Feeding approach when long trotting

[Firemantim]

Hi Chaps - New to all this float fishing lark as you may have gathered. I'm after Barbel/nice chub, but yesterday I went for 3 hours with 3 pints of maggots (2 plain, 1 bronze) and tried to feed steadily until the fish arrived. After about an hour chublets,dace & bleak then a few small roach then a couple of larger roach at the end, but that was it. I was expecting the chub to start getting bigger and then for the barbel to make an appearance - this was not the case.
At the start of the week I fished another stretch which was a bit shallower (8ft) and only caught a few fish - best of 4lb chub - and fed about 2 pints in 3 hours.
Anyway, my point being - How much would you expect to feed in a session on a big, deep river (11ft) in say 3/4 hours in order to get the bigger fish moving in? :think:

[St.John]

About that if using just maggots BUT I would always feed elipse pellets with the maggots. They bring the barbel up in the water and help to get larger fish feeding. The way I do it on the wye-and it works-is a catty of maggots every three or four casts and a pouch of pellets (about 8-12 pellets) the same. So pattern goes pellets cast cast maggots cast cast. Lessening the feed as you start catching to every 6 or seven casts. Hemp gets them up in the water as well. What you using as hook bait? Maggots? Not trad but try an elipse pellet on a hair-deadly. Also don't be scared to use 20 or 30 maggots on a size 4 on occasion.

[Firemantim]

About that if using just maggots BUT I would always feed elipse pellets with the maggots. They bring the barbel up in the water and help to get larger fish feeding. The way I do it on the wye-and it works-is a catty of maggots every three or four casts and a pouch of pellets (about 8-12 pellets) the same. So pattern goes pellets cast cast maggots cast cast. Lessening the feed as you start catching to every 6 or seven casts. Hemp gets them up in the water as well. What you using as hook bait? Maggots? Not trad but try an elipse pellet on a hair-deadly. Also don't be scared to use 20 or 30 maggots on a size 4 on occasion.

That really makes sense - Glad I joined this forum!! Thanks - I'll try that next time I'm out! :thumb:

[St.John]

Glad to be of a service!

[Firemantim]

Hopefully I'll catch one before March 16th!

[Santiago]

I'd say it depends on the river, stocking density of smalls to larger fish, and whether they are feeding. Since you only caught a few smaller fish and yet put in plenty of feeds sounds like either the river is poorly stocked or they were not really interested, or you 'fed them away' (see below). Alternatively I'd look at your terminal tackle, thickness of line etc., were you getting the hooked bait down to feeding fish??? Without being there watching you fish good advice is difficult to give. On Wednesday I trotted part of the Thames (9' deep) and used about 1/2 pint maggots all day, despite the fish feeding on/off all day I managed a couple of nice bream and a net full of roach/dace and a silver bream (not a barbel stretch) but most of my fish were taken at the very end of a long trot!!! Often in deeper water of 10ft plus, lots of loose feed only serves to move the feeding fish away from you; they follow your slow sinking freebies down river, the deeper the water/faster the current the further the fish will move away from you and the less you will catch or longer you will have to trot to get bites. You can remedy this by getting a bait dropper to introduce lots of hemp/pellets/maggots on the bed at the 'start' of the trot and every now and again, and do'nt throw freebies in (ie. opposite to previous advice, it keeps them on the bottom, where they will feed more confidently, this method also reduces the chances of them following the freebies out of your trotting zone, which happens much more if the fish density is low). Bait on the bed of deep water will always draw fish into the trotting zone, whereas with bait introduced to the top of deep water there is a good chance you will draw the fish away!!!! In shallower or slow deep water there is less chance of this happening!!! Buy a bait dropper!!!

Also, it's always worth while trotting for the first 10 minutes without putting in any loose bait, you might be surprised!! During that time with less disturbance the big fish that you are after might well already be in your swim and just waiting for a nibble to come floating by!!! Alternatively, by the time you have fed lots and trotted for an hour or two waiting for the big fish to show, you might have spooked them, yet all you really needed to do was trot from the start with no loose feed.

I'm very stingy with bait so I expect my advice to go against the grain a tad!!! But I think you might be surprised by the results!!!

[Firemantim]

I do have lots of bait droppers but hadn't really considered their application when float fishing. Would you suggest a few droppers full above the head of my run to wash down or one at the head and a few more along the run?

[Weyfarer]

In his book Avon Days and Stour Ways, Kevin Grozier explains how he sucessfully used a hookless rig consisting of just a feeder cast upstream of his fishing line (float or lead). Thus creating a steady dispersion of attractant-laced particles, maggots, pellets (or what have you) on the bed of the river. Reload and recast as necessary then you can concentrate solely on your baited rod.

[Santiago]

I would just use a bait dropper at the head of the run. Perhaps 1/2 pint hemp first, then maggot and hemp throughout the session to keep them interested and the fish coming upstream to the run!!

Love the idea of using a separate rod with a swim feeder to get the bait down with a steady release. Expect it is good with maggots!! Will try it when the Thames is fishable. My barbel swim is now flowing at about 6 knots!!!

[Firemantim]

I would just use a bait dropper at the head of the run. Perhaps 1/2 pint hemp first, then maggot and hemp throughout the session to keep them interested and the fish coming upstream to the run!!

Love the idea of using a separate rod with a swim feeder to get the bait down with a steady release. Expect it is good with maggots!! Will try it when the Thames is fishable. My barbel swim is now flowing at about 6 knots!!!

I have been doing similar when fishing two rods for a few years. I use a plain lead downstream and a feeder upstream which I recast every 10-15mins on the same line - I do use a baited hook on the feeder rod, but the feeding principle for the downstream rod is the same. I can leave that in situ till I get a bite/fish.

I have found that it can work very well for larger fish as they tend to hang back from their shoal mates so come across my downstream bait.