Winter Surface Fishing

Recentlyi managed to catch a number of fish off the top on mixers during some reasonably mild weather 4 days before christmas!! They werent at all big fish and it was an easy lake, but still i was suprised as they were going at it like it was summer, taking about 2 minutes to get 'em going and i was hooking them at about 2 foot from the bank.Has anyone else experienced this or similar????? also give it a go!!

Good fishing that mate.

Floater fising is something I have never taken to as I don't really fish for Carp intentionally, but good on you.

Was this a commercial fishery Clive?

I have tried many times in the past to surface fish at this time of year on standard waters but with little success......even with strong smelling baits.

If I lived closer to my lake perhaps Iwouldspend more time watching the water for any surface action or fish rolling at given times of the day and in a prolonged mild spell(don't get many of them!!).Certainly big bream will roll sometimes but for fairly short spells so you have to be about when it happens!

I recall many years ago fishing a lake near Marlow,Bucks right through til late December when everyone else had stopped fishing inSeptember and even then only 2/3 anglers fished til October.I went every week regular as clockwork and fished casters/red maggot cocktail with light hempcaster feed.At the end of the dayI baited up with the remaining bait.I caught some very good fish-mainly tench with some decent perch(lost a huge one!)but one weekend I caught two bream of 6.5/7.3lb in succesive casts.Not big at all,BUT nobody to my knowledge had even seen a bream before(or since)and 20 good anglers fished the place through the Summer/Autumn for absolute yonks-a complete one off that I never repeated!!

It was a very mild spell so that helped a lot and the best bit was I had the place to myself!!

So,the moral to the story is:if you have the time,patience and conditions AND the fish are seen to roll AND you can feed regularly but lightly I think some great possibilities exist for surface feeding fish-even into the first hour of darkness......

Give it a try through the Winter-and who knows........?

TEE CEE.

Leaving work here today.

So i gues we will be doing some surface fishing ????? LOL

like i said the lake hasLOADS of fish. its not commercial though and i was the only person on it. i fished it during the summer and had about 40-50 carp off the top in about 12 hours, and was alone that day too!!! its just becausethat lake is piss-easy....lol

i will try again on the same water on mixers just after christmas to see if it'll happen again.

again with the type of venue, i fished a small lake withonly about20 doubles induring thesummer and only on about 2-3 days in the whole summer would they peoperlyaccept mixers, and even then they were solid to catch. i managed 2 off the top, both 16lb and have caught approximately 16 individual fish with a few re-captures from that lake. This is the kind of lake that would certainl NOT do floaters during winter /forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif

i might also try on some other easy waters.

also, BAZ (Angel of the North), you need to try surface fishing come summer! i was one who used to ignore it, but its now my firstchoice of methodall through the summer. its also peoper cheap only requiring a hook and some mixers. i try toALWAYS freeline the mixer and iffish areout ofmy rangetheni willgo andlocate or get some fish going as close to the bank as possible. this way you can easily see what fish you want to hook and you have superior control over the presentation and hooking process resulting in very positve hookholds. by fishing off the rod tip no line will touch the water which can also improve the situation. during the summer on every lake i fished i manged to get fish taking mixers up against my margin so close that often having to standthe rod-lengthback to actually present a mixer to the fish. it isTHE way to fish!!!!!!!!!!

the fish were on top on my winter water a few days ago, never seen them up top in late december before? i don't carry mixers in winter so i ended up missing out./forum/smilies/big_smile_smiley.gif/forum/smilies/big_smile_smiley.gif

Marker-a great shame,pity you didn't you have alump of old bread crust(plus marmite)with you!I know mixers are good but I've invariably found that a 2" cube of crust on a No4 hook with greased line just as productive!If Ihave the situation with fish moving on top I tend to fire out a few crusts/mixers to see what happens.........then 5mins to set up a rod....

Ihave also made up floater fom sweet cake mix with lots of eggs(good enough to eat!)and baked it in a shallow tray til firm and then cut it into cubes-works a treat-BUT only if fish are moving in the first place(in Winter)......

Clive-yes I agree 100%-fish off the top has to be the most exciting way to catch.Nothing better than to see a big mouth appear and suck in a bait at VERY close range-certainly gets the heart beating!!

Perhaps we'llhave a mild January...........!!!

No4 HOOK!!!!!THAT IS HUGE!!!Ive taken fish nudging 20 off the top on size 14's and will rarely go higher than a 10!!!!! nice to hear about some alternatives to mixers and bread though/forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif

Marker, i dont blame you for not carrying a bag of mixers during December, luckily i remembered the insane action i had on that lake in the summer and brought 'em along "cos you never know!"

can someone tell me what rods they use for floater/surface fishing as im planning on getting a fox duo-lite barbel and would like to hear some alternatives......cheers.

size 4's are great for fishing maggots..... cant see the point using silly little hooks that give you less chance of pricking the fish......

what imean is iwill rarely go higher than a ten for <u>surface fishing</u> as most hooks that are any biggercan belarger than the mixer itself which doesnt make for a great presentation+ if your using an appropriate rod its easy to land nearly all the fish you hook on small hooks. you'd be silly to use 12's with somthing like 2.75lb rods anyway. iWILL use No4 hooks for bottom baits for big carp but have found a pattern in size 8 that i beleive will cope with almost any carping situation and it has very rarely failed me even in hazardous, snaggy situations.

Frothey's point is perfectly valid, i agree, but, i also cant see the point in usinga not always necassarylarge a hook whichdefinately can often cost you a pick-up/run/take, whatever you want to call it in the first place.........

Generally speaking I only use a No 4 for large lumps of crust(min 2"sq)as this size is needed just to get it through the bread in the first place!I alsosuggest this size of hook(which is threaded through oneedge of the crust and then pulled to the opposite edge,where that same edge is then pulled gently into the bend of the hook)will cast better and further(once dunked quickly into water)so I can cover a larger area of water or get close to pads/rushes etc.some way from the bank.I just think a 14 or 10 just gives less chance of making contact but perhaps I'm wrong on that..........

Some are bound to say"surely hooking the bread in this fashion will stop the hook from striking through the bread"but I have never found this to be the case and all fish are hooked in the top lip.In fact,if I remember correctly I found this method in an old angling book by one of the big carp men from years ago and it has rarely let me down.

I would hate to have a crust hooked lightly only to find the fish pulls the bread clear of the hook when sucked in by the fish or when the fish rolls over the crust when making false'takes'!!

Finally,in defense of a large,heavy wire hook(if thats what I'm doing!);I have never suffered a hook straighteningwhen holding a 20lb fish hard in heavy weed/padded water.Perhaps it gives me that extra bit of confidence........who knows....

I agree a smaller hook might give something of a better presentation with a very small bait BUT I cannot think of any mixer(you may havea secret bait!/forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif)where a size 10 is really necessary AND give any real advantage over(say)a size 6!!Perhaps you fish clear water(which is probably the case in winter anyway!)and at the end of the day you have to go with what you are comfortable with!

Regards rods;I cannot help you(but others will!)as I use old stepped up glass rods 10'/11'6" with a through action,big rings for easy casting and wouldn't be without them........

A good thread though and nice to discuss different aproaches......

Well said Tee-Cee/forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif

there is no doubt that a larger hook (when set) is more reliable but i have experienced fish refusing baits due to larger hooks on many occasions probably due to the presentation. its down to personal preferences really/forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif

your point about crust is totally right. if your using a large bait like a chunk of crust then you need a substantial amountof thegape and point available tofind a holdon a take. the added weight is also a very useful factor enabling you to freeline further (and more accurately), which is something that is always an advantage to me. it would be interesting to know whether you can purchase larger dog biscuits (or floating trout pellet etc...)than mixers so that you can increase therange you can acheive on a cast while freelining them, as opposed to using crust which i dislike compared to mixers.

Tee-Cee, when you fish your crust, i suppose the hook is presented on top of the crust resulting in the top lip hook holds............ right/forum/smilies/eye_rolling_smiley.gif

I have used some quite large hooks formixer fishing in a scenario where i couldfish directly off the rod tip with no line touching the water. i was using a 2.75lb carp rod so required something a bit chunkier of course/forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif. as i had very good control over the presentation because it was directly beneath the rod tip, i could keep the hook above the mixer and just place it on the water. this resulted in top lip holds, whereas if the same hook and mixerpresentation was used at range the hook would be suspended beneath the bait and almost always produce a bottom lip or scissor hold. also a large hook and mixer combomay sit almost sub-suface and result in alot of refused or false takes....../forum/smilies/crying_smiley.gif

one more thing, how do y'all attach your mixers, i saw 'em a little then super glue them................................peace

fished that lake again today a managed a couple off the top even though one end of the lakewas frozen over! must of been cold cos my net kept freezing rigid /forum/smilies/surprised_smiley.gif

fished that lake again today and managed a couple off the top even though one end of the lakewas frozen over! must of been cold cos my net kept freezing rigid /forum/smilies/surprised_smiley.gif

Good thread chaps,

Obvious alternative are fake bread and dog biscuits, my preference is a dark coloured popup boilie trimmed to represent a mixers that I super glue to suitable sized hook this way it wont fall off should you decide to recast, always glug the boilie when feeding with mixers I think it helps make the hook bate more irresistible to the Carp.

It works for me. Tight lines

Matt Jones

East Yorkshire