Shotting patterns discussion - Talk Angling fishing chat and tackle advice

Oneabung · 10th March 2008, 09:09 AM

Just wondered what you guys do shotting pattern wise when fishing pellet in various situations - perhaps someone out there has some original ideas... if you all put down your most successful patterns and why then I will at the end of the thread put up a couple of my most deadly rigs and see what you think of them.

shaunPearce · 10th March 2008, 12:34 PM

this depends on so many different factors for me personally.

5 or less feet deep.
firstly if the water is calm and no tow then ill fish a lighter float than i would normally use for that depth of water with a strung out shotting pattern. an example of this would be 5 feet deep then i would use 0.03g float with strung out shot.

if the tow was to get up slightly then i would place all the shot on this rig in a bulk 14 inches from the hook.

if the tow realy got up and the wind was causing problems i would go to a 0.05 g float and start with the shot spread evenly down the rig.

now if the tow realy realy started to get up then i would bulk the shot and have a single dropper.

6 to 8 feet deep.

usually i would have a bulk about midway and a couple of droppers further down. then depending on tow i would move the bulk up or down.

9 or more feet deep

this would normaly be a bulk shotting pattern at four feet from the hook then four droppers.

in 4 feet or less of water.
on a very hard day when they may be to many silver fish about. i would set the rig at 4 inches over depth and place a number four shot touching bottom, so that the float is held under water, but so that the float can still be seen. then if a fish takes the bait the float will usually rise up. this is especially effective for wary f1s or crucians.

keith · 10th March 2008, 12:43 PM

Simon,

I think it depends on the water you are fishing and what you want the pellet to do. I have been fishing unsuccessfully at Oakfield recently and although it has been mainly corn that has caught fish on Brook lake. On Swallow lake it is predominantly expander pellets. I have found that by lifting and dropping the pellet induces a bite. However if you drop it in and leave it nothing happens for a while. This tends to lead me to believe that a small bulk around 18inches from the hook and a smaller dropper stotz around 6inches works better. I have tried to bulk it down to 6inches when the small roach are playing with the bait as this results in more positive bites. However it depends on the day and how fish want it.

At Alders you need to string the shot out to give a slow fall although it is quite shallow lake. In the deeper pegs i would quite often use an olivette to get through the rudd to the carp below. If you can get them up then switch to the strung out rig.

Oneabung · 11th March 2008, 09:45 AM

I had hoped that this topic would induce a bit more discussion... maybe it is too general a question so lets refine it a bit -

Target species is F1's and carp.
Venue tows slightly and normally a bit of wind - not too much.
Depths vary between 5ft and 1ft, rigs required for bottom and top of shelf.
Rigs are required to pick up the tow which is in the opposite direction to the wind.

compleat tangler · 11th March 2008, 01:07 PM

i've always been a bit grey on why we always need to go with the tow. i know loose feed will go with the tow till it hits the bottom when in general it will lie still so i tend to try and get my rigs to stay still but i accept that a bit of movement will induce a bite. as for shotting i suppose the 1ft depth limits your options a bit but upto 5' a spread bulk 18" with just a couple of droppers. i tend just to use a bigger float to combat tow or a lighter one to utilise the tow. is the tow strong enough to bounce loose feed along river-like ?

dhumpy · 11th March 2008, 02:46 PM

i try and get away with as light a float as possible. for 5ft of water a slim bodied 4 x 12 would b my first choice with a bulk of no 8's about 18 inches from hook and 2 small droppers. the slim body helps cut through the surface tow and allows the bait to just trip on if there is a reasonable undertow. if they're really havin it i just bulk the shot and use the bait as a dropper. keep lifting and droppin and i'll always start by plumbin up to dead depth and add an inch just to make sure im always on bottom wen the fish get their heads down and start diggin out the bottom.

justin case · 11th March 2008, 04:34 PM

Simon I know you changed the topic slightly and made it a bit more specific but I would like to throw this little shotting pattern to the board,

its something a very good freind of mine and one the UK's greatest told me before he past away,

The scenario was the river Thames at Richmond the problem was the Dace feeding in the last foot of water and the masses of missed bites, the method was 6 or 7 metres to hand 6 to 8 foot of water, float size between 0.5 and 1 gram no bulk as it would result in zero or very few bites, the event was the Fosters masters League Im sure a few of the older southerners may remember this event.

He came up with a method to keep direct to the feeding fish it was by using a strung out rig but in reverse with the larger weights being placed nearer the hooklength and as you moved up to the float the weights got smaller and spaced further apart.

I failed with the to hand method but used the same technique on the stick float with great sucess I also tried running the standard strung out rig in between fish and it resulted in missed bites.

Now to this day I have never seen this method used on any large scale maybe one or two anglers, im wondering if this would work on the commercial lakes. the main thing with this pattern is your bait remains in direct contact to your float as your bait falls in an almost perfect straight line, instead of that curve created with a progressive or regular strung out rig.

JC

compleat tangler · 11th March 2008, 05:32 PM

have used similar tactics on two occasions and bagged. was it ashurst who said never be afraid to use lead. my 'unusual shotting pattern' came about when twice fishing on the aire and calder when there was huge rollers on it. trying to present a bait conventionally was impossible and resulted in not seeing bites but coming back with a shelled caster so they were obviously having it. i pushed the olivette and droppers down to the hook loop and shortened the hook lenght to two inches it looked mad but next put in i was looking for the float body to appear as just the bristle rising was impossible. it went bristle , bristle, bristle , bristle , body strike! result 28lb of roach. that was a pleasure session but last nov. fished in similar conditions at pollington and won using the same method. i think fish often arn't as fussy as we think they are.

baging up art · 11th March 2008, 07:09 PM

well for me Simon,, i have been fishing hook in the loop and i have been bagging up very well on it.. all the shot is no8's two of them sat on the hook with one of them being a inc from the other but you must experiment with the two shot at the hook, you may have to move them depending on the bite scenario. the rest of the shot's are in bulk about 18inc's to 12inc's from the hook depending on depth you are fishing. i have used this in very shallow water say about 2 feet to 1 and a half deep it a killer rig for carp and f1's as well as silver's.. for my open water rig is between 4 feet to 6 feet deep i start with no10's strung out 18inc's away from the hook. the no10 are spaced out one inc apart from each other with two droppers one of the droppers about 6inc's from the hook. if there is a tow i will sit the two shot's 2inc a way from the hook and fish over depth which will help me control and present the bait more natural.. i have had no problem with set up i catch well on it i think it's what you fill confidant with.. i also use shot above my float to stop the wind from moving it so to give better presentation and help me control it better as we all know that.. oh when i mean shot i do mean stozs...sorry

Oneabung · 12th March 2008, 09:07 AM

Now I think we are getting to more the point of the discussion.

Justin, the rig you describe is a classic that I use to great effect when fishing to hand, your description of the why and how is spot on, I think far too many anglers have got sucked into this bulk and a few droppers rig style and I know most people could catch more fish with these different shotting patterns - people are just too scared to put what they might call a big shot near the hook....

Keep the discussion going chaps as at the end I will post up a couple of deadly rigs that you will not believe will work.