Dodder opening day

thehamo

FishingNewbie wrote: »

I saw a huge fish rise in a bend in the river, landed a ledger right on top and left it there for 10 mins but nothing!
But I only tightened the line, never checked that it was free, maybe a heavy weight ledger is the wrong way to go, and my 30lb braid may have been a bad choice.
Also, my ledger was a big line weight on the main line, above a swivel leading to maybe 2 feet of line and a size 8 hook, and this may have buried the worm with each cast!
Like I said, I've had to figure this stuff out on my own, and I wana make sure there's not obvious mistakes I'm making that are causing my regular blanks.

\if you see a fish rising, chances are its taking something off the surface ( such as a fly) or just sub surface like a pupae or the likes. Landing a cast right over the fish is just going to spook it and it wont pay heed of your bait at all. I primarly fly fish and ive actively seen fish go over to my fly look at it and then swim off. They're a lot more clever than you give them credit for. Only way is to persevere my friend. i've been salmon fishing for 3 years on the trot now and not caught a single one. Still keep going back and paying stupid money to fish different rivers all over Ireland though!

jack01986

Plenty of good advice there. I'd say you need to change that mainline as a first.

the evasion_kid

FishingNewbie wrote: »

Dark green braid.

Not so bad I thought you were going to say illuminous yellow or something! I'd stick with it,it just seems you need to find your groove with it,a bit of trial and error helps along the way.hell there's places I still fish were I haven't caught even though the fish are jumping four foot away from me,if people knew the hours I put in theyd send for the men in white coats.

FishingNewbie

the evasion_kid wrote: »

Not so bad I thought you were going to say illuminous yellow or something! I'd stick with it,it just seems you need to find your groove with it,a bit of trial and error helps along the way.hell there's places I still fish were I haven't caught even though the fish are jumping four foot away from me,if people knew the hours I put in theyd send for the men in white coats.

Yeah, I've got the patience for it, just don't want to be wasting my time with stupid mistakes that will prevent me from making the most of my time.

It'll all be worth it when that rod tip bends, but hasn't happened since I hit a shoal of perch on lough Ramor back in December.

Thanks again!

the evasion_kid

FishingNewbie wrote: »

Yeah, I've got the patience for it, just don't want to be wasting my time with stupid mistakes that will prevent me from making the most of my time.

It'll all be worth it when that rod tip bends, but hasn't happened since I hit a shoal of perch on lough Ramor back in December.

Thanks again!

Well then you've won half the battle,one thing I noticed at that competition on paddy's day was the amount of anglers back and forth on the riverbank like yo-yos cast,cast,cast ever few minutes.I had my bag limit within two hours just from patience alone.have you fished any rivers outside of Dublin?

thehamo

FishingNewbie wrote: »

Yeah, I've got the patience for it, just don't want to be wasting my time with stupid mistakes that will prevent me from making the most of my time.

It'll all be worth it when that rod tip bends, but hasn't happened since I hit a shoal of perch on lough Ramor back in December.

Thanks again!

Perch are ravenous little bas**rds. Dont base all your fishing trips on that one trip where you caught loads. Different fish require different skill sets and different levels of patients!

FishingNewbie

the evasion_kid wrote: »

Well then you've won half the battle,one thing I noticed at that competition on paddy's day was the amount of anglers back and forth on the riverbank like yo-yos cast,cast,cast ever few minutes.I had my bag limit within two hours just from patience alone.have you fished any rivers outside of Dublin?

Yeah, fished the Inny, and a few other small midlands rivers, but mostly lake fishing either from the shore or trolling from boat.

dodderangler

thehamo wrote: »

Perch are ravenous little bas**rds. Dont base all your fishing trips on that one trip where you caught loads. Different fish require different skill sets and different levels of patients!

Even same species can be different in ways of catching depending on river or lake your in.
River trout can be easily caught when you look in water and see what other life is in it. Like a fly angler would look at flies on water to match what he has in his box.
I would see if there are healthy population of minnow about an go from there

fiacha

No need to change your mainline. Just add 3-6 feet of leader at the end via a knot or small swivel. 6lb maxima or any decent flouro line will still give you a decent chance of pulling out of snags. Is there a casting weight on your rod, as this can also limit the leader breaking strain.

IMO simple is always the best for river fishing, so size 12-8 barbless hook (to suit bait size), enough swan shot to get the bait on the bottom (adjust depending on current etc). Cast across and upstream letting the worm work it's own way down. Repeat each cast closer to your bank, then move on. I would thread the worm onto the hook shaft and then slide a snippet of rubber band on behind it. This stopped the worm from coming off the barbless hook.

I used this method for a season on the Tolka, and had great results with stocked and wild fish. It's well worth finding some clear water and playing with shot weight and distance from hook so you'll know how to get the best presentation of the worm. I can't stand sitting in one spot anymore, and I found the roving approach a great way to learn how to read the river and where fish lie etc. This really helped when I moved over to the fly.

I'm taking on the Dodder with the fly for the first time this season, so no doubt I'll be starting from scratch again !

Best of luck with it !

A.

the evasion_kid

FishingNewbie wrote: »

I saw a huge fish rise in a bend in the river, landed a ledger right on top and left it there for 10 mins but nothing!
But I only tightened the line, never checked that it was free, maybe a heavy weight ledger is the wrong way to go, and my 30lb braid may have been a bad choice.
Also, my ledger was a big line weight on the main line, above a swivel leading to maybe 2 feet of line and a size 8 hook, and this may have buried the worm with each cast!
Like I said, I've had to figure this stuff out on my own, and I wana make sure there's not obvious mistakes I'm making that are causing my regular blanks.

Landing it on top of the fish will most likely spook it,I always aim for a few feet away.I've observed trout traveling nearly 8 feet to take a worm or minnow that's landed near them,sometimes you don't even have the bail arm closed and the rod tip is hopping then its just a matter of picking up the rod wait until you feel a good pull on it or he has a good hold on it and strike. Anyways here's my rig...simple but its served me well! Obviously the shot is further up the line when fishing.

FishingNewbie

fiacha wrote: »

No need to change your mainline. Just add 3-6 feet of leader at the end via a knot or small swivel. 6lb maxima or any decent flouro line will still give you a decent chance of pulling out of snags. Is there a casting weight on your rod, as this can also limit the leader breaking strain.

IMO simple is always the best for river fishing, so size 12-8 barbless hook (to suit bait size), enough swan shot to get the bait on the bottom (adjust depending on current etc). Cast across and upstream letting the worm work it's own way down. Repeat each cast closer to your bank, then move on. I would thread the worm onto the hook shaft and then slide a snippet of rubber band on behind it. This stopped the worm from coming off the barbless hook.

I used this method for a season on the Tolka, and had great results with stocked and wild fish. It's well worth finding some clear water and playing with shot weight and distance from hook so you'll know how to get the best presentation of the worm. I can't stand sitting in one spot anymore, and I found the roving approach a great way to learn how to read the river and where fish lie etc. This really helped when I moved over to the fly.

I'm taking on the Dodder with the fly for the first time this season, so no doubt I'll be starting from scratch again !

Best of luck with it !

A.

Thanks for the advice.

I like the idea of a simple ledger rig, but where would you put the split shot, at the end of the mainline above the swivel?

How do you make sure your not snagged, reel in after the cast until the line is tight but not stuck?

FishingNewbie

the evasion_kid wrote: »

Landing it on top of the fish will most likely spook it,I always aim for a few feet away.I've observed trout traveling nearly 8 feet to take a worm or minnow that's landed near them,sometimes you don't even have the bail arm closed and the rod tip is hopping then its just a matter of picking up the rod wait until you feel a good pull on it or he has a good hold on it and strike. Anyways here's my rig...simple but its served me well! Obviously the shot is further up the line when fishing.

Do you mind me asking how far up the line you set the split shot?
Obviously longer for deeper water, but for shallow rivers of maybe 2/3 feet what would you use?

the evasion_kid

FishingNewbie wrote: »

Do you mind me asking how far up the line you set the split shot?
Obviously longer for deeper water, but for shallow rivers of maybe 2/3 feet what would you use?

Normally about a foot and a half to two foot,should keep it on the bottom.even of you do get snagged most times you just lose the hook.there's no time consuming setting up a new rig plus split shots and hooks are cheap as chips.

dodderangler

FishingNewbie wrote: »

Do you mind me asking how far up the line you set the split shot?
Obviously longer for deeper water, but for shallow rivers of maybe 2/3 feet what would you use?

Really does depending on the water your in.
If your in fast moving water and need the bait in one position a heavier set up of bb shots is needed but if just trotting a worm I prefer either a big fat worm free lining with no weights or maybe one tiny split shot.
That's often the more fun way of doing it.

bazzer_1984

Glad to see the fishing season is back :-) anyone know what the fish are like might be a bit early to ask this but thought i'd give it a try ! caught a 3 and a half pound brown trout last year biggest i ever got in the dodder . whats the recommended bait to use ? i usually stick with maggots! what do you guys use ?

Welllmade1745

bazzer_1984 wrote: »

Glad to see the fishing season is back :-) anyone know what the fish are like might be a bit early to ask this but thought i'd give it a try ! caught a 3 and a half pound brown trout last year biggest i ever got in the dodder . whats the recommended bait to use ? i usually stick with maggots! what do you guys use ?

Defo not too early- I've had 20+ fish since paddys day, the baits catching have been worms and minnows. With rubber lures also taking some fish- ironically maggots have accounted for very few fish (what Ive seen anyway)

Just stick to ledgering a worm and you should catch fish as long as you fish in spots with a bit of depth to them

bazzer_1984

Welllmade1745 Great stuff i'll have to pop down in a day or so :-) are they taking to spinners at all ?
glad to hear there decent fish out there.

Welllmade1745

bazzer_1984 wrote: »

Welllmade1745 Great stuff i'll have to pop down in a day or so :-) are they taking to spinners at all ?
glad to hear there decent fish out there.

I don't know to be honest, I havnt caught on them, but the rubber lures were working a treat on Saturday morning.
I know the small rapala style lures were working well also.:)

bazzer_1984

Welllmade1745 Thats great , what part of the dodder would you recommend ?

Welllmade1745

bazzer_1984 wrote: »

Welllmade1745 Thats great , what part of the dodder would you recommend ?

Anywhere from rath Farnham shopping centre ( except the really shallow areas) to the dropping well seems to be producing fish.) make sure too look for the deeper areas.:)

bazzer_1984

Welllmade1745 Ah i usually go around there over near the waterfall in Rathfarnham be looking forward to it now :-)

Welllmade1745

bazzer_1984 wrote: »

Welllmade1745 Ah i usually go around there over near the waterfall in Rathfarnham be looking forward to it now :-)

Make sure to post how you get on

bazzer_1984

Welllmade1745 Of course i will i'm a true fisherman :-) is this form just for the dodder or can you discuss other kinds of fishing on it ?

Joeseph Balls

bazzer_1984 wrote: »

whats the recommended bait to use ? i usually stick with maggots! what do you guys use ?

You use maggots for trout on the Dodder?

Welllmade1745

bazzer_1984 wrote: »

Welllmade1745 Of course i will i'm a true fisherman :-) is this form just for the dodder or can you discuss other kinds of fishing on it ?

Well this thread is for the dodder, but if you visit the Angling section there is hundreds of threads about other fishing.

Welllmade1745

Joeseph Balls wrote: »

You use maggots for trout on the Dodder?

I know your not supposed too, but it doesn't seem to be a massive problem at this stage of the season- because the small wild fish havnt really shown up yet.

Just want to say I dnt use them myself.

bazzer_1984

Joeseph Balls Yeah Trout will go mad for maggots :-)

bazzer_1984

Welllmade1745 Thanks was just checking to make sure :-) i'll post up how i got on in dodder hopefully with pictures of fish !

Welllmade1745

bazzer_1984 wrote: »

Joeseph Balls Yeah Trout will go mad for maggots :-)

I'm pretty sure that was a sarcastic comment- using maggots Is frowned upon by many of the hard line anglers on the river.

bazzer_1984

Welllmade1745 Do you mean its not allowed using maggots ? Since when ?