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On my local Barbel stream the Barbel are often moving up and down way off of the bottom; as well as moving along on the bottom and we do use shirt button style shotting patterns quite a lot of the time especially if we think the Barbel are getting a bit wary of baits being presented on the bottom; or we are chasing Chub or Dace at any depth; although I’m often using bulk shotting plus droppers to get my bait down fast just like Tigger does. Here are the shotting patterns that I’ve used although I’m usually using the bulk shot pattern on the right. Heres a figure showing the standard shotting patterns that I use on relatively shallow lakes which can show bites from high up in the water right down to the bottom. One golden rule that Ivan Marks once said is ‘never place a shot in any position without a specific reason for it being there; if it doesn’t serve a specific reason to be in that position then it shouldn’t be there in the first place’ Keith

For what it's worth, and just my opinion of course, when trotting I virtually always use bulk and a dropper. Occassionaly i'll slide shot around but I usually always finnish up back to the bulk and dropper. The flow and depth of the water will determine how big a float and what shot sizes I use etc. Again "JMO", all that shirt button shotting is just a load of old tosh, it might look fancy but it certainley never caught me any more fish, quite the opposite infact. Most fish on the river feed on or close to the bottom and so it makes sense to get the bait down there asap, you can still hold back to alter the presentation of your bait. On the rivers I fish that catches me all the species that inhabit them from gudgeon to dace, grayling and perch etc. The still water method with no shot on line line is great, but, as with other methods it is only productive in the right conditions. I often use the method when fishing on the deck, just float legering really, even loose the float and just watch the line as it hangs from tip, or where it leaves the water with maybe a little slack laying on the surface. It's a method you will need to practice and you will just instinctively know when your getting things right ??.

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