Those Missed Bites We All Suffer – John Bailey

I do a heck of a lot of guiding and when it comes down to it, the biggest problem a lot of my guys experience is the vexed question of missed bites.

This is particularly so in the winter months when fishing rivers on the quivertip for roach, chub, perch and possibly even barbel. I’ve had guys miss thirteen bites in a session. Can you imagine how frustrating that gets for them and I both?

Of course, a lot of it is down to confidence. Once a few bites are missed, then the rest almost inevitably go the same way. It’s a bit like a striker in a football team. If he bags his first two chances, he’s on top of the world and everything goes into the back of the net. When he’s on a missing streak, though, he couldn’t hit a barn door.

If you are missing bites, then there are a load of things that you can do. Here begins a long list!

• You can fiddle around with your hook size. Perhaps your hook is too big or perhaps it’s too small. Make sure your hook size corresponds to the size of bait you are using.
• Is your hook being masked by the bait, especially if it is a hard one like a pellet or a boily? Should you hair-rig a bait, or band it, or even use a bait anchor? Or would side hooking be better? Keep experimenting until you find the answer.
• Perhaps your hook length is too long or too short. Once again, if you are missing bites because you think the fish are spooky and feeling the lead, you can lengthen or shorten up accordingly.
• Perhaps your bait isn’t really what the fish is actually wanting. Perhaps they’re not taking it freely for one reason or another. If you’re missing multiple bites, perhaps it’s a good idea to change bait then.
• Sometimes it’s a really good idea to rest a swim and the fish within it. Go to another swim and look for fish that haven’t become a bit spooky.
• Sometimes you just have to realize that the fish in front of you aren’t really hungry at all and perhaps are only taking the bait between their lips and not into their mouth. This is especially so the next few months while the cold weather reigns. Not all fish eat hard all the time.
• Perhaps it’s all down to your rod. A lot of modern rods are very crisp and very stiff and sometimes the fish just feel that extra resistance that stops them taking a bait confidently. It’s always worth bearing this in mind and going for quivertip rods, especially, that are as soft as you can find.
• It’s also a good idea to try and make sure the line from the terminal gear to the rod tip isn’t too tight. If it’s reasonably slack, fish will feel less resistance and be more likely to take a bait down into the mouth.

So, no matter how frustrating you session is, if you bear all these points in mind, the chances are that sooner or later you will hit on the right combination and you will start hitting those bites. This is what fishing is all about – solving the endless challenges that our wild fish continually present us with.