Course Fishing Floats, Lures, Bait And Weights
Once you have your coarse fishing rod and reel you will, of course, need a variety of small items to tempt fish to take your line and to help you control where in the water your bait or lure is situated.
Course fishing floats serve two purposes. Firstly they act as a bite indicator because as the fish takes your bait you will notice the float go under water and at this point you need to strike (i.e. lift your rod to ensure the hook goes home and properly holds the fish). Once hooked it is vital that you ensure the line remains taut and your rod remains bent to ensure the fish does not get off the hook. You can also buy dedicated bite indicators that can sense the smallest of movement, which if you are fishing for a small fish with bait can be very useful.
Course fishing floats also enable you to control the level at which your bait is sitting in the water. Some fish are bottom feeders and so you will want your bait to be sitting on the bottom but others feed at any level and this will change from one moment to the next. If you can see evidence that fish are feeding you will not want your bait to be on the bottom but at the level where the fish are feeding and by placing your float at the appropriate place on the line you can control this. Using coarse fishing floats with weights will enable you to position your bait at precisely the level you require.
Obviously different species of fish feed on different things. Fish such as perch, pike and zander feed on smaller fish and other creatures as the move through the water and so to catch these you will need to fish a lure, which of course is not real food but some device designed to mimic a real creature as it moves through the water. With a lure you need to keep it moving through the water and so you will need to keep re-casting your line and then move it back through the water towards you. If fishing from a boat you can also troll which means moving your lure through the water by moving the boat (obviously this is easier with a motor powered boat than it is with a rowing boat!). Not all fisheries allow trolling and so it is important you check this before starting. When fish take lures the take tends to be very pronounced as the fish moves quickly to catch the moving meal.
Most coarse fishing uses bait i.e. real food that will tempt the fish and again you need to consider what food specific species like. Some fish such as the Roach like seeds and hemp seeds, in particular, are popular for this sort of fish. Fish that eat flesh e.g. pike, perch and zander can be tempted with animal or fish meat and most tackle stores will sell all sorts from live worms to vacuum packed items. Even luncheon meat can be used to catch fish such as the barbel. It is also possible to buy an amazing array of boillies which are pre-prepared baits and come in a very large range of what might seem to be unlikely flavours e.g. sweet chillie. However fish do have a very keen sense of smell and so these boillies can be very effective.
Finally a common technique is ground baiting which means placing food on the bottom of the water near to your baited hook to attract fish over to feed. If you are looking to do this you will need something to place your ground bait as accurately as you can. In my early days as an angler this was achieved by the use of a bait catapult, however, you can now find radio controlled bait boats that enable you to position your ground bait very accurately in the water.
Course fishing floats serve two purposes. Firstly they act as a bite indicator because as the fish takes your bait you will notice the float go under water and at this point you need to strike (i.e. lift your rod to ensure the hook goes home and properly holds the fish). Once hooked it is vital that you ensure the line remains taut and your rod remains bent to ensure the fish does not get off the hook. You can also buy dedicated bite indicators that can sense the smallest of movement, which if you are fishing for a small fish with bait can be very useful.
Course fishing floats also enable you to control the level at which your bait is sitting in the water. Some fish are bottom feeders and so you will want your bait to be sitting on the bottom but others feed at any level and this will change from one moment to the next. If you can see evidence that fish are feeding you will not want your bait to be on the bottom but at the level where the fish are feeding and by placing your float at the appropriate place on the line you can control this. Using coarse fishing floats with weights will enable you to position your bait at precisely the level you require.
Obviously different species of fish feed on different things. Fish such as perch, pike and zander feed on smaller fish and other creatures as the move through the water and so to catch these you will need to fish a lure, which of course is not real food but some device designed to mimic a real creature as it moves through the water. With a lure you need to keep it moving through the water and so you will need to keep re-casting your line and then move it back through the water towards you. If fishing from a boat you can also troll which means moving your lure through the water by moving the boat (obviously this is easier with a motor powered boat than it is with a rowing boat!). Not all fisheries allow trolling and so it is important you check this before starting. When fish take lures the take tends to be very pronounced as the fish moves quickly to catch the moving meal.
Most coarse fishing uses bait i.e. real food that will tempt the fish and again you need to consider what food specific species like. Some fish such as the Roach like seeds and hemp seeds, in particular, are popular for this sort of fish. Fish that eat flesh e.g. pike, perch and zander can be tempted with animal or fish meat and most tackle stores will sell all sorts from live worms to vacuum packed items. Even luncheon meat can be used to catch fish such as the barbel. It is also possible to buy an amazing array of boillies which are pre-prepared baits and come in a very large range of what might seem to be unlikely flavours e.g. sweet chillie. However fish do have a very keen sense of smell and so these boillies can be very effective.
Finally a common technique is ground baiting which means placing food on the bottom of the water near to your baited hook to attract fish over to feed. If you are looking to do this you will need something to place your ground bait as accurately as you can. In my early days as an angler this was achieved by the use of a bait catapult, however, you can now find radio controlled bait boats that enable you to position your ground bait very accurately in the water.
