searching for the float tip on a background of float-tip-coloured leaves is the problem - which is why I'm looking for non-camouflaging colours - and shapes - like the thin 'barbers pole' of a driftbeater when you leave it a no.4 undershot - the only problem with that distinctive profile is when you have fencing reflected from the background!

Anyway - this is typical of the challenges we face when fishing - it's all part of the rich tapestry!
Thanks for the input Tee-Cee :thumbs: Tight Lines!