Some Centrepin & Trotting Questions

[Roland]

Morning All,

 

I wanted to keep myself moving in the winter months (bloody freezing, even worse if you are a large lad!) I wanted to take up trotting on rivers. This post doesn't come in haste, I've done a lot of reading to make sure I don't ask questions that seem a little silly. Or gain me the response of "Figure it out yourself" or some variant.

 

I understand that this will not come quickly to me, Angling is a skill and this type of angling is an art form. I'm just looking for a poke in the right direction to get myself going. I appreciate those that read the whole thing. I don't like to babble on but I think these questions up in clusters as some of you have seen before! Any nswers would be greatly recieved

 

In my quest to trott, I have a 13ft float rod and a recently purchased Centre pin from Dragon Carp. See thread below:

 

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/Marco-C...s-t2482834.html

 

It got one of the monday reels it appears and I'm drawn to it with its chrome metal look and the freedom of the mechanism. Really nice looking bit of kit for the money and feels like it could work nicely. So first questions

 

Could any one tell me the purpose of this knob/button shown on the reel?

 

 

I have spooled on 50m of a 3.2lbs floating line, with the line feeding out of the back of the reel. Next question:

 

Should the line come from the front or the back? or is it a matter of preference?

 

And on to the floats!

 

Thanks to the advice from some of you last week, I bought of selection of stick floats for varying waters that I may fish at the VAC. A couple of questions regarding depth and shotting for you.

 

I'm aware that a float inscribed with "6xNo4" is quite and obvious thing, 6 No4 Shot can either be dotted down the line or bulked toward the bottom. Question:

 

Does this amount of shot sink the hook to the bottom? Or does it purely hold enough weight to balance the float?

 

I ask this question purely related to depth. A river's depth can vary. Last questions (for now!)

 

How do I plumb the depth on a river? Still use a plummet? If the depth varies a great deal, what should I do?

 

Thank you all

 

Ben

[Tigger]

The button is your ratchet you can use to stop the reel paying out line when not using it (walking from swim to swim etc)

 

I always have my line droppping off the back of the reel so I wind in in the normal direction (forward)

 

Your weights serve to get you bait down as quickly as possible in faster flowing or deep water when bulked.

 

I never bother plumbing a swim, I just guess the depth and simply go deeper until I catch bottom or shallow off a touch if already doing so.

 

Sometimes it's better to drag bottom with your weights actually on the deck or fish up just off the bottom or right up in the water, it all depends on the time of year, bait used, pace /depth of water etc etc. You've gotta get out and fiddle around and you'll find most of the important bits out for yourself. It's like all fishing...easy.

Edited January 24, 2011 by Tigger

[Roland]

Thank you very much, that's cleared my head a bit

[76jerry]

Just started river trotting with a centre pin myself as a sea angler have found it difficult to say the least. There is Float choice Stick Avon or Chubber ? How fast do you let your float go down the river , at the same pace or slowed down by being held back. then we have groungbait how much and how often. Like you say Roland I am never sure if I,m fishing the right depth or with the correct shotting pattern.Casting I,m reasonable at because I practice in my garden which pay dividens on the bank. Have caught my largest fish for a while when trotting the other day which keeps me going back for more.

[chavender]

keep the faith boys ,you've mentioned the magic words ,(centrepins & trotting) so no need too worry about silly questions (there aint any) or people taking the pithe , won't happen here on AN ,we all have too learn / need help occationally.

 

i'm off out shopping (i'm getting nagged now) but will be back later too had help ,if still needed .

[Rusty]

Just started river trotting with a centre pin myself as a sea angler have found it difficult to say the least. There is Float choice Stick Avon or Chubber ? How fast do you let your float go down the river , at the same pace or slowed down by being held back. then we have groungbait how much and how often. Like you say Roland I am never sure if I,m fishing the right depth or with the correct shotting pattern.Casting I,m reasonable at because I practice in my garden which pay dividens on the bank. Have caught my largest fish for a while when trotting the other day which keeps me going back for more.

 

I've found that the Drennan loafer range of floats covers all my needs, I'm sure there are situations where other floats would be better but I haven't felt the need to change yet, they range in size from 1SSG to 5SSG. During my self teaching days (still happening come to think of it) I tried lighter floats but found that a bit of weight made float control easier so now I use a minimum of 2SSG.

 

As regards pace you're trying to trickle a bait along or near bottom at the same pace as the flow. The surface will flow faster than the river bed so you need to hold the float back a little, if the water shallows or you encounter an obstacle holding the float back harder will allow the bait to rise in the current and clear it. That's the general idea but there are no set rules, some days just letting the float go at its own pace will produce bites when holding back doesn't.

 

The topic of shotting patterns warrants a thread on its own but shirt button style is as good a place to start as any. Feeding mantra is a 'little & often', to give this some scale I feed about a dozen maggots every 30 seconds or so. This is easiest thing to forget but by far the most important thing to do IMO, after a while it becomes a habit. I'm not exactly sure how feeding would differ if corn, flake or meat were the hook baits so perhaps others could help with that.

 

Welcome to the world of trotters.

[Roland]

Thank you for the further replies, it appears i'm not alone.

 

One last question about depth,

 

One of the river has some very sharp drop off up to about 3ft. when trotting do you have to end you trott before the drop off?

[Chris Plumb]

Thank you for the further replies, it appears i'm not alone.

 

One last question about depth,

 

One of the river has some very sharp drop off up to about 3ft. when trotting do you have to end you trott before the drop off?

 

No - why not move downstream and start your trot here. Quite often (especially in summer on the rivers I fish - fast chalkstreams) you will find fish on the down stream of holes and depressions where the water starts to shallow up - holding back when you get to these spots can be lethal!

 

I expect you've already seen this but in case you haven't....

 

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/coarse-fishing...for-barbel.html

 

 

C.

[far bank stalker]

Morning All,

 

I wanted to keep myself moving in the winter months (bloody freezing, even worse if you are a large lad!) I wanted to take up trotting on rivers. This post doesn't come in haste, I've done a lot of reading to make sure I don't ask questions that seem a little silly. Or gain me the response of "Figure it out yourself" or some variant.

 

I understand that this will not come quickly to me, Angling is a skill and this type of angling is an art form. I'm just looking for a poke in the right direction to get myself going. I appreciate those that read the whole thing. I don't like to babble on but I think these questions up in clusters as some of you have seen before! Any nswers would be greatly recieved

 

In my quest to trott, I have a 13ft float rod and a recently purchased Centre pin from Dragon Carp. See thread below:

 

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/Marco-C...s-t2482834.html

 

It got one of the monday reels it appears and I'm drawn to it with its chrome metal look and the freedom of the mechanism. Really nice looking bit of kit for the money and feels like it could work nicely. So first questions

 

Could any one tell me the purpose of this knob/button shown on the reel?

 

 

I have spooled on 50m of a 3.2lbs floating line, with the line feeding out of the back of the reel. Next question:

 

Should the line come from the front or the back? or is it a matter of preference?

 

And on to the floats!

 

Thanks to the advice from some of you last week, I bought of selection of stick floats for varying waters that I may fish at the VAC. A couple of questions regarding depth and shotting for you.

 

I'm aware that a float inscribed with "6xNo4" is quite and obvious thing, 6 No4 Shot can either be dotted down the line or bulked toward the bottom. Question:

 

Does this amount of shot sink the hook to the bottom? Or does it purely hold enough weight to balance the float?

 

I ask this question purely related to depth. A river's depth can vary. Last questions (for now!)

 

How do I plumb the depth on a river? Still use a plummet? If the depth varies a great deal, what should I do?

 

Thank you all

 

Ben

hey Ben.

 

lots of good answers here already, just thought i'd fire in my two penneth worth! when it comes to weighting i always prefer shirt buttons, no real reason i just think sometimes the presentation may be better, but i only use shirt buttons if i have no real distance to cast. it's just my personal experience and some of it is lack of skill but i find long casts can sometimes lead to tangles with shirt buttons, especially if your using a light hook length.

 

also be prepared to change your depth a lot, either deeper or shallower. if you think there are fish in your swim and your bait is arriving before your float but your not getting bites it's almost certainly the depth. apart from the obvious stuff about water temps' there doesn't seem to be too many hard and fast rules. just have fun and try stuff

[76jerry]

After walking a long the bank looking at what other anglers are using on my stretch of river most centre pin user,s are using an olivette and a single or pair of droppers. The anglers using closed faced or fixed spools are mostly using stickfloats and shirt button style shotting have tried both and can see no advantage in either so far.

Bread or Maggots ? caught more smaller fish on maggots but less but better fish on Bread so leaning towards bread is there a hook I can fish both on normaly fish bread on a size 10. Thinking of just using only two types of float and leaving the rest behind at home. Done reasonable with the Preston shouldered stick float so will make this my first choice what is the purpose of the wire at the bottom of the float and does it,s lenth make any difference to the way it trotts. The distance bettween bulk and dropper shot how much difference does it make, do you increase the distance if holding back a lot ?

Trying some Berkley crystal Braid in 1lb as hook lenth super thin and practicly inviseble but is this a good idea ? should I stick to mono.

 

Off topic slightly but have just moved the butt ring a foot further up the rod and re placed a couple of eyes with bigger rings, the reel looked too close to the butt ring and was choking the line is this the same with most float rods or having the butt ring that close make no difference ?