A few newbie questions

[fishydave]

Hello .

Took up fishing a few months ago float fishing to be precise . All has gone well so far . Decided to try ledger fishing and well I'm so confused.

I got myself a quiver tip rod , a 3oz weight and rigged up . I felt like the weight was too much considering I'm fishing quite a small river but any tips on this kind of fishing ? Or useful setups ? I'm feeling really out of my depth with this ledgering but really want to crack it . My rig was basic with the weight on mainline , stopped with a shot and then a hook link attached to a swivel . Bait I tried a few things from bread to corn to spam to maggots and had nothing . I understand I'm probably doing something wrong .

Secondly I've never had an issue float fishing but today just wasn't happening. I changed depths , shouting pattern anything I could think of and nothing helped . I could see the fish taking the couple of feeder maggots but they would look at the ones on my hook and avoid . I've never had this before and wondered if anybody else had ? It seemed really odd . I did catch a couple of fish but I felt there should of been more the swim was active enough. I figured it's probably something I'm doing wrong. The conditions were pretty poor today quite windy and dull. Bites just seemed hard to come by .

Any help/ advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Keith M]

The lead sounds far too large for a smallish river like the one your fishing.

Here’s some simple leger rigs for you to try.

On smaller rivers I use a small weight from just a few SSG shot on a small link up to around ‘half an ounce’ and up to an ounce or just over maximum when the flow is fairly strong after prolonged rain.

As a rule I will use just enough weight to just be able to hold still in the flow. I think anything more than that is pointless anyway; and I don’t use bolt rigs on these types of water.

I personally like to have my weight so that when I raise my rod tip my weight will start to trundle a few inches downstream and then stop again.




Hope this helps
Tight lines
Keith

 

[fishydave]

The lead sounds far too large for a smallish river like the one your fishing.

Here’s some simple leger rigs for you to try.

I use small weights from just a few SSG shot up to around ‘half an ounce’ and up to an ounce maximum when the flow is fairly strong after prolonged rain.

As a rule I wil use just enough weight to just be able to hold still in the flow.



Tight lines
Keith

Thank you it felt far too large if I'm being honest . I'll grab some smaller ones too and see if they feel any better . I pretty much had the simple ledger so at least I got that part right . I'll keep experimenting ! Thank you for the help .

 

[@Clive]

Try maggot feeders if you are fishing maggots on the hook. Keep the hook link short, no more than 12" so the bait is close to the feeder. Or pack some maggots amongst your groundbait and make sure that plenty go in the feeder.

Regards the fish refusing your bait; it might be that your shot is taking the bait down unnaturally. Put the bulk shot just under half way down. Then in the last 24" put one no 4 shot and two tiny no 8 shot spaced equally. If your float has a fine antenna you should see each shot settle the float lower. Strike at any unnatural movement.

 

[fishydave]

Try maggot feeders if you are fishing maggots on the hook. Keep the hook link short, no more than 12" so the bait is close to the feeder. Or pack some maggots amongst your groundbait and make sure that plenty go in the feeder.

Regards the fish refusing your bait; it might be that your shot is taking the bait down unnaturally. Put the bulk shot just under half way down. Then in the last 24" put one no 4 shot and two tiny no 8 shot spaced equally. If your float has a fine antenna you should see each shot settle the float lower. Strike at any unnatural movement.

Thank you for the advice I'll get a feeder and give that a go . Seems like a crucial part of it . I'm happy to keep experimenting untill I find the sweet spot for me . I was this confused about float fishing to start with but understand the majority of it now .


Thank you I'll try that I did try move the shot up and have very little down the line but this didn't seem to make a difference. They just seemed alot more aware that the hook was there than usual . I'll return and try the shot pattern you suggested and see how that pans out .

Thanks for the advice it's much appreciated. I have to say the fishing community is amazing I'm so glad I found this hobby everybody I've met has been superb.

 

[@Clive]

If it isn't the speed of descent that is putting them off then it maybe your hook link is too obvious. Try going down to 18 or 20 hooks on 2lb line. I prefer to buy ready tied ones rather than tie the small sizes myself.

 

[rob48]

Only use enough weight to just hold bottom, then feed a bow into the line until the current starts to move the rig a very small amount. Raise your rod a little in the rest to take some more line off the water and most bites should then see the fish hook themselves when the line goes slack. Don't strike this as the fish will probably be already hooked.