I cast a lead to find the depth & clip up.
I then count the turns, in case I have to unclip, & then I don’t have to repeat the process.

How do you know if you have cast too far to put the clip back on?

e.g:

You may be fishing 50 turns out and clipped up.

You snap off lose a little line so you unclip and re-cast.

How do you then know that you are 50 turns out again?

It only when you reel in again that you know you were XX turns out you but haven’t put your clip back on as you didn’t know for sure how many turns you were.

Explain that riddle!

its a complecated world aint it

It’s a bit like plumbing up………if you can’t see your float, slide it up. If it lies flat shove it down, you’ll get there eventually

Zammo 1001, if you snap off then all you have to do is re-cast with a lead and clip up. Retrieve your rig counting the turns, lets say for example you its 57 turns when youve been fishing at 50 all day. Re-cast again, unclip your line and wind 7 turns of the handle then reclip and hey presto your back to a clipped up distance of 50 turns again.

Steve

well explained steve, beat me to it.

so how does that work when you are fishing up to the far bank? you chuck it on the island?

Feather it down close to the island then either clip up ‘there’ or adjust to compensate.

TBH I mainly only clip up in adverse weather when I’m having to punch feeders out.

TomW, probably explains why your snaping off if your chucking it onto the island.

Mark Barnes- same here mate,only clip up when i have to give it the big un in bad winds etc

Steve good explanation cheers

Clipping up is fine with Bream, try it with Carp, or river Chub and Barbel and it’ll end in tears. For open water Tippex on the dark line (maxima) and feather it or for far banks/islands practice until you can do it.

carp or silvers i always clip up.
Never lost a fish on the clip!!!

Clipping up when carp fishing at distence is easy and safe. This is how i do it. Once you have found your distence you want to fish at, count back the number of turns on your reel and remember it. Cast out and while the bomb or feeder is in mid air, lift the rod above your head. When the bomb/feeder hits the rod tip the bomb or feeder will drop into the water at that distence out everytime. Let the feeder or bomb settle on the deck on a slack line. You should then have the hight of the rod and the hight of your body above the water, plus the angle of line to the place where your bomb/feeder is now sitting as exrea line to play a carp on if it runs and takes line off the reel. Once you have tightend up the line to the bomb or feeder. You will have gained more than 25 ft of line back onto you reel. If you hook up a very big carp and it starts to take line off your reel. You have 25 ft of line to give out plus the strech from the line before you need to un-clip your line from you line clip. That gives you more than enough time to get the line free from the line clip. After landing the carp. Re-cast without any feed in the feeder or with a bomb, past your catching area and clip up again. Count the reel turns back and re-cast once again. Un-clip the line and added the extra reel turns until you are at the correct number of reel turns you started fishing at again. It sounds very complicated and time consuming but in practice it is very easy and only takes a few minute to do. Using a line clip means that you are hitting the same spot every time and allows you to feed the same swim correctly. This normally means better catches than getting it almost right by not using a line clip. Good catches are normally about getting it 100% right.

Trueblue, I don’t fish Carp holes but try that with far bank Thames Chub and you’ll end up tying a lot of hooks. You have about 3ft max to play with (no “Carry On” jokes please). Hit, dip the tip and get them to kite away and run is my method. On some pegs 50% loss rates are regarded as success.

when I am clipping up far bank I cast a bomb about 10 feet short of the bank,then pull a few feet off the spool with my hand I then clip this up,then re-cast and then take a bit more line out of the spool and clip up and re cast and so on until I am as close to the far bank as I need 😉

I fished a match at Holly Farm a few years back and was on a corner so before the match had a quick chat with the guys either side to see where they were chucking and I said that I would chuck towards a bit of reed that was bent over. I cast over and hit it then to prove it wasn’t a fluke, hit it again (without clipping up).

Meanwhile the guy in the next peg was whipping the water into a frenzy! lol An exageration but he did have a LOT of chucks and was unpeeling half a turn then casting again until he was happy.

Come the whistle he put his method feeder a couple of metres onto the island! I was laughing that much I thought I was suffering an asthma attack! lol

Katarino, i am not sure what you are saying. Think you are trying to say that you hit and hold as soon as you hook a chub as they are very quick to head for snags on the fare bank of your river. If thats what you are saying. Then clipping up does not stop you from locking everything off and not giving line on a hooked fish. The line clip should mean that you can drop your rig within a few inches of the fare bank every time if you want without losing any hook lengths on the cast. If you want your rig 3ft from the fare bank you can do without any problems. One out of the frame, i have done as the angler next to you has done several times. However, once you get use to casting the rig and allowing the line clip to stop the rig in the same place everytime. It is 100% acurate and much better than thinking that you are good at casting. Almost all the top anglers use the line clip. This is because even the best anglers make casting mistakes or the wind effects the cast from time to time. With the line clip. It is 100% on the spot with every cast! In general, that means more fish in the keepnet at the end of the match and no need to put on several hook lengths because of snagging up on the fare bank.

I would only tend to use line clips in adverse conditions as I’m perfectly happy with my accuracy otherwise.

Fishing is almost confidence x ability and having seen fish lost on the clip including several times the entire length of line from the clip ‘disappearing’ (on ‘flagship’ reels) my confidence is better if I’m not doing it.

One man’s meat…. and all that. Not knocking it just not entirely happy with it.

But very unlikely that you can drop your feeder within 6 inches of the grass on an island everytime at distence and with a gusty wind! Sometimes, thats the only way to catch regularly on a lot of waters!

Steve: That’s about the only time that I would use one or fishing into open water where you can’t see the feeder landing would be another.

Sorry, Mark. Just trying to get my message across to the none believers!

I always use a clip and probably lost 2 or 3 fish to the clip but would imagine I would have had less in the net if I had not used it,I always hold the rod way back on the cast so I have a couple winds on the reel if a carp just keeps going when hooked

To be honest, if you have been say chucking 50 reels turns and then crack of, you should not be far of on your next cast.

And reel turns are for open water, not up against a island.

Trueblue, the first priority with Thames Chub is stopping them getting into the far bank crap so as far as that goes yes, it is hook, hold and get them to turn. However, local knowledge comes into it. There are pegs where you can drop the feeder literally through the grass and still give line (some of the Rushey pegs)due to undercut banks.

Where you can’t give line it is hook and hold initiatlly but once they turn it is absolutely in your interests to let them run. You can’t do this if you are clipped up. You’re sometimes talking about catching 5lb+ fish on on light hooklengths, you have to give line at some point.

Like I said, I don’t fish carp holes. As far as the Thames goes any competent angler should be able to hit a 3ft gap in the trees at 50 yds, all the best guys and even some of the motley crew I fish with can do it at 80-90 yards without using a clip.

I don’t buy this, “you’re not as accurate as you think you are”. On the TF Runneymede match last year I was below Mark Harrington and he was dropping it on a sixpence at 80+ yards and he wasn’t clipped.

Thats nice for you, Katarino. Wish i could do that EVERY SINGLR TIME!

dazaster1.
I clip-up using a piece of marker braid tied to my main line(stopping line damage)using a slider knot.
You can put the longest tag under the clip & if you need to unclip the braid stays on to give you the distance.

You talk about reel turns when you are on big venues not puddles for instance a couple of years ago i was talking to Mark litchenberg about a venue and when i asked him how far out to fish he replied “45 to 45 winds”bearimg in mind theres no features on this venue thats 11 mile wide i think its an excellent way of marking distance.

Trueblue, save the sarcasm. Come and watch some of the best of the Thames feeder anglers and then comment. Aside from anything else when it’s really flowing you need to fish a bow anyway so clipping up is a non starter (tippex the line instead maybe?).

For your information, Katarino. I grew up fishing rivers like the Ribble and Seven and know all about fishing for very big chub and barble in fare bank snag pits and very fast flowing water. Do you think that only anglers that fish The River Thames know how to cast correctly and know how to land big fish? My question is not if you can cast into a gap in some trees at 80 or 90 yards but can you drop your feeder 6 inches from the brambles and over hanging grasses on the fare bank on every single cast for five hours and never miss that same spot? That is what anglers fishing on comercial still waters are attemtping to do to get the best results and catch more fish. Remember, that every time you miss the sixspence you are talking about. You will be spreading your fish out and reducing the chances of catching more fish. Also remember that at 80-90 yards. What you think looks like 6 inches from the fare bank is likely to be 3 feet from the bank! Try something for yourself the next time you want to test how good you are at casting on a sixspence at 80-90 yards. On your first cast on your peg, cast to where you think you are 6 inches from the fare bank. Now take 1 ft of line off your spool and clip the line up. Now try re-casting and allow the clip to stop the feeder instead of you feathering the line with your fingers on the spool. I expect that the feeder will still hit the water and not land on dry land as it should if you where so good with you casting. That will show you that you are not as good as you think you are at casting at very big distences with a feeder. The line clip is simply much more acurate at hitting the same spot every time than any other method of casting and being 100% acurate. As to whether you have the confidence to use a line clip on big fish waters is another question for others to work out for themselves. As to whether it is a good idea to use a line clip on a fast flowing river is another question completely!

I smell a pissing contest 🙂

some good tips and experiance here, must admit on a particular water i used to have a cold sweat when i drew a feeder peg as i had never fished it very much at all, suddenly i was watching a lot of blokes fishing within 6 ” of the far bank, that put me off even more, then somebody showed me and i realized i had to do that to compete or not bother going! over the last couple of seasons i am not so scared as i was and without clipping up i would be lost as confidence can only be got by doing it, am still crap but catching and losing a few helped. Have’nt really utillised the turns of handle but will now as makes sense, very well explained by Trueblue, iwas shown the method of holding the rod in the air and those extra turns make a big difference, as not bothering to on one cast cost me a decent carp and maybe some points early this season.Do less grasscutting than i used to but occassionally lapse into flymo mode and counting turns has got to be far more precise than ‘gauging ‘ pulling a couple of spool loops off.

wightangler, not only do you get several turns of line to give if a big fish starts to take line off the reel. But you also get the hight of the rod and the angle to the water once your line has hit the clip to follow the fish and potentially get the bail arm over get the main line unclipped before everything becomes locked up and the line breaks. You also get a little more time to do this because of the strech factor of your main line when fishing at distence. As you say. practice makes perfect and once you find that it works. Then you have confidence in what you are doing!

i to struggled to cast close to features unclipped or clipped till a friend who speccy fishs showed me the best way to get baits close to far bank and islands you need a qe2 he said now im the proud owner of a bait boat mind you get funny looks from anglers opposite when i feed under there spare pallet

Trueblue if you read the text you’ll see I don’t actually claim to be able to do it at 80 yds plus, 50-60 yds is about my limit.

However, I am theoretically anti to clipping up where hard fighting big fish are concerned. It’s never much of an issue for me as I don’t fish commercials but some of the comments above are ammunition for antis. On the very rare times I’ve fished carp holes I’ve seen it done and seen fish lost.

As an side on perceived accuracy though, on a very bad day a few years back we did challenge my mate to hit 2ft square lump of metal on the far bank at 80 yards plus, he hit it 9 on the bounce and his last effort was about 3 inches short.

Katarino, are you trying to wind me up? Ammunition for anti,s? Please explain why? Then we can all have a laff, please!

You cannot cast 61 turns Katarino and re-cast to the same spot every single time for 5 hours. Why not? I explained how you can do it!

As you are a River angler who does not go on silver fish still waters or comercial carp waters. Why are you posting about stuff that you dont understand or want to discuss or learn about? None of this information is of use to you. Stay on your river and do it your way and i will do it mine! You carry on with what you where doing and i will not lose any sleep or fish over the way i do it. Enough said!

Try reading the post about snapping off at the reel and watching 50 yds of line disappearing into the lake. That’s a laugh is it?

And hit and hold tactics on the Thames is any different? Hook lengths solve some of that problem on both rivers and comercials. I will try to explain again although i think you are trying to wind me up, Katarino. As i have already suggested. You get a level of securety with the line that you get back onto the reel after every cast because you lift the rod above your head while the feeder is in mid air. This gives the hight of the rod above the water plus the hight of the angler and the angle to the feeder once it hits the water. This gives the angler quite a lot of room before the line is stopped by the clip on a running fish. Once the line is on the clip and a big fish is still running. The only option left to you is to open the bail arm and lift the line off the clip and pull the bail arm back down. That process takes less than 2 seconds to complete with a good reel that has a good line clip. You need to be aware that you might have to do this but because you get several reel turns back on the reel after every cast. You have that amount of line/time to get your brain into gear before you have to un-clip the line. Once the line is un-clipped. Its just a case of playing the carp on the cluch in the normal way you would until the carp has been landed. This is where the number of reel turns you counted at the start of fishing comes in. Re-cast without any feed in your feeder or change to a bomb and cast past the catch area you where fishing. Once the bomb or feeder has landed. Put the clip back on. Reel in and count back the reel turns. If you where fishing at 50 turns to start with and you now get 57 turns on your reel. Cast out again to the full distence and allow the clip to stop the bomb or feeder. Un-clip the line clip. Reel in 7 turns and then put the line clip back on. At that point you are ready to start fishing again with every cast landing the feeder in the same place. Very simple and effective once you know what you are doing! Have you got it now, Katarino??? If you think about it enough. You might understand that it can be used on a river as well. And you can put a bow in the line. It just depends of flow and the amount of line you need to feed out to allow your feeder to stop rolling on the bottom.

Trueblue I don’t know you, so I can’t think why you would think I could be a**ed posting just to wind you up. I also don’t know where from the text above you’ve got the idea that I don’t get it. I understand the method perfectly well and have used it (I still prefer the tippex trick rather than counting turns but there you go). If you look back to the original comment all I’m saying is that IMO there is some inherent risk in being clipped up when targeting very big fish and some of the comments above seem to agree. That’s all.

It obviously works for you on the waters you fish so good luck but to put it in perspective you don’t see many clipping up at Thorpe Lea.

Fishing for Bream at distance, I always clip up, never had a problem. One tip if there are likely to be Carp around, is to clip up using a bait band, put the bait band around the line where you want to clip up, put the band under the clip and if you hook a big carp that runs, the bait band snaps. Thus leaving you free to play the fish without the restriction of being clipped up.