Low water fishing techniques for salmon/trout.

[Annanboy]

Hello all, I'm a newbie to fishing so please bare with me. I have recently joined a group of friends who fish the river Annan in south west Scotland and I would dearly love to catch a salmon or big brownie either with a devon minnow or worm. Trouble is the river is very low at the moment so I'm struggling with how to fish it properly. Any comments would be appreciative. I have an 11ft spinning rod, plenty of tackle, so good to go but need some of your expert knowledge.


Many thanks


Paul
Carlisle

 

[Piker20]

I'm far from expert but with the worm I find fishing mono from reel to worm, no weight. Two or three big lobs or three to five redworms and throw upstream, keep rod high and watch where line goes in water to keep it moving back toward you. When it stops gently lift. Once it's down below you and worm has come to surface or swung right in cast up again.
You'll feel tugs and plucks from fish.
Lots of guys here just chuck it in and wait. This works but you'll kill a lot of trout that way.

 

[ArchieL]

If you are using a 10ft rod during the summer when river is low then i suggest you only use 12lb mono during the low water months especially when worming. I would tie a swivel on end of 12lb line then a 3 ft section of 10lb to hook & if you need to cast the worms any distance then you will need to use weight. The issue with adding weight to cast to a run or lie is that you may not need this weight for your worms to trickle through the lie where the salmon are lying. One method is to use the carp fishing PVA fast dissolving tape , you can wrap a little pebble to the line or even better is to tie a little section of telephone wire and wrap pebble to this with the PVA tape. This tape will desolve and allow the worms to trundle through the lies without the pebble.

When worming you just want the worms to slowly pass through on the bottom where the salmon is lying. When a salmon takes then some people give it time to take the worms deep inside their mouth but new circle hooks are making it easier for releasing salmon after catching them on these circle hooks as they are usually lip hooked. You do not want to catch a stale spring salmon which has been in the river for 4-5 months already and have a worm hook stuck inside its throat. This is why people are using circle hooks or setting the hook as soon as they feel a take so as not to deep hook a salmon as you may want to release the fish if not fresh or river rules state it must go back.

I would not use a devon minnow in low water as i feel it is much better suited to big waters and spinning in low water can result in foul hooked fish. There is many you tube posts and videos online so good luck.

 

[Rrrr]

In low water id ditch the devon minnow and fish small mepps.

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[Deleted member 945]

In low water id ditch the devon minnow and fish small mepps.

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Floating Devon on a running ledger rig?

 

[ibm59]

Low water ?

But if really pushed , I’d worm broken water dawn and dusk , and upstream Mepp / Lanes Irish minnow the rest of water / time.

 

[Rrrr]

Floating Devon on a running ledger rig?

Itl work but i rekon the mepp would be more productive.
Itl depend on how much flow there is really. If its deep holding pools id be more inclined to put a mepp through them but would an inch ally or slow sinking devon fished through may work just casting and letting it swing with no weight on.
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[Dandy angler]

In my experience the fish like to hide in fast deep water when its low . Any kind Mepps in the fast running water or little pots and holes. Upstream and fast retrieve 2 or 3 cast should get a reaction. If not move on to the next pool or lie. Ps. Braid for spinning is fantastic, you feel every bump. Will agree with all the worm tactics in the other posts. Tight lines.

 

[Rrrr]

In my experience the fish like to hide in fast deep water when it low . Any kind Mepps in the fast running water or litte pots and holes. Upstream and wind quickly . 2 or 3 cast should get a reaction. If not move on to the next pool or lie. Ps. Braid for spinning is fantastic. you feel every bump. Will agree with all the worm tactics in the other posts. Tight lines.

Thats pretty much how i do it. Target likely spots and swim the mepp through the holds. If they are intrested you will see the reaction. I was unsure about them spotting the braid in low water so now just colour the top layer of braid on the spool with marker pen before fishing. It dosent totaly colour the braid but leaves it sort of mottled like camo and seems to be less visable.

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[ian74]

Check the rules for where you fish... casting a spinner upstream isn't allowed everywhere!
especially in low water

 

[Annanboy]

I'm far from expert but with the worm I find fishing mono from reel to worm, no weight. Two or three big lobs or three to five redworms and throw upstream, keep rod high and watch where line goes in water to keep it moving back toward you. When it stops gently lift. Once it's down below you and worm has come to surface or swung right in cast up again.
You'll feel tugs and plucks from fish.
Lots of guys here just chuck it in and wait. This works but you'll kill a lot of trout that way.

Thanks for info.

 

[Annanboy]

If you are using a 10ft rod during the summer when river is low then i suggest you only use 12lb mono during the low water months especially when worming. I would tie a swivel on end of 12lb line then a 3 ft section of 10lb to hook & if you need to cast the worms any distance then you will need to use weight. The issue with adding weight to cast to a run or lie is that you may not need this weight for your worms to trickle through the lie where the salmon are lying. One method is to use the carp fishing PVA fast dissolving tape , you can wrap a little pebble to the line or even better is to tie a little section of telephone wire and wrap pebble to this with the PVA tape. This tape will desolve and allow the worms to trundle through the lies without the pebble.

When worming you just want the worms to slowly pass through on the bottom where the salmon is lying. When a salmon takes then some people give it time to take the worms deep inside their mouth but new circle hooks are making it easier for releasing salmon after catching them on these circle hooks as they are usually lip hooked. You do not want to catch a stale spring salmon which has been in the river for 4-5 months already and have a worm hook stuck inside its throat. This is why people are using circle hooks or setting the hook as soon as they feel a take so as not to deep hook a salmon as you may want to release the fish if not fresh or river rules state it must go back.

I would not use a devon minnow in low water as i feel it is much better suited to big waters and spinning in low water can result in foul hooked fish. There is many you tube posts and videos online so good luck.

Thanks for the good advice.

 

[Annanboy]

Thats pretty much how i do it. Target likely spots and swim the mepp through the holds. If they are intrested you will see the reaction. I was unsure about them spotting the braid in low water so now just colour the top layer of braid on the spool with marker pen before fishing. It dosent totaly colour the braid but leaves it sort of mottled like camo and seems to be less visable.

Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

Thank you.

 

[Annanboy]

Low water ?

View attachment 46124

But if really pushed , I’d worm broken water dawn and dusk , and upstream Mepp / Lanes Irish minnow the rest of water / time.

Thanks

 

[Annanboy]

Floating Devon on a running ledger rig?

Thank you for info, could you please explain how you would rig it up. Cheers.

 

[Deleted member 945]

Thank you for info, could you please explain how you would rig it up. Cheers.

a running lead on the mainline (I would use a bait controller) above a swivel, then a leader of 3-6 foot with a floating Devon on the end. Not used the technique for years but it only really works well in fairly fast water to keep the Devon off the bottom and spinning

 

[ABK]

When the water is low most folk when fly fishing will use a floating line and small fly. However sometimes a sinking line with a small fly "Nymph" fished right down at nose level and twitched back past them will often do the trick.

 

[Brianneeson]

I was taught to fish with a worm By my father in a way that was passed down to him by my grandfather! They referred to it as the running worm! It is with a fly rod as opposed to a spinning rod but I suppose it could be played with either! Better fun and easier with a short fly rod on a river though! Set up is a small hook dressed with 2 worms, a one fed through the hook and up the line with the second one threaded onto the hook then the first pulled down to it on the line, nip a small 1/4 inch split lead round weight about a foot up from the end and cast into moving water after a carry where it feeds into the hole! The worm will bounce down into where the trout tread water watching for food coming down and straight into their mouth! If done right it's lethal! ??