surface fishing

[riverman]

in 2024 i'm gonna try and find some venues that still allow floating baits.have caught many carp using this method but more and more fisheries are banning it.bread and drilled dog biscuits are killer baits for catching fish off the top.who uses this method as and when they can?

 

[Alan Whitty]

I prefer feeding 6mm expanders and using larger ones as bait, most waters I fish dont have a ban, but I don't fish commercials these days...

 

[markcw]

I use it where allowed with bread, a lot of venues ban it if the have a lot of water fowl on them. I use it on commercials on the snake lakes up against the island or far side using a pole , or in the margins .
Open water it's with a rod .
Get a baggin waggler , fill the frame with liquidised bread and bread on the hook , and keep casting , you will soon attract the fish .

 

[@Clive]

Alternatively fish a crushed garden snail an inch or two under a float (I use a wine cork with a slit in it) in the weedy margins. That gets around the no floating bait ban.

 

[markcw]

On some commercials where floating bread is banned , if you drop you hooked bread in the water , lift out and gently squeeze the bread , you can get it to sink very slowly , it will hover just below the surface and still visible , had plenty of fish doing this

 

[mikench]

I do it in the summer with a large banded piece of crust crust weighted down with a free running lead to a bead so the bread rises vertically. Small fish have a go and carp gulp it down eventually. I also some irregular shaped floating baits made by Kodex in various colours. One water is favourite for this but you need to avoid the ducks, coot and moorhens.

 

[riverman]

i was once fishing birkwood lakes at altofts (frog hall lake) on the waggler when i noticed some movement to my right next to the reeds.so i set my carp rod up complete with bubble float and size 8 hook and casted in a gap between the reeds.wasnt long before the bread flake disappeared and 'bang' a real bend in the rod resulting in a 15lb 9oz mirror carp.thats going back a few years and floating baits are now banned at the venue.

 

[markcw]

i was once fishing birkwood lakes at altofts (frog hall lake) on the waggler when i noticed some movement to my right next to the reeds.so i set my carp rod up complete with bubble float and size 8 hook and casted in a gap between the reeds.wasnt long before the bread flake disappeared and 'bang' a real bend in the rod resulting in a 15lb 9oz mirror carp.thats going back a few years and floating baits are now banned at the venue.

Try my slow sinking method , it's not classed as floating . Or set a zig rig up

 

[Keith M]

I use floating baits quite regularly during the summer months and usually use floating crust or large pieces of flake, dog biscuits or air injected worms.

When wildfowl are being a nuisance or I don’t want my bait to drift very far then I’ll occasionally use an anchored crust (zig rig) on a sliding line so that whenever the wildfowl get near then a couple of turns of the reel handle will submerge the floating bait out of sight until the bird has gone past before letting my bait rise back to the surface again (See pic).

On a windy day when there’s a strong ripple it sometimes pays me to fish my bait just below the surface anyway.



And like Alan I don’t fish commercials (unless in a match).

Keith

 

[riverman]

I use it quite regularly during the summer and usually use floating crust or large pieces of flake, dog biscuits or air injected worms.

When wildfowl are being a nuisance or I don’t want my bait to drift very far then I’ll occasionally use an anchored crust (zig rig) on a sliding line so that whenever the wildfowl get near then a couple of turns of the reel handle will submerge the floating bait out of sight until the bird has gone past before letting my bait rises back to the surface again (See pic).

On a windy day when there’s a strong ripple it sometimes pays to fish your bait just below the surface anyway.



Like Alan I don’t fish commercials (unless in a match).

Keith

gonna try this keith.very informative thanks.

 

[ian g]

Very similar method to Keith , I always found a bait just below the surface worked better.

 

[markcw]

Very similar method to Keith , I always found a bait just below the surface worked better.

That's why I do it on commercials with a pole against far side rushes, plus in the gaps between them