River Fishing

[RPM]

Hello fellow anglers. I am going to appear to be a bit daft, so bear with me. I am also new to this site so hopefully this appears OK.

 

My name is Richard and I am a new (ish) angler having returned to the sport I loved as a child and find that I love it just as much as an adult.

 

I would classify myself as a standard, perhaps even traditional, angler. I have decent tackle, a decent mind and a love for all fish. I dont mind catching all types and would never, ever dream of having a session (al la carp, barbel etc) where I target one type. Each to their own, I say, but just not my preference.

 

I have recently moved to Balderton, Newark and as a result have found myself being drawn away from ponds and commercials and onto the wonderful trent. i dont have syndicate priviledges so have day venues only as an option. I consider myself a good still water fisherman but I have found myself, particularly last season, coming away with only a couple of small perch or roach - definately not acceptable in this water.

 

I have tried both ledgering and trotting with meat, corn, maggots, worms (havent tried pellets etc - which my be a disadvatage with some of the larger targets.

 

Just dont seem to be able to get from base one and yet I can go to local ponds, of which there are many, and bag up without difficulties. The river just seems to get the better of me. I expect it to be tougher, which is half the attraction, but not this tough. This leads me to think that i doing something wrong.

 

Sorry if this is a bit long winded and i expect there the answer to my puzzle could have numerous solutions. I am looking forward to some better days as the season approaches and any pearls of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

 

Richard Morris

[Dick Dastardly]

Welcome to AN Richard.Its no good asking any of us here about rivers as none of us have caught a thing from them for nearly two months now!

 

Seriously though Ive never fished the Trent (aim to change this in July when I attend a fish in at Collingham!) so cant offer any direct advice.See if any of the lads have fished it regular and can give you a hand.If not I will gladly post a few "general" river pointers which may help.

[3DoorsDown]

Hi Richard,

 

Although I don't know the Trent, I took to river fishing a couple of seasons ago and found it a challenging transition from stillwaters. However, what I have found is that the more time I spend on the river, the easier it becomes.

 

I'd strongly recommend time on the bank, fishing or not, at different times of year. That way you'll learn a lot about what's going on under the surface. This winter, with the vegetation and weed died back has given me a new persepctive on the river which resulted in a my two best sessions yet.

 

As Budgie says, I'm sure some more local to you will offer some great advice. Nic.

[gozzer]

Welcome to the 'mad house' Richard.

 

Without seeing what your doing it's hard to help. IMO the main differences between fishing still, and moving water, are presentation and feeding. I hope you've read up on shotting differences and float styles (apologies if this seems a bit basic), between the two.

Feeding must be more regular on flowing water, and I would stick to the 'little and often' approach, to build a swim up. This can vary depending on depth, flow, species and bait, and can only really come through trial and error.

If you are using maggots on a river like the Trent then I would take 2-3 pints at least, and feed every cast, about a dozen or so maggots. Another silly thing is allowing for flow and depth, I have seen anglers, who are not used to rivers, throwing their bait downstream, towards the float, not realising that they are feeding maybe 10-20 yds below them. Your loose feed should be going in slightly upstream, or level with you depending on the flow/depth. Similar with hemp and caster, but obviously hemp will sink faster than maggots.

 

If I was fishing a river like the Trent for the first time, then the two methods above would be the ones I would try first. Good Luck

[markp]

spent a lot of time at Stoke and Beeston wiers last yr and had some good fishing but time of day played a factor for me after about 10.30/11.00 when the sun started shining the bigger fish went off the boil keep looking to fish at cromwell this coming yr but just do as the rest of th guys said, in 5 hrs i was using 3/4 pints of maggotts{mainly bronze,blme the match angler in me} and a couple of pints of hemp/pellets through a blockend feeder and had barbel to 9lb 8oz and chub nudging 5 hope this might be some help to you

[RPM]

Thanks for the help fellas. I have a couple of further questions. Happy with the feeding regime, depending on flow, depth etc. Not happy that when i am trotting, how to plumb the depth of a flowing water. no probs in still but never seem to get the correct depth when at a river.

 

Secondly, am using a Shimano Nexave medium quiver which has three tips, 1, 2 and 3oz. I have used all three for rivers and on each occasion, regardless of how high I place the tip in the air, i still get a huge bow in the line and significant becn in the tip. Now I realise that you dont have to have a PhD in fluid dynamics to understand that in flowing water it will pull, nevertheless, I dont seem to be able to spot bites easily, if at all. Am I expecting too much? Is it by its nature, more difficult to see the bites when tipping a river?

 

i appreciate that it is difficult to advise without sitting with me however, again, experiences would be helpful.

 

Thanks

 

Richard

[Dick Dastardly]

Sorry that I cant be bothered to go into full details but if you use the search facility try looking up related threads ie Quiver tipping,River tactics etc.There is a lot of stuff explaining "drop back" fishing ,tip selection,bite registration etc.

 

For plumbing up just set your float to what you think it should be and run it down stream.If it doesnt snag bottom and pull under keep adding depth untill it does.Now we come to the reason that you are most likely struggling.If you are actually fishing by letting the float just run down at the current pace you wont catch any where near as much as you could.

 

Once again a search about "Trotting" "Stick floats" will give you more info and opinions.Basicly though as the surface water moves faster than the water near the bottom your bait will be moving faster than your free offerings therefore unnatural presentation.You need to learn about "holding back" this technique will slow your baited hook down to the correct speed.Now we come full circle as this will also affect the depth you will need to set your float at! as the harder you hold back the deeper the float will have to be set!

 

Loads of good DVD's, vidios etc on the subject.Shows you how the same can be achieved with both top&bottom floats and wagglers.

 

As for any learning in fishing though you cant beat being shown by some one who knows how.As an allready experienced angler though you should have no problem picking it up.

 

Try to go down and sit quietly behind a top match angler fishing a match on your chosen stretchs.You will learn a lot about presentation and feeding by just watching what he does.Thats what I did any way!

 

Once again sorry for the lazyness but its a massive subject.Still no joy once youve tried my sugestions then send me a PM and I will send you some stuff.

[Leon Roskilly]

Have a look at:

 

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/authors/leon08.htm

[dogfish]

There is a lot to cover here but I agree that time on the bank will pay off in the long run.

 

Firstly I would suggest you join a club with water in the area. There are plenty so you do not need to rely on Day tickets.

 

Then concentrate on a few swims rather than trying too many different places.

 

Plumbing is not that important....what is more important is to find the level the fish are feeding at and that will vary with the amount and rate at which you loose feed.

 

There are plenty of fish in the Trent but it can take a while before you start catching. Some big bags can be made although you may hardly get a bite for the fist 2 or 3 hours...persevere.

 

Experiment with shotting and depths.

 

Last year I had a good bag of dace on the Trent fishing 3 feet overdepth. You have to experiment to find the best technique on the day. Keep your feeding regular and you will find a pattern emerging.

 

Plug on...it is not always easy.

 

Good luck

[RPM]

HMMM, going to take a bit more thinking about than originally expected.

 

Thanks all for the posts and suggestions guys, dont stop them coming, all very welcome.

 

I have applied for the Newark Piscarorial society which controls a many a good stretch locally so will keep fingers crossed for this.

 

The message coming across seems to be that apart from the obvious regular feeding, there is no hard and fast rule; experiment with many variations. Not at all surprised by this as this is of course how you have to approach a stillwater. The basic knowledge is what I am missing so with some of these ideas I will approach the water with a little more than last year, fingers crossed.

 

If any local chaps feel that they want to give a keen and willing student some bankside tutorage this coming season then send me an email to rpmorris_1975@hotmail.com.

 

As I said, keep em coming....

 

Thanks again

 

Richard