- Find a water where they have taken residence
- Find drop-offs in to deeper water
- Find marginal reedbeds or lilies
- Use a light float dotted right, they are very very shy biters and you need to more or less strike at every movement
- Soft pellets, small cubes of luncheon meat, castors, bits of worm for bait.
- Use a mini bolt-rig set-up if you cannot put up with the frustration and want to single out the specimens. See Martin Bowlers video below.
So none of this worked at the Reservoir yesterday evening :)
I did catch two nice tench on the float and a 8lb carp took a linking to my SBS corn boilies which ended up massacring the swim and last knockings I foul hooked a tiny crucian.
Carrius Carrius stick it up your Arseicus, any tips welcome as I'm stuck on a 2lber..... As a new approach I might give a small method feeder a go with some fake casters directly on the small hook.
Contrary to popular belief, Mick, crucians will feed well up in the water and take baits at half-depth.
ReplyDeleteLast year I found them impossible to catch on bottom, then shallowed up for rudd but found them mid-water. They hadn't gone off the feed just adjusted their depth of feeding I believe half the problem is in not recognising this fact and fishing where they ain't inclined to eat at certain times. They are carp after all...
Maybe that's where I'm going wrong Jeff, think out the box and all that.
ReplyDeleteThey certainly were jumping out the water at Snitterfield so I might give fishing shallow a go.
Hmmm, would fresh cockles be worth a try I wonder ?
ReplyDeleteI fished it Sunday Mick and had loads of the little ones and one big old gal. The bites I was getting were so slight it was silly! No more than a quarter dip on a very light pole float. Had a great time though and I am going back one night this week for another crack, as those old fish seem to have got a bit bigger since the tiddlers went in ;)
ReplyDeleteProblem I've had is everything likes the bait I've been using so I've caught tench, hybrids, bream and roach before even getting a sniff of a Crucian. In-fact the first bite I had on the float the other evening was a carp that straightened my size 16 hook. The biggest carp I have had out of snitterfield was over 18lb and that was on a tiny 5mm cube of luncheon meat. Nice fight on light tackle but not the intended quarry.
ReplyDeleteI think the float I'm using is sensitive enough to spot the crucians meddling with my bait but maybe they haven't got the bite entirely in their mouths because quite a few have been foul hooked. I use the korum quickstops hooks to nylon which is handy to bait up a bit of corn, soft pellet or meat but maybe that's one of the problems as the hair is quite long verses the hook. I'm planning a chance of attack though, smaller baits mounted directly to the hook and see how I get on. I know you've been using artificial baits Danny with some success so for starters I thought I'd try some enterprise fake casters.
Probably like you I've found evenings are far better and for me it's handy too as it's 10 minutes down the road. I think even when the river season is in full swing I'll pop down from time to time as I think there are some monsters that lurk within.
Mick I am convinced it's a case of where to try and catch them in Snit. 95% of captures I have had and seen have come within one rod length of the bank. The weird thing is that I reckon they reside all over the lake but by fishing so close to the bank you reduce the percentages of other fish such as bream taking your bait.
DeleteAnything over one rod length out and your in bream/roach/hybrid country hence the chances of the shy crucian muscling in is very low. Fish where those species are reluctant to go and you get less bites but more chance of crucians.
As for hook baits it has to be Sonubaits F1 soft hooker pellets for me for float fishing every time ;)
Maybe I'll venture from my favorite peg 1 and give a few more pegs a go.
ReplyDeleteHopefully see you down there sometime.