Depth Plumbing A River

[saskcarp]

How do you get a reasonably accurate reading of a river bed when there is current pulling your float down river ? I have trouble with reading a river here in Canada. I want to target walleye(Zander) in a river. They will sit in the tiniest of "dips" in the river bed to avoid current and so I wanted to get a good reading of my local swim.

Thanks In Advance For All The Good Advice You All Will Give Me. ;)

[Alan Roe]

A simple enough process first have a guess at the depth and trot your float down if it goes through the swim without dipping then it is too shallow so deepen it a bit more repeat the process untill your float keeps going under then just back it off a litle and that should give you the correct depth. It is possible to fish over depth by holding back your floats progress through the swim just putting gentle pressure on the rim of the drum of your reel so that the float rides in a manner that it has the tip pointing back towards you this allows you bait to travel down the swim slightly slower than the current and is a very effective ploy.

Hope this helps

[wayne baker]

I would imagine the rivers you are fishing are quite bit and pacey? What i would suggest is get a large pike type float. The type with a bottom attaching swivel. But fiest get a large lead and thread it on your line, Then get a couple of large beads, Then attach the float to the end of the line. Cast it into the swim and wind down until the float is tight to the lead on the bottom. Loosen your clutch on the reel and pull of a foot at a time, You can put a mark on the rod a foot from the reel face if you want for more acuracy but you dont have to. Keep pulling of the line counting as you go.until the float comes to the surface. Remember to make a note of where the lead hits the water so you can allow for the drag from the pace of the river Obviuosly if the river is very fast then this is not going to work but its ok for slacker water. You will have to use a more standard plumbing rig

[Dick Dastardly]

Whilst Waynes method is great for still water you will struggle to get a half sensible reading in any flow. I would go with Alans sugestion.

[Anderoo]

For finding these deeper areas along the near bank, I use a heavy weight lowered off the rod tip, moving downstream and testing the depth every few feet. If most of the water is '7 rod rings deep' a short area of '9 rod rings' is worth exploring (i.e. when the weight is on the bottom and the top ring is just touching the surface, when held vertical the weight hangs down to the 9th ring from the tip). This is only really useful on the small streams/rivers though. (In fact I found a very interesting little depression alongside thick marginal reeds last weekend in this way - I'll be seeing what's lurking along there soon!)

 

If you need to check further out, trotting a heavy float is the only real way to do it, as Alan and Budgie say. Trial and error. It'll take a while, but worth the effort...

 

Both these ways also alert you to weed and other snags, and give a good idea of how clear the bottom is.

Edited February 26, 2009 by Anderoo

[BoldBear]

If you want to take a pencil and paper with you and map the swims out then you could try the method that I have sometimes used:

 

 

I first saw this in one of my old fishing books and I have used this method succesfully several times it's not as simple and quick as the methods advised already but it is a good option if you want to spend a day mapping the swims.

It's a similar idea as the 'lockslide floats' but they will tend to get dragged under on moving water whereas the cork will ride on the surface better in running water.

You simply cast out and let the weight pull the line through the cork until it hits the bottom, then when you tighten up the cork will lock onto the line as you wind in.

But it is restricted to swims that are no deeper than the length of rod you are using.

If you wrap some plasticine round the weight you can also get an indication as to the type of bottom there is with bits of gravel or sand etc. in the plasticine.

 

Good luck and tight lines.

Edited February 26, 2009 by BoldBear

[Steve Burke]

Not tried it myself but a Humminbird Smartcast might be worth a go. Certainly on stilwaters they make swim mapping dead easy and very fast.

[Anderoo]

Not tried it myself but a Humminbird Smartcast might be worth a go. Certainly on stilwaters they make swim mapping dead easy and very fast.

 

Yes, I forgot about those! Jigotai showed me his at Wingham last year and I thought how good they'd be for rivers - just trot them down and watch the screen. Thanks for reminding me!

[saskcarp]

Thanks all! I am going to try alan and bold bears methods.