Shirt Button Shotting Patterns for Trotting

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

Or is it all a load of codswallop.

In the early days, many of us saw the shotting diagrams in Mr. Crabtree for fishing the Hants Avon. Then at a later stage we learned the designated number of shot, the size and the spacing in between by the top stick float devotees.

And in between all this lot, anglers such as **** Walker claimed it was all a load of tosh, bulked the shot about 10 inches from the hook and that was that.

As for myself I have shotted my trotting tackle both ways and caught plenty of fish both ways too.

But what do you think? Bulk shot or complicated shirt button style.

And recently I get the idea that we are coming to the end of the requirement for shot.

Extra Heavy Metal?

 

[Muffin]

Well I always struggle to give a fully detailed answer in response to questions of a technical nature such as this.

I think there are so many other variables that can affect your catch rate, that how do you know if its down to your shotting pattern or any of the other variables such as:

Luck, Location of fish at the time you cast, feeding, weather etc.

I've tried switching between the 2 types of shotting pattern and can say I have had much more luck with the bulk shotting option, but this could be due to the fact its more suited to the Bristol Avon.

I'm interested to hear other people's views.

 

[Beecy]

Bulk shooting well down or strung out patterns all have there uses in different situations, my preference more often than not for my style of fishing is strung out.

One thing ive been trying about with lately is the strung out shotting done the 'wrong way'

that is, i would regard standard strung out shoting as the gaps between shot get slightly larger the further you get from the hook, but when done this way and assuming you shot right up to the float and the shot are the same size, if you take a point half way then there will be more shot in the bottom half. So does this realy give the nice even arcedfall through the water that we imagine or as its drawn in the text books ?

to shot the 'wrong way' you reverse this and the gaps get slightly smaller as you move up from the hook, so you have more wieght in the top half

Having said that, Im a tinkerer, i often end a session with a totaly different shot pattern than when i started, im constantly messing about with shot trying to get what i think is the presentation the fish want

As you say Ron, could be a load of cobblers, who knows whether any adjustments actualty work ?, as once you change somthing and have a cast and get a bite theres no way you can know if you would have had the same bite had you not changed anything.

There was a brilliant article in the angling star a couple of years ago by Mark Wragg where hed been trying out various rigs in a swimming baths he was working at, the jist of it was that none of the rigs worked in the water the way we expect/imagine them to.

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

I think the best thing to do with some of these wonderful shotting patterns is to don snorkel and goggles and go down in a crystal clear chalkstream and see what really happens.

**** Walker did this years ago by the way.

 

[Mark Wintle]

Any decent match angler will tell you that both will work and that a good angler will have both set up and try both. Often, especially on deep rivers like the Bristol Avon, one will work best but using both will get you more fish which to a match angler is important.

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

I am not particularly interested in catching lots of fish. What I am interested in is catching the odd big fish.

The system using bunched shot makes it possible to convert to laying on in no time.

During our years of fishing the Idle togther, John Ledger spent virtually all his time trotting a stick float shotted shirt button style. He was darned good at it and caught more and often overall heavier bags than myself.

However I caught much the bigger fish, not just occasionally but most of the time.

 

[Chris Bettis]

Me, I go with **** Walker. Bulk the shot, stop mucking about with complicated shotting patterns involving tiny little shot, get on with the fishing and you will catch and as Ron has said you can switch to laying on so simply and probably catch better fish for doing so.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Well, I am of the same opinion as Mark.

When trotting I always have both set-up on identical rods, reels, line and floats. By switching between the two as you constantly loose feed you can stay in contact with the fish, and much quicker than having to fiddle around with moving shot; which weakens fine lines.

As you feed the fish will come higher in the water to intercept it, so, if you keep your shot bulked and continue to fish the depth then you are simply missing the 'feeding' layer - so why do that?

Walker was great, but he wasn't always right in all situations!

 

[Mark Wintle]

Morning, Peter.

Different floats I hope!

The principle is that even big fish getused to a certain presentation and although some will fall for a bait presented a certain way, by varying to something different you will fool some of the others. In shallowish (3 - 6 foot) clear water in summer this is a vital skill for catching big chub by floatfishing. I've watched the beggars avoiding the hook with a bait but by varying presentation especially including variations of on-the-drop eventually fooled them.

Let those that know no better remain inexperienced and ignorant; all the more fish for the more skillful!

 

[Jon Jagger]

If you want to see the effect of different shotting patterns and don't fancy snorkelling another possibility is to wait till the water is really clear and use a highly visible line (eg Maxima red).

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

Interesting post Mark.

Pete Jacobs will remember the chub I caught at Britford by dispensing with the float entirely and sending a single maggot down to then by holding it in the stream with a long rod.

When I trotted a bait to them. they seperated and watched the tackle go past in disgust.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Morning Mark,

Same pattern of float but in different sizes.



Ron,

I remember that Chub, and how still and quiet you had to remain for ages.

 

[Ron 'The Hat' Clay (ACA)]

I got two of them Peter.

They were not very big, but it didn't matter, they were hard won and that means a lot in angling. I have had many chub some of them much bigger than those, since then, but quite honestly I have forgotten about them.

Not so those Avon chub.

 

[steve smith]

Im not a good river float angler by anybodys standards but i prefer bulked shot, i have recently tried a decent sized olivette and a single dropper and it seems to go through a bit steadier than bulked shot, i couldnt get through the perch though, the Idle is busted with them at present.

 

[Tee-Cee]

I have always thought bulk shot was used primarily to get the bait down to the bottom as quickly as possible in deep(ish)fast water and shirt button style was primarily to allow the bait to be held backperiodically as the bait traveled down the swim in water up to 8' deep or so allowing it to rise up in the water for a given period.I am not a diver so this may well be rubbish but one has to start somewhere..........

I realise one cannot be pedantic about these things and a great deal of tosh is written by those whose name sits on the side of various patterns of float but the principle above has served me well over the years and I see no real reason to change UNLESS someone can persuade me by reasoning-I am ALWAYS willing to learn..........

I can recall reading many articles my Ivan Marks,RW and many,many others on this subject and although I learnt much from them,I have found,as with most things in life that keeping an open mind on choice of float,shotting etc and experimenting if bites do not come is the best way to go.Perhaps my early background in match fishing where flexibility in thought generally put fish in the bank has helped me think about what is in front of me-above and below the water.

I have to say I have lost count of the times when I have watched anglers use the same float etc for hours without a bite,never thinking to make adjustments to type of float or depth fished or even regular plumbing over a wide areato improve chances eventually going home muttering about crap water and lack of fish.

Perhaps it comes down to how much you want something and how much effort required to achieve it or,God forbid,how lazy you are in mind and action..................

By the way;how many people use a tell-tale dust shot just above the hook as a so-called first indication of a bite....................I'd be interested to hear...

Long live the thinking angler,many of whom have written good stuff above....

 

[slime monster]

nothing is black and white in angling this is part of the attraction to the thinking angler shotting patterns are an example what ,works one week on a peg may not the next so it is almost impossible to be ioo% correct in predicting what will work and what wont common sense and experience will usually get it right quickly but not allways.

 

[Gary Dolman]

Mark raised a good point here, but I am afraid he rises to Mr Clay's bait every time. If you take the time to watch a really good float fisherman, and 99 times out of a hundred he will be a match or ex match angler, they are constantly making adjusments to the tackle. Changing depth, position of shots etc, just like Mike Brearley with his field placings, when he was England captain.

Fish do wise up to how a bait comes through the swim, especially roach, and a small change can get you a few more fish, when you thought that the swim had died on you. Also changing your feeding pattern can have the same result, and as for matchmen not trying to be selective in their fishing, this is a load of tosh, it is much easier to get a weight of fish with better quality specimens, than with tiddlers.

 

[Mark Wintle]

Gary,
Ron's bait is stale but he keeps proving that his experience with stick floats is limited to using it as a trotting float when it is much more in the hands of an expert.

 

[mike Gibson]

As a rule of thumb I will shot shirt button style. However on a particularly deep and fast stretch, or I’m being bothered by tiddlers and need to get the bait down quickly I’ll fish with bulk shot about six inches from the hook.

 

[Gary Dolman]

The problem is that nowadays there are far fewer river float fishermen, and so a lot of the skills have been lost. I used to match fish, mainly in the 70,s, and predominantly on the trent, and apart from a few exceptions if you couldn't fish a range of top & bottom floats and the waggler, you would not win any cash. To watch some of the trentmen and sheffield anglers fishing was poetry in motion.

But even the greats got it wrong sometimes and I saw Dave Thomas, when he was in his prime, underperform from a well known swim, at Swarkestone, when he refused to take local advice & used bronze maggots, instead of hemp & casters. His presentation was superb, but he only caught dace & small roach, perhaps he was fishing to a team plan.

The stick float in all it's variants is a superb tool, but it takes years of practice to make it talk to you