Commercial fishing tips | Catch more beyond your pole line with Cameron Hughes
A common problem in the clearing water of commercial fisheries at this time of year is having a pole line you have been catching well on suddenly die a death.
From regular bites, the swim suddenly appears devoid of life and you’re left scratching your head as to what to do next. Do you feed more aggressively to trigger a response or carry on in the hope that things will return to normal given time?
Both these could work, of course, but for me the answer lies in changing tactics completely and digging out the waggler rod. Casting past that original pole swim into ‘new’ water will always find fish that may have backed off from the disturbance created from catching well on the pole.
It’s not a tactic that will catch lots of fish – I tend to use it more as another option if the pole fades or if I feel that my original catching area needs a rest. It’s definitely an enjoyable way of fishing in the way we used to be before the pole began to rule all.
You can catch carp on the waggler, but it’s for silver fish where the float really comes into its own. Roach and skimmers are famed for backing off the main feed area as a session progresses and they also feed at all depths. This allows the use of a lightly shotted waggler to search the depths and find where the fish are.
My local fishery, Rycroft near Derby, is a typical commercial venue full of silver fish, and I’m currently in the middle of a silver fish series on there where the waggler plays a vital part in my match plan.
It’ll work just as well, though, if not better, on a pleasure session – so for a bit of practice and to show the benefits of time spent on the float, I’m tackling the Carp Lake, home to some big old roach and plenty of chunky skimmers.
Why fish the float?
It’s an enjoyable way to fish that works when the going gets tough and the fish show signs of shoaling up towards the middle of the lake, which is always beyond pole range. The fish are there and catchable, but you need to find a way to get to them. The waggler is the only sensible option, and I use it as an ‘occasional’ tactic to rest the pole or search around if things show signs of slowing down.
I may only catch half-a-dozen fish on it, but they tend to be a bit bigger on the float. At the end of the day, these are fish that I probably wouldn’t have caught if I’d stayed on the pole.
The right distance
You can cast a waggler as far as you like, but going too far will mean you struggle to feed accurately. I always loosefeed on the waggler for commercial roach and skimmers and want the feed to spread slightly but not too far.
A distance of 20m-25m, wind depending, is about right. This is far enough away from the pole line for you to catch any fish that have backed away.
Always loose feed
Groundbait can work if you are catching lots of skimmers and bream but a waggler allows you tofish through the water to get bites at all levels – so loosefeeding is the best course. Maggots are good when things are really hard but if it’s still relatively mild I’ll always go for casters, which will catch the quality fish.
I’m also quite aggressive with the amount I feed, typically 40 casters at a time to create a reasonable-sized catching area to cast around in – but this can change quite quickly if I am not catching as well as I’d like. If bites are slow in coming, cutting back on the feed will come into play, so let the fish tell you how much bait they want!
Top hookbaits are single or double caster, but I would always start on a single red maggot to get a few bites and work out exactly what’s in the swim before I make the change to caster.
Casting about
Because of that slight spread of loosefeed, the cast doesn’t need to be in the same spot every time, but it makes sense to return to the same area if you are catching. By all means drop the odd chuck slightly past this or off to one side.
As to how long to wait before casting again, I’m quite active so I will cast, let the rig settle and wait 30 seconds. If there’s no bite, I’ll twitch the float around a yard, wait another 30 seconds and then wind in.
Ideally, I should get an indication just as the bait settles or shortly afterwards – the only time I would leave the float in for longer is if I was catching bream and skimmers on the bottom and not roach.
