Catching Roach and Rudd With a Floatless Pole Fishing Rig

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Catching roach and rudd with a floatless pole fishing rig

Catching silver fish shallow usingthe strangest pole fishing rig everBy ImproveYour Coarse Fishing

24 September 2010 09:00

John Weedens silverfish pole fishing tactics and the pole

fishingrigs he usesreally are bizarre!

Incorporatinga rig with athree- foot pole float, the Maver

match ace regularly takes roach bags well in excessof

30lb.

Crude-looking, highly unconventional, downright strange,

but devilishly effective when it comesto catching rudd and

roach, Johns three-foot float rig is actually ayard-long

length of greased monofilamentthat floats and provides

resistance-free bite indication when fishing up- in-the-water.

Havingbeen invented and used to devastatingeffect in the

1960s and 70s by London AssociationAnglers whod use

greasedline rigs for snatching bleak on venues like the

RiverLea and Thames, John has revived the tactic, putting

it to use on todays modern commercials.

Usedfor catching any fishthat is feeding up-in-the-water,

John has landed everythingfrom roach and rudd his bestday being 63lb taken from Gold Valley Lakes, Hampshire

throughto skimmers, chub and even carp, the best of

which weighed more than 10lb.

John told us: Its a tactic that I saw being used nearly 40

yearsago and it has been alittle edge that I have kept in

my back pocket ever since.

If I am in a match and, for whateverreason, the carp

arent feeding confidently, I have employed the old greased

line trick and more often than not walked to victory with a bulging bag of silverfish.

To witnessJohn s bizarre three-foot pole float in action, Features Editor Mark Parker,

joined the ex-Kings Crosslad on the banks of the beautiful Bridge Farm Fishery, at Litcham,

near Kings Lynn to witness a day of greasedline fishing that he wouldnt forget...

Its so verysimple, yet so very effective...

With adeft flick of the wrist, Johns top-three pole section propelled the six-foot rig out into

the swim.

In similar fashion to agreat fly angler casting out ateam of flies to a wary rising trout, John

nimblyheld the poles top kit at two-oclock, allowingthe rig to land softly on the surface of

the lake, before lowering the top kit to just below horizontal primed and ready to strike atanymovement.

The three-foot length of line smeared in athick coating of bright orangebristle grease with

an array of small loops tied in it every six inches looked wholly alienas it lay on the

surface of the pool.

Hurlinga pinch of maggots roundthe end of the floating line, the countless swirls and oily

vortexes on the lakes surface indicated that John had the fish feeding, and feeding hard.

Momentslater, and in an instant, the length of curly orange linepulled bow- stringtight, before it slid beneaththe surface.

A flick of the wristwas all it took to strike the hook home into yet anotherone of Bridge Farm s healthy roach.

Swingingthe fishto hand, John rapidly unhookedthe plump five-ounce fish, before repeating the process once again.

Watching John closelyfor around 30 minutes, I noticed that I had started to involuntarilyrock back and forth in time to his casts and

strikes, so fluid and quick was the momentum of his fishing.

Shakingmyself out of the angling-induced daze, I set to work quizzing John about this highlyunusual, yet devastatingsilverfish

tactic.

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Moreyears than Id care to remember

Havinggrown up in the smoke, the young John and his mate, the now prolific match angler Terry Dalgarno, used to regularly

travelon the train from their Kings Crosshome to the River Lea, in order to watch the great matches of the day.

Here, the two young aspiring anglers wouldspend hours closely watching angling legendslike Dickie Carr, Bill Bullock and Ade Scutt

as they went head-to-head in large 200-peg matches that stretched for milesalong the banks of the Lea as it wound its way

throughnorth London and eventually into the Thames.

We could neverafford to fish ourselves, sowe d sit behindthe anglers that we looked up to , soaking in what they did and how

they did it, said John, as a wistful look of far off fondness crossedhis face as he recalled age-old memories.

They were all superb, but it was Ade Scutt who was the true master of greased line fishing.

In those days they used to uselengths of invisiblemending thread, rather thana section of high-tech pole line whichhad yet to be

invented. But it fitted the bill perfectly.

In fact, I ll still useinvisible mending threadon occasion, even now. The troubleis that it is nylon with a breaking strain of around

1.5lb ideal for bleak, but too light for commercial pools.

Youve got to remember that in the 60s and 70 s tackle was very crude.

Small fish, like bleak, would often reject the bait if they felt the weight of the float. A greasedline rig offers these fish a totally

resistance-free presentationand it was the real thinking anglers like Ade, Bill and Dickie that really pushed the boundaries, looking

for alternativeproducts to employ in order to catch these previouslyuncatchable fish.

Since these early beginnings, John has converted the old tacticsby using modern lines and has won more matches with just

silverfishthan hed now care to remember.

His best resultto date is a63 lb bag from Hampshires Gold Valley Lakes aswell as plenty of 30lb and 40lb nets both in matches

and during pleasuresessions.

And the real beauty of the tactic is that its so simple.

The greased line rig


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Fished whip-style, with only an elasticated top three kit and a linelong enough to swing anysmaller fishto hand, Johns greased

line rig will catch any fish that is willing to feed up- in-the-water.

The shorteryou fish, the easier it is. He further simplifieshis approach by not even plumbing up. He simply castsout the rig, feeds a

few maggots and catches fish.

The elasticis a 5-8 Maver Match This DualCore threaded through the whole top kit and set to fish quite soft. Havinga hollow elastic

givesJohn a forgiving set-up for catching silvers, while it still has abit of backbone if a largerfish takes his maggot hookbait.

The mainline is 0.14mm ( 4lb 2oz) Maver GenesisExtreme II mono.

John tiessmall overhandloops intothe line along athree foot length.

The reasonfor the loops is so that I can see the line mucheasier, John explained.

When you cover thesesmall loops with a thick smear of fluorescent orangepole bristle grease, the rig stands out brilliantly on the

surface of the lake, even in a heavy ripple.

It also allows me to see the bitesdevelop, aseach loop gets pulled under the surface. However, most of the time, the bitesare so

positiveyou dont get a chance to see bites developall that well!

At the very end of the looped section, John attaches his small 12-inch hooklength.

Thisis 0.14mm , 0.12mm or 0.10mm dependingupon the size of the fishthat he is catching on any givenday .

When it comes to hooklengths, John thinks the heavier that you can get away with is best.

A short length of mono hasvery little tensile strength comparedto longer lengths, soyou need to make a compromise somewhere.

Also, John will quite often catch well over200 fish in a day, so the heavier the hooklinkthe fewer problems youll have and the less

often you will have to change it.

Onthe hooklength, John will place two tinynumber 13 shot.

These will generallybe equallyspaced, although he will movethem up or down the hooklinkdependingwhether the fish want a

slower or more rapidlydescending bait presentationon the day.

The hook is asize 18 Maver Match ThisMT Series 3.

The two shot simply help the hooklinkto sink effortlessly, said John.

This allows me to present my hookbait just 12 inches below the surface.

This is an idealarea for catching fish. Over the years Ive found that the larger, more aggressive roach tend to sit and feed higher

in the water so they get at the food before their smaller cousins.

Combined with regularcasts and even more regularfeeding, I very quicklyget into fish.

The hook is big enoughto land larger fish, while not being too big to hinder overallpresentation.

But even though thesefish are in a feeding frenzy just under the surface, it doesnt mean that they are suicidal.

When is a float nota float?


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At the pole end of the rig , just before the strange, three-foot looped section starts, John attaches a small piece of plastic.

Onone rig , this is a cutdown section of plasticdisgorger. On another, it is a smallwhite plastic lolly stick which originally came from

his kids while the family was on holiday in Turkey.

It doesnt really matter what you use, aslong as it floats, John explained.

Even though this looks like it should be the rigs float, it is only for casting weight and to help prevent the rig tangling on the cast.

Even though it floats, you neverwatch it for your bite indication.

It is the three-foot length of looped and greased linethat you need to watch.

When the greased linetightens and submerges is when youshould strike.

Baitsand feeding

When it comes to hookbaits, John usesmaggots, but John isnt too fussy when it comes to free offerings.

His first choice is maggots asthey complement the hookbait, although the tactic also

works superbly with loosefed hempseed as well as regularly fed small balls of light,

sloppygroundbait. Something like Van Den Eyndes Supermatch or Special are

amongthe best as they form a cloud in the water, while providingvery little substantial

food to eat.

For hookbait, John tends to use maggots, whichhe threads up the shank of the hook .

Thishelps to mask the hook as well as making the set-up more robust.

By hookinga maggot this way, he can take a few fish before havingto change the

hookbait.

This is one of the reasonsI like to use more robust baits, like maggots or hemp,

John told me.

Softer hookbaits like casters, which roach love, can be pulled off the hook without a

bite registering, even on a greasedline rig.

With maggots, especially ones threaded on to the hook, you can usethe samehookbait to take a number of fish.

Although not allowed in matches, one of my favourite dodges to avoid havingto re-hook all the time, is to use a plasticmaggot .

The fish are in frenzy and will readily take anything that looks like food, as long as it is well presented.

Feeding-wise, John will easily work his way through twopints of maggots in a session.

He is not looking to feed loads, but he is intentupon getting a constant stream of food raining through the swim.

Between eight to 10 grubsthrown aroundthe end of the rig every 30 seconds is idealto keep the fish actively searchingthe upper

layers and feeding confidently.

To throwthe fish off balance, he will often throw in a bit of hemp, too perhaps every sixthor seventh feed to pick off the larger

roach whichadore seed.

Greasingthe swim

Fishing twoswims over the day, John constantly drip feeds each

one, taking between fiveand six fish off each line before

swapping to the next. This keeps fishcoming all day and prevents

plunderingjust one area to depletion.

By flicking, feeding and then strikingas the orange line

straightenedand sunk, John was steadily and very, very easily

puttingtogether an enviable bag of silvers while many of the

surrounding anglers were struggling to get any bites at all as they

fished conventionallyon the bottom.

The total lack of resistanceoffered by the greased linemeant that

the shy-biting silverfish took his hookbait without hesitation.

After four hours, we decided to call it a day and return the fish.

Lifting the keepnet out of the water to take a shot of the finished

catch, the sound was deafening as two keepnetringfuls of roach

noisily flapped their annoyance at being lifted briefly out of the

water.

The resulthad to be seen to be believed anet well over30 lb

was sitting comfortably in the base of Johns keepnet.

As a great man once said: History is not what you thought, it is

what you can remember, and it seems that Johns formative

yearswatching and remembering how some of the sports legends

fished hasrewarded him in spades if not silver. IYCF

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Catching Roach and Rudd With a Floatless Pole Fishing Rig