RINGER’S AUTUMN SECRETS
QHow do you reduce the effect of tow on a lake when fishing the feeder? I struggle when the wind is blowing, as I find my quivertip is pulled round too much by the movement on the water and I can’t be sure whether the feeder is being moved at the same time.
Mark Grimes, Abingdon
TRICKY! In an ideal world you would know that there was going to be a strong tow on the lake so, taking this into account, you’d start off fishing with a heavier than normal quivertip.
Say you like to fish a 1.5oz tip, then stepping up to 2oz tip would means it was affected far less by the tow, which would make seeing bites that bit easier.
However, the issue here is quite often that you can start fishing with a 1.5oz tip and this will be fine for maybe two hours. Then the wind gets up and the lake starts to tow. All of a sudden, the tip is locked right round. Changing the tip means tackling up again, which isn’t really an option. So what do you do?
My trick is to keep feeding a little bit of slack line from the reel once the cast has been made to help reduce the bend in the tip.
Also, after casting, don’t tighten up too quickly and instead let the tow of the water take up some of the slack.
QWhere’s the best place to fish for F1s on a snake lake? Should I still be fishing across to the far bank, down the middle or somewhere in between?
Tony Whatton, Crewe
Every day is different with regards to F1 location as on one day they’ll be across and the next in the shallowest water. The secret is to work out where they want to be as fast as possible and to do this, I like to set rigs up to cover the key depths in the swim.
At this time of year this normally means a track rig, a 3ft rig and then a 2ft or less rig and I’ll start off fishing in the deep central track just to see what happens. One of the great things about F1s is that they tend to let you know quickly when you have it right, and equally when you’ve got it wrong.
If I start in the track and there are no bites, or I foul hook a couple then that’s a great sign that they want to be in shallower water so I can quickly switch to 3ft rig with minimal time wasted. If I then start to catch in 3ft, I’ll open up new swims in that depth to keep the fish coming. Of course, if I start in the track and catch straight away then the same applies – I’ll stay there and open up new swims accordingly.
Interestingly, if I catch well in the track straight away then I will more often than not catch in 3ft of water as well but if there are no bites early in the deep water then quite often the F1s just won’t feed in that depth. This is something that often happens when there’s been a lot of rain and the cold water sinks through the depths.
QIf you were faced with an open-water swim on a commercial, where would you start fishing on the pole? How many lines would you fish during the day?
Mick Smart, via email
IF WE are talking this time of year then I would always start short on a top-5 or top-6 and try to nick a couple of quick fish. Once this was done I’d switch to the long pole line.
Depending on the venue, this will be anything from 13m to 16m. In an ideal world I would fish this for three hours before dropping back on to my 5-6-joint line with a view to finishing in the margins in the last hour. So, if my match was going well it would be three lines... possibly four if I opened up two edge lines to my left and right.
Of course, if things aren’t going well things could change. But this is something I have to work out on the day. For example, if I’m struggling early I might opt to open up two long pole swims so I can rotate them to try and keep bites coming. It’s all about trying to think one step ahead.
So make a plan in terms of lines but be prepared to think fast and change it if things aren’t working out.
QI use the line clip on my reel to ensure I am casting to the right spot when fishing for bream. Could I also use the clip for carp? Lewis Morgan, Gloucester
YES, you can use a line clip for carp but distance is key. Fishing at closer than 20m range with a clip on is a recipe for disaster unless you are casting to an island, where hooked carp can’t run away from you.
If I want to clip up short for big carp I use a line marker pen so I can clip up and mark the line at the right distance. Then, when I cast out I take the clip off and wait for the bite. If no bite comes, I put the clip on prior to reeling in but if I do hook a big carp I’ll simply play it and let it run when it wants to. Once I’ve landed the fish I can use the mark on the line to get back to the same spot quickly.
When fishing at range all I do is stop the rod almost behind me on the cast before dropping it down on the rest. This gives me two or three turns back on the reel before I get the tip set. If I hook a big carp that’s running I can backwind and unclip should I need too.
The extra couple of turns mean I’m not picking up the rod with the line already tight on the clip, something that can and will lead to breakages.
QWhat groundbait mix would you recommend for bream and roach? Pete, Halesowen
ON A natural venue that responds to pellets my balling mix would be one bag each of Ringers F1 Black Sweet Fishmeal and Ringers Natural Bag Up Mix.
When wet it’s slightly dark, ideal for natural venues. The addition of the sweet fishmeal makes it ideal for roach, big ones in particular.
If you are in doubt as to whether the venue responds to pellets, swap the Ringers Natural Bag Up Mix for Euro Feeder Natural. This way I’m making the mix sweeter which, in turn, makes it safer, as all species love a sweet mix.
It’s just that, on a pellet venue, a mix with a higher fishmeal content will produce more fish.
QI’ve found a few old pole floats in my tackle junk box which have cane bristles on them – are they any good still? Are different float bristle types better suited to certain tactics and baits? Chris Jackson, email
THERE is nothing wrong with cane-bristled pole floats – I used to use them a lot myself. There were two downsides to cane bristles, though – first, they were always hard on the eyes if the light wasn’t perfect. Bright sunshine, in particular, made them very tricky to see.
The second negative is that the bristles, being cane, tended to take on water after a while so you had to take a small shot off every now and again. I will add, though, that cane-bristled floats did and still will catch fish.
These days a lot of pole floats feature hollow bristles. The beauty of a hollow bristle is that it reflects light and so is much easier to see, no matter how bad the light becomes.
I wouldn’t say that different bristle types should be used for different types of fishing. I would agree that bristle thickness can be varied from bait to bait. So a big bait wants to be fished in conjunction with a thick bristle so bites can be read that little bit more easily.
But that’s as far as it goes for me.
QDoes shockleader length vary depending on how far you cast the feeder, or do you keep it the same length? Robert Allinson, Derby
MY SHOCKLEADER length varies to take into account the fish I want. If it’s big bream I’ll use a long leader, since bite detection isn’t that important – big bream give a proper bite!
If I’m after roach, though, I will fish a very short leader to try to magnify the bites. At times, when roach fishing, I won’t even use a leader. Instead I prefer to fish braid direct.
When using a 13ft rod for bream at range I’ll use four arm lengths of 12lb Tournament ST as a shockleader but for roach I’ll often use just a single arm length or, as I said, no leader at all.
QDoes the length of hair vary depending on bait and hook size? Ray Walkenden, Harlow
HAIR length is something that I tend to keep pretty consistent in terms of where the bait sits in relation to the hook.
No matter what hook size or bait I’m using I like the bait to be sitting about 2mm off the back of the bend of the hook so, in other words, there is some daylight between the back of the hook bend and the hookbait.
I do tie some hairs at slightly different lengths, but this is only to take into account the size of the hookbait I might be using. Over the years I have experimented with hair length but never found any conclusive evidence to suggest that having a bigger gap between the hook and hookbait would be beneficial.