The Sidewinder
Presented by Alex...... :þ
Sidewinders Explained
A "proper" sidewinder is a bit of kit that is made my the same company that makes Polaris floats, but here is my simple version of it and a drawing of how the shop bought sidewinder functions. It is a very simple, highly effective method, I
have just won the "biggest catch" trophy in the Army league that I fish. The season has just ended for that league and I doubled the previous best weight using this method on the last match of their season, could not believe how simple and
effective it was. Although I nearly always use a float, it can be difficult when the wind is strong so I made a decision to go with this thing and it was totally uneffected by the wind giving me far better presentation than the float.
A "proper" sidewinder is a bit of kit that is made my the same company that makes Polaris floats, but here is my simple version of it and a drawing of how the shop bought sidewinder functions. It is a very simple, highly effective method, I
have just won the "biggest catch" trophy in the Army league that I fish. The season has just ended for that league and I doubled the previous best weight using this method on the last match of their season, could not believe how simple and
effective it was. Although I nearly always use a float, it can be difficult when the wind is strong so I made a decision to go with this thing and it was totally uneffected by the wind giving me far better presentation than the float.
I made my "Sidewinder" from a quiver tip. Basically I mounted it around the middle of the rod with a cable tie so that as you look down the rod from the reel end it sticks out at about a 45 degree angle to the rod. This allows the rod top to be completely submersed thereby keeping all the line sunk and is therefore unaffected by wind or surface movement, it also allows you to fish with the rod pointed direclty inline with your bait allowing for the most sensitive setup. Any movement of the bait is detected by the "quiver" being pulled towards the rod. You just lift the rod and you are into to the fish.
Pic 1 shows what a quiver tip looks like and it would
normally screw into the end of the rod making a fine tip to the rod. Pic
2 shows how I've modified it to fit about halfway up the rod with the
line running through it and this is roughly how it would look when it is
setup although I used heavy line for the pic. but the position of the
quiver is as it would be while waiting for a bite.
Pic 3 shows what
happens when you get a bite and Pic 4 is a close up of my modification.
This setup is fished as light as possible so that the fish have the
least resistance, it is fished with the rod top submerged and pointing
at the bait so as to give the finest presentation, this eliminates
surface drift and wind interference.
Visit Alex of the C.A.C. Anglers Society in Cyprus
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Anglers Society in Cyprus
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