FOXY GETS ALL TECHNICAL

FOXY GETS TECHNICAL

UPTIDING ORIGINS

 
What we now term Uptiding was initially called “Boat casting” and was used in the Thames estuary by people such as Bob Cox and John Rawle while bait fishing at anchor. The theory was that the tide pushing against the anchor rope created a vibration that put fish downtide on the alert. Casting to the side and uptide of the boat put a bait out of this “scare zone” and was seen to be more productive. Weather it was the fact of the bait actually being out of this “scare zone” or the fact that fish were being hooked against a fixed lead rig is open to debate but the technique certainly catches a lot of fish.

The method was actually first developed by Dutch and Belgian inshore anglers who wanted to anchor a bait out in the tidal flow thus allowing fish such as Plaice, Dabs and Flounders to follow the scent trail up the tide to the bait. The Thames anglers took the method and made it work in our waters mainly for winter species such as cod. The basic mechanics are the same but the end rigs evolved down very different paths, but more of that later.

Originally the rods used were cut down beachcasters of 10 or 11 feet and as the bait needed to be anchored away from the boat a variety of grip leads were developed to hold it there.  As time passed the technique became more and more sophisticated and a whole range of specialist tackle was developed by a variety of manufacturers. The average uptide rod is now around 9′ 6″ to 10′ and we’ll go into what’s available later on.

Uptiding, as it was now generally termed, became popular in most of the large estuaries such as the Thames, Humber and Mersey and indeed the technique is now employed on a lot of shallower inshore marks around the coast when bait fishing at anchor. By shallow I mean up to around fifty or sixty feet with the average being nearer thirty.

Mechanics

The basic technique is to cast the bait uptide and away from the boat and as soon as the lead has touched down a large bow of line is let out. The power of the tide pushing against this bow of line has the effect of pulling the wires on the lead into the sea bed and anchoring the bait in place. The rod is then placed in a holder and the line is tightened until a steady bend is acheived. Too much and the action of the boat could break the lead out and too little and bites could be missed. It is quite strange, at first ,to see the line from the rod tip appear to be pointing further down from where you have cast the bait and sometimes it looks like your bait is actually downtide. However this is nothing to worry about and is just the downtide bow in the line.

When a bite occurs do nothing immediately as a strike is not actually required. In fact if you do strike at the first indication of a bite you will probably miss the fish. Because you are employing a heavy fixed lead the fish actually hook themsleves against the combination of the lead and a needle sharp hook. Much as the “Bolt rigs” employed in Carp fishing.

The initial bites will often tell you from what fish you have had an enquiry from. A vigorous rattling is generally a sign that a Whiting has hooked itself, whilst a serious thumping is unmistakeably a Cod. In fact when the sprats are in a good technique to employ is to actually leave a hooked Whiting rattling away for a while as a Cod will take a surprisingly large Whiting!!

When you have established that a fish is on, from the persistant rattling or the line going slack and moving off downtide, now is the time to pick the rod up and wind into it. Initially you may think you have missed the fish but that is just the slack line in the tide. Keep winding and you will eventually “catch up” with the fish. What at first may appear to be a small one can soon develop into a serious head thumper as you get a direct line to the fish and the speed of the tide takes affect!

Tackle

I mentioned earlier the average Uptider is around 9′ 6″ – 10′ and generally comes in two unequal pieces with the tip section being longer than the butt section.  The tip needs to have a responsive action so it can bend into the tide as the boat swings, but not so stiiff as to pull the lead out. The butt section is much stiffer to aid casting and give power when bringing a fish back up against the tide. The reel seat is also further up the blank than the average downtide rod to allow for ease of casting. This is not always comfortable when fighting fish and recent innovations have seen rods with  pull out butt extensions to aid casting when extended and for ease of fighting a fish when pushed back in.

Rods are available for a variety of casting weights and can vary from light 2-6oz models up to heavy 8-10oz models. The average rod is usually rated 4-8oz and will cover most situations you will encounter. Some of the more specialist models come with two tips sections of different weight ratings and also have the extending butt section.

Traditionally the reel of choice for uptiding has been a 7000 size multiplier from either the Abu or Penn ranges, usually a levelwind model. This is because the distances required are not as great as normal beach casting and you don’t have to keep as close an eye on the line lay when retrieving.

 latterley the European influence has been seen with more anglers turning to “Big pit” style fixed spool reels. Models such as the Shimano Biomasters, Diawa Emcasts, or indeed the Stratos 12000E from my own company Fox, are all ideal for the job and will take plenty of abuse. The big advantage fixed spools have over multipliers (apart from ease of casting) is that as soon as the lead hits the water it goes straight down, as the line is coming off the spool much freeer and quicker. This in turn allows the lead to dig in before the tide can sweep it away.

Any worries you may have about fixed spools not being up to pulling large Cod back against a fierce tide can be allayed by logging onto the Fox web site where you can see Carp angler Ian Chillcott pull a fifty pound Conger eel from a wreck using the  Stratos 12000E pictured. Awesome!!

Lines

Mono or Braid? Both lines have their followers but having been out with a boat full of braid users when I was using mono myself  I can testify first hand that braid wins hands down. We were all on 30lb test but because my mono was thicker than their braid my lead was being broken out before the Cod had time to get to my bait.  I was comprehensively outfished ten to one! A hard lesson to learn but as soon as I got home I refilled all my spools with 30lb braid.

All braids are not the same however and you must get one that has a round profile. This is crucial when using a multiplier as the flat profile products have a tendency to dig in under pressure causing the reel to jam. Another lesson learnt the hard way with the loss of a decent Tope! Look for line that are made of Spectra fibres rather than Dyneema.

Some will tell you that you must use a mono leader with braid as the more direct contact to the lead, because of the lack of stretch, will cause the lead to break out in heavy waves. I have never found this to be so as most good rods have a flexible enough tip to cope with this and it’s a simple matter to adjust the tension by letting a bit more line out if required. A leader knot is just asking to pick up weed  and could lose you a fish as it jams in the tip ring.

Rigs

These can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make them and a couple of the ones in general use are listed here.

The Sliding Rig.

A basic rig that is employed by the vast majority of Uptiders is a simple flowing trace below a free running lead. Generally a couple of 3/0 to 6/0 Aberdeen type hooks are rigged pennell style on a length of a good quality  monofilament of a minimum of 30lb breaking strain.  The hook size is obviously dependant on the bait being used. At the other end is a strong swivel tied in turn to the braided reel line. Above the swivel on the main line is a large bead followed by a zip type slider to which the lead is attached.

Variations on this are to replace the zip slider with an uptide boom which keeps the line away from the lead and reduces tangles. Some anglers also prefer to add a short 6″ link of heavy 60lb mono between the slider and the lead again to reduce tangles.

With reference to the hooks being rigged pennell style I mean two hooks in tandem . The top hook is held in place by a few wraps of the leader or ,as I prefer with a soft rubber anti tangle sleeve (available from the carp section of most tackle shops).

The actual length of your leader depends upon the strength of tide but a good starting point is around three feet and experiment from there.

Flapper rigs

 As it says, very similar to a flapper rig used from the beach. fishing in this style a lead is attached to the end of a heavy mono leader (as in beach fishing) and braided reel line is attached  to the other end. “Flapper” snoods are crimped in place to suit on the leader.

An average two hook Flapper would have around four to five feet of 60lb rig body leader with a speed link attached at the lead end and two hook link snoods tied to swivels, held between beads and crimps. A strong swivel attached the top end completes the leader which is then attached to the main line via a lead clip.

Hook link lengths again depend upon tide strength but generally the bottom one is around 18 - 24 inches and attached around 6″ up from the speedlink with the top one around 12 – 15″ and attched around 6″ down from the swivel. A useful addition is the same rubber anti tangle sleeves as before added to the snood swivels as mini booms to  hold the hook links away from the leader.

Hooks on the snoods are generally a pennell set on the bottom for baits such as squid and a single hook on the top snood for worm etc.

Foreign rigs

As I mentioned earlier the Dutch and Belgians have taken their rig development down  different paths to our basic rigs . It is definately worth a bit of research online to check out what they are about. They seem to be particularly keen on boom type rigs

Leads / Hooks

 Leads must be wired to dig into the bottom and hold the bait in place. Generally around 8oz is an average uptide lead but in some very strong flows 120z is required. Gemini do excellent leads for this game but there are a few specialist moulds around that are the business also. One in particular is called the Ostend lead and if you can get hold of a mould they really are good.

With hooks generally a good strong Aberdeen pattern is all that is required the main criterea being a nice wide gape and a needle sharp point. You won’t go far wrong if you look at hooks from Sakuma and, dare I say, Fox.

 Baits

 Different areas favour different baits. In the   Humber, for instance, the bait “par excellance” is unwashed squid. Fished whole mounted on a pennell rig it will catch just about anything swimming. In other areas the best bait could be Black lug. It’s worth checking with the locals what the going bait is.

An excellent bait is crab cart (now avilable from Bait Box) encased in Armamesh which is available from most good tackle shops. Taken frozen in a cool box and mounted straight from the box it is a devastating bait for Cod and Bass. Well worth a try.

A few successes from the Humber aboard “Nemo” with thanks to skipper Tim Burgess

 Sorry about the “Big Bob” Billingsgate shot but it proves what an effective tactic uptiding really is.

 Conclusion

I hope you find this article of use and I apologise to Bassman for the time it’s taken to finish but my life tends to be a bit hectic at the best of times. I do like to get out as often as I can so whilst I like doing stuff like this the fishing always comes first!

If any one wants to take any of this further please start a thread on the forum or drop me a PM.

Cheers and Tight Lines

Foxy

Foxys Gallery

Posted by foxyfisher on May 24 2010. Filed under Featured Articles, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry