Commercials Part 12 – Advanced Float Fishing

Mark fishing the long rod and centrepin

Fishing at Longer Range

I recommended that initially you stick to a modest range of about ten metres, still well within pole range. Some days it’s the easiest method in the world, at other times it needs refinement to get the best out of it. But it takes time and plenty of practice even at this range to become competent with this method.

Increasing range magnifies defects in your technique. If you’re struggling to feed and cast accurately at just ten metres range then imagine what problems you’ll face at twice or three times that. To fish at increased range you must master both.

Additionally it is harder to hit bites at increased range. There is more slack line to take up so the strike needs to be more forceful though still sufficiently controlled to avoid cracking off.

Landing a decent bream on long rod and centrepin

Spotting the bites is more difficult and not helped by having to increase the size of the float to aid casting and the need to sink more line whilst retaining float position. How far you can catapult your feed governs your fishing range. That depends upon what bait you are feeding and the weather. With a following wind using heavy pellets you may well manage thirty metres but twenty metres is about the limit.

14lb carp caught with long rod and centrepin

Is all of this extra effort worth the trouble? I think so. It will take plenty more practice to achieve a smooth technique at range and you’ll need to experiment with different floats and shotting patterns. Casting needs to be smooth and the power of the rod utilised efficiently. But you will have a method that can outdistance the pole in open water and tap into cruising shoals of fish that stay out of range of the pole anglers. For the all round match angler that’s a vital skill that can be used elsewhere, on slow rivers for instance.

Until now the method described has been suited to relative shallow water, up to about two metres/six feet of water. The basic rig is the same; 75% of the shot load as a bulk locking the float on the line with strung out dust shot down the line. In deeper water other considerations come into play. Doubling the depth and waiting for the float to settle starts to become tedious. It may be that the bait presentation offered is fine and just what the fish want but it can also allow tiddlers to grab the bait. In these circumstances the first option is to use a heavier float and place a small bulk down the line, say 4 x no. 4 about three feet/ 1 metre from the hook with two or three smaller dust shot droppers.

14lb carp caught with long rod and centrepin

Very Deep Water = Slider Floats

This rig is harder to cast which is why the size of the waggler needs to be increased so that the bulk is at least 3AAA and preferably 4AAA. A depth of around 13 feet/4metres is still viable with this set-up but increase it much more and you’ll find you need to stand on your box to cast at all. At this stage consider using a slider float.

Shotting diagram for a sliding float

For best results use one that takes a bulk of at least 21/2 SSG shot plus droppers. When this method is working well it’s a joy to use though the presentation that it gives is best suited to catching bream. At this juncture we are gradually getting further and further away from the average commercial though many stillwaters will have deep water. I fish several old clay and gravel workings with these methods, and depths up to 6 metres/twenty feet are not uncommon. If you fish very deep waters then you should consider learning this technique.

Keep the shotting simple for the slider. Have a no. 4 shot a couple of feet above the main bulk to make casting simpler. Below the bulk, taper the shotting so that a main bulk of say 5AAA has 2BB below that with a no. 4 or no. 1 as drop shot. Make sure that each shot placing is slightly more than half way between the previous shot and the hook, ie, nearer the hook in each case. This is because if the line folds back on itself when casting it can’t reach the previous shot. This simple fact makes all the difference between tangle-free fishing and frustration. I once remembered this to my cost in a match far too late after suffering tangle after tangle for three hours. I changed the shot positions and slaughtered them in the last hour.

Fishing Shallow at Range

That’s briefly covered deep water but there is another deadly waggler method.

Drennan Puddlechucker floats

On many waters there are times when the shoals of carp cruise around just two or three feet under the surface beyond pole range at twenty or twenty five yards out. Fish a short waggler (or Drennan Puddlechucker) three feet deep with baits like maggot and caster. Hardly any shot are needed down the line, just a couple of no. 10 shot. Spray the feed with a catapult constantly. Bites can be brutal; now you see it, now you don’t, so be prepared to fish with an open bale-arm like trotting a river. If you do fish with a closed bale-arm then set the drag on your reel on the light side; this is where a facility like the Fightin’ Drag on a Shimano reel comes in. Set it to low for the bite and then adjust during the fight according to what’s happening.

Shimano Fightin’ Drag

Wind and Drift

Earlier in the series I wrote about the problems of wind and drift when pole fishing. The angler using rod and reel faces the same problem. Surface skim and water movement will move the float and line. Surface skim is not too bad for simply sinking the line will be enough to stop float movement. But if the water underneath is moving it’s more tricky. Most likely the movement of the water will be in the opposite direction to the wind, ie, undertow. The rod and reel angler has to combat this differently to the pole angler. Whereas the pole angler can use the pole to hold the float still, the rod and reel angler is mostly fishing well beyond his rod tip.

The main tactic to slow the float’s progress through the swim is to increase the float depth so that some of the line is on the bottom. You may need to put as much a metre of line on the bottom, including several small shot. Sometimes the pull on the float from this anchoring will submerge the float tip. To counteract this change the float to one with a thicker tip and experiment with the shot load, and try slightly under-shotting the float as well. Despite this tactic you may still find that eventually the wind pulls the float out of position, and that the large belly of line that develops will impede striking. Then it’s just a matter of accepting that each cast is good for a limited time and recasting.

On bigger waters where there are waves and drift it is worth considering using a Windbeater type float. These are mainly out of fashion nowadays as most anglers revert to legering tactics in those circumstances, but if you fancy learning a new method then why not try it? A Windbeater float is generally a big float of about a foot long with a body, a slim antenna and a buoyant sight bob. A large shot is used to anchor the float, which can be anything from a BB to a SSG. The sight bob allows visibility whilst resisting the pull of the undertow.

Using pole floats with a rod

Much earlier in the series I mentioned using pole floats with rod and reel tactics. Provided that you fish the float close to the rod tip to gain maximum control over the float then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t do so.

Pole floats

There are three variations I use on a regular basis. The first one is using a surface rig as described in the advanced pole fishing technique article. A tiny float taking just two or three dust shot is used to fish two or three feet deep (up to a metre) the fish have got to be close for this as the float cannot be cast any distance at all but it can be fun. The second variation is to fish much deeper water using a pole float taking from a gram upwards and again this is rod tip fishing. The final variation is margin fishing using a long rod of around 6 metres (20 feet). This can be hook and hold stuff. For a rod of this type six pound line is about as heavy as one can go due to the leverage involved.

For all of these last three styles of rod tip fishing I increasingly use a centrepin reel. No casting is required and the simplicity of the reel actually reduces tangles. Whether it is better for playing fish is open to debate given how good the drags are on the latest fixed spool reels, but it makes for fun fishing – and isn’t that what it’s all about?

This has been an all too brief look at stillwater float fishing. For more information check out the articles by Dave Cooper and Mark Hodson.

Next week is the first of a trilogy of articles on fishing ‘The Method’ starting with an article by Jeff Woodhouse.