Shot Alternatives

[BapAndFuro]

I went fishing last Friday and was float fishing. The week before I was using a float as well, and needed about 7 or 8 medium sized shots to make the right amount of weight.

So on Friday I used the lightest float I had with the smallest shots I could manage to attach to the line and the float only had a tiny orange tip showing. When I tried to cast it only went about 5 metres at the most. If I put on more weight the float sunk.

Is there an alternative to shots that can be used for the same purpose or an easier way to do it? I also use shots to hold feeders in place and stuff like that.

 

[chub angler]

you need a bigger float not more shot if you read the float most floats tell you how much to load on them.

 

[Max]

What size of weights were you using? no4 no6 etc, what weight was the float marked up with?

 

[BapAndFuro]

The float had no words or markings on it.

 

[Fred Bonney]

I think we need to start from scratch B&F.

Are you fishing a large or small water, what fish are you after and how deep is the water?

Why do you need to cast over 5metres?

Not being a fan of split shot myself, I think you need to re-think the way you secure a feeder too, why use split shot?.

Just fill us in with a bit more detail, and we can work it out from there.

 

[BapAndFuro]

I was fishing a small lake and the water was about 4 feet deep. I wanted to fish in the middle of the lake but whenever I cast it was so light the wind blew the float around and didn't go anywhere.

I don't have anything else to use a running feeder rig. I use line, shot, feeder, shot, line, swivel, line, hook.

 

[slime monster]

A simple way of fixing a feeder / bomb is to use what is called a paternoster ,the easiest way to set this up is to tie a four turn loop in the main line about 12 inch ..300mm from the end then tie a snap swivel to the end of the line6 inches ..150 mm from the loop.attach the weaker hook length loop to loop ..that's it

Re float fishing i advise you to look at the help offered in this site via the home page.

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

1, Why fish in the middle of the Lake?

2, Buy yourself some Heavy Metal Extra, made by Kryston, it doesn't damage the line, and you can use as much or as little as you want.

 

[Grumpy Git @]

As Fred said, start at the beginning............

If you need to cast a long way you will need a bigger float than short casts because the extra weight helps the cast. One trick is to use a nail (with the head cut off) for weight, held on your line with silicon rubbers then just a couple of split shot for fine tuning.

So, big floats for long casts, small floats for close in. The depth doesn't matter at all as long as the fine tuning is done.

 

[Stealph Viper]

For Feeder fishing, slide2 rubber float stops on to your mainline, thenslide a link swivel on to your mainline, you can then attach either a lead weight or a feeder to the link swivel, slide a rubber bead "what i call a buffer bead" on to your mainline,then tie your mainline to a swivel. This way if your mainline does happen to snap the 2 float stops and the link swivelwhich has either your lead weight or your feeder attached to it and the buffer bead will easily slide off your mainline, and the fish will not be towing it about the lake "safety first at all times". Then simply tie your hook length of a lesser breaking strain than your mainline to the other end of the swivel and away you go a good clean easy safe feeder set up.

You can buy small dumpy floats that still require a lot of weight to cock the float but all you really need is a correctly balanced set up when float fishing. It is not the weight of the shot that the fish feel but the weight of the float, if you can get this correctly balanced the resistance of the float is minimal. Put enough shot on to the mainline so that only a small amount of the float tip is showing, you want at least 90% of the floats shotting capacity around where the base of the floatis.On windy days use straight waggler floats or drift beaters and on calmer days use an insert waggler float. Use the correct size float for the distance and conditions and depth you want to fish and it shouldn't be a problem as to the amount of shot required to cock the float.

You can also buy loaded wagglers that already have a percentage of the floats shotting capacity built in to the float, and all you do is add a few smaller weights to shot the float correctly.

Tight lines /forum/smilies/devil_smiley.gif

 

[Max]

How far is the middle of the lake?
The best way is to group any shot around the float and then have the droppers down the line, if you are trying to cast to the fish maybe try and draw them in a bit closer,. Remeber to feather your line before it hits the water so that the rig lands in a straight line and does not taffle up.
you can also bulk the droppers up a little to make the bait sink faster or even fish with a minmum amount of droppers for a slow sink, fishing on the drop as such.
I mainly used 3 bb 3 aa 4 aa floats for distance work and i would then split one shot of the weights down .

 

[Graham Whatmore]

There comes a point when fishing at distance when it is far better to use a light ledger/feeder setup and if you are finding it difficult to cast to the required area then you have reached that point. Fishing at great distances is fraught with problems andnot just in the actual casting, if you are fishing so far away that you can barely reach it how are you going to accurately feed the float area for instance? Yes you can lay down a groundbaited area but you wouldn't really want to drop balls of groundbait on top of feeding fish when the area needs a topping up.

Wind affects stillwater by causing a tow and at long distance this one problem alone can be hard to surmount usually resulting in sensitivty being compromised and another reason to use a light ledger/feeder.Wind, any wind, can make casting accurately a complete lottery when float fishing at great distance and yet again the wise angler changes to the light ledger/feeder. If you are fishing and feeding maggots then three to four rod lengths is about the furthest you can catapult maggots with any accuracy even in the lightest wind.

My advice to you is, if you are finding it a problem to cast to the middle then change to the light ledger/feeder using a 1oz or less tip for sensitivity, you know it makes sense.

 

[BapAndFuro]

The lake I was fishing on is only about 10m wide so I was trying to fish in the middle where the carp bubbles were. I had groundbaited the area earlier but I just couldn't get the float out far enough.

I have tried using a float with a weight already on it but I couldn't attach weights small enough to keep the float above water level.

 

[Dave Slater]

For the float you could try fishing over depth and over shotting. If you are casting to carp bubbles I would expect the takes to be positive so a bit of weight won't harm. For the feeder if you already have your hooklinks made up with a swivel on the end you could try just putting a bead below the feeder and tying the line to the swivel. I usually use a palomar knot for this.

 

[Barry Edney]

If the carp are bubbling over your groundbait you try baiting up closer in. They will come right in to the margins if its quiet and you keep a low profile.

As for the weights taking your loaded float under.... this is where the silicon float stops come into their own. Its what they were invented for, but they are also useful for feeder fishing.

 

[BapAndFuro]

In the margins I could see constant carp bubbles, and after a few minutes I caught a small carp. After that I could still see loads of carp bubbles but I didn't get any bites. I tried shortening the hooklength but that didn't help either.