Emergency Shot

[Elton]

A guy on our Facebook page has just turned up at a venue and has no split shot and no access to a tackle shop.

 

What would you use as emergency split shot?

[ayjay]

I think I would first try and scrounge some, and failing that assuming he is float fishing, I would try to set up some sort of paternoster with a very small (1/8 oz. Arlesey) bomb.

[Vagabond]

For the first two years of my angling life neither I nor my angling mates even knew there was such a thing.....

 

None of us had older angling relatives at the time, and there was a war on.

 

Floats were of small twig or bird quill - held each end by a slice of cycle valve rubber, the only weight was that of the bait.

 

The float lay horizontally on the water - if it twitched, you had a bite - if it cocked you had a good bite

 

We caught fish - including crucians to 2 lb.

 

Not until I was nine years old did I meet split shot, when an angler married my aunt.

 

So my advice is to either free-line, or use the smallest float you have with no shot at all. AJay's advice is also good, but someone who has forgotten his shot might have forgotten his ledger weights also.....

Edited March 19, 2011 by Vagabond

[wotnobivvy]

Forget float fishing for the day and see how many different forms of bait presentation you can try. A great one for the big bank of experience !!

[TrevBoy]

I once forgot the only reel I owned. Improvising seemed out of the question

[dean in devon]

A guy on our Facebook page has just turned up at a venue and has no split shot and no access to a tackle shop.

 

What would you use as emergency split shot?

and that is the reason why i check m stuff everyday before i go for a week. no planning = ppp i think everyone knows the PPP.

i am ure there will be tackle shop some where near.. it's saturday..

[davedave]

and that is the reason why i check m stuff everyday before i go for a week. no planning = ppp i think everyone knows the PPP.

i am ure there will be tackle shop some where near.. it's saturday..

Saying that i once went fishing and forgot the rod hahaha

[chesters1]

use the back up shot ofcourse ,its impossible to forget anything ,is it?

your XX bag is fully contained ,your sea fishing bag is fully contained etc etc who swops items between bags or boxes or even rod bags ,if you go fishing for XX you take the set put aside for XX and so on

i have my sea fishing box and rod holdall ,my local pond box and holdall ,my carping box and holdall ,you just grab what your going to do and away

the freshwater bags have the option of doing pretty much anything but the local one is predominately float with a ledger backup and the carp one the opposite.

even the spinning bag has a pocket with float fishing stuff in it including weights and the spinning holdall has a rod in it which can be used with a float or light ledgering.

experience means not having to pack anything on the day because you will leave something behind

 

you should see my camping stuff ,4 tents 4 complete set ups of everything ,i was sick of buying bits i forgot and its how each set was accumulated in the first place

 

it doesnt need to be expensive why fork out for something you only might use ,my backup float rod is an abu ferrulite which cost a fiver etc rod holdalls about the same all from boot fairs i have more holdalls than rods they can take and i have a lot of rods.

i use shakespear seat boxes as just storage boxes in the loft their so cheap (and nasty?)

Edited March 19, 2011 by chesters1

[dean in devon]

use the back up shot ofcourse ,its impossible to forget anything ,is it?

your XX bag is fully contained ,your sea fishing bag is fully contained etc etc who swops items between bags or boxes or even rod bags ,if you go fishing for XX you take the set put aside for XX and so on

i have my sea fishing box and rod holdall ,my local pond box and holdall ,my carping box and holdall ,you just grab what your going to do and away

the freshwater bags have the option of doing pretty much anything but the local one is predominately float with a ledger backup and the carp one the opposite.

even the spinning bag has a pocket with float fishing stuff in it including weights and the spinning holdall has a rod in it which can be used with a float or light ledgering.

experience means not having to pack anything on the day because you will leave something behind

 

you should see my camping stuff ,4 tents 4 complete set ups of everything ,i was sick of buying bits i forgot and its how each set was accumulated in the first place

 

it doesnt need to be expensive why fork out for something you only might use ,my backup float rod is an abu ferrulite which cost a fiver etc rod holdalls about the same all from boot fairs i have more holdalls than rods they can take and i have a lot of rods.

i use shakespear seat boxes as just storage boxes in the loft their so cheap (and nasty?)

agreed i buy everything more then once, i got like 12 rods, 2 holdalls about 40 packs of hooks from size 6-10 and about 20 packs of premade from 4lb-6lb and hook sizes 16-20 thats about it on hooks.

everything i have i over do, if i don't use it now i will one day thats how i see it.

[gozzer]

This guy must be much tidier than I am, I have loose shot rattling about at the bottom of my box, and I have various lengths of welding wire and odd bits and pieces that with a couple of float rubbers could be utilised.

There are other options though, If you have any feeders with strip weights, cutting them down and folding around the line would work, (if lead, not strictly legal).

When I went camping as a lad, I used to take a 5', 3 piece, split cane rod, and an old wooden centre pin reel with me. I always carried a little tub of float rubbers in case I wanted to use a twig as a float. We used to go into the dales, and there was usually a small stream nearby. My main method was to dig worms, (or whatever I could find), and freeline it. On occasions I needed a bit of weight and looked round for stones that I could fix to the line with a float rubber. I never had to cast far, and I wasn't bothered if they came off, (just stuck on another one). It was enough to get my bait into places I couldn't normally reach, and often resulted in a trout for dinner.

 

John.