The FM Problem Page

PAUL WILLIAMS, FM CONTRIBUTOR AND SUCCESSFUL SPECIALIST ANGLER, ANSWERS

Some very good questions relating to braid. I have been messing about with braid a fair bit the last year or so, so I’ll see if I can answer your questions.

As you say, braid has a far higher BS than mono for a given diameter, it is therefore impossible (when used together) to ‘balance’ the two in the old sense where we would use a hooklink a couple of pounds lighter than the mainline. There are light BS braids on the market of course but in my opinion there is little point in buying them when a low diameter line with a higher BS can be purchased and offer far more flexibility and also offer a higher degree of safety if bigger fish (such as carp) are a possibility. So in answer to your question, ‘how do we balance mono and braid’, we don’t in the old sense but if the two are used together it is with a lighter mono leader and/or hooklink so in a ‘straight break’ situation the hooklink should still go first in the old way.

What method is best for joining braid to mono, or is it best to fish braid direct to the hook? That depends on the situation; if you want a longish length of mono at the end of the braid then you have to consider casting, so it would pay to join them directly (so that the knot can be wound through the rod rings and also travel through them on the cast). But a word of warning – always test the mono you intend to use ‘marries’ to the braid. Some don’t seem to marry together and cut mono can result.

Another way is to use a swivel to join the two materials, but this is only suitable for lengths of leader that you can cast comfortably because the swivel would catch on the rod rings if wound through them and also, of course, on the cast.

There is another line of thought that says adding mono to the set-up is defeating the idea of using braid in the first place by allowing stretch back into the equation. My own thoughts are that if I’m fishing at 100yds plus and the best rig entails a mono leader of say 10ft, then there is still a lot less stretch than having 100yds of mono out there!

Hook strength is something that needs to be taken into account when using braid, but not so much for the type of fishing you mention (bream and roach). I would go more for softer rods, gentle playing and sticking with your favourite hook patterns. In heavier situations it could pay to use hooks that would straighten, lure anglers for instance use far heavier braid than they ever could when using mono and hooks that straighten are preferable. When a lure snags up the braid will not break but the straightening hook will pull free.

Leads and feeders are attached in the usual way, though a weak link is now far more of a requirement if the rig is to be deemed ‘safe’. It’s unlikely that the braid will break in general use and if a mono leader is used that will be the natural weak point. But if the braid does break above the connection then it can become a tether rig if free passage of any link is stopped by a join of any sort. I’m sure that to have asked such a question you are aware of rigs that can make the use of braid safer. One of my own favourite ways is to use the Snag-safe lead clips by Enterprise Tackle to attach leads and feeders to running rigs. These have large bore holes for a mono to braid knot to pass over and also allow the lead/feeder to pull free if it becomes snagged. Fixed rigs are a different kettle of fish and to be totally honest I think this area needs a lot more thought. To go along this route I would recommend a high BS braid and lighter mono leader.

I have also heard that some alarms have problems showing runs, but my indicators when fishing braid are fairly heavy (I only use braid at distance for roach and bream) and they seem to be ok with my alarms (Delkims) so perhaps heavyish butt indicates help with braid?

I have found that some of the best sinking braids are the worst casting braids. Mainly due to their thicker and sometimes flatter profile, in fact one sinking braid I tried prevented me reaching the mark and I had to put mono back on. Other easy-casting monos are terrible to tighten up to and you can, if you’re not careful, end up pulling the bait out of the area you want to fish. My advice for long range fishing is to fish heavy leads/feeders so you can tighten up to them. With the multitude of braids available it would be nice for us to pool the characteristics of some in a thread on FISHINGmagic, that way we could decide on the one that best suits our needs.

STEWART BLOOR, FM CONTRIBUTOR AND SUCCESSFUL SPECIALIST ANGLER, ANSWERS

It’s difficult to comment on the specific situation without actually witnessing it at first hand. But the first step for anyone that is unhappy with anything that goes on at a venue is to bring the matter to those who are in charge, whether the club, individual owner, or whoever it may be.

Once the relevant authority has been approached the ball is in their court. The answer they give may be one that is satisfactory, or it may not. If, in this case, the owners do not take heed of your concerns, I don’t really think there’s much you can do, to be honest. I take it that the parents of the children know where their kids are? Would they appreciate you going round to see them? Probably not!

As for the Environment Agency, their job is to check licences, not to babysit. Sorry to sound hard, I’m not meaning to, just trying to point out what their response would be, but perhaps in a more diplomatic way.

The owners of the pool may be happy with the revenue that the children bring in. (I assume you have to pay to fish there, although you do mention that no bailiff ever comes round). Maybe the loss of adult revenue may make them look at the situation?

What would I do? Well, all that noise and disturbance doesn’t appeal to me. On the one hand I’d be happy that there are lots of kids who are taking an interest in angling. But personally, I’d go and fish somewhere more peaceful!

NORFOLK-BASED PREDATOR SPECIALIST AND FM CONTRIBUTOR CHRIS BISHOP ANSWERS

I’d start with something simple like float legering. Use a pencil float, set a couple of feet overdepth, with a rubber rig stop and bead to stop the float at the right depth.

Pinch three or four swan shot near the top of the trace so you’ve got some weight to tighten down to and hook the bait with the top treble in the tail root and the bottom hook in its flank.

When you cast out, the float will rise to the surface and lie flat once the bait has sunk to the bottom.

Put the rod on the rests, pointing at the float, reel in to tighten the line and the float should sit up and cock.

You can then either switch on the baitrunner on the reel, if you have this type of reel, or leave the bail arm open and trap the line lightly under an elastic band wound around the top of the handle.

Set up like this the rig is extremely sensitive. The line is nice and tight to the trace and the float helps keep the line up out of the way of any weed or snags on the bottom.

When a pike picks up your bait, the float either falls flat on the surface and slides away, or bobs and disappears.

As soon as this happens, pick the rod up, wind down tight to the fish and bend in firmly to set the hooks.

You could experiment with popping the bait up – move the weight within a foot of the bait and tie a polyball, bait popper or a sliver of cork to the bottom treble with fuse wire or light nylon.

This way, the bait ends up sitting a few inches above the bottom, you may need to experiment with different amounts of weight and buoyancy to get it just right.

I’d start off exploring the marginal drop-off, which sounds like the biggest feature in the pit you’re planning to target. The float leger rig is perfect for this. Try casting along the drop off and twitching the bait back towards you, as well as casting into the deeper water and twitching it back up the shelf.

Just move it a couple of feet every five minutes or so to thoroughly search the swim. If you haven’t had a fish after a few casts, move and try another swim until you find them.

There are three golden rules with any kind of deadbaiting:

1. Make sure you use an efficient form of bite indication, so you know as soon as a pike picks your bait up. This is the only way you can avoid deep hooking fish.

2. Make sure you use strong enough tackle to land a pike when you hook one. Casting heavy baits places a lot of strain on the line, so I’d start with a good 15lbs mono and check it regularly. Check your knots are sound – a carefully-tightened tucked half blood or grinner is best – after every fish.

3. Make sure you have the right equipment at hand to unhook a pike and return it safely.

For more information on basic rigs, etc, check these links on FISHINGmagic:
The Poppernoster Pike Rig
Pike Care Kit
Bolt Rigging For Pike
Float-Legering For Pike.

Or get a copy of the Pike Angler’s Club’s excellent Piking Beyond 2000 book, which covers all the basic rigs for fishing lures, live and deadbaits on different kinds of waters.

Let us know how you get on.

HOW TO TIE A HAIR RIG Chris Simpson (chris.simpson@wates.co.uk) asks: I have just started fishing for carp this year on a local club lake and would like to use a hair rig with either meat or boilies. Having looked at the price of ready-tied hair rig hooklengths, I have decided to tie my own. Would you please advise the best way/ knot for the job, if possible with a diagram.

GRAHAM, FM EDITOR, ANSWERS Take a look at these photos by Big Rik of tying a hair rig using the knotless knot, which is now the most popular way of tying it: ‘Rigs Page Library’. CONTROLLING AQUATIC PLANTS Jeff Bright (skinny@freenetname.co.uk) asks: The centre of my local lake is solid with weed. We have tried pulling it out by hand but the patch of weeds covers approximately 100 square meters. The water depth is about 5 foot. Most of the carp live in this weed bed on natural food and won’t move from it. I am not sure of what species it is. Would it be possible to weed kill an area this size without harming the fish? Or would we have to do it in sections? Could you recommend any weed killers? DR PAUL GARNER, PhD IN FISHERIES ECOLOGY AND SUCCESSFUL SPECIALIST ANGLER, ANSWERS Controlling aquatic plants with weed killers is at best an inexact science and can lead to catastrophic fish losses if not carried out properly. Without knowing the species of plant and the total area and depth of the lake it is impossible to give you a definitive answer, but I will try to point you in the right direction. Weed killers used in this kind of quantity are controlled substances and potentially very harmful to the environment. Your first port of call should be your local Environment Agency Fisheries team who will be able to offer free advice and plant identification. The most commonly used weed killers are those marketed under the Clarosan brand name. This covers a number of different products designed for different species of plant. Obviously, you need to know the correct product for your plants. The easiest form of weed killer to deal with are the pelleted varieties. These are safe to handle and break down slowly, releasing the active chemicals in a controlled area. You pay a bit more for the pellets, but I wouldn’t use anything else. Given the choice. The best time to use the chemicals is in the Spring before the weed has taken hold. Once the plants are established using weed killers becomes much more dangerous. Dead plants break down. Not only do you lose the input of oxygen that many submerged plants give, but as they die the plants use up a lot of oxygen. If you are not careful oxygen levels can plummet leading to fish-kills. This is why you MUST treat the weed BEFORE it begins growing, so that it has minimal impact as it dies. So if you have to use weed killers think very carefully about how to use them properly and stick religiously to the dosages recommended. Remember, these are slow-release chemicals so don’t be tempted to give it a ‘top-up’. Also consider what other implications killing the weed bed will have. Here are just a few things to consider: If this is where the natural food is, are you introducing enough bait to feed the fish? If not they will lose condition. Killing the weed may release nutrients which will trigger algal blooms. This can also lead to oxygen levels falling and also lead to systemic pollution. Can you monitor this? Coloured water may result as the algae takes hold. Is this a problem? Whilst killing the weedbeds might seem like a simple solution you have to consider all the consequences. Adding ANY kind of chemical is not something to be taken lightly.

ASK FOR ADVICE This is where you can ask that vital question about fishing that’s been nagging you for too long. It could be about a certain rig or bait, maybe about groundbaiting or flavouring, or it could be about a simple fishery management problem or a fish behaviour or biology type question. Whatever it is we’ll hand the question to somebody who we reckon can do it justice, somebody who knows what they’re talking about in that particular field. Sound good so far? It gets better. Prizes donated by Shimano If you’re a FISHINGmagic member you can could win a bulk spool of Catana mono for what we judge is the Question of the Week, and the runner-up will get a 100yd spool of Shimano Exage. Some weeks there could be two runners-up. All we ask you to do is be specific with the question, and to provide some relevant details. Avoid questions like, ‘How do I catch tench?’ Or, ‘Which is the best hook to use for carp?’ There are too many answers to questions like that. Whole books have been written about catching tench, and there is no one hook for catching carp. And remember, the more information you give related to one specific question the more chance you have of receiving a helpful answer. Send your questions to graham@fishingmagic.com. How often this advice section will appear will be according to the volume of questions we receive. Any questions received that relate to any other series currently running on FM will automatically be considered for this section and will be eligible for prizes. In the interests of authenticity all email addresses of those asking questions will be given in full unless you specifically request otherwise. Would prize winners please let me have their street addresses – send to graham@fishingmagic.com.