How did you get on?

[@Clive]

I’ve used a bait dropper to feed punch crumb in that depth and more …. Really need one with a long stalk to release off the bottom. Sadly I think you may be right …

A few years back Flightliner mentioned a dropper that can be set to open at any depth. Two years ago I made my own and it works a treat. I'll try and describe it. The one that I made was designed to have a maximum depth range of 6 foot because that ass the most that I could comfortably cast with my 11 foot telescopic pike rod that doubles as my dropper / spod rod. If you have a longer rod then it can be made longer by adjusting the measurements below.

Start with 14 foot of mono' around 15lb bs. Double it and form a small loop knot at the top end where the line is doubled over. That loop knot is then attached loop to eye with a swivel. Of the two lengths of line, call them A & B for clarification.

On A slide on a substantial ledger stop and then on both lines a large sliding pike float ideally with the lines passing down a tube in the middle of the float.

On B tie a strong link swivel 6 feet from the top swivel. Use that to attach a banjo dropper. Then lay the rig on the ground extended with lines A & B side by side with no slack in them. On line A tie a loop that just fits over the trigger loop of the dropper when the door is in the closed and latched position.

In use the ledger stop on line A can be set anywhere from a few inches below the top swivel to a few inches above the dropper trigger which would be around 6 feet down. Before filling the dropper slip the loop on line A over the latching trigger. When you cast out both lines pass through the sliding float equally until the ledger stop on line A prevents that from giving any more line. Line B however continues to feed through the sliding float as the dropper descends and this causes the dropper to open as the trigger is pulled up effectively suspending the dropper on line A.

There is a bit of fine tuning regards the trigger on the door of the dropper. It has to be tight enough so as not to open on the cast but opens freely as the dropper's weight is taken up by line A.

Between use you can take the dropper off the rig and wind the two llnes in parallel on a large pole winder.

I normally use this in the warmer months to get maggots past the millions of bleak that inhabit the surface layer or when fishing really deep river swims where allowing the bait to start dispersing 6 feet down is better than firing it in with a catapult and gives a tighter baited area.

 

[Skoda]

Just returned from my annual trip to the Mighty River Severn. The plan was to meet up with Micky and his partner: we would fish and the girls would go walking and shopping. The plan changed when I developed double vision (possibly a result of having flu jab and Covid jab on same day and feeling crap all the next day). Long story short - no driving!

On the plus side it was just Micky and me. The river levels were low, the weather was cool but not freezing, light winds, mainly dry but light drizzle in the afternoons. The fishing was hard. We employed the usual tactics, luncheon meat (although my tin of Tulip luncheon meat dated June2029 must have had a tiny puncture and almost half was mouldy and soft!), groundbait feeders or straight lead. Micky caught a small barbel about 5lb on the first day and I managed a small chub around a pound and a half.

Next day I chose a swim with a flat sandy beach, a deep slack inside and the main flow over the far bank. The double vision was giving me problems negotiating getting down to the river safely. It also caused great difficulty threading my 13’ float rod up. Never take your eyesight for granted. Micky tried a few swims without luck whilst I put a sleeper rod out in the faster water and fiddled around the deep slack in front of me on the float. A small worm accounted for a nice dace which saved a blank. I can’t help feeling a pint of maggots would have been handy!

Later that afternoon I chatted to an angler who had been roving with liquidised bread and bread flake bait. He said he’d caught a dozen chub and, wait for it, a barbel on bread in the swim I was now in. It was only the second barbel he’d ever caught on bread. (I’ve only ever caught one barbel on bread, in a match on the River Nidd in the sixties. I had two foot of gin clear water in front of me and had managed two or three 1oz dace all morning. Giving my swim a rest I paused for lunch and lobbed a ¾ oz bomb over to the far bank under a bush, big piece of my sandwich bread on the hook. Drink in one hand Kit-Kat in the other, massive bite, drink and biscuit everywhere. Landed a 6lb 2oz barbel which was huge in those days; the match officials wouldn’t let me weigh it in until the end of the match so there it was taking up most of my 6-ring keepnet for four hours in the sun.)

I tried bread on the hook for a couple of hours but switched back to luncheon meat mid-afternoon. I’d been gradually reducing my line diameter and hook size but, as the light was fading, decided to return to 9lb fluorocarbon hook link and a size 12 which was a stroke of luck really as I had a bite straight away and struck into a decent barbel, eventually landing a 7lb 14oz beauty.

We had to vacate the cottage on the Monday morning but fished on until 12.30 without any luck. On the drive home they were gritting the M6 and the A14 in preparation for the Arctic blast due the next day.

Andy

 

[chevin4]

Last Saturday i joined my fellow Perchfishers for a fish-in on a beautiful stretch of the Gt Ouse near Bedford. Unlike the conditions last year when the event was called off due to flooding the river which awaited us on this occasion was running low and clear.
I decided to fish with two light quiver rods namely Fox 12ft Specialists one was set up with a small running feeder size 16 hook armed with two maggots the other rod was set up with a link leger with a lobworm on a size 8. From the start i was catching plenty of roach on the maggot whilst the lobworm positioned in front of a bush remained inactive but i expected the perch would switch on at dusk. One of our members (Colin) who has had several big perch to over 3lb to his name caught his first 2lb at a fish-in weighing 2lb 12oz i was delughted for him.
Colin caught his perch on a small piece of lobworm on a size 10 hook. This was cue to change tactics the maggot rod was wound in and i would concentrate on one rod as dusk approached. As expected the perch came on the feed i caught a dozen or so in quick succession but unfortunately they were all below a pound.
Soon it was dark and time to pack up we got back to the car before the heavens opened we stayed dry throughout the day which is always a bonus particularly as i left the brollie behind.