With the recent floods of late comes all sorts. . . . .
and after a long dry spell through the closed season, that usually means when the rain eventually comes - so does all the debris that's built up over the weeks/months.
Usually, the scenario is like this . . . . . summer finally kicks in, the water levels are low for weeks on end, causing low oxygen levels which in turn, causes mother nature to try and compensate by growing oxygenating weeds.
Then the rains come . . . . . and boy have they come !
Fishing yesterday . . . . the river was a good 2 foot up, probably more like 2 and a half . . . . .
as you can see . . . there was a little extra water . . . .And with that comes . . . . the dreaded weed . . . . . . .
And it's a right pain in the A**e !
Stops your feeder from emptying, has your lead dragging round 'till it will only settle under your feet and let's face it, not only looks a mess but you do have to wonder if (when a barbel/chub comes along) any self respecting fish would go near it !
Plus there's also the fact that if this cra*'s all around your lead/ feeder, will the fish actually be ABLE to even find your bait . . . . . . . . . .
so . . . . . what's the solution i hear you say . . . . . . ??????
This little weapon . . . . . .
Might not look much, but it really does the trick . . .
They are . . . . Fox Braid Stops . . . . . very slim silicone sliding float stops that really grip the line well, which is important 'cos you don't want 'em sliding down the line to the lead/feeder as that'd kinda defeat the object . . . . . . and I've used a few and believe me, these are by far the best.
And this is exactly what the result should look like if it's doing it's job properly . . . .
The Cra* as i lovingly refer to it, is firmly up the line, it really seems to stop 99% of weed/leaves/grass etc from getting anywhere near the hook bait - leaving that free for old billy barbel to find . . . . . . . . (hopefully)
The pic' below show the rig/stop in a little more detail, the stop has obviously been slid right down the line for the sake of the photograph, i normally tend to have the stop anything from a foot to 4 or 5 foot away from the lead/feeder - working on the principal that the heavier the flow and more cra* coming down river, the further i have it away.
If the Cra* coming downstream is so heavy that it's pushing the stop down to the lead. . . . . . . . . . . . i would highly recommend packing up and buggering off home !!!
Happy flood fishing people !
