Trotting tips

I am formulating my minimalist approach to the above so have a question to ask. I plan to trot in about 2'feet of water ( might be 3' in parts) with the one rod and reel but may want to switch to a simple link leger if this fails and revert back again when I move swim. Could I just move the float up the line so it lies flat on the surface ( would it do so) whilst legering and then back down again when trotting?

Would I be better taking off the float entirely just leaving the rubbers ? A float connected with an adaptor is easier methinks!

Being the lazy angler that I am I have often switched between float and lead just by removing the float from the rubbers.

A man after my own heart John!

I once made this retort to someone asking me about organ donation!

Mike, leave the float on and fish overdepth...laying on is the term used to describe it.

Thanks Ian! I knew this proposal wasn't a groundbreaking plan on my part!

There's even a name for it

Just what is stret-pegging?

I used to fish a small river much like that> I used to tie on a stop knot and leave a long tail on the downward pointing end, the bulk shot for trotting was on this tail. as I fished into the dark and float fishing became difficult the float, usually a chubber/loafer type, was taken out of the rubbers the knot slid up the line,some times extra lead was needed, and your link legering. Obviously there's no need to pull the stop knot too tight but unless you put too much weight on it, it won't slide.
I often use this arrangement when just trotting when I want a bulk shot, there si a theoretical advantage in that the fish does feel the inertia of the shot, but I expect the actual advantage is very small, in this case I usually tie the main line to a small swivel, leaving a long tail again, and attach the hooklengh to the swivel.

Best tip I can think of is don't overfeed you animal before trotting

I won't Graham but when I am next at Le Hippodrome in Cagnes sur Mer I will have a bet on the trotting in your honour . That is a good night out !

You could try a pole rig winder and a handy rubber band. Very easy to loop pre-tied float rig on and off in short time.

I have an old bottom section from a stick float rod that I cut some four inches above the cork handle. I fitted it to the bottom of my shimano aero match mid section. It makes a fair decant little bomb rod that has done me ok at times. Not quite an answer to the op but it saves carrying two rods as the spare butt section fits in the shimano rod bag.

Hi Mike, As suggested, there's plenty of scope for creativity in making a "convertible" set up, from float-legering to quick-swap arrangements.

If I'm guessing right, though, you're thinking of fishing the Dane, and there are a couple of reasons why it's hard to come up with a satisfactory way to make one rod with variable end tackle cover what you need on that river.

Usually, stick float approaches aim to catch mixed small to medium fish, typically a mix of grayling (the higher upstream, the more of these), roach, dace and chublets. It works best with lightish gear, light line and small hooks, such as 2.5lb line and size 18 hooks. The fish come to your loose feed, and you're catching just a few yards down from your rod end. As Mr May was doing in that video.

Legering, unless for barbel , is usually aimed at chub, and needs a heavier set up - as much as 4-6lb line and a size 10 hook for bigger baits like bread.
The chub don't tend to come up close like the smaller fish, and you usually find yourself fishing a leger, or very small feeder, down your swim to a feature or down and across the river to the far bank.

The upshot is that while you can take your float off and improvise a leger from it, it wouldn't really be right for the chub - perhaps just a less efficient way to catch the smaller fish, which can become harder to catch on the lead.

And going the other way - adding a light float to your heavier chub set up, wouldn't make a a good small fish set up.

Sorry if that's a bit long-winded. But I found I needed two rods if I really wanted to do fish both ways and not be too compromised. But my Dane leger rod was a lightweight 9' job with a small reel, so taking it along wasn't a big chore, and the rest amounted to a bag of liquidised bread, a few slices for bait and 3 or 4 little cage feeders.

There is a third way; once you get to know the stretches, you will find there are swims where the chub can be caught in open water on the float, and then you can just beef up your stick float gear a bit. But by it's serpentine and delightfully overgrown nature, in a lot of swims the chub are hooked by the snags.

It's a lovely river, and for all that I'm surrounded by them here, I miss fishing it.

I've fished that rive a number of times Kev and the fish weren't line shy in the slightest, even the small dace! I used a 2 or 3 gramme avon float and 4 or 6lb line straight through for the biggest part and it pretty much covered the spectrum of fish present in the river safely. Even on 6lb line got peaterd with minows.
If I wanted to fish static on the bottom I removed the float and either had my shot bulked or folded a bit of line over my mainline and added shot to it creating a running rig. I then pushed the float up the line until the float half cocked with a tight line to the rod tip. Wether I had the weights bulked and fixed on my line or had them on a link the result was pretty much the same, the float would either cock and disapear or flop over flat as a fish took my bait. I fished that way many times and it works a treat and also saves the aggro of carrying extra gear.
Obviously that's just my personal way of doing things The reason I operate like this is because I walk quite long distances and fiah many different swims in a session and the amount of gear I carry needs to be as minimal as possible.

tigger said:

I've fished that rive a number of times Kev and the fish weren't line shy in the slightest, even the small dace! I used a 2 or 3 gramme avon float and 4 or 6lb line straight through for the biggest part and it pretty much covered the spectrum of fish present in the river safely. Even on 6lb line got peaterd with minows.
If I wanted to fish static on the bottom I removed the float and either had my shot bulked or folded a bit of line over my mainline and added shot to it creating a running rig. I then pushed the float up the line until the float half cocked with a tight line to the rod tip. Wether I had the weights bulked and fixed on my line or had them on a link the result was pretty much the same, the float would either cock and disapear or flop over flat as a fish took my bait. I fished that way many times and it works a treat and also saves the aggro of carrying extra gear.
Obviously that's just my personal way of doing things The reason I operate like this is because I walk quite long distances and fiah many different swims in a session and the amount of gear I carry needs to be as minimal as possible.

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Fair enough, Ian. I could be using the wrong make of line :wh were you fishing the "top half" of the river more? I can say I never caught a minnow on the Dane, and I fished from Northwich to Holmes Chapel. I used to find that lower down, in the Northwich area, where catches tended to be mixed bags rather than chub, the results were definitely better on lighter gear. As usual for me, since walking to the river as opposed to walking along it is the issue, I also tend to plan for catching as much as I can from a given swim rather than getting the first couple then moving on. I can see exactly how the set up you describe can work, but I'm wondering how easy it is for an angler new to river fishing, compared to flicking a little bomb or tiny feeder, for swims where you need to fish down and across into a little gap, or down the swim and nearly "round the corner", tight to cover on the far bank and so on? the float-legering sounds a bit trickier. Anyway, interesting stuff, and isn't it a great little river?

rubio said:

You could try a pole rig winder and a handy rubber band. Very easy to loop pre-tied float rig on and off in short time.

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I cannot envisage how that works!

Thanks Kev and Ian for your helpful comments. I was hoping to use just one rod and that remains the plan. If i get there, i will start out trotting various swims and then switch to a link leger or feeder and fish straight through with no lighter hooklink. I want to try my new pin!

I will use the 11' darent valley rod which can be used as a float rod and a tip rod. If a calamity befalls it as i wrestle with fences, banks and trees it will not be the end of the world!

mikench said:

I cannot envisage how that works!

!

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You can keep made-up float rigs on winders used by pole anglers. It saves you tying hooks, adding hooklengths, adding shot etc on the bank. Here's some I made earlier






To attach your rig without risk of tangling it all up, tie a large-ish loop on the end of your reel line. Take the smaller loop you have tied on the end of your made-up rig and pass it over the big loop. Then put the whole winder, with the rig still wound around it, through the big loop. Pull the loops together and unwind your rig.

You'll have rig and mainline attached exactly as you would loop-to-loop a hooklength.


I don't always put floats on winders, but for travelling light and cold weather, when rigging up is a pain, it's really handy.

I still have a lot to learn Kev

Don't we all!

Certainly true of me.
Any advice I've got to pass on is definitely something someone else has told me.
Questions and confused looks I can produce for myself.

Anyone have any tips for trotting a swim where the depth is variable?

I've got one that starts very shallow but goes into a nice deeper pool - a direct cast there isn't possible because of overhangs.

And another which starts off fairly deep but then gradually shallows off.