Drop-Minnow Fishing

This is a very old method of fishing for trout. It was taught to be by a grand old man, a native of West Wales, who lived and died in a picturesque village in Camarthenshire, a region of South Wales in the UK. It is a method that lends itself to the small rivers and streams of that area, although I have no doubt that it will work with great success in any size fishery in any part of the world. It would probably work using small fish of any kind such as, Stone Loach, Millers Thumb, small course fish, or stickleback. A clue as to why the minnow is so deadly is seen in the behaviour of these creatures. They have the habit of turning quickly in the water, producing a flash of silver/white underbelly. This can be seen from a long distance and must be very provoking to a predatory trout. The way it is fished mimics this action, as the bait is fished by the "Sink and Draw" method. The bait is drawn toward the angler momentarily then allowed to sink. As it descends nose first, it tends to twist, giving off a lovely flash of white belly

It is probably most successful in the spring months when the Minnows are full of spawn, which act as an even greater attraction. Drop-Minnow can be fished in nearly all water conditions and surprisingly, is even more deadly during drought periods when the water level is very low and almost all other methods fail in these bleak conditions. You can fish in the most minute of holding spots, as you only need enough room to get the bait into the water. A great deal of sport can be had fishing amongst semi-submerged tree roots. You will certainly hook the fish, but it can be quite a task getting it out. You can fish at short range with only a few feet of line, and the bait lowered into a deep hole beneath the overhanging shrubbery, on the other hand you can fish at long distance by a long cast and a slow jerking retrieval through a deep pool.

The equipment used can be almost any combination of rod, line and reel. The old man used to prefer a ten foot, fairly stiff fly rod, fly reel, fly line (Sinking) ending with about a two metre trace of good quality nylon. He used to fish a light line during drought periods and heavier when the water conditions permitted. Regarding hook sizes, this is governed by the size of the minnows available. One problem is that if the minnow is too big, the head of the bait almost completely closes the gape of the hook. If you make this mistake, you will attract the fish but rarely hook them. Make up a series of bound hooks and be prepared to change them according to the bait size. The Gentleman's preference was always round bend, fine wire hooks of exceptional quality.

The following chapter is an explanation of the technique used to mount the bait, which should be as fresh as possible. killed just seconds before mounting onto the tackle. Dead minnows soon loose their lustre, and don't keep very well at summer temperatures.