river fishing

what do you find the best set up for fishing rivers....would it be stick float or waggler or feeder leger etc
has anyone found fishing with the pole better ?????

should i shirt button the weight or bulk shot the line???

any help or advice would be great

All comes down to speed of the river and the species your after personally i prefer a medium controller float with the shot bulked midway beteween hook and float for trotting, if im fishing for pike or perch its a heavier set up and the shirt button pattern for me.

[fozzie]

I've been river fishing for the first time since Autumn last year, and had quite a nice success rate.

I've always preferred the leger, while my mate swears down with his homemade chubby floats. Not sure what shot he uses, I'll find out on Wednesday when we go again.

My leger is just a straight normal blockend feeder (optionally filled) with about 1-2 foot tail. 5 lb main line and 3 lb hook line.

I lost two rigs in one day to something huge lurking under the willows, we're not sure whether it was a big chub or a barbel. The key is to keep the rod in hand to strike quickly, unlike what I did and stick it on a rest - the fish just took me into the snaggs almost immediately. Lesson learnt.

ok thanks for replies
feeder fishing sounds good i may try that out
the reason i am asking is because this year my membership runs out for my old club so i was thinking of joining another which has 14 miles of river
so it was a toss up with stillwater or rivers
i think i will have to go river fishing this year

Well I went fishing on the Thames and it was about 4c and quite cold. The problem with rivers at the moment is they are flooded and moving quite fast. The fish are not feeding as you could imagine yourself trying to catch tennis ball being blown at you in a gale (the tennis balls being the fishes food being shot down with the current.) so it would be pretty hard work for the fish. The fish are also trying to conserve energy as it is cold so will not be feeding as activly now as they are in the summer. I learnt this from a lock keeper in Sonning. I would suggest to go on a lake as you would expect better results but which ever one you go on please could you give me some feedback of what happened.

Thanks Tom.

yeah i think you are right its too cold & too fast at the moment ....maybe i will have to look for some pike instead when the rain slow down a bit ....but thanks for the help

Pike sounds like a good idea, all the preditors are feeding when its cold so give it a try.

id go pike me an ma m8s bin on 2 trips bout 3 hours each got something like 6 pike biggest 2 7lb and a 2 a a half pound perch






PM Sent to Jack reminding him that we use English not Text on the Forum