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Fishing 2 Rods...Positioning???

John Cook

John Cook

Senior Member
Hi,

Following on from my power pro/ 2 rods thread....Would like to find out your preferred positioning of the 2 baits? plus positioning of the rod tips...So many anglers use the pin or the baitrunner now so do you point your rod tips at the bait? IE one downstream and one up? Do you fish the downstream rod close to the inside line trying to minimize 2 rod tangles??? As usual i am looking forward to your comments and advice...

Be Lucky
 
Hi John, i like to fish with my rods parrallel, but either side of me. Never had an issue with the line of the other rod getting in the way when playing a fish. Personally I like to see my downstream rod bend when a barbel bolts, so always at an angle between 45 to 90 degrees depending on the placement of the lead. I very rarely fish both rods downstream.
ATB
Paul
 
Unlike Paul, I always fish with both rods on my right hand with bag, net and other gear on my left hand side, I need to strike with my right hand and don't feel comfortable doing that with the rod on my left hand side. I fish with the butts about 6 inches apart and the tips about 2 to three feet apart. As said on the other thread I will fish one rod upstream and one down...........the positioning in the swim dependant on the swim, flow and features therein. If I am fishing my normal rivers, which are not overly large I will keep my rod tips fairly close to the water, I don't like fishing John Wilson style with them right up in the air, I think this is totally unnecessary unless fishing an overly wide river or trying to hold across the river in flood conditions.
 
Hi John,
I'll ditto what Paul has said.
When i started using two rods, i placed them as per Crooky's method, but found a few things i was uncomfortable with, i.e i found it difficult... and still do - not to pick the rods up quickly, and bend into a taking fish, which usually resulted in the rod i'd picked up clouting the other, also in swims where there wasn't a great deal of room, the rods would be at the right hand extremity of the bankside space available, so if i got a take on the r/h rod, it would mean having to move the l/h rod whilst playing the fish before landing, because the l/h rods line would be passing across me, and the area i would be landing the fish.
By having the rods either side of me, and up to an arms length on either side, together with as paul says possibly angled up to 45 degrees, would give me an area of up to 40 feet or so where the lines would enter the water.
Using this method of positioning, i've never had a problem with a fish becoming entangled in the other line whilst landing it ... Ever !
It comes down to what you feel most comfortable using, i would say try every position, and go with what you like, try to envisage all senarios, and the best way to avoid entanglements, and go with what you feel suits you best. ;)

Ian
 
Hi Lads,

Thank you for your thoughts......I think that i am with Ian and Paul regarding rod placement but like Crooky i fish small rivers and like to keep rod tips down not up in the air....one rod to the extreme left other extreme right would as you say give you a good area to land fish.

Ian G, you may have the large area clear to land fish but my worry is when a barbel on the upstream rod bolts downstream! it is then coming very very close to the downstream line and thats where the trouble would lie wouldnt it???
Also not forgetting that there is going to be some line going through the water from rod tip to backlead isnt there?
 
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John Cook said:
Ian G, you may have the large area clear to land fish but my worry is when a barbel on the upstream rod bolts downstream! it is then coming very very close to the downstream line and thats where the trouble would lie wouldnt it???
Also not forgetting that there is going to be some line going through the water from rod tip to backlead isnt there?
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Thats true John, you will never remove the risk 100%, i usually back lead but not always neccesarily that close to my rod tips that my line enters the water directly under my rod tips, so there will always be an element of risk.

That said, i usually play my fish hard, and the fight is kept to an absolute minimum, to be honest i've never had a problem keeping the fish away from the downstream line, with the amount of area in front of me to play it.

Thinking about it, they never run for the nearside downstream edge, or maybe it's just that i never let them.

I suppose the greatest risk is on the odd occasion when you are just about to draw them over the net, and they decide they are going to give it one more burst, when that happens, you just have to clamp down hard, and give them nothing, my clutch is always set tight, i rarely ever touch it whilst playing a barbel, if they want line off my reel they have to pull very very hard, and when the spool does turn it's very begrudingly.

Thats about all i could say John, it comes down to your judgement given the bank space available to you as to how far from your rod tip your line enters the water, and i suppose your skill whilst playing the fish in keeping it away from the danger area, personally i can't ever remember an occasion when a Barbel has ever got close enough to my other line that i thought it was going to catch it.

I have seen people playing Barbel where to me for all the world it looks like the Barbel is dictating the fight taking them all over the river, risky anyway when fishing small tight snaggy rivers, maybe a luxrury you can afford more when using one rod, but i guess you are playing with fire if you allow it when using two, for the very reasons you are concerned with.

When i started using two rods, my fears were just the same as yours, and is the reason with settleing for the placement i use, i'm very confident now that any barbel i'm playing wont get entangled in my other line, though i always remain aware of the risk, and play the fish accordingly, but i could never say it would never happen, it could, but i would regard it as a major cock up on my part if it did, not a freak accident that couldn't have been avoided.

Ian.
 
Hi Ian,

Thank you for your thoughts, do you have your rod top protruding quite a way out or do you keep it quite close into the bank? Is the semi fixed back lead up the line a better option than the clip on at the rod top back lead?
 
Actually John, i usually have both rods protruding quite far out, years ago whilst fishing right in the nearside edge, i had a take which as i bent into the fish was immediatly cut off, my line must had gone under something - a root maybe who knows, but since then i've put my tips out as far as i can get them, even when fishing right in the edge so my line is angling toward the near side from further out, reducing the risk of that happening again, it was pretty much a freak i know, but is a confidence thing with me.

The back lead i think is a matter of personal preference jon, i usually like to back lead much further back than a flying back lead would give me on the river bed, mostly for reasons of the Barbel giving me liners which i'm always worried will spook a big one, but also from the point we've just been talking about.
Thats just my preference, using flying back leads is easier though if you don't mind only a few feet of line pinned down, i always worry that if a big one hits my line, it doesn't matter whether it's 6 feet or 16 feet from my hookbait, it'll be on it's toes pretty quick, but i know Paul Monaghan uses them, and you can't get better results than him :D so maybe i let my paranoia get the better of me !!

Ian.

Edit ...Just reading your post again ... how do you mean a semi fixed back lead ? i assumed you were talking of a flying back lead sorry !
The only time i've ever used such is by threading a drennan float stop up the line and wrapping heavy metal putty round it, which has it's uses when on the rare occasion i'm fishing very very close to my rod tips, or even rarer when i feel the nature of the river bed is too risky to backlead too far back useing a conventional backlead.
They can be a bit awkward to cast especially any distance with accuracy, and the further you have them up your line away from your hook bait the more problamatic they become, not really an issue if you don't need to be that accurate with your cast, but then i wouldn't be using them for casting any great distance.
If when casting a reasonable distance, when i thought it would be unwise to back lead, any great length, i would then use a flying, or not bother at all, when casting far enough, if the flow is gentle enough, a sinking line will usually give you just as much line on the botom anyway.
Though i prefer to use a clip on back lead, i like to keep my options open, but i'll usually choose swims where i dictate the method ;)
 
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The Ians

Now I know that I am an old curmudgeon and am not as proficient an angler as those who have posted on this thread but I find it very difficult to fish with two rods. Admittedly this is because most of the time I hold the rod and touch ledger. I usually fish small rivers and if the rod is in the rest my 'baitrunner', a Speedia makes music when a fish takes the bait. I am unable to multi-task, an age thing I suppose but one rod is more than enough for me.

Regards

Hugo



 
Can never understand the need for two rods,just loads of hassle and chance to lose the fish of a lifetime.
I can understand on big rivers ,and slow fishing,but never on smaller river.
 
Chris Ponsford said:
Can never understand the need for two rods,just loads of hassle and chance to lose the fish of a lifetime.
I can understand on big rivers ,and slow fishing,but never on smaller river.
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I'm with you on this Chirs I only use one rod on my local which is slow flowing with not much width, two rods on a small river can work against it, the more lines in the water the more pressure been put on the swim aswel as the disaster of tangles resulting in spooking the swim or the loss of a fish!!
Regards
 
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Lads im fishing a very hard stretch of river even more so in the coming conditions, two rods allows me to explore two areas even fish two different baits ( should i desire) the fishing is to slow to spook fish...Obviously everything depends on swim size..if the fishing was more prolific then i agree two rods could be a headache..

Hugo, my river is a little larger than the Pinn :)
 
I remember watching an extremely well known angler fishing Adams Mill with two spaced out rods,both with Delkims ,and sat in a virtual deckchair reading novels and papers,with radio on .This was in the winter when two rods were allowed.
Hardly fishing as I know it ,but if it rocks your boat ,and it's legal,then no problem for me,I 'aint no Barbel Policeman.

Perhaps I am old fashioned or just incompetent,but fishing one has never held me back ,zoning all my energy and thought into one well fished rod works for me .
 
Do you know that in 40 years of fishing i cant ever remember losing a fish never mind the fish of a lifetime because i on occasion use 2 rods:rolleyes:
 
Concur with Jez. I seem to find myself attached to 2 fish at the same time at least once a year such are the shoal sizes on the mid Severn and it's never resulted in a lost fish.....or a missed bite (but I think that's a completely different 'old chestnut'!)

M
 
John,

On "that" stretch of river, the important thing is to put your baits where the fish are most likely to be. Which means reading the swim first.
Some swims will be nearside and middle, some middle and far..........some both downstream, some one up one down..........it'll be your call.

Going on from that, I prefer to add the backlead after casting, dropping them into the slack water a few feet out, but more importantly, where the river bed is the same depth as your bait, so the line is actually flat on the deck, not raised at an angle. Alternatively use a long hooklink on the nearer rod. (3 to 5 ft).
Keep your rod-tips low and as far back as the swim allows, but don't worry about a bit of overhang, it's probably better to have some so that when the rod pulls round the tip is still over the water when you pull into the fish otherwise you could get interference from bankside snags.

Position your rods where you have the maximum room to play and land your fish whichever rod kicks off. If you don't feel confident once you've set up, just use one and alternate on two different spots.

The river is running off very quickly at the moment no matter how much rain comes down so try and get there within 24-36 hours of decent rainfall to give yourself the best chance.

And Good Luck. :)

P.S. when we've had enough rain to get a decent prolonged "flood" going, I'll be down there. Maybe we should meet up for a session then? ;)
 
Hi Chris,

No i dont go fishing to read books or magazines and i personally do not use alarms but i have no qualms about anyone using them so long as they are kept at a sensible volume. plus i can manage to concentrate on 2 rods and im older than you..:)
 
Hi Simon,

Hope that all is well with you? Thank you for the info matey, i am fishing 2 different rivers at the moment and they are both fishing hard and slow ( and the both have the bloody crayfish) And yes they both run off fast after some rain, trouble is can only fish at the weekend so have to accept what the weather and conditions throw up on weekends, its often unfavourable but its a choice of being on the bank or staying home some its a no contest as we love to be on the bank, if there are no fish then there are always other creatures to see:) Simon im sure that we will run into you in the near future....Be lucky Mate.
 
when I fish the tidal Trent I will use two rods as I'm looking at a huge stretch of water and 9 out of 10 times il be bivvied up for the weekend and use a different method on each rod and work out which seems to be working better (if any) and il switch both rods to the appropriate approach i normally fish one rod directly in front of me and the other downstream but obviously that all goes on the rivers circumstances sometimes fish both rods downstream but any other river i don't use two rods and focus on one rod which allows me to pre bait other swims in the river whilst fishing one.
Regards.
 
Hi Wayne,

So are you roving then when you fish other rivers?
 
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