Jason

It would be for Still waters fishing.

Can anyone recommend a good float for silverfish, perch, gudgeon. Most of the floats in my local tackle shop are quite big and I feel I am missing bites when fishing due to their size. Any recommendations would be great. TJ

On the kennet and avon canal I have caught small/large roach, perch, rudd, bream, large tench and carp on just a night float, in the margins, middle and far bank. Usings Maggot, caster, worm, sweetcorn as baits. If you can find a boat mored up and put a runner out near or under that then you should get good carp. Best results are a reeds or lilly pads swim. Tench and perch love them. At night you could catch good to large Eel, Ive had some big ones on maggot. NOTE: Just put some cones or other signes up a fue meters from your tent/gear for early bikers etc, they can come out of nowhere and at speeds. Good luck fishing. TJ

I am selling 1x Free Spirit hi-s Special power float rod. 15ft. New, never used, still in original packaging. Comes complete with carry case. Free post to any uk location. RRP £275 I will acept £200 as a offer. If interested see link below. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Free-Spirit-Hi-S-Spe...=item27ba59c1e5 TJ

Ta for that. One of the biggest problems I have on the canal is baiting a area. Not hard to do, but when the canal boats go by and the locks open up You can see the bait kicking up off the ground. One solution is to use feeders on backleads but it is still a right pain with the boats.

In the past years I have had alot of success catching tench. The only differance is that this year I have fished canals only. I dont knoe if there are less tench in them or more, or if they are just more shy due to narrow boat activity but other than 2 ive had nothing. I fish for them on float with either sweetcorn or worm. This has resulted in nice bream tho. If you don't mind me asking how do you fish for tench?

TENCH Although I did catch 2x this past weekend but prior to that nothing all year. Simply frustrating. Bubbles but nothing........

UPDATE Over the bank holiday I have had better sucess hooking and catching the fish. I think it is down to 2 things. 1. I bought a new packet of Drennan hook to nylon size 18 on 2lb 10oz line. 2. I was fishing In the middle of the canal and not in close in the margins. Im putting my previous miss hooks down to blunt hooks (like recommended) and not enough line between rod tip and float. I fished friday, saterday and monday will great sucess. Netting in total 17lbs of fish from roach, dace, perch, bream, hybrids, 2x tench (3&3.5lb) and 1 carp (6lb) over 3 days of fishing. Useing Caster & Maggot. Thumbs up, hopefully it won't happen too much in the future. Thanks for help. TJ

Cant comment on a pole, but I have caught quite a fue fish in the margins in shallow water. A favorite tactic of mine is dog biscuit or sugarpuff on serface control float. Ive had several carp on that. 3-5lb line Netting anything from 3-17lb common and mirror. (Im presuming the 5-20lb you mentioned are carp). Even Fishing in close with a float. - I was once using a 12ft float rod on 12oz line with my younger cousin catching gudgeon and dace and he hooked and landed a 1lb 10oz perch in 1 foot of water! It can be done. And for your £70 you could get a decent rod and reel. And with a extra £10 you could buy all the nesecarry terminal tackle. Drennan have just released their Series 7 RED range if Im not mistaken. Seems to be a good entry level buy............ TJ

I was unsure if it was worth the buy. They are not expensive but I thought that the concept was very good. Generaly the useual method of just flinging maggots and casters out to where your float is would serfice. I could see the feeder float becoming more usefull at longer distance float fishing. Im not the best at slingshoting the maggots, casters, hemp out so a float based feeder could work to an advantage there. I might just buy one for the hell of it to see what they are like. I imagins shotting the float would be difficult, from the closed end feeder going from full to empty. - Could be fun.... TJ

Out of the 3 listed I would got with the Shimano. But I will recommend the ESP Reflex 2.75tc rods. Ive got 2x, paid £85 each about 2 years ago. Caught many carp, bream and tench off the pair. 12ft long, well built and for the money I think they are very good. ESP Sniper are also a good line of rods IMO.

I would also say it was a roach. Cracking fish mate, well done! TJ

Basicaly ive seen a fue examples of feeder floats recently. Ive not personaly used them and quite simply put, Do they work? Fish I target are silverfish, perch, rudd, tench, bream, carp. Here is a link to said float: http://www.chapmansangling.co.uk/middy-car...float~1399.html Any reviews would be helpfull. TJ

For my 2x ESP Carp rods I run Shimano Aero GT 6000 Baitrunners. £80 each at the time On my Match/Ledger rods I use Okuma. I have 2x, The Okuma Razor (£30) and Okuma Inspira 30b (£35). I use the Inspira most of the time, its light weight, strong, rear drag, easy use. I use the Razor on my ledger or feeder rods due to its bigger spool, holding more line for bigger fish. Ive seen both okuma reels on ebay from £5 seccond hand and the baitrunners still hold their prices, around £50each on fleebay. TJ

That link was good. Looks like a nice rod. Would like to find one local I could have a look at to see what it feels like etc. As for my budget, well there is not one really. Sub £200 would be great. The Normarks do look like the dogs but im not sure about paying £200 minimum for a used rod. If they were new then I would consider it. Had a looka at a fue Map, Preston Inovations and maver rods. All ok but did not feel as good as the IM9 or Mach 3 IMO. If anything, im even more unsure. haha TJ

I went to have a look at both Drennan IM9 Finesse and Shakespear Mach 3 Match. Both were very light, the drennan was balanced better but the rod butt was detachabele. Not a problem but it would take some getting used to. The Mach 3 was 3 peice and the IM9 was 2 peice. The IM9's bend was more fluid than the mach 3 due to being only 2 peices. But the Shakespear did come with a proper rod tube and cover. - I like old school. Between the two its about cost..... Im still looking around at the moment. TJ

Thanks for the info. Out of all the hooks I use the Mustad, I think their shape and many different hook types are great. I could have just bought a dodgy pack. Ill try fishing dead on the bottom or just abit over depth and see what that will do. As for the sensitive float, ive found the drennan stillwater blues to be good for shy biting fish, and when shot down the line it is very good at sitting still despite the slight canal lock current. I have used the Stillwater blue the past fue sesions, but generaly speaking I like to use any insert float. Mostly either Drennan peacock / mirage or Middy floats. Ill have to see what happens over the 4 day weekend, and hopefuly catch a specimin Roach, Perch or Rudd. TJ

Generaly I use either no8 or no10 shots like you, if the float requires alot of shot a no6. And anything between 4-8 inches to the hook. I forgot to mention that ive been using Mustad hook to Nylon - 2lb on size 22 hook or drennan hook to nylon - 2lb size 18 hook. I will use all info from this topic this weekend and hopefuly The bites will lead to hooking the fish. I will report on this later. TJ Generaly I use either no8 or no10 shots like you, if the float requires alot of shot a no6. And anything between 4-8 inches to the hook. I forgot to mention that ive been using Mustad hook to Nylon - 2lb on size 22 hook or drennan hook to nylon - 2lb size 18 hook. I will use all info from this topic this weekend and hopefuly The bites will lead to hooking the fish. I will report on this later. TJ

Thanks for the help. Im going to a local shop in wiltshire tomorrow to have a look at both: Shakespear mk3 13ft match lite and the Drennan im9 finesse 13ft. Will get to hold the rods and check them out. Get a feel what they are like. Hopefuly will go well, then I can shop around for best price or shop discounts. TJ

Ive only started fishing the canal in the past 12 months, and have gone from one side to the other (that my canal fishing liscence covers). Not really focusing on one specific area untill recently. Most recent places are near bridge 142, 147 + 149 heading out of devizes towards woodbrough. I useualy set up float fishing 1-2" off the bottom. Shot near the hook, I have caught 50% of my fish on the canal with the float "raising" bite. Notably decent sized roach. I will try a bigger sized hook. 18-14 and see what happens. Thanks TJ

About 18 months ago I contacted them via their website and spoke to their game keeper. The tickets very in price. I paid £185 for the season. - Alot of money indeed, but for a untaimed, natural fishing lake close by I would pay twice that. The following season prices are lower. There are alot of rules, no night fishing, no barbless hookes, bait boats etc. If you can get on the list then their might be more spaces becoming available in the future.

Thanks for those links. I will have a look at those rods. I too like the drennan range. I have a series 7 competition feeder and Carp Power Waggler. In the mean time I will have to visit all the local fishing shops. Thanks TJ

Over the past fue fishing trips on the kennet and avon canal on most day trips I have failed to hook between 15-20 fish. Ive striked upwards, sideways, diagonaly, before the float has gone completely under, a slight delay after the float has gone under.... I used a 13ft Drennan float/feeder rod on 3lb line, 3bb stillwater blue float using a size 20 drennan silverfish barbless hook with 1x or 2x maggots on the hook. The tip of the drennan rod is very soft, with the action progressive. When I have caught the silverfish, perch, rudd even though small in size they shake thier heads very fast with a certain amount of power and have on occasion slipped of the hook. Possibly a relfex attempt to escape due to the large number of pike in the canels? Could this contribute to the problem? I fish roughtly close in, 6 ft out, 3-4ft deep. Could the short line distance between float and rod tip be causing me to not hook the fish? Any help with this problem would be great. TJ

Ive looked for the Normark range rods, mostly on ebay and the rods in mint condish can be very costly. Cant say ive seen a Microlite on there for a while. I have been looking at a fue shimano rods, they do 3 or 4 rods that are reasonably priced and meet my fast action light weight match needs: Shimano Vengeance Fast Action Match Rod Shimano Catana Fast Action Match Rod

Or any 12-13ft fast action lightweight match rod. - Mainly used for silverfish.