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Bottom Bouncing Techniques
Part One Basic bottom bouncing technique is using the river current to sweep or bounce bait along a river bottom in order to entice fish to bite or strike. To accomplish this, an angler needs a rod long enough to minimize surface water contact, enough weight to take the bait to the bottom rapidly and line that will minimize break-offs yet not spook the fish. Ideally a good BB rod will be at least eight feet long and in bigger rivers, a rod eleven or twelve feet long is much better. Weights in a basic rig are split shot and heavy enough to take your rig to the bottom. Basic rigging means using a bait and hook on main line of six to twelve pound test line with split shots about 18-24 inches above the bait. Three or four smaller shot placed close together work better than one large shot as they minimize snagging between rocks but a slight loss in feeling bottom taps occurs. Split shot transmit vibrations better than most weights although they will snag up quicker than some of the other weighting methods available. Spinning or casting reels provide good line control and allow anglers to “milk” their bait with the current. Milking is the practice of either holding back to allow the bait to rise and swing within the water column or allowing more line to feed out to maintain bottom contact...
Bottom Bouncing The basic BB cast should be across the current at about 90 degrees from the angler or just slightly upstream if the current is strong. The effective drift begins when the weight hits bottom and begins to “tap” off rocks and gravel. The bait will usually proceed ahead of the weight downstream, at bottom current speed or slightly slower. Often river currents will be faster at the surface than at the bottom where fish are laying so bottom bouncing allows a bait to be presented naturally to fish. Ideally, the bait drifts downstream at the speed a fish normally sees insects or other food items approach. Following the cast, line should be allowed to leave the reel freely in order for the bait and weights to hit bottom with a minimum of downstream travel. When the weights meet the bottom, line outflow should be stopped; slack taken up and the rod should be held at approximately 45 degrees from the water surface. Reeling up slack line allows the angler to feel vibrations made by the weights against the bottom contour. The longer rods keep your line from lying across the surface when fishing longer casts and keep you in touch with the bottom vibrations. One style is to drift while holding the line under the index finger of the rod hand. By partly opening or closing the bail of a spinning reel you can maintain a taunt line, somewhat like mending a drift while fly fishing. The same effect can be accomplished with the thumb on a casting reel. When a movement other than stone or gravel hopping is felt, the rod hand should clamp down on the line and the rod swung up or back to set the hook. Any slack can be taken up with a quick turn or two of the reel handle. If no fish is felt, lower the rod, allowing the bait and weight to continue bouncing through the chosen run or pool.
Bottom Bouncing Once the basics are understood, bottom bouncing success can be improved by selecting optimum water and by varying tackle rigs. Ideal bottom bouncing water has a gravel or rock bottom, a slow to moderate current flow and is deep enough so that you can’t see bottom. Gravel and rock bottoms are preferred locations for trout and salmon if the fish have a choice available. The idea is to allow the lure or bait to cover as much prime water as possible on every drift while maintaining bottom contact The current flow most fish will hold in depends on water temperature, clarity and light conditions. If the water temperature is above 40 degrees F, for example, rainbows will hold in faster water while below that magic point on the thermometer they will hold in deeper and slower water. Lead wire held in place on your line with plastic tubing will minimize snagging but transmit less information on bottom conditions to the angler. Slinkies are lead shot held inside a nylon sheath like parachute cord and they have the same advantages and disadvantages of lead wire. Three way swivels and sliding sinkers all have their uses in various conditions but split shots definitely send back the strongest indication of bottom contact. Leaders allow an angler to lower the visibility of terminal tackle to suit water clarity conditions and also to minimize the loss of tackle. A good terminal tackle rig includes a leader of three to four feet of monofilament at least two pound test lighter than the main line with shot placed above the joint to save constant re-rigging. Swivels can be used and fluorocarbon leader material can be tied on as well as new hooks when snags are frequent. Hooks should be short- shanked and checked often as bottom bouncing is much harder on hook points that float fishing. If you suspect fish are holding off bottom, tiny floaters can be added to roe bags to suspend your bait somewhere between the bottom and the length of one’s leader, depending on current flow. When using worms, an air bubble will produce the same effect. Fish tend to suspend in various circumstances, especially in the freezing conditions of mid-winter when slush is in the water. Yarn balls, yarn flies, Spin and Glows, Go-Goes and other floating devices all have their place in a bottom bouncer’s fishing vest and each can pay off in certain conditions. The most productive drifts start when you first feel the tapping of your weights on the bottom and continue to the end of the downstream drift, through the lateral swing that takes place when line is stopped from further downstream movement. At the end of the downstream drift, the bait or lure starts to swing laterally to your side of the river and begins to rise in the water column.
Bottom Bouncing The tap-tap-tap of stones and gravel is different than the tap you feel when a trout mouths your bait. Learning the difference is the whole key to bottom-bouncing successfully. A sensitive rod certainly helps but holding taunt line between thumb and finger of your non-rod hand can help a lot. If you aren’t feeling the bottom taps, something is wrong or you have a fish on, set the hook! If you feel a pause and then a gentle movement, set the hook. Coarse fish don’t hit much like trout but sometimes trout will hit lightly like coarse fish. Migratory rainbows often mouth and munch bait before sending it on its way as close observation with Polaroid glasses has shown us over the years. Anglers unfamiliar with rainbow habits often wait for a fish to swallow their bait before setting the hook, this seldom happens as these fish rarely eat while on a spawning run. They will taste and spit though and do so very quickly, so set the hook when in doubt. A sign of missed opportunities is a roe bag, crushed after a slight pause takes place in the drift. New anglers probably miss ten bites for every one they detect. Even top anglers miss at least one bite for every one they feel. Even top anglers miss bites because they lost concentration and failed to strike fast enough. It’s so easy to doze off now and then, especially after rising early and driving a long way.
Copywrite Grant Ferris for GreyBruceOutdoors, November 2006 Tales of the fish that got away One of the interesting parts of every derby is listening to the tales of the fish that got away. It happens to all of us anglers at times because catching fish is never a sure thing. Perhaps the lost fish was a prize winner, maybe even a derby winner but winner or not it is still frustrating to lose a good fish just moments before you scoop it up with your net. Still, sometimes but not always, you can cut your losses. These lost fish can be classed into three groups. First there are the ones you class as no hopes; no equipment failure, no technique failure, it simply wasn’t in the cards for you to land that fish and you can’t do anything about it but hope it doesn’t happen very often. Perhaps the fish failed to grab your lure strongly and wasn’t hooked well. Perhaps it hit your lure with a closed mouth or with its tail and would have had to be released as foul hooked anyway. There is nothing you can do in those cases but sharpen your hooks and try again. Secondly, there are the fish you lose due to equipment failure. This is probably the most common reason for losing trophy fish. Perhaps a defective swivel snap broke, perhaps the line was old or poorly stored from the last trip and sunlight weakened it or perhaps your reel wasn’t clean and lubricated and the drag jammed. You might not have sharpened your hooks. Equipment flaws are an angler’s fault and shouldn’t happen often or shame on you. Thirdly, many fish are lost due to technique… or rather the lack of it. Those oh-so- important landing skills needed to win prizes are learned mostly by practice or by mentoring from someone more experienced. The hard way to learn is by practice…doing it wrong but learning every time. These lessons are not always a lot of fun but are not easily forgotten. Typical examples of technique losses include rushing a fish up to your boat when it still has lots of fight resulting in a tangle of tackle or trying to net a fish that has too much fight to cooperate. Another example of technique failure is when a big salmon dives straight down and the angler wastes his efforts trying to hoist the fish straight back up. Undoubtedly many very big fish are lost that way. The only solution is to loosen your drag and move off to one side so you can turn the head of the fish rather than pull it straight backward. Letting the fight go on too long or trying to make it too short are both examples of lack of technique. To be fair though, derby time or tournament time is a busy time on the water and being crowded by other boats doesn’t make it easy to practice good fish landing techniques. You can always console yourself with that excuse. For sure you can soothe the pain by telling your story to other anglers… who have undoubtedly got their own tales about the one that got away. Dare To Be Different There are a lot of anglers out on the Lake during a derby. Most of these anglers use the same half-dozen lure patterns, rig their equipment the same old way and fish at the same depth and speed. Lots of fish are caught during the good biting hours of first and last light with these tried and true methods but during the rest of the day, fishing can be slow. And then along comes someone with a new way to fish or a different style of rigging and for a little while, until the secret is out and becomes widespread, Is there an explanation for this phenomenon? Why does something new work so well for awhile and then, almost overnight, become just another one of our many tackle standbys? Well, we can’t ask the fish and too few of us keep accurate statistics that might shine a light on this puzzle but guesses based on anecdotal information have helped anglers for many years. For example, it’s an accepted fact that matching the hatch or simulating a prey species will entice feeding fish to bite. The key words here however are “feeding fish”. What if they’re not feeding? Either because they aren’t hungry or like with mature Pacific salmon, past the feeding stage of their lives? Will they still bite? Hundreds of derby prizes have been won by anglers who caught non-feeding fish. This is where the guesses come in. Did these derby prize-winners bite because they were angry, protective of their territory or simply aggressive? Perhaps, if their BB sized brains are capable of it, they bite because of curiosity… no one knows for sure. Perhaps they saw something they had never seen before and just had to give it a little taste. Most experienced anglers will agree that they never know what is suddenly going to produce fish when the bite is off. Sometimes the weirdest thing becomes the hot rig of the day. Think about it. Do you have something in your tackle box that is out of the ordinary? This year, give that weird rig a try or just change your methods when fishing is slow. Perhaps you could try fishing in comparatively shallow water, off temperature with long leads while everyone else fishes according to the rules. Who knows? Unusual methods have worked before. You just might intercept a derby prize-winning fish with an attitude and take home a big prize …….just because you dared to be different. |
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their innovation really makes a difference. Perhaps it’s a proven rig from the west coast, like cut bait, herring strips or a special lure. Perhaps it’s fluorocarbon leaders or a new dodger and fly combination, maybe a return to diving planers, side-planers, steel wire, lead core line, any number of methods that have paid off, for a while, big-time in the past. Soon, though, everyone hears about the latest hot method, bait or lure and the innovation becomes part of standard rigging. No longer unique, it becomes one of the old standards, tried and true but not really something hot that will catch fish during the slow times in the middle of the pack.