FISHING THE GREEN WAY
- by Rab Crossan

Only when I put pen to paper did I realise how much I have come to know about fishing on that formidable stretch of water, the Lower River Clyde from Dalmarnock down to Glasgow Green. Formidable mainly due to the effect of the tide controlled by the gates at Glasgow Green. It is a venue where no set method will work in any given day or even any hour so I can only give you an insight into how I interpret the changing conditions, how I would expect to catch and what tackle I would use.

Setting up

The swim I am going to fish is about 8 pegs above the road bridge just up from the boating club on Glasgow Green. This peg averages 14 ft deep which I find is the perfect depth for bagging dace and it has a pretty clear bottom. The tackle I would set up in a match on this peg would be as follows - 2 ledger rods, 1 with a medium strength tip and one with a heavy tip. The medium tip rod would have 2lb main line with a 1/2oz bomb on a 4in link, the tail would be 2ft long with a 22 hook to 1lb bottom. The other rod is set up with a 17 gramme cage feeder, same length link and tail with a 22 hook to 1.5lb bottom.

I would look to catch best on the pole and the pole I would set up would be 9.5 metres long with a strong flick tip and fished 'to hand' style which involves using a rig just 1/2m short of the butt, i.e. 9m of line. You can catch on a shorter pole, or even a whip, but the fish seem to stay longer slightly further out. Main line on the pole is always at least 3lb, often 4lb depending on the pole length and float size, i.e. 9.5m/5g float - 4lb : 8m/4g float - 3lb. I like to use a body up style of float. The diagram shows the set up of the rig. I will explain how I use the spare shot under the olivette later. This may seem like rather a heavy set up for dace averaging 4 to the pound but because of the tidal fluctuations they may only feed for a short while so you must make the most of that time.

'Plenty of bait'

For a match I would always take at least 5 pints of maggots which could work out expensive. I would not normally expect to use that much but if I did it would be fishing very well, normally 2 pints is enough. I would never go short of bait though, that could cost me a match should the dace feed. When I took the match record for the venue with over 38lb I used 12 pints of maggots but luckily for me tackle and bait dealer Jim Brown happened to be at the next peg! My preferred groundbait mix would consist of 2 kilos of brown crumb, 2 kilos Sensas River and 1/2 kilo of Sensas PV1 binder. Alternatively (and cheaper) a mix of 60% brown and 40% white crumb would do a similar job. For Ronnie MacLeod 4.5 kilos = 10lb! I don't add maggots to the mix at the start, I will just add small amounts when needed.

Before putting the first lot of groundbait in I would put ten good balls worth in a separate bowl and add a pint of maggots. Before I put this in I would check the state of the water with float or tip to see if it has changed since I set up. I want to feed my swim, not someone else's, so I won't feed if the river is backing up. If it is flowing normally from left to right I will put in 8 pretty solid balls right in front of me at 12 metres out followed but 2 softer ones to break up just below the surface hopefully to draw fish up from pegs below.

Getting started

It is unusual to catch on this line straight away so I only fish the pole for 10 minutes before changing to the tip. I prefer to fish the straight bomb if conditions allow and I don't want to feed that line until I find out where the fish are. If the fish don't want groundbait today then I have knackered my pole line by now so why do the same to the outside line! I will start by casting about 3/4 across and slightly downstream, constantly twitching the bait back looking for indications of where the fish are. If I don't get bites within 1/2 hour I will probably have to wait until the river changes, this could be very slight and you have to watch carefully and keep in touch with it. It could speed up slightly then slow again or vice versa. Whenever it does change I will feed the pole line again exactly as before and this is where the timing and location of your groundbait is so critical. You want to pick a spot in your swim where you can catch comfortably under any water flow conditions. The ideal time to feed is when the water has just stopped after backing up. When stopped, don't feed in front of you, a mistake many make, it is best to feed about 3m downstream, 10m out, this way you can have full tackle control when the water moves again. Every time the river changes I feed and fish just as if I was starting a new session and I always expect to catch.

Supposing the dace have moved on to the feed, about 7 or 8 pegs in a row will all start getting bites. The challenge now is to convert those bites into fish in the net. Dace are notorious for going into a feeding frenzy and taking the bait at all depths. You get a lot of unhittable bites on the drop. With the 5g pole rig I do not even attempt to catch on the drop, it's easier and faster to catch near the bottom. With the amount of stiff groundbait I have put in I know exactly where I expect to catch. I will feed a ball of groundbait regularly and try to get into a rhythm of catching. If I feel there are a lot of fish in the swim and I am catching quickly I will also loose feed maggots, not little and often but a good handful every 10 minutes or so.

Hitting the bites

Often there are so many fish around that you get a lot of false bites, probably fish knocking into the line. People have even commented that I have missed 3 or 4 bites in a run down before I eventually lift into a dace. Only experience will tell you what is proper bite, if in doubt wait until the float stays down for a while, in any case experiment with the timing. If I am really bagging I will move the olivette down to the top of the hooklength and move the rest of the shot to 10in above the hook.

After between 1 to 2 hours the bites may tail off and this usually means the water is about to change again. Shorten your line to 6m and add a section or two you are better able to hold the tackle back and inch it through which often produces a few more fish. Alternatively change to the bomb over the same line or towards the tail of your swim. The other feeder rod I set up is only really for hard days when nothing is showing on the bomb or pole and I might try for a while towards the far side. On really hard days (which happen often nowadays!) the feeder becomes the main method but then you are only looking for a very few fish, if you are lucky!

As I said at the start this is just my thoughts on how I would approach this stretch of the river. To expand on other stretches on the Lower Clyde would take the rest of this issue. I have only really covered some of the basics here. If anybody wants to come up to me on the bank and ask questions or to look over rigs and tackle I would be very pleased to help as would the rest of my team mates. I hope you have some success on the Green, when it's on, it's great fishing!