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Get Hooked On Fishing
A series of short articles, images and animations to complement the series and help newcomers understand the key tackle, techniques and knots needed to get going in angling...
Contributed by: Gareth Purnell
Get Hooked on Fishing is a series of five programmes from the OnlineFishing.TV stable aimed at showing newcomers the rudiments of the key coarse fishing techniques, and passing on some more advanced tricks from top anglers at the same time.
Formed in 2000, Get Hooked now provides an umbrella structure for the 20 or so Get Hooked on Fishing schemes that now run in England, Scotland and Wales. Some schemes are based on coarse fishing, some on sea angling and some on fly fishing.
The series is presented by Dave Smith of the Get Hooked On Fishing Border Fisheries project, who is joined by some top anglers like Steve Ringer, Kieron Rich and Darren Cox to help show a group of eager young anglers how to get started in angling.
To sit alongside the Get Hooked On Fishing series, OnlineFishing.tv has created a series of short articles and animations to help explain some of the terms and technique used in coarse angling today…
Knots Guide
Links
www.ghof.org.uk
Fishing The Waggler
The waggler is a type of float attached at its bottom end only and gets its name because it ‘waggles’ when cast out.
Your line goes through the ‘eye’ at the base of the floats, and it needs to be weighted using split shot, until only a small amount of the bright tip is showing when the float is cast out (see Shotting Your Floats).
The approximate weight required to do this is usually marked on the body of the float. Movement of this tip indicates a bite, and the need for the angler to strike to set the hook.
There are many different types of waggler and several different materials used to make them, including:
Straight Wagglers
These are usually made from a straight length of peacock quill or they can be made from hollow, clear plastic.
The tip is the same thickness as the base. This makes them quite buoyant and they are useful when you are fishing on moving or towing water, as you can set the float to more than the depth of your swim and drag the bait along the bottom without the float always dragging under.
Insert Wagglers
These have a straight body as described above, but the tip is a thinner ‘insert’ often of cane, or plastic.
This makes them more sensitive, and therefore they allow you to spot shy bites.
They need to be shotted so only a small part of the insert is showing above the water, and are best fished on still water or on moving water if fishing your hook bait off the bottom.
Pellet Wagglers
A more recent innovation, pellet wagglers are usually short, stumpy floats often made from balsa or thick hollow plastic tubing, giving them great buoyancy.
They are designed for fishing with sinking pellets on stocked stillwaters, usually with carp in mind. All the weight is placed at the base of the float to lock it in place at the required depth, and this so-called ‘bulk’ weight can often mean that aggressive fish hook themselves against it when they take the hook bait.
View GET HOOKED ON FISHING: FISHING THE WAGGLER
Shotting Your Floats
When you’ve been fishing a while you tend to forget just how daunting getting into angling can be. It’s hard to think of a pastime with so many different variations, accessories and options. No wonder some people are put off before they start – getting into angling is hardly like trying to take up tennis of golf is it?
Split shot and shotting patterns are just one of the things you need to understand if you are planning on float fishing, but although match fishing can get over-complicated in this regard, for pleasure fishing a simple understanding of what you’re trying to achieve is all you need.
So What Is A Shot?
A split shot is simply a rounded weight with a split down one side that allows it to be pinched onto your line. Their main use is to act as a weight to set a float correctly for fishing, also known as ‘cocking’ your float. Most floats state the approximate weight required to set them correctly on the side.
This can either be stated as the number of shot required, the total weight in grammes, or the weight in styls, a kind of elongated, cylindrical shot. Shot sizes are indicated in the larger sizes by letters, and in the small sizes by a number (see table).
The bigger the number, the smaller the shot size, so a No12 for instance is a very small shot, while a No6 is much larger (the opposite is true for styls).
Lead is the ideal material for shot as it’s very dense yet still quite soft, and so can be easily moved on the line without damaging it. However, for environmental reasons lead shot bigger than a No8 cannot be legally sold in the UK, so bigger sizes are made from a so-called non-toxic metal based on zinc.
Shotting Waggler Floats
If you are using a float that you attach to the line at the bottom of the float only (such floats are called ‘wagglers’) then around 80% of the float’s capacity should be placed around the base of the float itself using larger shot.
So for instance, if you have a 5AAA waggler, you might use 4AAA shot to lock the float onto the line. Doing this means that you have a nice, solid weight to cast the float out against, and as soon as the float hits the water it will cock and sink so that maybe a couple of inches of the tip is showing out of the water.
Now the idea is to set the float so that only the tip is showing. This is called ‘dotting the float down’ and is important so that even delicate bites will register on the float tip.
The other 20% of the shotting capacity is used to do this – however this is done with smaller shot which are often spread out down the line between the float and the hook.
So in the case of the 5AAA waggler above, you might use No8 shot to dot the float down, spread out equally in small bulks of three, then two and then single shot as you near the hook. This will give the hook bait a slow fall through the water layers and possibly allow you to catch fish ‘on the drop’ (as the hook bait is sinking) as well as close to the bottom.
Shotting Pole Floats
Pole fishing allows you to use much lighter floats than if you are fishing a rod and line and a waggler – that’s because you don’t need to cast the float and bait out to the fish (you need weight to do this). Instead, you use the pole to lower the bait into the swim.
Having a lighter float has major advantages, in that there’s less resistance to the fish and so they are less likely to drop the bait.
Pole fishing isn’t always the best method and the fish can sometimes be out of pole range (you can realistically fish up to about 14 metres out with a pole), but it is highly effective and accurate and that explains its popularity.
Given that you don’t need to cast at all, the size of float you use is governed more by the depth of swim and the conditions than how far out you are fishing.
If you are fishing shallow water, such as next to an island, a very simple shotting pattern which ‘bulks’ all the shot together is often best, as it’s the least tangle prone.
If you are looking to catching fish ‘on the drop’ then you should spread small shot out equally between the bottom of the float and the hook bait.
For fishing in deep water, especially when the water is towing, it’s usually best to have a bulk of shot representing perhaps 90% of the shotting capacity of the float about two thirds of the way down the line, and then two or three smaller (‘dropper’) shot below this.
Knots Guide
OnlineFishing.tv has produced a series of easy to follow knot animations to help you learn how to tie the key angling knots
Once you have mastered how to tie a Palomar knot, you have a knot that you can use for tying on hooks and swivels that is recommended if you are fishing with braided line.
It’s very easy to tie and is one of those knots that, with a bit of practice, can be tied in the dark.
Step 1: Double up the end of your line and thread the doubled up loop through the eye of the swivel or hook.
Step 2: Pull the doubled up line up and make and overhand loop around the mainline.
Step 3: Thread the doubled up line through the loop once only, and then bring it around the hook or swivel.
Step 4: Pull it tight so that the doubled up line loop sites below the eye of the hook or swivel with the knot above it. Tighten and trim the knot. That’s it, you have learned how to tie a Palomar knot.
There are many times when you need to know how to tie a loop knot in fishing, but there is a right and a wrong way to tie one.
The key to forming a strong loop is to tie what’s known as a figure of eight loop.
This means a turn of two or even better two and a half times around the mainline before threading back through the loop and tightening. Note that you should always dampen any knot before fully tightening up – spit will do the job just fine!!
In our animation we have also shown a way to tie a length of line – such as a hooklength – into the knot and for this we have used a grinner knot.
Step 1: Double up the end of your line leaving plenty of doubled up line above to work with.
Step 2: Create a loop and take the doubled up line around the mainline two or even better two and a half times.
Step 3: If you have done it correctly a figure of eight will form as you tighten up. If it doesn’t, the loop knot will be a weak point in the line.
Step 4: Dampen the knot and tighten up. You have learned how to tie the figure of eight loop knot.
Learning how to tie the tucked half blood knot will give you a very useful knot for tying on hooks and swivels.
It’s relatively easy knot to learn and is recommended for use with mono, but not braid. The key to the strength of this knot is the tuck of the threading of the line into the loop above the hook eye.
This what makes it a ‘tucked’ half blood knot – which is a better and stronger knot than the half blood knot without the ‘tuck’.
Remember to moisten the knot before tightening down or you can damage or kink the line above the hook.
Step 1: Thread the mainline through the eye of the hook or swivel.
Step 2: Using the working end, make five twists around the mainline above the eye.
Step 3: Thread the end back through the first loop/twist. At this point the knot is a normal half blood knot.
Step 4: Tuck the end through the larger loop. This is the ‘tuck’ and this makes it a much stronger knot that a normal half blood knot.
Step 5: Moisten the knot and tighten slowly. You now know how to tie a tucked half blood knot.
The grinner knot is a versatile knot that we recommend you learn as it can be used with almost any type of line. Learn how to tie the grinner knot and you have the ideal knot in your armoury for tying on swivels and hooks with mono or braid. It can be used with light and medium strength line and creates a neat, strong knot above the eye.
Step 1: Thread the mainline through the eye of the hook or swivel twice, leaving plenty of line to work with.
Step 2: Form a loop in the spare line next to the standing mainline.
Step 3: Thread the working end through over the standing mainline and through the loop you’ve just created four or five times.
Step 4: Ensure the working end finishing by going through the loop. Moisten the twists and tighten slowly onto the standing mainline.
Step 5: Once you have gently tightened the loops onto the mainline, work the knot onto the top of the eye of the hook or swivel. Now you can tighten the knot properly and trim. If you tighten fully onto the mainline, there’s a risk you could kink or damage it. You now know how to tie a grinner knot.
The Knotless Knot
Learning how to tie the knotless knot (also known and the ‘no knot’ knot) has become a very popular knot since the advent of the hair rig. It allows you to set the ‘hair’ to exactly the required length depending on the type and size of hook bait you’re using, and then attach the hook.
Once tied correctly the hook sits slightly offset in a manner that actually increases hook-up ratios because it turns into a fish’s lip when it tries to reject the hook bait. The key to this is that you must start and finish by taking the line through the BACK of the hook eye.
Step 1: Tie a loop in the end of your mainline to create your hair rig loop, and then cut the line to length depending on how ling a hooklength you require.
Step 2: Thread the working end through the BACK of the hook eye and draw the hair loop up until you have the ideal length of hair for your fishing situation.
Step 3: You can now start whipping the working end around the shank of the hook, trapping the hair at the back of the shank each time. About 5-8 whips is ideal.
Step 4: Holding the whips in place with the thumb and forefinger of your spare hand, take the working end once again through the back of the hook eye.
Step 5: Start to tighten and as the loops tighten around the hook shank, work the whips up so that they sit directly beneath the eye before tightening fully. The hook should sit in at and angle that makes it hard for a fish to reject the hook bait without it catching in its lip. You now know how to tie the knotless knot.
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