Today's thought on Recasting

[Carpbell3]

Not sure if twitter inspires me to get out for a few days or put you off, one poor chap is struggling with the wind, got the alarms on lowest sensitivity the wind is still being a disturbance.

Rod tips in the water with heavy bobbins would fix that? think he would of been better off bringing them in myself till day light something I do on most sessions if I have a fish or a problem and a rod needs recasting I will wait till that first twilight bit so I can see how the cast went into the water, only reason I do that is, if I cast in the dark, come first light I will be more than tempted to bring that rod in for a recast.

[emmcee]

4 hours ago, Carpbell3 said:

Not sure if twitter inspires me to get out for a few days or put you off, one poor chap is struggling with the wind, got the alarms on lowest sensitivity the wind is still being a disturbance.

Rod tips in the water with heavy bobbins would fix that? think he would of been better off bringing them in myself till day light something I do on most sessions if I have a fish or a problem and a rod needs recasting I will wait till that first twilight bit so I can see how the cast went into the water, only reason I do that is, if I cast in the dark, come first light I will be more than tempted to bring that rod in for a recast.

The last thing I'd be doing is recasting at first light as that was a predominant bite  time on the lakes I fished. 

I'd recast in the dark with no issues, as long as I hit the clip and felt that lead down with a thump I'd be happy. Be that wind, rain or what. 

[elmoputney]

17 minutes ago, emmcee said:

The last thing I'd be doing is recasting at first light as that was a predominant bite  time on the lakes I fished. 

I'd recast in the dark with no issues, as long as I hit the clip and felt that lead down with a thump I'd be happy. Be that wind, rain or what. 

I used to do try and avoid casting and still would mainly at first light, but if something is niggling at me that it isn't right, I will now just recast, and I'll spomb at first light too if I need too quite happily, I quite like knowing my spot is bang on and freshly primed for the morning bite time. 

[Golden Paws]

I'm always up before first light and give the hooks a quick lick with the polishing stone, a fresh bait attached and a hopper full of fresh bait stealthily boated out to the spot. I'm a bit paranoid that I might have been cleaned out overnight and the amount of times the hooks come back with a blob of weed masking it, makes it a no-brainer for me. I don't fish particularly weedy waters but always check when I'm adding more bait. When I read about people fishing Rainbow Lake who cast out and then leaving it for 4 days, my brain doesn't compute! 

[salokcinnodrog]

On 28/05/2025 at 08:40, Carpbell3 said:

Not sure if twitter inspires me to get out for a few days or put you off, one poor chap is struggling with the wind, got the alarms on lowest sensitivity the wind is still being a disturbance.

Rod tips in the water with heavy bobbins would fix that? think he would of been better off bringing them in myself till day light something I do on most sessions if I have a fish or a problem and a rod needs recasting I will wait till that first twilight bit so I can see how the cast went into the water, only reason I do that is, if I cast in the dark, come first light I will be more than tempted to bring that rod in for a recast.

 

On 28/05/2025 at 12:43, emmcee said:

The last thing I'd be doing is recasting at first light as that was a predominant bite  time on the lakes I fished. 

I'd recast in the dark with no issues, as long as I hit the clip and felt that lead down with a thump I'd be happy. Be that wind, rain or what. 

 

On 28/05/2025 at 13:05, elmoputney said:

I used to do try and avoid casting and still would mainly at first light, but if something is niggling at me that it isn't right, I will now just recast, and I'll spomb at first light too if I need too quite happily, I quite like knowing my spot is bang on and freshly primed for the morning bite time. 

I have no problem with a first light recast, although I tend to hold back on the spod or Spomb until mid-morning unless I'm positive that I have been cleared out.

Saying that, most of my casting goes out with a PVA bag, mesh or stringer, so it's play by ear.

5 hours ago, Golden Paws said:

When I read about people fishing Rainbow Lake who cast out and then leaving it for 4 days, my brain doesn't compute! 

I've seen fish avoid baits for 48hours after they have been put in, even putting in washed out baits didn't work, it had to be left for 48hours. Pressured spots can be problematic! 

 

To start with on Brackens Pool I used to do my daily recast mid afternoon, topping up my 30bait stringers, before everyone else would cast in for the night with their single hookbait. I fished one swim in Car corner where I could 'sneak' bait in by hand, climbing through the brambles and tipping a bucket of Vitalin in. I cast on top of it, and left the bait in place for 2 days until it was taken by a 30lb fish. That spot directly under the tree was the 2nd rod 'standard'. The left hand rod was cast to the car, and in that 2 days produced 3 doubles.

On Taverham Mills I've seen it take a week for carp to move onto a pressured spot, a gravel bar that when I first fished there would produce almost every night. Over time it got harder and harder until the fish avoided it. 

 

My daily recast now is normally around lunchtime, I reel in around 10.30 to walk Sky round the lake. If I get a night fish, it's easy enough to put it back out there, I have my 'head' map of distances and far bank markers. If anyone has seen it, it's trees given names: 'sneaky squirrel', 'Wile E Coyote', or other obvious features.

 

 

[kevtaylor]

Recasting is a tough one, for a long time now I've tried to get the rods set and baited long before evening bite time - it feels like the big fish way, I wont touch them until late the following morning after bite time has finished, however if I'm getting occurances I'll check and recast at anytime.  It does feel wrong watching people re-baiting and recasting late evening when they've had all afternoon to do this?

I do find it very odd that on so many occasions I've reeled a cast in that was pretty much bang on, certainly good enough but something tells you to re-do it and bingo it was tangled or something not quite right - sixth sense?

I think there are times I should recast definately, but probably too set in my ways, depends on the water to a degree I think.

Reading other comments, at first light I really dont want to recast which is mental torture if you think you may have been done, but very unlikely to reel it in until much later, sometimes too late. 

Edited 20 hours ago by kevtaylor

[yonny]

Only time I'll recast at bite time is if I know I should have had a take, but it's not happened.

9 hours ago, kevtaylor said:

It does feel wrong watching people re-baiting and recasting late evening when they've had all afternoon to do this?

I love to see this personally! I make sure to have any spodding/baiting done in the early afternoon. If everyone else starts doing the same in the evening I just chuckle as the fish are pushed to the only quiet spot on the lake i.e. in front of me!

It's not uncommon for me to bait up then go on a wander or chat with other members. As long as the rods are clipped up ready to go I'm happy to keep the swim free of lines for a while.

[salokcinnodrog]

9 hours ago, kevtaylor said:

I do find it very odd that on so many occasions I've reeled a cast in that was pretty much bang on, certainly good enough but something tells you to re-do it and bingo it was tangled or something not quite right - sixth sense?

I've had that myself. One that really sticks in my mind was on Brackens when fishing with Big Dave. I'd had a couple of fish, and had run out of my rigs, so I pinched one of his tied with a Korda Kurv. I had bleeps, but no hittable indication. I reeled in, put on a freshly tied rig with a Gardner Mugga and within minutes had another carp. I later checked his rig, and the hookpoint just was not as sharp. If anyone remembers it, it was the hook in the finger and lift the lead off the desk test.

 

9 hours ago, kevtaylor said:

It does feel wrong watching people re-baiting and recasting late evening when they've had all afternoon to do this?

 

21 minutes ago, yonny said:

I love to see this personally! I make sure to have any spodding/baiting done in the early afternoon. If everyone else starts doing the same in the evening I just chuckle as the fish are pushed to the only quiet spot on the lake i.e. in front of me!

That was always my thinking on Brackens, let them push the fish onto my already positioned baits. I was always using running leads and very slack lines, so the fish wouldn't be spooked by a tight line running through the swim.

 

This is a weird one on my current syndicate though. When I arrive I tend to put a fair bit of particle in on arrival, expecting to write the first night off on that rod. Yet within an hour of spodding I have had fish. I'm thinking the fish are constantly travelling and find the bait. 

 

 

[elmoputney]

I am a lot more fussy these days,with my casting close enough isnt good enough, I will take more casts to get it spot on if I need too, I'll recast onto fizzers and will recast at night if something is bothering me,I've learnt I can't relax unless it's perfect, take the other week as an example, my first take went through all my lines, just into darkness, I had to redo them all, but 3 rods went out back onto the spots perfectly in darkness and I got a take on the distance rod first light, that had taken a couple of casts but hit the clip and got the drop I needed, I know I wouldn't have slept if it wasn't bang on. After the first light bite I got 2 rods on the long spot, spombed it up and 2 hours later got a take on the extra rod I had put out there. 

I think a lot of the reason I don't mind spombing is because of my spod mix, washed out boilies flaked maize and pellets, some stodgy, some fresh into the mix, a good helping of lake water, smart liquid and squid brand fish sauce makes a hell of a cloud and not loads of actual big food. I have run out of smart liquid now so might sub it out cos it's stupid expensive but it has worked pretty well. and the boilies are washed out but actractively primed for them to eat, 

 

[elmoputney]

My boilies pre soaking in smart combo 

[jh92]

15 hours ago, kevtaylor said:

Recasting is a tough one, for a long time now I've tried to get the rods set and baited long before evening bite time - it feels like the big fish way, I wont touch them until late the following morning after bite time has finished, however if I'm getting occurances I'll check and recast at anytime.  It does feel wrong watching people re-baiting and recasting late evening when they've had all afternoon to do this?

I do find it very odd that on so many occasions I've reeled a cast in that was pretty much bang on, certainly good enough but something tells you to re-do it and bingo it was tangled or something not quite right - sixth sense?

I think there are times I should recast definately, but probably too set in my ways, depends on the water to a degree I think.

Reading other comments, at first light I really dont want to recast which is mental torture if you think you may have been done, but very unlikely to reel it in until much later, sometimes too late. 

I'm guilty for doing the rods half hour before it gets dark 🤣 also baiting up with a throwing stick in the dark so the gulls don't catch them 🤣 no idea if they were going on the spot but it did produce a few fish 🤣

What I sometimes do is if I'm fishing two rods I'll keep a third clipped up and ready so if I get a take in the night I can send it out without fuss 👍

[kevtaylor]

2 hours ago, jh92 said:

I'm guilty for doing the rods half hour before it gets dark 🤣 also baiting up with a throwing stick in the dark so the gulls don't catch them 🤣 no idea if they were going on the spot but it did produce a few fish 🤣

What I sometimes do is if I'm fishing two rods I'll keep a third clipped up and ready so if I get a take in the night I can send it out without fuss 👍

I use the stick late evening into dark, the damn gulls make it impossible otherwise. 👍

 

[framey]

A stick or catty  is a little more subtle than thrashing a spomb around at dusk though lol

Edited 1 hour ago by framey

[elmoputney]

15 minutes ago, framey said:

A stick or catty  is a little more subtle than thrashing a spomb around at dusk though lol

I use Airbombs or x spods as long as you hit the clip right they are both pretty stealthy compared to a spomb. I do use a pult or throwing stick also though if I just want to bait some boilies. 

Everything has advantages and disadvantages though. I mean you can just fish singles but most of the time "you gotta get the bait out somehow" 

Edited 43 minutes ago by elmoputney