Should you ever leave your rigs for several days?

Are you happy to leave your rigs out for several days confident they are okay in an attempt to not disturb the swim or do you regularly recast them?

I would have absolutely no issue with leaving my rigs out for 48hrs, but it’s something that I rarely do, and for a
few reasons.

When I cast a rig out, and leave it out, then I am always 100% confident that it has travelled through the air without tangling, and has landed exactly where and how I want it to. If this doesn’t happen then I will keep casting until it has done. So, with this in mind, yes, I can, have and would leave it there for ages. Most of the time, when re-casting, I am aiming to land the rig back on the exact same spot that I have just reeled in from. So what’s the point in doing so?

Firstly, I like to have a good look round the lake every day, and on the venues I fish, if you want to leave your swim, the rods have to be reeled in. If I was allowed to go trotting, then I’d probably re-cast a lot less, and I’m certain that this would be beneficial in the long run.

Nuisance species are another problem that I am often faced with, and a boilie hookbait can easily become whittled down to nothing over a 48 to 72hr period of time. This is a worry for me, and when I have left my rods in position for a long period of time, it’s always with a tiger nut or meshed bait – there’s no point it leaving the rod out if your hookbait is knackered!

Rigs in the right place for a short while will always catch more than rigs left undisturbed, in the wrong place, for three days!

I think a big part of the re-casting thing is to make sure that you’re doing it at the right times, not an hour before bite time. I actually quite like re-casting each day, putting a fresh hookbait and rig back out there is quite a refreshing feeling. I always try to make sure I get the rods back out as quickly as possible, within as few attempts as possible, in order to create as little disturbance as possible.

If the lake I was fishing was a very big one, which meant some serious graft and possibly the use of a boat, I’m sure I’d be far more inclined to leave the rods in for longer periods, more often. You have to weigh it up: how much disturbance are you going to cause? Is it actually necessary? Or are you just going to kill the swim? And then decide.

One thing that is for certain, five minutes in the right place is a damn sight better than three days in the wrong place. I’ve caught loads soon after a re-cast or a move, so if you’re 100% happy with where the rig is, then by all means leave it, but I’d always think very carefully before doing so.

There’s something nice about attaching fresh rigs and hookbaits