Mounting deads to fish upside-down?

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Vole
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Mounting deads to fish upside-down?

Post by Vole »

Most of what little piking I do now is float-fishing a deadbait, and sometimes using a lure to draw pike in - quite a few times, I've seen the long, pale flash of a pike turning away from the lure, only to have the smelt snaffled a few seconds later.
It occurred to me that an upside-down dead-bait would be more visible , and look more like a stricken prey-fish, than a right-way-up one, but how to achieve this, when the white belly of the bait is so much less load-bearing than the muscly back, is giving me a mild headache.
Please save me from trying to re-invent the wheel (and probably ending up designing the brick) - is there a recognised way of doing this?
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Re: Mounting deads to fish upside-down?

Post by fergie68 »

Inject air I to it maybe. ❓
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Re: Mounting deads to fish upside-down?

Post by cookiesdaughtersdad »

Nice idea Vole and although I think it would actually make very little difference to results, its worth trying!
I take it you are fishing baits suspended and so off bottom?

Cheers Alan
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Re: Mounting deads to fish upside-down?

Post by Vole »

Yes, because pike's eyes point upwards; I'm offering a quick snack - a sort of consolation prize after wasting energy following a lure - rather than wait for them to go truffling for a more substantial corpse.
I'm after bites, not monsters.
I'm also not casting far, just over the drop-off, if there is one, but I do re-cast quite often, and I'm mean, so I want my expensive little smelt to survive (odd verb for a deadbait?) as much gentle casting as possible.
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Re: Mounting deads to fish upside-down?

Post by cookiesdaughtersdad »

Vole wrote: Thu May 31 2018 07:38 -
Yes, because pike's eyes point upwards; I'm offering a quick snack - a sort of consolation prize after wasting energy following a lure - rather than wait for them to go truffling for a more substantial corpse.
I'm after bites, not monsters.
I'm also not casting far, just over the drop-off, if there is one, but I do re-cast quite often, and I'm mean, so I want my expensive little smelt to survive (odd verb for a deadbait?) as much gentle casting as possible.
Many fish species are dark on top, lighter below as a form of camouflage, so a pike looking up will usually see the lighter belly of a fish against the light sky and birds will see the dark back of the fish against the dark bottom.
So if you can fish a bait upside down it should stand out more only I'm not sure smelt are the best bait with this method in mind because of their light colouration.
Think on using another darker and more durable species or even dying them???

Cheers Alan
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Re: Mounting deads to fish upside-down?

Post by Vole »

"Think on using another darker and more durable species or even dying them?"

You're right, smelts' diatonic shading is a bit pale and wan, dying the belly dark and fishing them upside-
up could be a much better bet!
As could USD roach... I wonder if tying them up with a few turns of cotton, then slipping the hook through the thread (at the belly) would get the presentation right? I use a similar trick for rolled-up crust (Bread in Bondage) for carp... handy with a running lead, you can sink it if ducks spot the crust, and it will last several sinkings...and a touch-ledger take, while you're holding the bait down, is quite something.

Thank you very much, that's two good ideas that will only require a bit of dye and thread, rather than phartling round making over-thought and probably unuseable rigs.

Two heads better, eh?
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Re: Mounting deads to fish upside-down?

Post by suffolk si »

Pikepro do bait flippers which will have the bait sitting upwards in whichever direction you attach the flipper, haven't tried them myself though👍
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Re: Mounting deads to fish upside-down?

Post by Vole »

Thanks - and apologies for the delay - for the "flippers" idea; I'll look into that!
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Re: Mounting deads to fish upside-down?

Post by fergie68 »

I was trolling with some 6" dace yesterday and had problems with them on unweighted baitheads they kept swimming upside down. It seems dace are pretty buoyant and want to float belly up. Might be worth trying if you can get some.
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Re: Mounting deads to fish upside-down?

Post by cookiesdaughtersdad »

Vole wrote: Sun Jun 03 2018 07:22 -
Thanks - and apologies for the delay - for the "flippers" idea; I'll look into that!
I had a thought, how far off bottom do you want to fish them?

Cheers Alan
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Re: Mounting deads to fish upside-down?

Post by cookiesdaughtersdad »

Vole wrote: Sun Jun 03 2018 07:22 -
Thanks - and apologies for the delay - for the "flippers" idea; I'll look into that!
I had a thought, how far off bottom do you want to fish them?

Cheers Alan
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Re: Mounting deads to fish upside-down?

Post by Vole »

I suppose from about two feet off the deck - to avoid crayfish and baits being picked off the bottom, which could cause deep hooking - to ten feet up, which is the trace's length below the float (much of this pit is 12'), but mostly about half-depth.
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Re: Mounting deads to fish upside-down?

Post by Dave Horton »

I've inserted balsa into baits strategically, in order to get them to remain upright when I'd fitted little motors into them before.

(I'm sure the same would work in your case face)
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