Long Range Spodding Technique
The spod must be the most common form of baiting up on carp waters these days it’s a very efficient way of delivering all types of food items into your swim from ranges of a few yards to 150 yrds what I want to do is help you bait those long range swims and to do this effeicently requires the correct tackle and techniques but once mastered can be very satisfying and a little edge, competition anglers also are realising what an edge distance can be.
Tackle Requirements
The first thing we need to get right is the tackle rods for long range spodding need to be a quality blank of 4.5TC and above as the rigours of casting out spods up to 7 ounces can show up any weakness on a blank very quickly, this has been witnessed a few times by people watching my casting demos I now prefer Harrison blanks for all my spod work as they have proved really reliable I also used the fox horizon ones without any problems at all and they have cast spods over 150yds many many times.
If when buying a spod rod you decide to get a custom made one all the better as it can be made to your personal requirements a lot of spod rods on the market have to short a handle which means when you are casting the spod the pivot point is to far down the blank this makes the load from the spod harder to move making your long range spod work harder than required, I would recommend putting the rod butt under your arm pit stretching your arm up the blank where your hand sits on the blank is where the reel seat is placed this moves the pivot point up the rod making it easier to cast a heavy spod.
The ringing for a spod rod would be best 50mm down to 16mm, 50mm butts do help with distance with big pits reels no matter what anybody says on the tourney field I have cast against the best casters in the world they all use 50mm butts or bigger I also used them to break some UK records that says something about gaining distance.
There are many reels available on the market that will be perfect for long range spodding the attributes needed will be good fast retrieve, powerful gearing, good line lay and a useful line clip the reels I use and never let me down are shimano biomasters these reels do everything needed and don’t cost a fortune superb reels.
I find that using 20lb whiplash with 65lb whiplash leaders connected with 5 turn back to back grinners is a very effective way to spod at long-range the whiplash braid aids spodding in a few ways:
- Because the braid floats it makes it easier to retrieve the spod, mono can sink which makes winding in from range more tiring.
- The knots formed between the leader and mainline are tiny so it fly’s through the rings easy and will not catch on the spool during the cast virtually eliminating crack offs.
- Because of the lack of stretch when clipped up it does tend to be a lot more accurate especially when you realise how much stretch is in mono at 100yds +
To keep spodding smooth before I cast for the first time I will dip the reel in the water to wet the braid this helps to eliminate wind knots and I will also put a little bit of insulating tape around the bit of braid that’s going under the line clip after I have found my range, this will avoid cut offs on the clip.
Mono can also be used without problems I would advise a diameter of between 0.26 and 0.28mm with a 65lb whiplash leader I also use mono a lot its very cheap to replace and doesn’t suffer from wind knots,
Remember to use a finger stall with all long range casting as finger cuts can be very sore I tend to use the MCF ones
Casting technique
If you refer back to my overhead casting article, the technique for spod casting is exactly the same.
After the spod is released point the rod at the direction the line is leaving the rod, nearing the end of the cast lift the rod higher until about vertical, as the braid/Mono tightens up and you feel the spod pull the tip lower the rod to horizontal.
This will absorb the shock of the spod hitting the clip and avoid cut offs, and the spod will hit the water with fewer disturbances.
As long as you have clipped the distance correctly to your marker float or desired area, and keep everything straight above your head (see overhead casting article) accuracy should be spot on.
Spod Types
There are many types of spod on the market and I have used a fair few of them, but have settled for the ones im about to list these spods are what I believe to be the best at the present time, I use different spods for delivering different types of bait items.
The first one I use lot and this is the korda skyliner spod, this spod casts really well is stable in flight and retrieves brilliant I use it mainly to deliver stodgy mixes up to 150yds the larger holes helps it empty these mixes out really well.
For boilies at long range I use the MCF boilie rocket because its made from quite a thick plastic its fairly heavy for a spod which makes it very robust and stable even in cross winds, it retrieves ok once you get the back end up and can cast as far as you will ever need it will empty boilies up to 16mm I often put hemp in the spod first followed by boilies, always dunk the spod in the water before casting.
Another good spod I use is a little rocket type spod with no holes from MCF, this spod is perfect for maggots and dry mixes to distances up to 130yds, it has a device on it that un hooks after you cast, and allows you to bring the spod in backwards, this is a superb idea for spods with no holes in them and makes spodding so much easier, there are a few sizes available
The last spods I use are from gardner from the pocket rocket size up to the XXL size depending how much feed I want to introduce I use these with sloppy spod mixes they fly superb, but can be a pain to retrieve, they are also very buoyant which helps sloppy mixes escape
When filling a spod only fill the spod ¾ full otherwise it will not fly straight, distance and accuracy with suffer badly
Spod Mixes
There are an infinite amount of spods mixes that can be used and everybody has their favourites my mixes remain very simple, I prefer this as I mainly do short sessions and do not want to take untold different baits with me I just prefer to use what I have confidence in.
My standard mix is made up of 60% hemp seed or partiblend both of which are great carp attractors and also the coarseness helps the spod to empty 40% pellets in mixed sizes along with some crumbed boilies and or samples or your hook bait whatever that may be, I will then add liquid attractors such as the superb mainline syrups and some salt and sugar.
Sloppy spod mixes are just that a mix that has been made up over wet to create a cloud through out the water column and are often used when fishing zig rigs up in the water, adding attractors into the water without over feeding or in gin clear venues where a cloud may just get the fish feeding a bit more confident it’s a great way of introducing maximum attraction with very little feed also a winter winner.
My typical mix is groundbait the active range from mainline work great, crushed hemp and a lot of liquid attractors such as the mainline coconut milk and the maple 8 syrups these give off a great cloud and attraction, the grounbait is very active and will float through the water columns at varying rates
When spoding at range try to keep everything near to you and get in a rhythm, this will help with accuracy and smoothness that makes you more effective.
Test your spod mix in the margin in front of you, to see what it reacts like in the water just fill the spod up and drop it in this is what you creating at 100+ yds it also allows you to see how long it takes for the spod to empty, after you have cast your spod after it had landed jerk the the spod a few times this will help release the spod mix on your spot, which is very important as you do not want to be reeling in spods that has bait left in it and dropping it all over the place.
When casting the spod, some of the mix often escapes from the back of it as the spod flys out onto the spot, this again will cause bait to be spread over a large area to avoid this a good tip is to plug the end of the spod with some dryish groundbait again make sure the spod isn’t over ¾ full.
Long range spodding can be hard work but if you have the right technique, tackle and bait it can be made that little bit more enjoyable and not an impossible task
C ya later,
Terry Edmonds
I will give tuition to anybody looking to improve their long range fishing techniques give me an e-mail: Telrck1@aol.com.
