There are a lot of fish lost in the lily pads and snags when fishing at long range on Serreire. Often the fish is snagged or very close to the snags before the rod is even picked up and this is very often due to bite indication not being optimised for this type of long range fishing. It is a specialised way of fishing and requires a different setup to the standard to be successful and safe.

A lot of anglers fish at long range, close to lily pads and, in an attempt to keep the fish out of trouble, lines are fished tight with clutches or bait-runners set tight. Due to the light weight of the average indicators combined with the tightness of the line, the indicators are often right at the top next to the rod with no drop at all. To compound the problem, back-leads are often used as well. This setup will give a lot of problems and result in snagged and lost fish in many cases.

Remember that line has to move through the bite alarm to cause it to bleep. So if the line is already tight, the indicator is already at the top and the bait-runner is set tight, the fish cannot easily take line. After a pick up, the fish will bolt off, the line will stretch a bit due to the range, and the fish will almost always end up kiting to one side. If you are near lily pads then they often kite that way and end up snagged without any audible indication from the bite alarm. The fish can actually move big distances on a tight line the without any indication to the angler.

It is possible to get excellent bite indication and solve most of these problems keeping nearly all the fish away from the danger areas. Here are a few tips:

• The rod should be pointed directly at the spot being fished. It should be angled just very slightly upwards so that a take pulls it tightly down into the bite alarm. Never have the rod pointing significantly downwards because a take can pull it up and out of the alarm.
• Gripper type butt rests should be use to hold the rod in place.
• No back-leads should be used.
• Bite alarms should be set to a high sensitivity setting.
• The clutch or bait-runner should be very tight to prevent any line being taken.
• The indicator should be very heavy and the line set as tight as possible whilst still allowing the indicator to be set with a drop below the rod, about half way between the rod and the ground. If there is a strong cross wind then even more weight should be added to the indicator to keep it well below the rod and stop it creeping up. By having a heavy indicator and a drop below the rod, when a fish kites, it will always further tighten up the line and pull the indicator to the top. Or if the fish comes towards the swim then the weight of the indicator will always provide a positive drop back. Either way, you will get a few bleeps to indicate the take.
• Ideally a line clip should be used on the rod between the reel and the bite alarm to increase the angle of the line to the indicator (or the bail arm of the reel should at least be set with the roller at the top near to the rod to give the best angle on the indicator). The steeper the angle the better. Bite indicators that grip the line, as opposed to allowing the line to pass through them, provide double the upwards indicator movement for the same amount of forward line movement and therefore provide more sensitivity. See the photo below.
• A low-stretch line can be an advantage.
• Monofilament lines are more suited to this type of fishing than heavy fluorocarbons which tend to plug into ant weed or silt and increase the amount of drag required for them to move and allow positive bite indication.
• Be prepared to immediately react to even a couple of bleeps since all takes will only be indicated by just a few bleeps, not more.
• Be as near the rods and possible and don’t zip down the bivvy door, if you want to do this then fish well away from the danger areas at night.
• Finally, assume about 10% line stretch. So if fishing at 100yds range then fish at least 10yds away from the snag or lily pads. At 150yds this should be at least 15yds (absolute minimum).

Another important topic is fishing to the lily pads. For a YouTube video with tips on this Click Here

The photo below shows an ideal indicator set up for fishing at long range on Lac Serreire.