Is my line really pinned down?

Oh dear! The chances are it isn’t… really, it isn’t, and going mega slack in the wrong situation can really affect your bite indication. For me the place for slack lines is short-range fishing with no obstacles but too many people fish slack over obstacles thinking that the line is slack all the way to the terminal tackle.

Picture the swim: You’re fishing at 80yds having found your spot with a lead or marker float. What you didn’t do was check the depths on the way back in where the line will be laying and as a result you don’t know that there is a weedbed at 50yds that comes to within a couple of feet of the surface. You cast out, feel the lead drop on a tight line, then put your rod down and slacken off thinking the line is dropping to the bottom all the way to the lead. It isn’t! What has happened is that you have felt the line down tight, it’s then tight from the rig to the weedbed rising off the bottom to the full height of the weed, and as you slacken off all you are doing is slackening the line between rod tip and weedbed. The chances are the line between the weedbed and the rig will slacken a bit but it won’t drop to the floor because there simply isn’t enough weight in it to pull more line over the weedbed. All you are doing is slackening the line between rod tip and weedbed thus giving the fish more line to play with before you get any indication.

My mantra: if there is anything between the rod tip and the lead that will cause the line to bend, fish it tight or a semi tight at the very least. If there is a hinge point between rod tip and rig then the fish can use it as a kite point and reduce your indication.