shotting patterns

Went to my club water today for the first time after tench/bream/carp or basically what ever came by and fished in approx 6 foot of water just off the bottom using maggots and corn the set up was a couple of shot to hold the float in position the rest about 18" from the hook ,the four bites i managed to get resulted in 1 lost fish 2 missed bites and a nice little mirror about 3lb the bites were to say the least so slow and my thoughts were is my shot patterning making them hard to hit , some of them were very slight lift bites but they were impossible to hit has any one any thoughts , many thanks

You could try your last shot about six inches from your hook, but have the shot just off bottom but so that the hook is on the bottom. That will register a clearer lift bite when a fish picks the bait up. Or the float will zoom under.

Thanks Baz ,i`ll give it a go, i spoke to another guy and he told me only one other angler caught today so perhaps it was just one of those days

If no-one else was catching, your "lift bites" may not have been proper bites anyway, could just be fish brushing past the line holding the shot up.


Its always difficult to get the shotting right on hard days as you dont get enough indications to be able to figure it out by experimenting.

Wait till the fish are having it a bit better, then play around with different set ups, this way, on the harder days you will be using a set up you know works.

you could try using a driftbeater type float,the drennan ones are excellent and i think middy make one as well. providing you shot it correctly lift bites with these are unmissable plus you get the sail away bites as well.

a up mate. I fish in 4ft water depht mainly after tench, my float takes 3 bbs,2bbs go directly under my float, my 3rd bb is 4inches from my hook, i fish slightly over depth by about 1 to 2 inches so my 3rd bb is sitting on the bed. it registers a good lift bite. Hope that makes sense. Jeff...