Hi guys
Looking for advice on how people deal with fish that appear to be preoccupied on naturals, bloodworm specifically. For a
Bit of background, the small silty syndicate I fish has gone from
Fishing really well in the spring to absolutely dying in the summer. I think the fish are preoccupied on bloodworm as I can see them sheeting up all over the lake but they don't seem interested in anglers baits.

Thanks

It's going to be very difficult. I fished a water like that, you could literally roll balls with insect cases that floated on the surface. Never did find a winning formula for summer, just a case of the odd bite.
As a complete off the wall, as I'm getting into fly fishing flies, have a look at the apps bloodworm, fairly sure you could tied something similar on a Carp hook, might need a but of foam to balance.

Also have a look at hybrid worm flies, plenty on eBay. They have a foam head and sink slowly. They look like zig aligners. I've caught carp, trout and rudd fishing with them on a fly set up, but I'm guessing other approaches would work equally well.

In reply to Post #1
Fishing really well in the spring to absolutely dying in the summer

Think you answered the question yourself. I learned that many years ago on a lot of rich waters, up to spawning can be like clubbing seals, once that weed comes up and its naturals galore you are certainly up against it. It's simple, they will only eat bait if they want it, couple this with the hazards of eating bait it can be hard going, to the point I used to fish elsewhere and fish these type of waters as I mention. Those fish will be eating, it's how they maintain their weigh

Life's about learning. First day of the season I was on the Trent in a good area and blanked, I thought fek me, but so did most people, I saw one small barbel caught and after talking to others that was about it, specifically fishing for barbel or course. Speaking to a mate who has fished the rivers for years afterwards, he said yeah, it's generally poor until they are back on the feed. Amazing how the close season and lack of bait switched them back ont to naturals. Shame I didn't live much closed or I would have been putting a few KG in every few days for a month or two

People get conditioned more than the fish, (if it's a seasonal) you are going to struggle, especially if it's a low stock density, prepare for some blanking. I once fished one similar water and they stocked some fish, mental, like clubbing seals, obviously the stock was on their spots so increased the competition

In reply to Post #4
It's not a weedy water at all but I'd say 90% is silt so I'm pretty sure they're chowing down on bloodworm beds as I can see them fizzing almost constantly all over the lake bed.
I guess I'm wondering if it's worth trying to replicate these natural beds with a bloodworm and naturals based spod mix and fishing something small on the hair? I dunno, perhaps I'm clutching at straws but when even the lakes smaller residents are avoiding bait I'm game to give anything a try.
The syndicate are also talking about stocking more fish next year which will undoubtedly improve competition but I'll be off to a new water by then.

In reply to Post #5
is anyone baiting heavily?

one of the reason for the sheeting up & not catching is the baits are not being presented in a way for the fish to find them as they get caught up in the silt layers away from their mouths. fished a few lakes like this & seem to remember anglers struggling with this on Dinton White Swan too.

best way to get around that is to bait heavily to change how the fish are feeding. I would suggest particles - maize & hemp, at least 10kg at a time with maize fished on short hooklinks smack in the middle of it.

In reply to Post #6
The owners are feeding maize and wheat a couple of times a week. I was fishing one of the feeding spots this weekend using particles, one rod was on a spinner rig and the other a D rig with maize straight from the bag and I still blanked even though I clearly had fish feeding over my spot

In reply to Post #7
d rig pop up?
and spinner rig popped up presumably ..
Would a bottom bait or wafter not be the best idea, the fishes heads are in the silt not above it?

In reply to Post #8
D was a bottom bait

In reply to Post #9
Fish in the silt rather than on the silt. Think it was Dave Lane that wrote about this quite a bit a number of years ago. If the water is silty and the silt is rich with bloodworm and other goodies, the fish are probably feeding heavily in the silt and burying their heads to get at the food (which I assume is happening with you based on your description of the sheeting up). Try a slightly heavier lead and bait (double bottom bait for example) and see if that gets any luck

In reply to Post #10
I think that could well be a good idea. I usually fish a heli set up with a reasonably long hooking and the bead set high up to avoid the bait getting pulled into the silt. I'm fishing a 2oz lead which is definitely plugging in the silt. Perhaps a shorter more supple rig might be worth a try

In reply to Post #11
Defo experiment with as heavy a hookbait and hook length as possible. And because location is easy, don't use any free offerings.
Think heavy pastes or paste coatings of your hookbait
Think how the shape of the hookbait will determine how far it goes into the fine silt layer
Think how the hook behaves in silt, does that need to be weighted as well ?
You'll feel great when you unlock the puzzle
Share how it goes mate

In reply to Post #12
Thanks, all good advice. I think I may have fallen into the trap of not modifying my fishing style to suit the situation, perhaps because of the success I had in the spring. Thinking about it all my captures have come from shallow marginal spots which aren't silty which has probably contributed to the feeling my approach was working

I was out yesterday and have a similar problem with the naturals not the silt bit though. The ‘issue' with my lake is that it's not too tricky, so the occasional one you catch is often in spite of the methods so you learn slower.

I had a freezer mare over the weekend and as such needed to dump a few kilos of bait, it was still good but only a day or so left. Because things were slow I hardly used a handful so decided to do a deal with the geese, I'd feed them if they brought me luck. For the first time ever I actually managed to bore about 10 geese with bait, at the start they were almost attacking me and 30 mins in, most were stuffed - free, good tasting easy food and they'd had their fill.

I think the issue with naturals are that you just can't compete with them, especially with boilie and the like, most particles aside from maybe hemp is not a patch on thier larder, so I would go heavy liquids and ‘bit' fishing (my go to is pepperami) using saturated small pellets or ground bait to get the liquid down there with little or no food. It got to the stage on one lake last year that the fish was so active but uncatchable that one of the members baited heavily with maggots in July, even these juicy critters were no match for their home grown fruits.

Also makes you realise that we are not really hunters, just lucky that most fish are so bloody lazy that for most of the year they are willing to take the free lunch route!

In reply to Post #1
Not much you can do sometimes, I've managed to catch a few on Tiger Nuts but for the most part I just keep a sprinkling of bait going in & wait for things to change.