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Articles

No Half Measures

I’m a fussy type of carper, not over fussy, just fussy enough. I’m not satisfied with just chucking and chancing. I like to know what’s out there on the lake bed and try to visualise what’s going on down in the murky waters. Leading about with a marker float and watching the water for showing carp are necessary to help find likely areas worth fishing in the first place. But once I have found these likely featured areas I employ the ‘measure’ technique so I can consistently cast to the same spot, not only during the session, but at anytime I return to the same swim. I like the ‘measure’ technique for many reasons, one being, not having to cast a marker float about, spooking everything in the area when you first arrive in a trusty old swim, trying to find the same ‘hot spot’ you caught from a few weeks earlier.

I developed this measure technique sometime ago due to two main reasons. The first was the fact that I hated having anything on my line as a marker. I disliked the way the line was interfered with as it bangs on the marker knot during the cast. Also this marker knot would drive me mad as I tried to get it off the line at the end of the session. I’m now using thin electrical tape as a marker and this is working well but still a pain to get off. The second reason was to allow me to cast my bait straight to the spot without disturbing any carp present with a marker float as I mentioned earlier.

How do you start using the measure technique? Your fishing the ‘hot spot’ and have a marker knot on the line. What you need to do is somehow make an exact note of the position of this ‘hot spot’ for future reference without having to resort back to chucking the marker float about until you stumble across it again. Well you know where you are standing to cast, you now need to know how far away and in what direction the ‘hot spot’ is from you. You’ll need a few little bits of kit to make this work.

a) A compass
b) A line measurer
c) A note pad and pen
d) Patience
e) Luck

1) You already have a marker knot on the line as mentioned earlier, so clip up and make a cast.
2) Attach the line measuring tool to the rod, zero it and trap the line.
3) Wind in until you’re left with the same amount of line you started off the cast with.
4) Read off the distance from the measuring tool and make a note.
5) Use the compass to take and accurate direction reading. Look for any distant feature to help clarify the direction, such as a church spire, telegraph pole, etc, or a feature on the lake such as Lilly pads and make a note.

My notes might look like this for a particular lake:

Swim 34 / 54 min / 55 yds / left of pylon.
Swim 39 / 44 min / 72 yds / big oak tree.
Swim 41 / 32 min / 34 yds / to the right of the Lilly pads.

I use the minutes reading and not the degrees because my compass is set up that way, but both are fine.

You return to a swim that you have made notes on in the past and wish to put out baits to your ‘hot spots’.

Measure technique example No1 ( Still using the marker knot or tape on the line )

1) Read your notes on the swim, in this example they read:
Swim 34 / 54 min / 55 yds / left of pylon.
2) Use the compass to locate the direction.
3) Cast out a guessed 55 yds in another direction as not to spook any carp in the target area.
4) Wind down tight and clip up
5) Attach the line measuring tool to the rod, zero it and trap the line.
6) Wind in until you’re left with the same amount of line you started off the cast with.
7) Read off the distance from the measuring tool and remember it.
8) Adjustments
a) Over cast: If the cast distance was more than required, say a cast of 60 yds, remove the measuring tool and cast out again to the clip. Replace the measuring tool zero it and trap the line, unclip the line from the spool and wind in 5 yds. ( 60 yds - 5 yds = 55 yds wanted ) Clip up and mark the line with tape or maker knot. You now have the 55 yds desired.
b) Under cast: If the cast distance was less than requires, say a cast of 50 yds, remove the measuring tool and cast out again to the clip. Replace the measuring tool zero it and trap the line, unclip the line from the spool and let out 5 yds. ( 50 yds + 5 yds = 55 yds wanted ) Clip up and mark the line with tape or maker knot. You now have the 55 yds desired.
9) Use the compass again to confirm the direction and cast your baits out first time right on target.

I find over casting is the easiest to do, so if I under cast by a far way I just cast again until I have over cast and then make my adjustments.
I know this all sounds very complex and fussy but once you have your head round it, this is a quick and affective way of re-finding that ‘hot spot’ in a few minutes with no prior disturbance to the area before your bait hit it.

Measure technique example No2 ( No use of a marker knot or tape on the line )

The steps are the same as example No1, but as there are no markings on the line you will have to measure before re-casting after a run. If you haven’t had a run and wish to re-bait just wind down tight and clip up before you wind in, and then you can re-cast to the same spot.

We all spend a large amount of time siting behind buzzers waiting for a run, so when you think about it, if it takes a few minutes, two measure casts, and a bit of messing about after a run, so what. I know it still sounds a big hassle but in comparison to leading about with a marker float disturbing all and sundry, I take the measure technique any day when fishing a known swim.

Spoding

I apply the same measuring technique to my spod rod but with multiple spools, let me explain in this example.
Say I’m in a swim that I have notes on, I’m using three rods, one in the margin, one at say 50 yds, and the other at say 70 yds. We only need to think about the two distance rods as the margin rod can be hand feed in this example I’ve done the measure technique on the two distant rods, so they’re fishing nicely. I take my spod rod and make a measure with one spool at 50 yds, clip up and mark the spool so I can identify it later. I then swap spools and make another measure, this time 70 yds, clip up and mark that spool. I now have a spod rod that is set up to cast out to my two ‘hot spots’ at different ranges. All I have to do is select the correct spool and spod away merrily.

Mark Tunley
Rod Maker