Rod Overboard

[Moggie]

Enjoyed!! a good day last week on one of my favourite lochs with a friend new to loch fishing who was constantly getting into fankles. One was so bad I laid my rod down along the downwind side of the boat and let my line extend out the back of the boat behind the motor, went up to the pointy end and spent about five minutes sorting things out for him. When I turned round to pick up my rod, it was gone, vanished, out of sight. Didn't hear a thing. No splash. No plop, nothing.                      Don't need anyone telling me what I should or should not have done. Too late for that but I would welcome any advice from anybody who has some experience of recovering a rod. I was using a floater so some of the line will be off the bottom. I got a diving pal to take a look but visibility was too limited and I have already tried trawling with a home made hook thing and I have either missed the rod and line or I have hooked it and missed. So I am really looking for a suitable hook arrangement which would make good contact. The loch bed would appear to be fairly clear of obstacles. Any ideas?

Moggie.

[Traditionalist]

How deep is it?  I have managed to retrieve a couple of rods in water about 50 foot deep using a robust boat rod, a 6 ounce sinker and a set of large trebles mounted above the sinker.  You need a bit of luck of course, but if you can find the spot again and hook it you should be able to retrieve it.

Normally the large treble will slide up the rod and hook a ring.

TL
MC

[Moggie]

Not too deep. According to the keeper around 15 feet max. What size are the hooks Mike and is the boat rod just a standard fishing rod. I understand there will be a lot of luck involved but if I lay down a couple of floats as markers and go about it methodically I might just get lucky. I might not have been quite so keen to do all this but it is a good rod and reel and my insurance does not cover it.

Moggie.

[Traditionalist]

Not too deep. According to the keeper around 15 feet max. What size are the hooks Mike and is the boat rod just a standard fishing rod. I understand there will be a lot of luck involved but if I lay down a couple of floats as markers and go about it methodically I might just get lucky. I might not have been quite so keen to do all this but it is a good rod and reel and my insurance does not cover it.

Moggie.

I used some very large trebles I had knocking around. About a size #6;   like these;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sakuma-535-Treble-Hooks-box/dp/B004GHCMLI

They have to be big enough to slide up the rod and hook a ring. Small ones might damage the blank, even if they manage to hook it, and also wont slide up and hook a ring.

A sea fishing "pirk" will also work, ( scroll down to see the pictures here,

http://www.whitbyseaanglers.co.uk/fishing-with-a-pirk

use a "straight" pirk, (or just a sinker), you don't want it twisting and turning),with a single big treble, although a solid hook up on the bottom on some snag or other may be difficult to pull off. You have to pull the rig slowly and gently over the area, and also only retrieve very slowly and carefully when you hook something. You can hook all sorts of things, amazing what lands on the bottom of some waters. Hopefully needless to say, you must not "strike" when you hook something!  Some people do this more or less instinctively, but it may damage a blank severely!  Just pull your dredge slowly and carefully over the bottom, maintaining contact, and continue retrieving slowly and carefully when you make contact.

I found that the sinker with trebles mounted top and bottom worked best.  You don't actually need a rod at all. a wooden frame or similar will do, although a rod of some sort makes it easier and you have more "feel"  even with a very strong rod. I have an old solid fibreglass boat rod "stashed"  at a very large club lake where people tend to often lose rods overboard.  I have recovered quite a few over the years.  Most people there tend to trail spinners plugs etc  over the back end of the boats without any other gear and with the rod just leaning on the gunwale, so quite a few go over.  As everybody in the club knows I have that "dredging gear" stashed, they often ask me to try for their rods. I have not failed yet, but the deeper the water the longer it can take. Also, you need to be very methodical in the search pattern. The great thing about the sinker and treble method is that it will also get rods that are slightly sunken in weed or silt, where even a diver can not find them.

Also, row in one direction first in your search pattern, and then at 90° to it. This gives you a better chance of hooking the rod, basically a "criss-cross" pattern, just in case the rod is lying "straight" in relation to your dredge direction.  If the rod is there you will get it but it sometimes takes a while, depends on what the bottom is like as well. If it has sunk into a crevice on rocky ground then you might not get it, but most lakes have a bed of silt etc, and you will get most rods relatively easily.

I used polypropylene cord for line on an old multiplier.  But in very deep water, or if there is much of a current, this may not work too well as it is hard to get down under such circumstances. If this is the case you will need very heavy nylon or similar.  This will only work very well in waters like lakes etc. In the sea a rod may be drifted miles away from where it went over.  In  lakes this is far less likely, especially in shallow ones.

TL
MC