River fishing is clear or coloured water better

Just getting into river fishing, I’ve spent many a year on ponds and the odd canal. But recently I’ve been trying out the local rivers. Everything water wise is pretty clear at the moment just a light cloud in the water.
So what do people find best gin clear or tea coloured? Just after rain or give it a day or two?
I’m using a porcupine quill at the moment should I change and what too.

Mate all the questions you ask are dependant on what your after and how you intend to fish,bait choices etc,to be honest I don't have a porcupine quill these days and on Wednesday I probably carried 350 floats,maybe more,my personal preference for bottom end floats is peacock quill,you need to define your question a little to get a decent answer.

rich66 said:

So what do people find best gin clear or tea coloured? Just after rain or give it a day or two?

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In my experience, it depends on the river and the time of year. There's certainly nothing set in stone. Some rivers fish really well with extra water. Some seem to respond better when it's on the rise, some when it's fining down. The biggest trick is learning where thye fish might be in different conditions.

rich66 said:

I’m using a porcupine quill at the moment should I change and what too.

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Float choice should depend on the swim in front of you and what you are trying to achieve. All I can say, with regards to a porcupine quill, is that I've never used one. Though I'm sure they have their uses, I doubt I ever will.

whitty said:

Mate all the questions you ask are dependant on what your after and how you intend to fish,bait choices etc,to be honest I don't have a porcupine quill these days and on Wednesday I probably carried 350 floats,maybe more,my personal preference for bottom end floats is peacock quill,you need to define your question a little to get a decent answer.

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Ok Whitty thanks I realise it’s rather an open ended question.
Just to define I’m interested at the moment in just catching a few of anything. Mainly Roach, Perch, Dace, maybe Chub. Thought I’d start with maggot or bread punch. Try trotting it down the swim.
I’ve spent most of my fishing time on Stillwater and Canal so it’s a learning curve. I prefer float to ledger.
Just the water colour when I was fishing the other day made me think.

I’m fairly new to river fishing myself. My local river (the Great Stour) runs gin clear through the Summer, for obvious reasons the fish are easier to locate but I find sometimes harder to catch.

It is the most exciting fishing though being able to sight fish and watch fish take your bait ( or not, more likely for me this Summer).

Clear water does allow you to map out the terrain so when it colours up you have a far better idea where you should be fishing.

My local river the middle Severn always has some colour in it , I find clearer conditions better for perch , coloured conditions best for barbel and fining down best for chub , roach etc . The thing is these are all really generalizations when you get to know a stretch of water you'll find places to catch fish in most conditions , often silver fish will be in a slack in flooded water and preps wont be far away , chub and barbel in a flow in normal conditions but in flood they may well be in the same slack . I prefer float fishing myself and would say always try to fish a float heavy enough to do the job , if in doubt go a bit heavier. Rivers are a moving changing enviroment and probably harder to fish than canals & stillwaters but I love fishing them and find rivers so rewarding for the effort you put

River fishing is where my heart is. I've caught in Gin clear and mud soup. With clear water, i find you have to approach the water SAS style and set up further back and not to cast a shadow over the water. When fishing coloured waters, i will sit there for an hour or so just looking around for any signs of movement. I do find it easier to fish coloured water. But that could be me. It's a good idea to try different baits, pellets, maggots and Casters. If you're not getting bites on caster then move to a different peg. As for using porcupine quills, i use them if there is very little tow. I even use small pole floats as well. I will say my porcupine quills are over 50 years old. I will not or try to buy new ones because it is banned by the law to farm or import these now. Get friendly with your local Zoo of kids farm where you can ask for fallen ones. These are OK and within the law.
To gain more experience in moving waters try different fishing depths and look how the water is moving and where the Eddys are, overhanging trees, bushes etc. This is known as "watercraft"
It all a learning curve and do not believe every video you may see on YouTube as most of the catches can take hours not to mention days to make. This is where the cutting floor comes into play.

Also forgot to mention it can also make a difference what shotting pattern you use I.e bulk or shirt style. Then the diameter of your main line. This depnds what you are targeting.

Again,shotting patterns are dependant on conditions,the wind and flows,depths,baits all have a bearing on how we shot up,an experienced river angler fishing with you would give you a great grounding,so the small variations can be found,going on your own can be difficult,because floats,shotting are often so different,if you are fishing top and bottom,or bottom end only all work brilliantly when done decently. River float fishing can be a very complex puzzle to sort out,but it really is a great pleasure,one I'd hate to lose,enjoy the learning and enjoy the challenge.

Thank you everyone for your helpful and informative replies.
It’s nice to see people’s enthusiasm come through. Looks like I’m starting a new journey in my angling life. Rather looking forward to it

I had some cracking fish in this summer's gin clear water down my little local river, as iain says it's all very SAS. And it's very exciting to see the fish you're after, especially on lures, and all very educational too. That said, I'm probably happier with a bit of extra water, if only because having swims deeper than 2ft suddenly opens up the chance to use different methods. To give one example, the roach are almost impossible during the shallow clear season, whereas last autumn/early winter i had a few days where they were one a cast.

Rich

I really only got into river float fishing in the last 10 years but wish I'd tried seriously so much earlier . Best advise I had was spend time on one stretch and get to know it , the river changes so much through a season so you won't get bored and the skills you learn on that stretch will obviously help as you move onto other stretches.