River advice

[bazzab]

Hi all. As previously posted im pretty much a newbie angler.

All of fishing I've been doing has been on commercial lakes. I am going to venture to my local river in next couple of weeks. But don't want to turn up without seeking some advice.

So any one any advice on methods, baits, what to look for etc? I have feeder rod, match rod and 11m pole.

I know its a big question to ask, like how deep is a hole type job. But ya don't ask and all that.

Kind regards.

Bazza.

[chav professor]

is your focus pleasure, as in fishing for bits or specialist specifically targeting bigger fish?

[bazzab]

Mmmm good question sir. To be honest im happy to catch whatever really. As a newbie a fish is a fish Hahaha. I would eventually like to be able to target specific bigger fish but am aware i need to walk before i run.

I have never fished a match before and am working towards that also.

ATVB

Bazza.

[chav professor]

In that case Sir, its easy..... fish maggots and a wagler. find a bit of river where the flow is not too fast (behind a bend or obsticle), set the float at depth to start of with.... but feed maggots well upstream (imagine where they will fall on the river bed - ideally where your float will trot past).

River fish will take a bait at any depth, smaller fish tend to take a bait on the drop.. Bigger fish mope around on the deck. You can change the depth of the float to fish up in the water - but find the depth first as a reference.

Tackle: Match rod, reel with 3.2lb line, waglers (around 4BB shot - good for casting 2/3 rod lengths). Put all the big shot to fix the wagler float in place and use no.8 Dust shot (3 or 4) down the line to the hook to present the maggot hook bait on the drop naturally. As for hooks? good quality Kamasan or similar in size 18 to 1lb14oz hook link or similar.

If the bites dry up - you mention you have a feeder rod... Bang out a small maggot feeder over where you were trotting a float and you may pick up some bigger bonus fish.

As for bait quantities... it depends... I would take 2 pints of maggots.. (if I'm flush may treat myself to 4 pints)

Top tip.... travel light. If you don't catch... or stop catching.... MOVE!!!

If I were to suggest some google key words, there should be good advice on the basics in more detail: 'Wagler floats', 'plumbing a swim', 'shotting patterns float fishing'

[balalur]

Top advice from Christian(aka "chav professor")that I totally agree with but I think you could increase your chances a bit(especially in the warm summer weather when the river is running low) by finding the deep pools or holes in the river and fish them.
A deep pool is usually where the water flow seems to stop/slow flow,the water has a darker color and there are very few weeds if any(there may be some on the bankside though).Once you find such a place plumb the water (if you don't have a plummet no worry,just fix a couple of swan shots close to the hook) and feed maggots for 5 minutes(a pinch of maggots every 30-60 sec),then fish.If you don't catch any in 10 minutes move to a different spot.
As previously said travel light-rod,landing net,small rucksack (with water/food,maggots box,box of shot,hooks to nylon,spare mainline spool for your reel because you may get a few tangles/snags).A pair a polaroid glasses would be very helpful also...
You could get more help if you mention which river you intend to fish or what size it is...best of luck!

[bazzab]

WOW WOW WOW. What a fantastic reply. That's really really helpful sir. Thank you very very very very very much. I really appreciate that.

Waggler it is then. I do like waggler fishing.

Do you think ground bait and drop of hemp be worth popping in to?

Huge thanks again.

Bazza.

---------- Post added at 03:24 ---------- Previous post was at 03:21 ----------

Ah yes fair point. Going to fish the Ouse running threw back of priory marina park. Is a fair old size river. Prob 20/30 feet wide (not very good at judging distance though) Went for a walk weekend it was moving fairly quick but not too quick i think.

Sounds like a good idea to try looking for pools.

Kind regards.

Barry.

[Sean Meeghan]

The river at that point will be fairly slow flowing without a lot of obvious features. Fishing the waggler or stick float will work well, but you'll probably have to build a swim.

Fish a line about a third of the way across the river (a little closer on the stick float) and feed maggots little and often, no more than 10 at a time. Keep this up and you should start to get bites from roach, chub and skimmers. If the wind is too strong or you get pestered with bleak and other nuisances, maggot feeder on a light quiver tip rod might be better.

[mark brailsford 2]

You will allways get sound advice from the good guy's on here mate
I only started fishing rivers seriously a few years ago and boy did I pick a good river...the Ribble! it is not really a beginners river as the river bed goes from one extreme to the other depth wise but you get there in the end and I caught a really big barbel last season which really put the icing on the cake for me, so just keep at it

[itsfishingnotcatching]

Originally Posted by chav professor

Put all the big shot to fix the wagler float in place and use no.8 Dust shot (3 or 4) down the line to the hook to present the maggot hook bait on the drop naturally.

Often see this in magazines Christian and I've meant to ask this question before, I can understand button hole shotting to sink the bait gradually but even the weight of the hook will cause bait to fall at a slightly faster rate than the loose samples. Fishing stillwaters I rarely have any shot further than around 9" (225mm) below the float. This allows the bait to fall more slowly and will give a chance of fish taking the bait on the drop, i.e. breadflake when carp are up in the water or maggots if rudd are feeding.

On a river is this done to try to enable the hook bait and loose feed to intersect in the area you anticipate the fish to be?

[chav professor]

The shirt button is often referred to specifically when fishing a stick float. In reality, the shotting pattern is the area I focus most on to keep fish coming.... I start of shirt button, not equally spaced, otherwise get tangles on the cast. I change the position of the shot throughout a session till I get it right/need to change the presentation slightly to the fishes liking.

If you want to get the bait down fast, I slide a weight off the float to over half depth. On still waters I watch the shot registering on the float on the way down - any interruption could be a fish, so I strike.

If I 'shirt button' on a still water I may have a pair of no.8 shot, a single 8 shot going down to a fine dust shot 18" from the hook. Rivers, I am a bit coarser using no.6 shot down to no.8. If fishing up in the water (18") on a still water, no shot down the line at all.

When using a Loafer float for Chub (for example a 4 swan shot float with bread flake) the shot is bulked (3 swan shot) at two thirds depth, with a string of AA or BB (depending on clarity of water) 8 inches from the hook.

Mono line does have some inherent buoyancy and I feel some shot is needed to make the maggot fall in unison with the free offerings.... specifically the fall of the maggot presentation at the desired depth.