Every body is doing it…..Drop shotting

Most anglers will have noticed over the last 18months or so that some huge perch and catches have been made using this method. No only with perch but with pike too.

I’m not going to go over the method too closely as there are many experts who are much better explaining this than me. The reason behind this is that I too have just taken up using this particular method.

I don’t want to go on about the rivers but with them bank high again today. We have in the last 6 days had another 60mm of rain which fell on top of already flooded fields. There is also a warning of a substantial rain falling over the next 4 days. But who is complaining!

So as I said I’m no master at the moment of this method and looking on You Tube will show plenty of experts giving advice. One of the best I’ve seen is this one by Julian.

So I bought a very light drop shot type rod for £30 from my local tackle shop Scotts Tackle and a good few lures to go with it. Line is braid because there is no stretch and you can feel any indication from a taking perch. Whereas with nylon there is some stretch and bites might just be missed.

One of the best tackle shops that I know that have a great collection of lures is Cotswold Angling in Swindon. I’ve had some fantastic feedback from friends who had used this shop and I wasn’t disappointed when I went. Great for good advice and more.

Right that’s the plugs over!

I had two sessions. Both about 2 hours long . The first being on the Kennet and Avon canal just before I attended the Oxford Pike Anglers meeting where my mate Gary Newman was giving a talk. This first session was on a canal section I have never fished. I was looking for features and structures to fish around. I was using a small plastic lure of about 3 inches long and managed two small perch of about 5-6oz each. The bites where tap, tap then whoosh. The braid really gave a perfect indication of a take and the very soft tip bent around nicely. Great fun indeed.

The next session was a little further upstream where I had been told there were a good few 2lbers.

I arrived to fish finding 3 anglers there fishing, two pike fishing and the other perching. The perch guy was very open and honest plus taught me a few tricks of the trade. While I watched him lure fish (not drop shot fishing) he caught one of about 1lb. He said to try where he was fishing but I wandered off to find my own spot.

Well within a few minutes I had a rattle on the rod tip where I had a take but nothing came back. A recast though did the job perfectly the rattle and a strike met with a little perch of a  4oz tugging on the end. No Blanking here.

Another cast to the same area produced another perch of 1lb 15oz which did my confidence the world of good.

1lb 15oz perch

I decided to move around and see what the rest of the stretch was like. Now it’s a good idea to keep your eyes open for small fish topping on the surface and it’s a sure sign that perch will not be far away. A few places I saw this and tried but nothing took any interest in my lure.

I walked a fair stretch of canal casting at tree branches and other structures that could potentially hold perch. Also it wasn’t until the end of the stretch that I found a beautiful little perch that took my lure.

Little beauty

What a nice little perch. So that was 3 perch in 2 hours fishing unfortunately I had to miss the last hour of daylight and possibly the best part of the day as the perch come onto the feed.

One funny thing happened. A lady (attractive) came by with her dog. The dog being young didn’t like the look of my kit bag on the bank behind me and decided to duck under my rod where there was only a couple of feet between me and the waters edge. He took one look at me and fell into the canal. The lady started to panic and said he is very young and has not been in water before. She was just about to strip off and dive in ( I was ready to hold her clothes) when I said don’t worry all dogs can swim. After watching the dog go under a few times I wasn’t so sure!

So I got the landing net handle and pushed the large dog to the side of the canal where it pulled itself out and shook dry a few times. It really didn’t like me now.

It was really spooked by the swim and the lady said she had just spent £40 on a dog groom.

In the end she was there trying to get the lead on the thing for about 20mins even tempting it with little treats. No joy though. It kept looking at me and wouldn’t obey the woman. I then had to leave! Us anglers do see some funny things.