plumbing for depth

To be honest I usually ledger my deadbaits, last time I did any regular floatfishing was on the local Canal Tench fishing. I did used to use a plumbing weight then. Its just the way the lad was wandering round with no other tackle that baffled me. Ive always plumbed immediately before fishing, suppose Carp are shy & its better to do all the plumbing and chucking in of noisy weights on a different day to the actual fishing









Nottingham PAC Regional Organiser

its something i intend to spend a bit of time doing next time i go back to my favourite large pike venue.... but i'll be fishing at the same time of course lol

Plumbing - Marking Swims

You can check depths, drag the bottom to feel what the terrain is like and setup a marker float with one simple rig. I like to use a soft carp rod and a fixed spool, loaded with 15lb tournament mono. Some prefer braid but I think that's an awfully expensive line to be checking potentially snaggy and sharp swims with. I also don't feel it transfers anywhere near the same level of information that pre-stretched mono does but each to their own. Set the rod up and then:
Slide a rubber bead up the line, followed by a 3 oz weight, another bead and then tie a marker float or a pike waggler onto the end.

A good tip is to wrap the weight in play-dough or putty or similar. When you've dragged the bottom and found what you imagine is a suitable spot, clip up, wind in as fast as you can and see what your putty has collected. Is it clean? Is it covered in sand? Is it covered in sharp gravel? The putty will give you a sample of your chosen spot. You might find you don't like what you've found. Then again, you might find it's perfect and because you've already clipped up, you can cast to the same spot accurately. If you're into matching the colour of your tackle to the sub-aquatic terrain, you'll know exactly what colour it is. A sandy coloured boilie might not be seen on a sandy coloured bottom, so a change to a more visible bait might make the difference. You dig?



You cast the rig out, making sure the float is tight against the weight. Now bump the weight along the bottom and try to visualise what the terrain looks like. You should be able to feel gravel, weeds, shelves, silty patches etc. as you slowly wind the rig in.
Once you have found a suitable target area, point the rod at the rig, open the bail-arm and slowly pay out line, a foot at a time. When the float appears on the surface, you should now know:

A: What the bottom is composed of and it's shape.
B: The depth.
C: The spot you're aiming for.

It can be handy to make a map of the water and spend a day or two doing nothing else but checking swims, depths, snags, features etc. Just fill in the map as you go along. If you spend a day on the water, at the start of the season, you can spend the rest of the season fishing productive swims, instead of blindly casting and hoping for the best.
Seriously, this is a very simple setup and it's easy to use. You'll be amazed at what you've learnt about the water, in a short space of time.

.....Andy Macfarlane.....

thats the same rig i've used in the past on new venues to great effect..... never thought of using putty like that though mate, nice tip!!!!

Some good advice there Andy.

You can always rely on that there Andy can't you?

Is he a smart arse? No, is he flipping eckers like!

Knowledgable and helpful? YES!!

Keep up the good work, matey.

Now where's that pop up advice got to?