| MARK HODSON | |
An angler since he can remember, Mark Hodson almost literally lives, eats and breathes fishing. A match angler in his youth, fishing for the junior Starlets, he turned to the dark side and joined the ‘floppy hat’ brigade in his college years. He worked in the tackle trade for ten years, on a part time or full time basis at Chaplains, one of Birmingham’s busiest tackle shops and managed the specialist department there for two years. He now fishes just for fun, although the ‘floppy specialist hat’ still dominates his angling, his writing concentrates on getting the maximum enjoyment from your angling and trying something different from the norm. |
The Forgotten Arts – The Long Range Waggler – Part 1Sounds a little satanic ‘The Forgotten Arts’ doesn’t it. Well you will be glad to hear (though some may be just a little disappointed) that this article has nothing to do with witchcraft or black magic, though if it inspires you to have a go, you may just create a little magic of your own. I have been, for a long time, thinking about doing a couple of pieces on methods and techniques that have in recent times fallen by the wayside, due to changing fishing trends or have been overtaken by more efficient or easier to fish methods. Like those who worry that traditional arts and crafts, or rural skills may one day disappear as technology and lack of demand finally see to their demise, I too worry that some angling skills and methods, and the enjoyment and variety they bring may one day be lost to future generations of anglers.
One such technique is long range waggler fishing. Now I hear some of you cry, “But I fish a float every weekend,” but I am referring to the skill, and it is a true angling skill, of fishing a waggler at extreme range, and I’m not counting the large carp style ‘splasher’ floats in the equation. No, I’m talking about fishing large true peacock style wagglers or modern variants, both bodied, straight and insert, at the far end of loose feeding range. Those who have seen this method in practice on the Warwickshire Avon, middle Severn or large stillwaters will testify to its effectiveness. It is with a certain amount of glee that I read the winter match results to see that an angler has won the midweek open on the Avon with a waggler caught catch of roach, chub and dace week in and week out. This is bucking the current trend to feeder fish pellet for the two or three large barbel that will claim top spot. But as it is the closed season I shall concentrate for now on long range stillwater waggler fishing, and the joys and catches it can bring. Here comes Spring With the coming of the blossom and the flowering of daffodils so comes the start of a unique period of time in the fishing year. The warming of the water drives fish out of their winter lethargy and the instinct to feed heavily in order to get into condition for spawning kicks in. Fish that have been tightly shoaled over the cold winter months suddenly break ranks and go in search of the nearest easy meal, and it is through this search that the attraction of the continuous stream of feed that is essential for this technique to work, stops them dead in their tracks and in the end puts them in your waiting net.
This really is a catch-all method, as all species will fall to its simplicity, from the smallest of dace to the mightiest of carp, the complete pyramid of species can be drawn into your swim, with the feeding frenzy of the smaller species often being the more effective attractant than the actual feed itself where the larger specimens are concerned. It works like a queue, you see one and think, “I wonder what they are queuing for?” So you go and look and if it’s a free meal you would join the queue. If you were a big bully you may even barge your way to the front. Fish are exactly the same, so when larger fish see smaller fish feeding they too join the queue for the free meal, waiting for the next ball of groundbait, pouchful of hemp, maggot, caster, corn or pellet and barging their way to the front, inevitably grabbing that bonus morsel that stands out from the rest but has a strategically placed hook hidden within. The trick is to entice the queue in the first place, and then take advantage. Here’s how. The Gear This method is suited to all waters that contain a good variety of fish. I favour large gravel pits as I find them a challenge but I have enjoyed fishing this method at waters such as the coarse pool at Cuttle Mill, Catton Park, the Birmingham Parks Pools, Hardwick and Smiths pool at Linear. Also estate lakes, and some of the larger commercials such as the big lake at Mallory Park and the Match Pool at the Riddings in Warwickshire.
As you can see it suits a wide variety of venues, so you really have to rate your gear to suit the venue you’re fishing. On the Birmingham Parks or similar, which have a good head of silver fish plus the odd specimen, a standard 13 – 15ft waggler rod coupled with 2.5 – 4lb mainline and 1.5 – 3lb hooklength would be the order of the day. But at Cuttle Mill, Mallory or similar, where there are even numbers of good size silver fish and medium bream, tench and carp plus the odd ‘zoo’ creature, a stepped up waggler rod complete with 4 – 6 lb mainline and matching stronger hooklength would leave you with a good chance of landing anything that would want to barge its way to the front of your queue. As for hooks for this style of fishing I only use two types, both Drennan, Super Carbon barbless in size 16-22 for the light work and barbless carp in size 20 -12 for the heavier work. The only exception is when I want to, on the odd rare occasion, fish a whole or partial lobworm I’ll resort to the tried and tested Super Specialist in size 10 or 8. Floats are long and large, and again I favour Drennan. Anything from 3 AAA to 4 SSG is the order of the day as you will be fishing at times at the extreme of loose feed catapult range. The Drennan crystal range with their interchangeable tips are the ultimate in float fishing convenience and flexibility. If the light changes you can change the colour of the tip, if a swell gets up you can change to a sight tip, and the loaded versions cast like rockets. I like these floats so much I use the range for 90 % of my waggler fishing. Others that are nice are the Drennan double peacocks that are becoming increasingly hard to find but not only look gorgeous but offer the ultimate in long range visibility and sensitivity when fishing on the drop or finicky delicate bites are the order of the day. I have used MAP, Maver, Kamasan and Browning models in the past but have never found them as robust (the paint always flake on the first use) or versatile as the Drennan floats. Shotting patterns need to have a degree of flexibility built into them. You will need to have the capacity to form maybe a bulk of shot at mid-depth to get a bait through a marauding shoal of immature rudd to the better stamp of fish below, or push down a no.10 or 8 shot to drag bottom if drift become problematic. To account for this it is best to split at least an AAA worth of shot as part of the locking shot below the float for this purpose, thus giving you plenty of options if need be as the session progresses. Also I always incorporate a micro swivel into the set up, at the join of main line to hooklength to help eliminate line twist. This, along with a no.8 for every 2 ft of depth strung out ‘shirt button’ style and a no.10 shot 12″ from the hook is my standard starting pattern. Two good catapults, sinking line spray, a decent plummet, a disgorger and a well filled spool are the other essentials, the reasons for this will be explained next time, as will the need for organisation, discipline and patience. |
