Fishing

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by ribber

I've just got into mackerel fishing. Silver lures on 4 hooks pulling them out by the dozen although i just take what I will eat.



My method is easy, look for the seagulls diving madly into the water picking out whitebait or whatever they are called, the mackerel are after them forcing them to the surface. I speed across into the melee and drop my line, simple. Normally on a incoming tide close to the shore. My fishing grounds being off Gurnard IOW. Fresh with a bit of lemon and butter.....

Gut them as soon as you can & hang them over the side in a net bag. It gets rid of the worms & improves the flavour IMO

[Katie.harker]

Hi guys, can I hijack this thread for a quick question?
Fishing on rivers, specifically the River Dee, Cheshire. Looking at where we can dip our lures for free and where you need to be a club member - I'm finding some stretches are covered by a club on one side of the river but not on others. Does this mean that it's the land you are paying to fish from and so if fishing from a SIB, you wouldn't need to be a club member?

[paintman]

Interesting question.
I've never river fished from a boat but have from the bank for game fish - trout & salmon - & a bit of coarse fishing so I don't know the answer.

The fishing rights are usually under the control of the landowner - simplest way is to say the person/company that own the river bed - and are often rented by angling clubs for their members. They can be bought & in that case may not be owned by the main landowner. In salmon rivers this is common practice & stretches can change hands for eyewatering amounts.

Game fishing is often let out by the week or day by the owner or the controlling club.

Fishing - game or coarse - can be single bank or both banks & not unusual to have different clubs on each side in which case the limit of the fishing should be regarded as the middle of the river if someone sets up opposite you. Can be problematic, my late father rented a short stretch of the Welsh River Wye at Hampton Bishop in the 70's for salmon fishing. Single bank. Much of it was useless for salmon & the only worthwhile bit was the run into the Carrots Pool. Problem was that the main channel into the pool was on the other side of the river & if someone was either already fishing it from the other side or arrived whilst you were fishing you had to let them have it.

You will need an Environment Agency rod licence for each person over the age 12 who is fishing. There are different licences if you intend to fish for coarse fish or game fish.
Bailiffs are getting much hotter checking licences & penalties can be expensive - esp if you are taken to court.
Rivers are subject to a 'close season' when fishing for coarse fish is not permitted & again penalties can be severe.
Rules apply to the keeping of caught fish & these can vary.
This gives a better overview: https://www.gov.uk/topic/environment...-rod-licensing

[wxmrich]

Originally Posted by Katie.harker

Hi guys, can I hijack this thread for a quick question?

Fishing on rivers, specifically the River Dee, Cheshire. Looking at where we can dip our lures for free and where you need to be a club member - I'm finding some stretches are covered by a club on one side of the river but not on others. Does this mean that it's the land you are paying to fish from and so if fishing from a SIB, you wouldn't need to be a club member?

Hi Katie, I spend a lot of time fishing on the Dee although never from my SIB. You can fish for free anywhere from where you launch at Sandy Lane, all the way up to the other side of Eccleston - a good 3/4 miles of river. Once you get up as far as the caravans on the river bank the fishing is prohibited from the bank although you'll probably get away with it from the SIB. If you hook one of the huge barbel it will pull you and the SIB all over the river though!!

[jonp]

Hey bud some good tips have been mentioned but there are a few you really need to be carefull of.

Using braid can be very dangerouse in a rib or sib ( it's pretty much all I use though). If your line gets snagged in the bottom or you hook a good sized fish that pulls the braid against the tubes under pressure it could slice them open like a knife.

The strengths people are recomending are also extremely strong and would be almost impossible for you to break if you get snagged in the bottom. My heaviest braids that I use on large tuna and marlin etc are 50lb, my most common size used is 10 lb which will handle drag settings on the reel of 6-7 lb and capable of stopping most of the smaller tuna species. Spin reels are more than capable of taking on almost any big game so don't just look at multi's, I use spin gear on marlin and tuna with great success.

Braid strength labelling is very misleading, many 10-20 lb braids break well above their stated strengths, often more than double, have a look here at testing Paulus Just Fishing

Fluorocarbon is a waiste of money in my opinion, I've tried many brands side by side with plain mamoi diamond mono and have found the plain mono outfished the fluro in almost every ocastion. I've also taken samples to 36m on scuba to see if it becomes invisible to the human eye, it doesn't. I've also searched to find any scientific research on the relationship of fluro on fish eyesight with no luck. But if you feel more confident using the far far more expensive fluro then go ahead as there's nothing better than fishing with confidence.

Over to fish finders, these can be a vital piece of equipment where pretty much the more you are prepared to spend the better fish finding they tend to be. In saying that even budget models should show fish and bottom conditions clearly, even an old Lowrance hds 5 I used to have picked up my 1oz jig heads with soft plastics dropping into snapper at 56 m. That same unit clearly showed bottom in 600m of water.

Things like sidescan and 3D scanning will actually show the shape of fish and clearly show features of wrecks etc depending on depth. Most sounder manufacturers are very competitive so it's hard to wrong with modern models, just do a little research. As for transducer mounting, I'm sure with a little thought you could find a way to fit one, I use external mount types and removable ones on my Kayak.

[paintman]

Went from mono via a very brief flirtation with wire to braid.

Wire gave the ability to use lighter leads as the smaller diameter gave less resistance to tidal flow BUT fraying gave very nasty spiky bits & once they happened you needed to replace it.

Braid has the low diameter without the spiky bits. Tried a few & PowerPro has yet to give me a reason to bin it.

Interesting about the visibility of fluorocarbon - any comments about the visibility of colours as depth increases - although I suspect most fish aren't bothered as the first they see is likely to be their last...

I have a Dragonfly 7 & sometimes the realisation that the biggest thing you can see is the 6" redgill you are using can be a bit depressing...

[Fishcake]

Originally Posted by paintman

Went from mono via a very brief flirtation with wire to braid.

Wire gave the ability to use lighter leads as the smaller diameter gave less resistance to tidal flow BUT fraying gave very nasty spiky bits & once they happened you needed to replace it.

Braid has the low diameter without the spiky bits. Tried a few & PowerPro has yet to give me a reason to bin it.

Interesting about the visibility of fluorocarbon - any comments about the visibility of colours as depth increases - although I suspect most fish aren't bothered as the first they see is likely to be their last...

I have a Dragonfly 7 & sometimes the realisation that the biggest thing you can see is the 6" redgill you are using can be a bit depressing...

Well my bass hunter kit is coming together now, following all of the advice and debate on this thread. I've got a couple of black minnow shore and offshore number 3s. After much "umming and ahhing" I've gone for 30lb braid in a nice dark green colour. My last piece of the jigsaw is the leader. Now this again is a nightmare for the indecisive. I'm thinking of lashing out a tenner on a role of fluro because it would last me a couple of years anyway... Do I match the weight of it to my 30lb braid? I intend to put a clip on the end of my braid, a swivel on the braid end of the fluro, and the other end tied with a Rapala knot to my lures.... Does this sound like a winning combination?

[Pikey Dave]

Originally Posted by Fishcake

Well my bass hunter kit is coming together now, following all of the advice and debate on this thread. I've got a couple of black minnow shore and offshore number 3s. After much "umming and ahhing" I've gone for 30lb braid in a nice dark green colour. My last piece of the jigsaw is the leader. Now this again is a nightmare for the indecisive. I'm thinking of lashing out a tenner on a role of fluro because it would last me a couple of years anyway... Do I match the weight of it to my 30lb braid? I intend to put a clip on the end of my braid, a swivel on the braid end of the fluro, and the other end tied with a Rapala knot to my lures.... Does this sound like a winning combination?

If you put a clip on the braid, you need to be aware that the clip may not pass through the ring on the rod tip. So you stop reeling in at the end of the braid this will leave your leader dangling. I never bother with a leader, I have a clip in the end of the braid & go straight onto the lure or feathers with it, the fish don't seem to mind.

[paintman]

I only use the mono as a trace on the bottom rod & rig like this.
Slip a boom over the braid followed by a bead & tie a swivel to the end of the braid. Tie a length of mono to the swivel - I use around 6 to 8 feet - and the other end of the mono to a clip.
Lure goes on the clip unless you're using the original redgills in which case the hook is removed from the eel then the mono threaded through the eel from the front before tying the hook on & pulling it back into the eel. Same rig with a bare hook tied to the mono for cut bait - mackerel strip, frozen sandeels etc.

The redgill site does show their 'how to' but it's over complicated.

I use a lighter breaking strain trace than the braid as I'd rather lose just the eel than the lot. I also use a paper clip to attach the lead to the boom so if the lead gets hung up I only lose the lead.

Stiff mono is preferable as it helps to keep the trace from tangling with the mainline on the drop.

If I have a set of feathers on the bottom rod then the boom comes off, the clip goes on the braid, the feathers go on the clip & the lead goes on a paper clip on the bottom of the feathers.

For spinning/plugging/jigheads the clip goes on the braid & the lure goes on the clip.

If you do use cut bait I avoid the preserved variety. Many years ago my late father bought some jars of preserved sandeels. Caught nothing with them & even the seagulls turned their noses up!
I suspect there have been improvements since those days, but I only use fresh or frozen.