Float fishing for grayling

[rabbitangler]

9lb grayling :shock:my arse :wink:

All the best

Chris.

At one time the British Record was from the Melgam water which flows into the Isla, it stood at 7lbs odd. They now think it was a salmon kelt?

Peter

[hairyscotsman]

Are you guys still thinking of a day on the isla??.. Was fishing there on sunday with new float rod ..new closed face trotting reel...new floats....What a disaster!!..I somehow managed to catch a couple after dispensing with float gear after about 1 hour!..I could really do with some help as i am determined to crack it :shock:

[hairyscotsman]

Would love to make the 11th but i am fishing on the teviot for salmon. Hope to make the next one.

Cheers

[haresear]

If you have not tried trotting before, there are a few things you can do to make your life easier.

Use as long a rod as you can get hold of. !2 or 13 foot is ideal as Brian said earlier. It helps with controlling the tackle and with striking quickly (a long rod will lift your slack line off the water more effectively).

For reels I prefer a centrepin, but they take a bit of getting used to. A fixed spool is much easier to start with.

Make sure your reel is loaded to the very lip of the spool with no more than 4lb line and a floating line at that. Maxima, being prone to sinking, is not so good for trotting. I like Drennan Floatfish or Shakespeare Aerial Pro. Don't be tempted to try trotting with 6lb line or so. You will not be able to do it effectively.

If using maggots, a bait bag is very handy and means you can feed a few maggots every cast. This makes all the difference and there is an art to feeding properly. Little and often is the way to go. No more than a dozen maggots or so at a time and feed every cast, it pays. Remember to feed before you cast, not after. The idea is to get the fish in a frenzy, looking for maggots. Then your hookbait appears....Bingo.
I carry a small bait catapult with me too. If you are fishing deep, fast water, you will need to fire your feed in well upstream so that the maggots are reaching bottom just where your hookbait is sinking, so a catty lets you ping the bait well upstream and keeps the feed tightly grouped. If you try to throw maggots any distance, they end up all over the place and so do the grayling.
You want to group your fish together and keep them competing for food.

Remember that grayling are shoal fish. When you hook one, get it away from the shoal ASAP so that it doesn't spook the others.

At this time of year you will also come across shoaling trout. If you keep hitting trout, move below them, as there may be grayling taking advantage of their spawning activity.

Shotting the float. Better to use several small shot rather than a couple of large ones. You can then try different shotting patterns to give different effects in the water.

For example, if you have been using your shot in a bulk, close to the hook and it isn't working, you could try shirt button style, which is another way of saying space your shot evenly between the hook and the float. This allows you to fish overdepth and just ease your bait down the swim, with the bait preceding the float. Grayling usually love this in slower water, but sometimes will prefer the bait running at the speed of the current. Try both.

Another thing to consider is the use of barbless hooks. Makes life easier on anything you catch. Remember to take forceps for unhooking and also a disgorger. They work superbly on small hooks. I keep one around my neck.

All this has put me right in the mood. Pity I can't manage to the Isla, but hope to meet some of you at the Earn stravaig.

[Wildfisher]

Thanks Alex, some great advice there

[haresear]

Could a long flee/spinning rod be pressed into service?

Uncleboo,

At a push you could use either. Although the fly rod would be nicer to fish with, the reel is in a poor position for trotting. Also the rings are unlikely to be suitable. If you look at a proper float rod, yo'll notice that the rings have long legs so that the line is held clear of the blank to reduce friction.

A spinning rod would do at a push, but you will probably find it too powerful to be in balance with the lightest of lines. You should probably use 4lb line straight through to the hook to balance the set up.

Brian,

Be careful where you are using a feeder. Most salmon beats don't allow legering. You will see that mentioned on a lot of stretches permits.
If you can use one however, go for a blockend feeder with maggots. Cage feeders are for use with groundbait or bread. They are fine with say sweetcorn,
but for maggots use a blockend and make it heavy enough to stay put. A quivertip is essential for this.

[haresear]

Brian,

Just re-read your post and realised that. Sorry.

The feeder method could be useful, as it is really just like using a mini bait dropper.
Again though, I would just use a blockend with big holes like a Kamasan Black Cap, rather than a cage job. If you use the cage, you'll need to cart groundbait about too!

To get the maggots out of the feeder quickly, cast out and let it settle on the line you wish to trot (obviously cast just upstream of where you will be chucking your float). Then gently move lift and bump the feeder a foot or so along the bottom. This should get the wee buggers out without spreading them too far from your trotting line.

Never actually thought of this myself, but think I'll try it in heavy water. Sounds like less hassle than using a bait dropper, which I use sometimes in that situation.

[haresear]

Crocach,

I've been nymphing over the last 4 winters and done fine. Some pieces of water are more suited to trotting and there are others where nymphing will win hands down.

I really enjoy both methods, but have to say I can catch many more grayling in a day when trotting than on nymphs. Many moons ago I had 63 grayling in a day when trotting. Ten in a day on nymphs is good going for me. Maybe I'm just shite at nymphing.

The biggest attraction with trotting for me is that I don't have to have my goolies frozen off :lol:.

[haresear]

I was on Pluto Brian. But I have my share of blanks too :lol:

By the way, some more stuff on shotting patterns.

It is important to remember that the distance from the hook to the lowest shot should be less than the distance from the lowest shot to the next shot up. This follows on all the way up. The reason for this is to keep tangles to a minimum when casting.

To clarify what I mean. If the distance from the hook to your lowest shot is 12", the next shot up should be no less than about 14" and the next one up would be at least 16" and so on...

Another thing to bear in mind, from the tangling point of view, is to never use a shot or group of shot which is heavier than the one above it. The same weight is ok, but never heavier.

My typical shotting patterns would be like this....

A) Hook to tell tale (bottom shot) 12" (the bottom shot would typically be a no6 or thereabouts). bulk shot (several BBs or AAAs). This set up would be for use in deep fast water, where I want to get the bait down quickly.

B) Hook to tell tale 12" next shot up (a No.1) would be maybe 14" away, with a BB 16" above that followed by another BB or maybe 2BB 18" above that...you get the picture. this set up would be for swims where there are shallows at the top and maybe shallows at the tail. This set up is the most useful and can be varied almost infinitely.

To cast , swing out the float underhand if possible to make sure the shot lands in a line and tangle free. The shots sink one by one so that the bait comes to the bottom just where you have judged that the loose fed maggots etc. will be sinking. As the float goes down the swim (a bit of coarse talk here) and dips as the bait touches bottom, you strike just in case it is a fish.  After a few trots you will have built up a picture of where the shallows are. You can then hold back hard as the bait reaches the shallows to get the maximum length of trot from each cast. This holding back is where the centrepin excels, but I would be a liar if I said you won't go mad before getting the hang of using one. I have used centrepins for maybe 35 years now, and I'm quite mad. Mad as a March Hare actually :lol:

Fishing overdepth and holding back to creep the bait along the bottom before the float is usually deadly, but nothing works all of the time :?   

[haresear]

Brian,

Which 'pin did you buy?