tips and tricks stuff

Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2007 10:24 pm

You'd expect there to be loads in this forum, I keep looking and wondering why not.

Anyroadup, no critique without solutions:

Part One - Fun with Squid

* If you clean fish or prepare bait at home (calamari squid, etc), keep the lumps in a 2kg ice cream box, add anything else you fancy. Bung it in the freezer, stops the kitchen smelling. Next time you're fishing from low tide up, take it with you and dig a scrape at low water mark, cover the ice block with muck. Won't work straight away, but as you retreat due to oncoming tide, put the odd cast near to it and prepare for surprises due to the scent trail from the melting sludge. Best on flat beaches with 30 - 50 yard of tide movement. If it floats away, you didn't cover it properly. Not approved for most competitons.

* cold fingers don't handle tiny bait well. If tipping with squid (or mackerel), cut into the longest strips of suitable width you can. Now you can use the entire strip to get it onto the hook point, and a pair of scissors to snip it to size of your choice once it's on.

* if really bored, pieces of squid flesh cut with scissors into the perfect shape of a small fish won't catch more, but will psyche your opposition or mates in comps.

* we learned tenderising frozen squid flesh from the continentals. No need for a steak hammer though, just use a flat-sided lead and your cutting board.

* English Channel waters (maybe elsewhere UK?) produce the odd squid as a bycatch. At 2lb in weight, it's one of the best baits you'll ever get your hands on: never throw them away, and they'll freeze down nicely up to 12 hrs after catching.

* The glutinous innards of a squid, whipped onto a hook with elastic, are a far more potent bream bait than the squid flesh itself. This won't cast, it bursts, but great from boat or pier if gently lowered. Takes ages to do though, worse than mussel.

* Downsize for more fun - besides the shooty-out tentacles which catch their food, squid seem to have a couple of the shorter ones which are more powerful. Carefully cut them off, use them singly on a size 6 hook threaded on like a worm.

* A taditional shore (night-time) conger bait round here is a whole squid, and a thick fillet of mackerel, lashed together with bait elastic into a sausage. Tidy it up with scissors, then onto a 6/0 pennel rig. Casts better than you'd think on a clip-down pulley rig, but just before you cast perforate it as many times as you dare - 'lets the flavour flood out'.

* The largest calamari in the box, held upright with a bent twig, makes an ideal 'Good Luck' mascot for the top of your mate's bivvy. Whilst this distracts him, why not put a loop of 4lb nylon round his mainline and give it the occasional discreet tug from 25 yards away, each time he retires into the bivvy? He'll certainly thank you for the witty entertainment .................

* Seriously though, it appears to be an offence to despatch a noxious substance via the Royal Mail, so if you borrow one or two squid from the same friend because you ran out and it'll be two weeks before you see him, I've now found it's best to wait. That said, they do go well on a photocopier and the copy can instead be faxed to him as a gesture of goodwill.

That's it for now. Want more? MK

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:43 pm

Well now, troops, thirty reads a day but no-one anything to add?

If we're not careful, we'll do 'Spanking Mackerel' next, and you'll all stay behind until it's finished.

I don't know, work me fingers to the bone, what encouragement do I get?

MK

Guest

Talking about sending unusual things through the post, I once sent someone I know a dead squirrell. I'll only repeat the full story if anyone is really interested.

Guest

Mad kev- definitely would be interested in hearing some more of your tips

Concrete- it would be rude not to make further enquiries into your full explanation for the dead squirrel incident. I'm all fluffy ears...

Guest

Here goes then.

Some years back there was a shop in Thorpe-le-Soken called Tackle Up. I used to go there a fair bit and got to know the owner quite well and the regulars.
One day I bought a fair bag of bits and pieces, which"Pete" put in a carrier bag for me.
When I got back to work, I looked in the bag and inside were my bits and bobs and a dead squirrell. The b*gger had found it dead outside of the shop that morning and thought it would be quite funny to smuggle it in with my stuff.
I felt it was the right thing to do to send him back his property, so I wrapped up said squirrell and sent it registered post.
He never said any more on the subject, but I know that he must have got it.
Strangely I never had any more jokes played on me from there again.

Guest

You boys- was it a red or a grey?

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:19 pm

Concrete -- can't top the squirrel story, best I've done is make a special envelope for some Embassy fag coupons, perfect fit, then write the tiniest address on it next to the stamp. Turned up OK, Royal Mail entered into the spirit of it that time. Over to you, then.

Right, where was I? Yes, the 'umble mackerel. Pound for pound, the sportiest fish we'll take in the UK. 6lb line and any spinner that'll cast on a light rod brings out the real fun, great start for kids who struggle to cast.

* Beginners: when a worm flies off the hook during a cast, next time put a small piece of mackerel on the hook after the worm. It acts as a washer, we call this 'tipping' and sometimes that's all it's used for, rather than adding different bait tastes. As with squid, if your hands are cold, cut long thin strips to make it easier to hook, then snip to size with scissors.

* Set up one rig for livebait, then feather in a mackerel. Immediately put it on the livebait rig, but cut off the tail at the root, and cast. Scent trail good for conger and, surprisingly, takes cod, boat and shore.

* Cut a fillet from a mackerel, tease the knife just under the surface of the skin to reveal a clear, polythene-like outer skin. Takes a bit of practice. Carefully flense this off - it's the tough bit that keeps mackerel flesh on the hook. The flesh that's left releases mack oil much faster but now has no binder. Take a pair of these fillets, put them skin-side together on a kebab skewer, lash well with bait elastic into a sausage. Insert hook, snip to size with scissors, keep remainder. Great for dogfish racing, last one to ten is a (insert insult of your choice).

* The flapper: insert knife at back of head, cut along length of body to tail exposing backbone. Cut backbone at back of head and remove. Keep the guts in. The absence of spine causes the flesh to waft enticingly in the tide. Lose the tailfins to reduce spinning on your trace.

* Very big mackerel: the double flapper. Start as above but take the first slice out halfway along on both sides. Disconnect backbone, repeat but starting at the tail leaving a head flapper, and a tail flapper.

* When making a flapper, we seem to favour putting the hook in the head (as if we've caught the mack on a giant hook). Plenty of boat skippers would have it that this is the wrong way round, it's undeniable fish swallow mackerel headfirst. Can't describe it here, but feed the hook through the gullet, out the back, then 'backwards' into the head and the fish still lies headfirst into the tide but the hook is in the optimum position. Personal jury is still out on this one ........

* Those who advocate the use of WD40 on mackerel chunks as bait - because it is a dispersant, is it causing the release of fish juices much more quickly? Best change baits far more often, then.

* Medium-size baits - simply cut a steak, or small cylinder of mackerel, but try to get the hook through the backbone to retain it. Very popular when tumbling a 3oz lead through fast tide rips for bass, hook size to match size of 'steak'.

* Mackerel kebab: not one of my personal favourites, but load your hook with small squares of mack threaded up it. Next cast, shunt this up the snood and reload again, and so on. Ends up a soggy 12" wormy-type thing, but the fish can only get the hooked end in it's mouth anyway.

* Micro species: don't try to traditionally bait your size 12 match hooks, instead draw them across the flesh until they snag enough meat to eventually cause a ball. Whip in place with elastic.

* At a Chinese food wholesalers, you'll find all manner of frozen fish. Mackerel from the South China Sea look like undersize garfish with mackerel markings, like double-length joey mackerel. Handy if you can't get fresh or Ammo, half the price and, of course, they're edible if you want.

* Ammo Baits 'flash' freeze their mackerel, the rest of us do it slowtime. When defrosted, the Ammo baits retain the cell structure in a more original state so the flesh is firmer. If not careful, home-frozen turns to sludge when defrosted, limiting it's usefulness. Dunno how to overcome this, really.

* 24-hr supermarkets nowadays have the best turnover of wet fish, good source of large amounts of fresh mackerel which you can collect at 5.30 a.m. en route to your trip. Speak to the guv'nor on the fish stall, order two weeks ahead and back it up with a personal visit the day before.

* Weymouth residents: why not tie feather rigs with twelve hooks, you'll still fill your four binbags but in half the time, leaving some space on the beaches free for those who'll only take what they can reasonably need for food or bait?

* If the mackerel are very close to shore, there's a chance they're chasing and balling whitebait (tiny 2" fish) against the shoreline. Once you have mackerel enough (as above), collect the whitebait that have suicidally thrown themselves ashore. Use as bait, threaded or lashed on, after the mack shoal has gone, because the other species will be coming through to mop up the mess they left.

* Freeline mackerel - make a cut about 1/2" deep all along the lateral line on one side, put the hook through the cut so the point emerges clear behind the head. Run the hook snood along the cut, loop it around the tail to secure it, pull up tight and lash the cut closed with elastic. Lose the tail, and make loads of punctures just before casting. This'll cast headfirst, like a bomb from the shore, and sink slowly.

Will that do? More? MK.

Guest

The more the merrier- You should write a book MK- brilliant tips and adds variety to the mundane aspects of baiting up- very handy- I dont boat fish myself as I prefer shore fishing but I've cut and pasted your top tips into a handy word document format.

Cheers

Guest

I've found that by cutting up the mackeral frozen and then keeping it in a cool box (so that it never thaws completely) I can get 3 or 4 sessions out of it. Once on the hook in the water it defrosts pretty pronto but because its technically only been frozen once its not so mushy.

If you must add oil to your mackeral bait for that extra scent dispersal, use the good old fish oil and not WD40! If you leave your mackeral to marinade overnight, it will absorb quite alot and it will positively stink!

If you cannot get on with rig wallets and don't want to buy the overpriced foam wraps, use a bit of pipe insulation cut up. A 1 metre length costs about 50p and you can get 20 to 30 rig tidies out of it. (plus it gives you a safe place to snag your hooks!)

If you intend to catch and keep, make sure that you have a suitable method of dispatch with you. There's nothing worse than running round a beach trying to find something heavy when all there is is shingle! You couls buy a priest but I find that a motorcycle tyre iron is just as effective and avoids that certain caveman look (Stuart, its times like this I wish I'd got a picture!) A good sharp tap on the bonce will do (the fish-not Stuart).

When making rigs, ever had that tangled feeling? Find a nice beam in your shed/garage/workshop/other place of choice and screw a couple of cup hooks into it. Make up the rig body with all your swivels on and then hang it with a lead on the end to tie the more fiddly traces and hooks. It really does make life much easier.

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 12:51 am

There's a book in all of us, mine's pages are already stuck together though.

Hooks, don't talk to me abaht hooks! As with all this lot, steal the best bits, forget the rest.

* Select your bait, then the hook size to suit. Always have the point standing clear of the bait.

* We tend to use hooks with eyes due to availability, but the continentals go easily up to a fine wire 2/0 with a spade / spayed end. Properly tied, or 'snelled' (as they say, Rodney) you can bait up worms much faster and more securely because the worm hasn't been forced over the eye, so not needlessly enlarging the hole we're making in the worm.

* A plague of crabs upon thee? Spider crab snip through monofil, empty clean-cut hook snoods are the general symptom. Tie your hooks with braid, then tie the braid onto your mono snoods. You only need four inches of braid to the hook. There's plenty of braid to mono knots on the web. We sometimes struggle to cut it, crabs have no chance. A couple of these rigs are worth the effort, they'll keep you fishing whilst your mates are retying more hooks.

* Circle hooks, and those that are almost circle hooks but with sort of angles - don't strike the bite! Because our fish snatch and dash, when they pull away (even if they have part-swallowed the bait), the hook rises out of the gullet but snags at the scissors of the jaw. Fewer gut-hooked fish, easier to unhook. Just lift into it and bring the fish in. If you can thread worm on these hooks, you've got more patience than me, but you can head-hook and they're great for squid or mackerel strips.

* Haven't found a hook yet I couldn't get out with the Gemini disgorger, see tackle review.

* Double a six-foot length of wet braid, feed the looped end through a hook eye, join the ends. Should end up with 18" of snood with four braids going through the hook eye. Tie a swivel on the other end. Put the hook under tension and spindle the lines together several times, then dose with cheap superglue along it's length. Depending on glue, should take thirty seconds to go off, and ...... relax. You've now got a stiff, ultra-strong snood with no knot at the hook for fast baiting of worms. The cheapest glue seems to work best, four for a quid at Poundland. Dear stuff sort of washes out in seawater.

* With the finest bait needle you can get hold of, thread those tiny left-over rag (about two inches long) head hooked onto the needle. Now slide a great bunch of them from the needle onto a size 8 or 10 carp hook and up the snood. There, that's sole fishing sorted then.

* If you put a hook through your hand, and the barb has pierced, that's as much as it's going to hurt and your next risk is infection. You can twiddle about trying to cut the eye off, then threading the hook all the way through and out, (leaving tiny bits of broken metal behind in its wake) but frankly a robust mate and a disgorger is the quickest way out of the problem, and the speediest route to getting it clean and covered. You do it to the fish, don't you?

* Every hook you use, of whatever size, should be sharp enough to dig in your thumbnail when drawn across it.

* Lures with treble hooks? Hands up everyone who has increased their hook-up and retention rate by replacing them with single hooks? Is it something to do with leverage aginst the two unhooked points, or do those two affect the penetration of the hooked point? Dunno.

* Buy your hooks mail order, in bulk boxes, then divvy the costs with mates. Some shops will price-match anyway. Same quality, just cheaper than the small plastic envelopes. Same with beads, swivels and tapered leaders. Whatever container you take to the beach with them in, a single dose of WD40 on the contents won't hurt.

* Avoid rusty spare hooks by never taking any. Just tie lots of rigs.

* Marry an obsessive-compulsive, great rig-tiers, less so at bait-digging. Beach looks like the Somme now.

Back soon. MK

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 1:17 am

Nice. Fifty hits in a few hours, and people sharing.

Hadn't thought of keeping the mack permanently frozen, thanks.

Guess the hints will peter out once the fishing picks up again?

Keep it up, troops, but wait for the flames when someone thinks their best-kept secret is common knowledge! And I don't mean Mr B from ****'s stuff with black candles and the goat-skin leggings, either, but he's got a day to donate a fiver to site funds. MK

Guest

Bloody hell MadKev !

Brilliant !

Any tips on catching cod ?

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 8:49 pm

Screaming, the only cod tip I've got is don't fish where I do. Always looking to other people on this one.

Best about 24lb boat, three or four squid on a pennel. Worst were two 21cm ones which saved my reputation in a comp the other week, they came on size 10 carp hooks on 10lb fluorocarb in two foot of water at thirty feet out, trying for rockling on matchstick-sized squid strips. Catch and release, so 22 pts.

Right Troops, who wants Worms?

"The louder you scream, the faster it goes", as they say at the fairground.

Guest

I need worms MadKev

Bring on the worms !!!

:-)

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 10:30 pm

Hurrah for Worms!

Not my specialised subject, do leap in with more and better stuff, I need the tips too. Need to get some bait-diggers writing on this subject.

* Newcomers (as we all once were, not that long ago for me): hold a ragworm just behind the head, gently squeeze until its fangs come out. It's now under control, you can feed the hook into it's mouth. Keep feeding, try to keep the hook point inside the body all the time. Give it a shove when the head reaches the hook eye, with practice you'll get the entire worm onto the hook.

* A bait needle has a ferrule at the blunt end. If the above is a struggle, feed the worm onto a bait needle, put the hook in the end of the needle and grip the snood for tension. Tense now? (try being a worm). Right, in a single sweeping movement, slide the whole lot on in one go. Ooh!

* Try blunting the needle point for lugworm, sharpening it for rag. Can't be bothered meself, 'cos I file all the points to something halfway between the two. Sort of like a pencil profile.

* Vermiculite: like hypoallergenic plastic gravel, get a ten litre bag at your garden centre for about £3, lasts years. Next time you buy ragworm, lift it out of the peat / weed / newspaper / bucket of water it was supplied in and singly drop them into a bait box containing vermiculite. Stir. After about an hour, the worms will become dry to the touch on the outside and can be threaded far easier onto hooks, rather than them putting up a fight and getting away with it because they're slippery. This alone can save about 20 minutes farting about over a four-hour comp, helps pleasure fishing too. No need to wet-wipe black stuff off your hands, rod and reel each time you bait up. Works on lug, too, no discrimination here.

* Vermiculite: don't leave ragworm in it overnight before use. The worms start to sort of pop and fizz, I think they try to eat it. I've tried explaining, but they just don't get it, they're only worms.

* Black Lug: again, bulk buy mail-order and divvy with mates, you just need one of you to put £200 on plastic or cheque. Or cash in a price-match shop.

* Doomsday Lug: unwrap a ten-packet of black lug, sprinkle with pilchard oil or proprietary substance from tackle shop. Transfer to clean paper, clingwrap and freeze. Next weekend, defrost, sprinkle, transfer and refreeze. Repeating this freeze/defrost process several times does something to the cell structure, stand upwind when you come to use it for flattie bashes - it's rancid but potent, I hesitate to fully describe it. This smell is why you ain't meant to refreeze meat foods or go with nasty ladies. Unwelcome on boats. If you car-share, only take this when it's your mate's turn to drive.

* See earlier re hooks about worms for sole. This works with tiny reds / maddies / harbour rag too.

* Black lug threaded up the pennel snood, tipped with squid, is the classic cod bait. There's folk'll bind it on the bottom hook with a few turns of elastic, just to keep the point clear. For some reason, the top hook takes an awful lot of fish too, tipped or not. Ain't figured this out yet.

* Take a 6/0 hook on its snood, head-hook your 6 large ragworms. Put the hook point in a bait needle, start lashing with elastic from the bend to the eye (needle, worms an' all if you ain't familiar with this). As you reach the eye, invert the whole lot so the tails now hang down toward the bend, lash downward. Repeat until you end up with a solid worm sausage about 1" dia., the exact length of your hook, no leftovers, slide the needle out. This casts nicely if clipped down, pierce it a lot just before the cast, tipped off or not, up to you. Ray & smoothhound to 7lb on this, some cod but nothing to write about.

* Al Quaida rag: in certain temperatures, rag get feisty and the big ones make every effort to bite infidel anglers en route to their martyrdom. The biggest will draw blood. Some people always get septicaemia (Hah. Right spelling first go!) from these bites, not surprising when you consider where rag grew up. The solution is to behead them all, but you'll need to change bait slightly more often, the fluids leach out more quickly. Do this in batches of nine or so, and keep the headless separate.

* Chopped rag: can't favour this but some household names on the comp circuit do. Instead of threading a single rag onto your hook, chop it into small cylinders and put the hook through the outer flesh, not up the middle of the cylinder. Repeat until you've got a bait that'll dump all its scent in a few minutes. Backed up with threaded worm on the other two hooks, it works for them, that's why they're household names I suppose.

* Can someone tell me about salting common lug, the odd few ones that are just a bulging head, while you're actually on the beach? I know it's done to make them baitworthy again, but how?

MK