anyone please advise dos and donts of fishing in silt please? Mainly in relation to leads and rigs etc.
In reply to Post #1
Well if your fishing close in like margins or a canal I use a prodding in stick it helps me gage how deep the silt could be and if it's smelly or not and also what could be underneath ie: gravel etc,when I'm on a lake I use chest waders and a prodding stick for safety as the silt can be really deep,most of the time I use pva bags of a few pellets and crumb and cover bag in thick liquid to get some smells down there
Well if your fishing close in like margins or a canal I use a prodding in stick it helps me gage how deep the silt could be and if it's smelly or not and also what could be underneath ie: gravel etc,when I'm on a lake I use chest waders and a prodding stick for safety as the silt can be really deep,most of the time I use pva bags of a few pellets and crumb and cover bag in thick liquid to get some smells down there
In reply to Post #1
I use light leads , helicopter system with iq d rigs 8 -10 inch hook lengths always served me well.
I use light leads , helicopter system with iq d rigs 8 -10 inch hook lengths always served me well.
In reply to Post #3
Cabain that's where my initial thoughts were tbh,prodding stick not a option as boats not allowed .it's a old gravel pit with crays and bream so plenty of problems to work through.
Cabain that's where my initial thoughts were tbh,prodding stick not a option as boats not allowed .it's a old gravel pit with crays and bream so plenty of problems to work through.
Light leads and pop-ups/wafters?
In reply to Post #1
I agree with the below, Helicopters are a must if you're finding it hard to tell how deep it is or if its really plugging in well.
I've used it classic chod style and with a longer 7 inch booms with a hinge or ronnie set-up and its not let me down.
I agree with the below, Helicopters are a must if you're finding it hard to tell how deep it is or if its really plugging in well.
I've used it classic chod style and with a longer 7 inch booms with a hinge or ronnie set-up and its not let me down.
In reply to Post #1
heavy bottom bait, if the silts nice they will be head deep in it
heavy bottom bait, if the silts nice they will be head deep in it
Lightest lead you can get away with for the distance you need to cast with a parachute setup, I go 12" hooklink in silt which is standard for me but use what your confident in then put a parachute PVA bag on the hooklink.
I adopted this for silty venues following a meeting with an angler I met some 11/12 years ago called Nick Burrage he put it in print or on a blog around 10 or so years ago, I met and fished with Nick on a couple of occasions around that time, he used to post on the forum and was very successful on the Mangrove (very silty) and other silty mere's as they were the types of venues he grew up around fishing renowned for silt, I first met Nick on the Mangrove at the end of his first season where he absolutely took the lake apart he had something like 130 odd captures out of around 180/90 captures that year by the whole syndicate, it was something like that my memory recall has never been great and he did the same the following season as well as doing very well on the Birch through the winter another very silty mere.
He first put one or two PVA nuggets in a medium width PVA mesh then dropped three 15/16mm boilies on top pushed these into a triangle shape with the nugget in the center at the top and cut and tie off as tight as possible maintaining the shape, he then squeezed to crack the boilies slightly which tightened the mesh even further, pass the baiting needle through the centre of the PVA nugget and slide on the hooklink pull hookpoint into the PVA nugget.
A tactic he employed to slow the plummet of the rig into the water his results were there to see so he was doing something right, obviously shallow water or say depths less than say four or five feet probably isn't going to benefit as much as deeper water.
I adopted this for silty venues following a meeting with an angler I met some 11/12 years ago called Nick Burrage he put it in print or on a blog around 10 or so years ago, I met and fished with Nick on a couple of occasions around that time, he used to post on the forum and was very successful on the Mangrove (very silty) and other silty mere's as they were the types of venues he grew up around fishing renowned for silt, I first met Nick on the Mangrove at the end of his first season where he absolutely took the lake apart he had something like 130 odd captures out of around 180/90 captures that year by the whole syndicate, it was something like that my memory recall has never been great and he did the same the following season as well as doing very well on the Birch through the winter another very silty mere.
He first put one or two PVA nuggets in a medium width PVA mesh then dropped three 15/16mm boilies on top pushed these into a triangle shape with the nugget in the center at the top and cut and tie off as tight as possible maintaining the shape, he then squeezed to crack the boilies slightly which tightened the mesh even further, pass the baiting needle through the centre of the PVA nugget and slide on the hooklink pull hookpoint into the PVA nugget.
A tactic he employed to slow the plummet of the rig into the water his results were there to see so he was doing something right, obviously shallow water or say depths less than say four or five feet probably isn't going to benefit as much as deeper water.
In reply to Post #8
My pb came out of birchgrove,good helpful post that thanks very much.
My pb came out of birchgrove,good helpful post that thanks very much.
In reply to Post #9
Lovely lakes plenty of history to them, I fished them both a few times back then but the otters were having a detrimental effect on the stock, used to mainly fish around work parties and found quite a few sun bleached gill covers and skeletons on the field side at Birch they were only a few feet back from the water on the very last time I went to a work party there, found otter fur on the bottom strand of barb wire across the ditch that run from Fenemere to the Swamp and a carcasses in the fields in between obviously couldn't tell which lake it was from, it was after I stopped going up there Id heard they practically emptied the two fenced stockponds the one winter, dont know how its fairing these days.
Lovely lakes plenty of history to them, I fished them both a few times back then but the otters were having a detrimental effect on the stock, used to mainly fish around work parties and found quite a few sun bleached gill covers and skeletons on the field side at Birch they were only a few feet back from the water on the very last time I went to a work party there, found otter fur on the bottom strand of barb wire across the ditch that run from Fenemere to the Swamp and a carcasses in the fields in between obviously couldn't tell which lake it was from, it was after I stopped going up there Id heard they practically emptied the two fenced stockponds the one winter, dont know how its fairing these days.
In reply to Post #1
Do's: Watch the fish and let them tell you which areas of silt they're happy to feed in.
Use bottom baits during the times they're actively feeding in the silt.
Use a stick to make sure that your hook gets into the silt free of debris.
Don't': Keep worrying about rigs.
Try and keep your rig/bait out of the silt.
I've caught plenty of fish using nylon hooklenghths as short as 3in cast into deep silt.
Do's: Watch the fish and let them tell you which areas of silt they're happy to feed in.
Use bottom baits during the times they're actively feeding in the silt.
Use a stick to make sure that your hook gets into the silt free of debris.
Don't': Keep worrying about rigs.
Try and keep your rig/bait out of the silt.
I've caught plenty of fish using nylon hooklenghths as short as 3in cast into deep silt.
In reply to Post #11
Thanks Andy, points noted.
Thanks Andy, points noted.
I found a relatively stiff rig D rig of around 6 inches with a 4oz lead on a lead clip very effective on a silty estate lake.
My thinking was that the lead pulled down into the softer top layer of silt with the rig coming straight up from the lead. Like a tall pop up but the rig was buried in the silt. When the fish took the hookbait it was nailed by the lead immediately.
The whole lake had feet of old silt, some stank some didn't. Sometimes you caught in the stink, sometimes in the fresher smelling areas.
The good thing is they give themselves away at feeding time, make sure you are up at 1st light and if they're feeding you'll see the clouds of bubbles.
My thinking was that the lead pulled down into the softer top layer of silt with the rig coming straight up from the lead. Like a tall pop up but the rig was buried in the silt. When the fish took the hookbait it was nailed by the lead immediately.
The whole lake had feet of old silt, some stank some didn't. Sometimes you caught in the stink, sometimes in the fresher smelling areas.
The good thing is they give themselves away at feeding time, make sure you are up at 1st light and if they're feeding you'll see the clouds of bubbles.