"Whip fishing harks back to the origins of angling, when someone first thought of tying a fishing Line to the end of a Stick. We outline the basics of a method that is indispensable to the angler."
A Whip is a kind of Pole specifically designed for catching small fish quickly close in, fishing 'to hand' with the Line attached directly to its flexible Tip: no elastic is used and no line can be given.
Don't use a Whip if you expect
big fish such as Chub or Bream. Although with skill, patience, a good Whip and
a 'slice of luck' you can land fish up to 3lb-4lb (1.4kg-1.8kg), more often though, you lose
them. Worse, you leave a Hook in the fish's mouth if the Line breaks.
When
after big fish, use a Rod and Reel, or a Pole with Elastic, and save the Whip
for what it does best.
Hand-size Roach like this are good fun on Whip tackle and always a welcome bonus when you are fishing for 'bits' - much smaller fish that you can swing straight in.
In the right hands the whip is an unbeatable method for building a match-winning bag of small fish close in.
A Whip has several conflicting jobs to do and finding an action to deal with them all involves a certain amount of compromise.
On one hand it needs to be soft and 'whippy', to allow
light Rigs to be cast overhead and to absorb the weight and pull of a hooked
fish.
On the other hand it must be 'fairly stiff', to enable you to swing heavy Rigs out underarm and hit fast bites. A good compromise is a Whip with a 'stiff Butt' and a 'softish Tip' that 'bends smoothly' into the middle.
Whips are most commonly available at lengths between 2m (6hft) and 6m (20ft). If you buy a 6m (20ft) Whip made up of six 1m (3ft) sections you can obviously use it at any length between 1m (3ft) and 6m (20ft). This is a good way to get the feel of Whip fishing before investing in a whole range of Whips.
However, the Top 2m (6 1/2ft) of a 6m (20ft) Whip have an inferior action to a purpose made 2m (6 1/2ft) Whip - the former being the top of a longer Whip, the latter being a complete Whip in itself. Ideally you should buy Whips purpose-made for the lengths you fish.
All Whips up to 4m (13ft) long should be Telescopic, since this allows them to be of slimmer diameter and smoother action. It is common to find longer Whips with take apart bottom sections - for example, 4m (13ft) Telescopic plus one, two or three 1m (3ft) extensions. These are very useful on waters where the odd big fish can come along since putting on an extra joint or two gives you leeway to play the fish.
Matchmen often set up a range of Whips of different lengths, to cover every eventuality. Having the right Whip set up for the right time can mean the difference between winning and 'framing'.
For example, they might set up identical Rigs on 2m (6 1/2ft), 2.5m (8ft), 3m (10ft) and 3.5m (11 1/2ft) Whips for a gudgeon match on a canal. They may start on the 2m (6 1/2ft) Whip and finish on the 3.5m (11 1/2ft) one, having caught at various times in the match on all four lengths of Whip.
How many Whips you buy depends on how seriously you take your fishing. You can fish at 3.5m (11 1/2ft) with a 3m (10ft) Whip and an outstretched arm. Equally, you can fish at 2.5m (8ft) with a 3m (10ft) Whip and 0.5m (1 /1/2ft) tucked behind you. But it's more efficient to use Whips of the exact length.
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Building a big bag of small fish on the whip isn't just a matter of all-out speed. You should aim to catch smoothly and steadily throughout the session or match, rather than go flat out at the start, get in a tangle and end up losing your way.
Cane Stem - Light-bodied Floats with cane, not wire, stems make casting much easier when fishing the Whip, because they follow the Weights through the air. This is true for both types of Rig and both casting styles.
Fishing for Gudgeon or Ruffe on the near side of a canal or at the edge of a river are classic examples of when a short whip 2m-4m (6 1/2ft-13ft) - comes into its own. On still waters or slow-flowing rivers where the target species are small Roach, Skimmers or Dace, 3m-6m (10ft-20ft) Whips can be unbeatable for building big bags.
Smoothness and efficiency are essential if you are to amass a lot of small fish on the Whip. You must set the length of Line so that when you swing a fish in it comes exactly 'to hand'. To be able to unhook the fish without having to put the Whip down or tuck it under your arm, the length of line must also allow you to bring the fish to the hand holding the Whip.
There should be a slight bend in the Whip's Tip at this stage to stop the Line and Float wrapping around the Whip. If the Line is too tight, however, the Hook catches in your fingers as you try to recast.
In a match, getting the length of Line exactly right and unhooking fish this way enables you to put your baited Hook back into the swim at the same time as you are slipping the fish into your Keepnet. This saves valuable seconds for each fish you catch. Considering some matches are won with 300 fish, if you save five seconds a fish you gain 25 minutes fishing time.
The whip really comes into its own when the fish are feeding well and don't require perfect bait presentation.
When fishing for bottom-feeding species such as Gudgeon and Ruffe, use a Rig that gets your Bait down quickly. Have the 'Olivette' as close to the Hook as you can. You are wasting time if you present a naturally falling Bait when the fish are feeding on the bottom.
When after fish feeding up in the water, use a light, on-the-drop Rig. Try to establish what depth they are feeding at. If your bites are coming in the last 60cm (2ft) or so of water, don't spread your 'Styls' all the way from Float to Hook. Concentrate them to get the Bait into the feeding area quickly.
This is a quick-release way of attaching the Line to
the tip of a Whip. First knot a piece of 50lb (22kg) Line and melt it to form
a 'blob'. Glue the piece of 50lb (22kg) Line to the Tip of the Whip and cover
it with a plastic sleeve.
Tie two loops in the end of your Rig Line. Form a
third loop in the Line and pass it through the middle loop and over the blob.
Pull tight. To release the Rig, simply pull the top loop.
Another way is to thread two small pieces of silicone rubber on to the Line. Push the top piece along the Tip of the Whip until it traps the Line. Rotate the Tip so the Line spirals round the Tip. Trap the Line at the end with the second piece of rubber.
A third, very simple method is to use a commercially available Plastic Connector. Glue the Connector to the Tip of the Whip with 'epoxy resin'. Tie a loop in the end of the Line. Slip the loop over the plastic hook and slide the plastic cover over it.
Dace and Skimmers are notorious for slipping the Hook so use 'micro barbed' Hooks for these fish. For other fish, barbless hooks save time. They allow you to Bait up quickly without damaging the Bait, and to unhook quickly without hurting the mouth of the fish.
Gudgeon swim in big shoals in many canals and rivers and are often the target in matches. Get them queuing up to take your Bait close in and you can Whip these fish out one after the other.