There are matchmen, those anglers who love to compete with other anglers. There are specialist anglers who want to catch specimens of their target species. Then there are the majority; those who neither match fish nor hunt specimens, but simply fish. They may fish only in warm weather, or they may fish all year round. But most have one thing in common. They want to bag up. The majority of the anglers you meet at the waterside don’t really care what they catch as long as they catch plenty of them. Most anglers fish for bites; the species that provide the bites are of secondary importance.

I can honestly say this too: that in spite of many years of fishing for better quality fish, I still enjoy the odd session banging out as many small fish as I can possibly catch. Small ponds and canals are usually the best places to catch small fish.


Small pools and canals are best for small fish
A Basic Method

One thing that is very noticeable is that there is a basic float fishing method for bagging up, and a basic leger method for bagging up. Those two basic methods have become firmly established over the years to the point where there are extremely few variations. Only in the world of match fishing and specialist angling is there any real variation, and most of the fancy rigs you read about in those branches of angling are only an advantage in the mind of the inventor.

Anyhow, this article is for those anglers who don’t give a damn what they catch as long as their float keeps diving under. Having your string pulled, as modern jargon has it. It is for those anglers who haven’t been fishing for a great many years and simply wish to get the basics right before they begin to experiment with anything ‘sophisticated’. More than anything, it is for those anglers who want to bag up! It covers stillwaters or very slow-moving rivers, for fast water is for the more experienced angler. Float fishing is the most popular, most interesting, and most efficient bagging method of all when the conditions are right for it, so that’s what we’ll discuss.

‘But hold on a minute,’ I hear you ask, ‘ how do I know when the conditions are right for float fishing?’

The simple answer is that conditions are right for float fishing when you can use the method to present a bait where the bait should be, without having any great difficulty doing so.

Let me put it another way. If you are struggling to reach the swim with float tackle, even heavy float tackle, due to the distance involved, then you should be legering. If you are having difficulty casting due to high winds, then you should be legering. Fishing should be a comfortable, smooth operation, if it isn’t you won’t enjoy it as much as you should, for anything less only leads to frustration and annoyance. If you are having a struggle to do something, then you should be looking for an easier method. If that method is legering, then so be it.

Tackle

You need a long rod for float fishing, and don’t let anyone tell you anything else. No, I’m not saying you can’t use a shorter rod. Of course you can; you can use a garden cane if you like, but if you have a choice you won’t. A rod for float fishing should be a minimum of 12ft, and from a personal point of view, 13ft is better. A minority of anglers choose a 14-footer, and anything longer you’re into the real specialist stuff – Bolognese or pole fishing. Which is something to consider when you’ve mastered the basics. Any modern match type rod will do, but the lighter the better when you’re holding it for several hours, and especially when you’re having plenty of action, which is the name of the game when you want to bag up! I use a 13ft match rod.

A fixed spool reel is standard equipment for float fishing, and there is nothing better if you expect to catch one or two bigger fish along the way. Otherwise, my choice is a closed face reel, which is much easier and faster to use, avoids tangles better, and is quite adequate for playing anything less than really hard-fighting fish. Load this with 2.5lb line, which is heavy enough to deal with some better specimens if used direct to the hook, and light enough for good performance off the reel and in the water. Use a line designed for float fishing, rather than a line that tends to sink.

The lightest hook length I use is 1lb, but only when I’m not likely to hook anything particularly big, or not fishing close to snags. Most often I use 1.5lb, as a starting point anyhow, and then take it from there.

For bagging up when float fishing, spade-end, barbless hooks are a must. These will make it easy for you to unhook fish quickly, and are much kinder to small fish. You need a selection between 16’s and 22’s. Most often you will use 18’s and 20’s. Size 16’s are for those times when the fish want two or three maggots or casters, and 22’s are for the times when the fish are being finicky on a single maggot or caster, or they are especially small fish.


Maggots in different colours are an excellent choice
Insert waggler floats are usually best, the smallest you can get away with without making it difficult. Whichever float you use it should be shotted down so that only the merest dot is showing above surface – providing you can see it without straining. Attach the float by means of a silicon float adapter, which will allow you to easily and quickly change the float if it becomes necessary due to a change in conditions.

Baits

You will no doubt have noticed that I mentioned only maggots and casters in the latter paragraph. This was quite deliberate, for although I know it is possible to bag up on other baits, I’m trying to keep it as simple as possible. I include maggot for obvious reasons. They are the universal bait, readily available, easy to use, great for loose feed, stay on the hook, and the same bait can be used to catch more than one fish when you’ve got them really well on feed. And very important too, they will catch all species of fish, but are particularly appealing to small fish. Experiment with standard maggots and pinkies in various colours. Fish in different waters have different preferences.

Casters are included for the reason that they are especially addictive to most fish once they’ve got a taste for them. They are very good at holding fish in the swim for long periods, and while they are not so readily available as maggot, they have all the other attributes I mentioned, and in addition they will often sort out a better stamp of fish than maggot.

Swims

Choose a swim that is well within a float cast, and if that swim is close enough so that you don’t need to use the reel at all, then so much the better. Swinging the bait out, and then swinging a fish back to hand is the fastest, most efficient method of all for bagging up with fish up to about 4oz. Bigger than that and they have to be netted when fishing with very fine lines. It is also easier to feed accurately with loose feed, and you can fish extremely light. Very often the closest swims are the best for smaller fish anyhow, for the weedy margins are where they are usually found.

Setting Up

Set up with the rig shown in figure 1, but omit the bottom locking shot for the time being, and the top locking shot should be left quite loose, for the first job we’re going to do is plumb the swim. Pinch an SSG directly on the hook and begin plumbing. When you’ve found the exact depth remove the SSG and then slide the top locking shot up the line about two inches. Now position the bottom locking shot a 1/4 inch below the top shot with the float in between.

The bait and 2ins of line should lie on the bottom, if and when it gets there, for if we get the fish well on feed the bait will be taken before it reaches bottom. This is the idea of using only a small shot about half depth, and a tiny shot about 12 ins from the hook, allowing the bait to sink in two stages, following the mid-depth shot to half depth, and then sinking slowly the rest of the way to the bottom. If all goes well we will be catching on the bottom for the first 15 minutes or so, and then the fish will respond to the regular helpings of loose feed and groundbait and begin to rise to meet the bait as it sinks.

Groundbait


Red groundbait is great
You need a basic mix of 40% fine white crumb and 40% fine brown crumb. To this add 20% of one of the continental type feeds. I prefer a red one such as the Mr Wriggles Dog Nobbler and even a 20% addition of it gives you a distinctly red groundbait. The special ingredients in this mix helps the bait to break up, which is an important factor.

Now the important bit. Thoroughly mix all the dry ingredients together in a wide bowl. The collapsible canvas types you can buy from tackle shops are ideal. Now begin adding water a little at a time, all the while vigorously stirring and lifting the mixture. The idea is to get plenty of air into the mixture, hence the wide bowl and frequent lifting of the bait. Continue until you have a finished mixture that is a little on the dry side. If it holds together when squeezed with one hand then it’s about right. Give it ten minutes to soak thoroughly before you use it. The mixture and the method of mixing are designed to give you a groundbait that will begin to explode the moment it hits the water. This exploding will continue as the ball of bait sinks, sending a cloud of bait through the swim from surface to bottom.

Start the session with two or three balls of bait about the size of a golf ball. Then feed one in on a regular basis, with the aim of keeping a cloud of bait falling through the swim almost constantly. Of course, if you are getting only a few bites, cut down accordingly. Step up the rate of feed if the fish are mad on feed and you think they can stand a little extra. Don’t increase the feed by throwing in a bigger ball each time, but by feeding the same amount more often. Better to keep that cloud in the swim for a longer period rather than make a bigger cloud less often.

Technique


Pleasure angling for all ages
Cast to the far side of the swim, beyond the swim in fact, and then draw back until the float is lying over the near side of the swim. That way the tackle is straightened out and everything below the float sinks in a straight line. If you cast everything in a heap it is possible to get bites on the way down that you won’t see, for there is no direct contact with the float. There is a good reason for drawing the float back to the near side of the swim too. That way the bait is sinking well into the baited area (assuming you have been careful enough to bait no more than a 2ft to 3ft diameter circle) and when you hook a fish you will not be pulling it all the way through the remainder of the feeding shoal, but only from the near edge.

An alternative method of ensuring the tackle sinks in a straight line is to brake the cast over the point where you want it to land by holding a finger over the spool so that the line brushes over it, and then dropping it onto the spool when the tackle hangs over the right spot. This straightens everything out, and if you do it right it will alight gently on the surface too. The technique is known as feathering. This is the best method when it isn’t easy (due to distance or wind) to overcast to the far side of the swim and draw back. Otherwise, I prefer to overcast, for the reason that it allows me to sink the line as I draw back with the rod tip beneath the surface, a necessity when there is undertow or a choppy surface.

Set Your Stall

If you want to be really serious about bagging up – and why not, it’s fun! – then set your stall so that you will be deadly efficient. Stake your keepnet out so that the opening is in front and just to your left, and right below where you will be unhooking fish. Place your landing net so that it falls to hand without having to stretch to reach it. Position bait boxes and groundbait bowls so that your non-rod hand drops into them without looking, using a bait waiter or table if you have one. Have a disgorger in your breast pocket (rarely needed with barbless hooks). And have a towel over your knee to wipe your hand following groundbaiting and unhooking fish.

Above all, don’t get so carried away with catching fish you forget to keep up the baiting rhythm. It’s a mistake I see over and over again every season, and the first time you realise you’ve forgotten is when the bites dry up. And sometimes that’s too late!

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