back bite or drop off indicators

[mithrandir]

Hi all

I want to pick your collective brains again if I may.

I have finally gone out and bought some rod pods and bite alarms for a bit of winter Carp and Pike fishing, I was wondering what sort of drop off indicator is best, I have seen the monkey climbers, line dancers, line clips with a rigid arm and some with chain, and the simple optical clip on.

I believe that all I need is a small amount of weight to allow the line to roll back through the bite alarm as the line goes slack, this then slips off the line as you lift the rod to strike with the chain or arm retaining the indicator.

Having never used any of these I wondered what you would recommend

Thanks

Mike

[fishypaul]

i use the fox micro swinger all the time,
i know a lot of pike anglers use the custom made drop off indicators but i have had 2 unfortunate incidents when the indicator got caught in the bail arm and stopped line from coming off the spool
the micro swingers are reliable,they have the facility for an isotope for night fishing and they dont foul anything up.
they also have a sliding weight on the stem which can be moved forward to counteract drag or back to give it a nearly resistance free balance on it if you see what i mean
i would not use anything else

[baitmaster]

if you can fish you rods on single bank stick set ups and point your rod towards where you have cast .trhis will lessen the chance of resistance .
as for indication the choice is vast and varied and i think you will find most use what they feel confident with or either what makes them look really tackle tarty .
but they are there to do a simple job give you indication when a fish is taking your hook bait what ever you are using be it a dead bait for pike or a boilie or what else you want to use while carping.
i personally use stainless bobbins for most if not all my predator fishing but this is generally because i go mostly zedding and i want to keep the resistance down to the minimum and as you rightly say its just there to weight the line to give you either a forward or back visual and audible indication.

now i said in most situation i would use these but when condition deteriate and the wind is blowing the bobbin side to side and the line is being pulled forward and these motions are giving me false bleeps and movement i will switch over to drop off indicators as these have a rigid arm and this will reduce the side ways motion and therefore will give you less false bleeps
again like carp indicators there a now even electronic drop off indicators made by fox ps,s and psr,s and the P mk2 alrhough there are other audible drop offs made by others.
and even with a standard drop off indicator there are weighted ones these are used to simply counteract the under tow of a lake or the flows of a river so again if you go for drop off think where you are most likely to do most of fishing
but honestly you would be better to go for the weighted ones as the wieght can be pull right back and then your drop off indicator would be the same as a standard .



the picture above shows how they are fished under the reel but normally the drop off indicator is more closer to the reel .
as you can see also from the picture that these are fished with open bail arms
this a really affective way to fish and probably the most simple when you get a take it simply pulls out of the clip and line can freely come of the spool and if the pike runs toward you the drop of just will start to drop pulling the line again setting the indicator off and alerting you to a take .
now when carping there are so many different indicators on the market from swingers, bobbins ,dangler , but bangers even the names can confuse you again they are simply there to tell you when you are getting a run now like my predator fishing i use two types and there are reasons why i will use them.
firstly i will use euro swinger for a lot of my carping but normally when i,m using inline set ups like piking my swigers are weighted because for the same reasons i stated about the flows and undertows of the waters tyou are tackling .
i like these as they also light up and i can match them to each colour of my fox xs,s (just cause i,m a tackle tart but not really necessary at all )



and i,m not to bothered about sensitive indications lets face it before you get a indication at your indicators the carp will have to move a 3oz lead .and normally it will scream off when the inline lead does its job properly .

now i said i also use bobbins this is when i,m using running lead tactics and also when i,m fishing in winter and you will be surprised how little movement the carp will have to give at the hook end to give you a indications .

if i could only use one type the bobbin would be my number one choice
but really there is no wrong or right indicator to use its really what you feel is best for the situations you are fishing in or how tarty you want to look there is a indicator out there for every angler .
but just remember its a visual indicator and it simply helps you register a bite

tightlines
kevin

[mithrandir]

thanks guys, I think I will go for a swinging arm to start with and see how it goes.

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Cracking info guys

[Greenheart]

Just going through the same phase myself Mike. I've got a pair of matching speciemin rods & bite alarms. I now need to decide wether to use bank sticks or a rod pod. I also need to decide on what sort of drop back indicators to get. We shall have to meet up for a novice session & compare notes....

[mithrandir]

Ian

I managed to pick up a rod pod from Askari for £35, looks a bit like a rocket launcher!!

I have done a few sessions at comercial carp waters and used bank sticks, which I am OK with but as this pod was so cheap I thought I would give it a try.

If you fancy a Carp day then give me a shout and we could head off to Todber Manor, got to be my favourite commercial water so far, or we could give Longleat a bash, I have never done that one but heard some good things about it.

Gives us a shout and we could arrange a date, I have been working last two weekends and today was my first real day off so I am suffering fishing withdrawl, I will be out next weekend, probably Saturday if the weather is OK, long range is for light showers and low wind so Brolly out and down to a pond somewhere for some coffee drinking and carp chasing I think.

Mike

[pingu]

great info there cheers
have just brought some micro swingers myself to get away from the annoying wind bites from chain swingers