Crucian fishing rigs | paste on the pole
Crucians are famed for their delicate feeding, and smaller fish can give hundreds of missed bites before you connect with them. However, big specimens are quite bold and a scaled-down carp approach picks them off well.
It’s all about presentation and placement of the bait. Much crucian fishing takes place at close range just a few metres off the bank, which makes the pole a sensible option for the angler.
Not only can you drop the hookbait in just the right place but you can keep the rig still and hit lighting-fast bites in a split second – far quicker than if you were using rod and line tactics.
1) Where to fish
Because crucians feed at close range, you need to spend a bit of time plumbing about the peg to find the ideal spot.
This will be just at the bottom of the marginal slope or shelf on a flat bottom free of weed or snags, but it can also be worth feeding a swim on top of this shelf close to features such as reeds or lily pads, provided there is a minimum of a couple of feet of water to play with.
2) Dot the float down
Rarely will a crucian pull the full bristle of a float under and often the only sign you’ll get is a sinking of a centimetre or so.
To counter this, shot the float to leave a tiny speck of float bristle showing. Any touch on the bait will immediately sink the tip.
3) Fish at dead depth
Presenting a hookbait overdepth will lead to missed bites. Crucians often give no indication at all on the float. Get an accurate depth reading and fish with the bait just touching bottom and you’ll give yourself a much better chance of seeing a bite and hooking the fish.
4) Scale down tackle
Crucians on the whole are not big fish, so strong arm tackle isn’t needed.
A rig resembling something you might use for roach will be fine, and that means a 3lb mainline, a hooklink of the same breaking strain but in modern low diameter line and a small lightweight hook. Look at size 18 or 16 hooks and a rg finished off with a slim pole float taking around half a gram.
Pick a float with a very thin bristle. This will show up every indication better than a thicker-topped float.
5) Go for paste
Maggots or casters may attract nuisance fish. Expander pellets are a good hookbait but big crucians just love a nugget of soft paste wrapped around the hook. The softer the paste the better, as the hook will pull through easily on the strike. Make your paste from a fishmeal groundbait, aiming to achieve a consistency similar to that of putty.