STUART WHITING

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Absolutely mate, was gonna try to put a convention chart up but for the life of me can't load any pics up what so ever

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Hi there fella, yes mate yer right because I'm using ultra light basic ledger rigs IE using pinched shot directly on the mainline I quite often don't bother to use any any feed, most of the time I'd be roving and searching all different little swims along the river bank using single hook baits, However there are times when I may walk the river bank and introduce just one wallnut size piece of mashed bread into several different swims and then fish the swims in rotation, Pretty much the same as one would fish and rove the river for chub

Good on yer mate, well done, those Thames weir pools are full of perch

Nice one Rich, well done to your daughter, where abouts were you fishing, river / lake ?

Yea yer right Neil the tackle manufacturers do hate it because there not selling extra unnecessary gadgets and leads, I can see exactly where yer coming from with yer rigs etc but another little basic tip is to back lead, if fishing mid river I'd use a flying back lead ( Korda ) and if I'm fishing the margins which most of the time I very much prefer I then just add a few more AAA shot about another 3-4 ft up the mainline, If I'm fishing the margins I'll use no unnecessary tubing , run rings, plastic clips or swivels etc to me this is just extra junk added to the line and in hind sight isn't really needed, I've got a belief that the more one can make a rig as basic as possible without all the extra gadgets the fishing in the long run should be just as effective, if not better

Yea mate, the ultra light basic ledgering rig that I use along with laying on and stret pegging are all classified as old school methods but in the right conditions will still out fish most other techniques, It's like the old saying, don't fix something if it ain't broke and how very true these words can be

Ok mate, give it a go and you'll clearly see how easy but affective it really is, some of the very best old school chub anglers out there have been using this particular rig / tactic for many years and are still using the basic rig today as I am for the roach and chub aswell, In fairness I'd go to the extent that this rig will work for any coarse fish wheather yer on a pond, lake, pit, reservoir, stream or river

Size 8 -13 shots are extremely very smal, they are literally like the size of a pin head, these are generally used specifically for stick float, waggler and pole float rigs Incidentally take a look on the the coarse forum and look further down through the threads until you see shoting patterns for roach, this will explain the use of these small shots, I'm using them virtually all of the time for most of me fishing

Right, basically this is what I do, most others will nearly all favour for a free running link ledger, now to to me this is actually inferior and doesn't actually work in how one thinks it works, My therory is that if you use a lead that is say any lighter than 1 1/2 oz as soon as any fish picks up the bait I can assure anyone that this lead will most definitely move, it won't just sit there on the river bed and allow line to pass through a run ring or swivel eye of the lead and register a bite on the rod tip without moving that lead, I've deliberately tried and tested this tactic in marginal clears swims on many rivers where every fish watched taking the bait all moved the lead, the only time the lead will stay positioned on the river bed and not necessarily move is if one uses any leads above 1 1/2 oz. If this has made sence so far one needs to then realise that if using lead of say 1/4 - 1/2 oz which is what I often use or considerably less it doesn't matter if you set the rig up as free running or actually fixed because the rig in effect will act exactly the same regardless, it's basically a micro bolt rig affect if ones wants to get technical, but what I do is use the lightest amount of split shot that I can get away with, With this in mind all I do is just simply pinch about 3-4 AAA shot directly onto me mainline about 18" away from the hook, couldn't get any simpler as a very light rig, I've personally never ever had any issues or problems with this basic rig and it's a rig that realy does work for me when a lot of other known tactics can often fail.

Thank you for yer reply Newt, yes I can fully understand in what you are say and is fair enough, I'm actually no stranger to forums and am currently on other forums aswell, I've actually joined this forum because I can see that the activity stream is ok and reasonably active and aswell as knowing a few people who are already members, With thanks, Speak soon

Hope you can learn a few tips Peter, remember that practice makes perfect and in many cases it's all trial and error with the particular gear that is being used

Thank you Newt

By far the best shot out there is Anchor. What ever one does I strongly not to advise on buying fladen shot , I've tried this and is utter rubbish, it states that it's a soft shot but in fact is actually quite hard and can't be compressed with yer fingers onto the line like the softer Anchor shot can