Bob BobNudd reveals how you can get a bite a chuck
Bob Nudd’s short pole masterclass
“I use my pole almost as a whip, but with elastic as opposed to a solid flick tip”
LET’S be honest – we all like to catch as many fish as we can when on the bank. The hope is always for for one of those ‘bite a chuck’ red-letter days when you lose count of exactly how many fish you’ve put in the net!
The key to catching a lot of small fish quickly is speed, being able to have the bait in the water for as long as possible.
This is where certain methods can be ruled out before you’ve even got the tackle out of the car.
Using a waggler can be fast, but it falls down on presentation, and even fishing the pole with a short line between tip and float won’t be fast enough.
Whips are the obvious choice as after all, they’re designed for speed fishing – but they’re not what I’d pick. At this point, you’re probably wondering ‘what on Earth am I left with, then?’
The answer is a hybrid between pole and whip fishing, using my pole almost as a whip, but with elastic as opposed to a solid flick tip.
Armed with this set-up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to propel the rig out, strike, swing the fish to hand and repeat continually.
There are certain knacks to fishing to hand, however. They’re the small things that, taken together, go a long way to guaranteeing a brilliant day.
Join me, then, as I talk you through my guide to this exciting and rewarding route to a bulging net of fish…
Find the deep water
You’ll catch more fish by putting the rig in the deepest water that the swim has to offer, so you need to find this first.
Typically, this will be down the middle of the river which, on the Old Nene at March – where I am today – is about a top kit and two or three sections of pole out. Basically, you need to have the float sat well away from the shallow ledge close in, yet far enough away from yourself to get the fish feeding confidently.
So, if I aim to fish with, say, a top kit and two sections to hand I’ll set the rig at this length and then add a section or two (or whatever corresponds to the length of line between float and pole-tip) and plumb up here. This way I know that where the float lands, the rig will be sat at the right depth.
the right line length
A tip here is to pop a piece of pole elastic on the pole section that you’ll be holding just above where you hand will be gripping. I hold the pole as I would a rod, with my forearm on top of the end of the section.
When rigging up, I slip the hook into the elastic and then adjust the length of line to the pole-tip.
This way, I know that when I swing a fish or the rig in, it will always come to hand at a comfortable height.
why no Flick tip?
As I’ve said, I prefer to use elastic rather than a flick tip, and this is for two reasons. First, there’s the chance of a few better fish, so elastic gives me more chance of getting them out. Second, it makes the strike less fierce, cutting down on the number of bumped fish.
I like to strike firmly to the side, as I would when fishing a waggler, as opposed to directly upwards. That way, I know that every time I hook a fish, it will stay on. With a flick tip, there’s a window of a few seconds after the fish is hooked where it can bang against the tip and come off.
Elastic is Browning Microbore Green, a hollow rated 3-5, and although I used to be a fan of solid elastics, since using this I’ve been converted. There’s the right amount of softness to not bump fish, but not so much stretch that I’m struggling to swing them in.
don’t Fish on bottom
We’re always taught to put the bait on the bottom when plumbing up, but I find that actually fishing an inch off bottom is much better.
There’s no chance of snagging weed or branches, and bites show up far more positively. I’m also positive that fish like roach, rudd and small hybrids are sat just off bottom anyway, so by fishing on the deck, you’re wasting a little too much time waiting for a bite.
Feeding options
Where this is concerned, I can either loosefeed or use groundbait. Loosefeed is okay, but on the Old Nene there are a lot of small rudd and bleak, and the chances of anything getting to the better fish close to the bottom are minimal. That means groundbait.
Rather than feeding an amount in one go, I instead throw a small nugget in on every cast. If I stop feeding, I find that the small fish turn up.
The mix is 50/50 Van Den Eynde Secret and Supercrack Roach, and I want it to be quite sticky so I can easily make a small ball and throw it without any danger of it breaking up.