TIME TO GET BAGGING!
Tips and tactics for better catches this month on the rivers… N
Discover why November is Dave Harrell’s favourite month for river fishing in his exclusive column
OVEMBER is one of my favourite months for river fishing.
Over the years I’ve had a lot of my best roach and dace catches at this time, and if conditions are favourable I’d urge you to get out and take advantage.
If you time your trips right, you could be in for a real red letter day! Light tackle and light feeding is the key…
TARGET DEEPER WATER
The best swims at this time of the year are those over 8ft deep and less than 14ft. Find these depths and there’s a pretty good chance you will find silver fish!
USE LIGHT ACTION RODS
If silver fish are your target, use light actioned rods and light lines.
In these situations I use a 13/15 Daiwa Tournament Pro, which I can use at 13ft or 15ft.
I balance this with a 3lb (0.14mm) Pro Float mainline.
I can use hooklengths down to 0.08mm with this rod and not worry about cracking off, because it’s soft enough to absorb the strike and also capable of playing big fish.
FISH FINE
Too many anglers fish far too heavy at this time of year. I’m an angler who likes to fish as strong as I can get away with so I will often start on 0.12mm or 0.14mm Pro Rig hooklengths. I can soon scale down if bites aren’t coming. For running line work, I rarely go
below 0.10mm, tied to a fine wire size 20 hook.
DOT THE FLOAT DOWN
Shy-biting fish like roach require some finesse in your presentation and if the river is low and not flowing very fast, an insert stick or waggler is advisable. These plastic inserts allow the light to shine through them and are easy to see, even when dotted down.
The best way to fine-tune these floats is to keep adding No8 or No9 shot to the line until you can just about see the float tip.
If there is any ripple or sun on the water you might need to take one or two off, but as long as you can see the float tip, you will catch far more roach and dace with the float dotted than with it left well above the surface of the river.
LONG LINES
If the river is clear, use a long line on your pole rigs. I tend to make all mine up on the top five sections length of my pole, and shorten if necessary. Long lines allow you to run the rig a long way down the swim and keep the pole tip away from feeding fish.
LIGHT ELASTICS
If you do fish the pole for roach and dace at this time of the year, you must balance your elastic to the hook and line.
I’d recommend you to try Daiwa’s yellow Hydrolastic. I’ve been using it for over a year now and it’s excellent for river fishing. I put it through No2 and No3 sections, just under tension, after removing the No1 section.
TRY BREADPUNCH
Bread is a great bait for roach, and a 4mm or 6mm pellet of bread, fished over punch crumb or fine white crumb, can result in some great nets of roach. It’s a cheap way of fishing, too. I add fine 3mm aquarium gravel to mine and cup in small balls the size of a golf ball.
BE PATIENT!
As the air temperature drops, so too will the water temperature. This often means that fish won’t respond immediately.
Just be patient and keep feeding lightly as once they do turn on you will have a lot of confident feeding fish in front of you.