Shore fishing in deep water.

**jarrow viking** · 24-03-2008, 14:13

I recently fished at Loch Etive in Scotland from the shore in over 200ft of water, my question is why does your mainline slowly creep back towards you until it looks like you are fishing directly under your rod tip.

Each time I cast a bait out around 80 yards and let line out until my weight hit the bottom but everytime the same thing happened, is my bait still out there at 80 yards distance or has it somehow came back in towards me. Very bizarre, has anyone encountered this and can you explain it?

It also seemed impossible to keep your line tight even though I used a grip lead, I may as well of lobbed my bait ten yards out and let it sink.

**Rob** · 24-03-2008, 14:20

Depending on the direction of tide flow, it's possible that a 200ft fall will result in the rig landing in a different place, but in that depth of water it will look like you are fishing under the rod tip when in fact the rig is 80 yards away.

We fish into about 60ft of water off the Long Arm in Port Talbot at high tide and it takes about 10 seconds for the bait to hit bottom, the angle of the line into the water is really steep, so fishing a 2 hook flapper means the top hook is nowhere near the bottom, even though the rig could be 80 yards away.

**Phil Arnott** · 24-03-2008, 15:09

There are many instances when anglers assume they are fishing off the bottom when they may not be. In the case mentioned above it is quite easy to work out the likely situation.

If the line was perfectly tight and straight it would form a right angled triangle with the sides at right angles measuring 60ft and 240ft. the slope of the line is 1 in 4 which means coming back from the lead the line would rise 1ft for every 4ft moving closer to the shore.

With a 1ft snood 4ft from the lead, an 18inch snood 6ft from the lead or a 2ft snood 8ft from the lead the bait would just be touching the bottom.

In reality the line is never straight as it sags under its own weight although the effect of this would be less in water and may be slightly effected by a lateral current.

**Fisherman333** · 24-03-2008, 15:28

Originally Posted by Phil Arnott

If the line was perfectly tight and straight it would form a right angled triangle with the sides at right angles measuring 60ft and 240ft. the slope of the line is 1 in 4 which means coming back from the lead the line would rise 1ft for every 4ft moving closer to the shore.

Blimey, that must be the first time I've ever heard Pythagoras' Theorem outside of GCSE Maths being applied to the real world!

A* for Phil 'Pythagoras' Arnott!

**crazyplums** · 24-03-2008, 16:30

eh? not sure about the techy stuff...

if you cast 80 yrds, the lead dive bombs in and sinks straight down, towing line behind it, the line will also be sinking straight down, when it stops pulling line off, it means the lead is on the bottom, but doesn't mean the line is in a direct angle from the lead to the rod, friction in thw 200ft of water will retain some bow, even when you think you've tightened up, over the coming minutes, the line will 'sink' through the water, and effectively go slack, therefore the line will be pointing down from your tip.

simple init

**Mackembow** · 24-03-2008, 16:45

Originally Posted by Phil Arnott

There are many instances when anglers assume they are fishing off the bottom when they may not be. In the case mentioned above it is quite easy to work out the likely situation.

If the line was perfectly tight and straight it would form a right angled triangle with the sides at right angles measuring 60ft and 240ft. the slope of the line is 1 in 4 which means coming back from the lead the line would rise 1ft for every 4ft moving closer to the shore.

With a 1ft snood 4ft from the lead, an 18inch snood 6ft from the lead or a 2ft snood 8ft from the lead the bait would just be touching the bottom.

In reality the line is never straight as it sags under its own weight although the effect of this would be less in water and may be slightly effected by a lateral current.

Yep, just what i was thinking!

**Davy Holt** · 24-03-2008, 16:55

Hiya,

Originally Posted by crazyplums

eh? not sure about the techy stuff...

if you cast 80 yrds, the lead dive bombs in and sinks straight down, towing line behind it, the line will also be sinking straight down,

Not quite, the lead will start to sink straight down, but the friction of the line through the water as it gets deeper will actually pull the lead back to wards the shore.

**jarrow viking** · 24-03-2008, 17:15

Originally Posted by Davy Holt

Hiya,

Not quite, the lead will start to sink straight down, but the friction of the line through the water as it gets deeper will actually pull the lead back to wards the shore.

Hmmmm some interesting stuff chaps thanks for the replies, looks like I may need to learn to cast further with a big bait. By the sounds of it I was only 40yards out by the time my bait hit bottom.

Others around me had more bites and caught more fish, I just couldn't figure out where I was going wrong

**Pelamid** · 24-03-2008, 18:54

Don't worry about it!

A couple of my best Etive boat marks are less than 40yds from the shore and in over 250ft of water.

Just where the cliff face starts to level off and changes to a soft bottom is where the whiting shoals hang out and the spurdog cruise by picking off the stragglers.

Casting from the shore your weight will not climb back up the slope and is in exactly the best place.

Might be why some of the best spurdog are caught by shore anglers.

**Codhead Bob** · 24-03-2008, 23:05

Even if your line was bar tight,in 250ft of water your sinker could be 250ft out from the shore but the line would in effect be a diagonal between your fishing position and the lead,which would mean it would go into the water right in front of you.

I've got a sore head now.