How do you fish a bait dropper?

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Vole
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Re: How do you fish a bait dropper?

Post by Vole »

They work best with a float, or some buoyant thing on the line above to make sure they sink vertical, or at least, trigger-rod first; if they land horizontally, you're relying on the tooth-fairy to open them.
Originally, they were made for float-fishing under the rod or pole end; lowering a dropper in meant no swarms of bleak being attracted to the sinking feed, and all the fish would (in theory) assemble where you could most effectively fish for them - near the river-bed and just downstream of you.
In theory... In practice, Thames bleak had little trouble converting to bottom-feeding in ten feet of water. Gawd, it woz grim...
"Write drunk, edit sober" - Hemingway.
Hemingway didn't have to worry about accidentally hitting "submit" before he edited.

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Dave Burr
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Re: How do you fish a bait dropper?

Post by Dave Burr »

I've tended to make my own as I'm tight fisted and tend to lose things. But my current dropper is about 15 years old and going strong. Its made from a small tuna/cat food tin with a hinged door.

The trick to getting them to empty each time is to have enough weight on the bottom (and in the Wye I use 2-3 oz) and to 'feel' it down so that it hits bottom, the give it a little bounce.

Also, do not assume that in a river the feed goes off in a long line. I've watched chub and barbel concentrate their feeding exactly where the dropper lands and the largest concentration of feed sits. To bait a run I tend to drop on a line down the stream to give a wider feeding area than you would with a feeder.

Its best to use a second - heavier rod for dropping and with a gentle underarm swing. I have given it the ol' heave ho! across the river but it does tend to create waves.

I can put a picture and making instructions on here of anybody wants them.

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Shaun Harrison
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Re: How do you fish a bait dropper?

Post by Shaun Harrison »

Dave Burr wrote:Also, do not assume that in a river the feed goes off in a long line. I've watched chub and barbel concentrate their feeding exactly where the dropper lands and the largest concentration of feed sits.
This is something that so many don't seem to realise the fact that a strong current isn't always very strong at all on the bottom. Piling a lot of bait on one spot can make catching the fish rather difficult as they are hardly moving between mouthful's so even if you are accurate enough to be able to land your bait perfectly the bite can be so tiny and go un-notices, similarly a bait trotted by under a float won't necessarily be noticed by a fish preoccupied on hoovering up static bait from the bottom. Because of this I have always favoured small droppers with big weights and scatter the feed a little as Dave rightly suggests.

One only has to watch a fish laying in a fast current and you will see several laying there hardly twitching a fin to keep in place. A lot of fast water is high up in the water not necessarily down the bottom.
Dave Burr wrote:I've tended to make my own as I'm tight fisted and tend to lose things.

I can put a picture and making instructions on here of anybody wants them.
Go for it Dave, I'm sure plenty will enjoy tinkering.

I must admit that these days whilst barbel fishing on the big rivers like the Trent, I bait up with big feeders knowing exactly where they are ending up. I always found it difficult to judge exactly where my bait dropper had ended up in deeper fast flowing coloured water.

10 casts with the feeder, then clip the hook link on and back to the same spot - always been much more productive for me than droppers.

When fishing the smaller rivers like the Dove and the Derwent though, this is when I favour a dropper and then follow in with the smallest weight I can get away with.

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