Walkers method.

[Wallys-Cast]

When using a running lead you can also pull the bait just under the surface out of sight of ducks etc.

I found on a well hammered carp lake that by pulling your bait just an inch under the surface gave very positive and unmissable bites. Just something they hadn't seen before but they soon got used to it.

Wal.

[Gary Bills]

I recall Dick Walker devising a night time margin fishing technique with floating crust thrown into the margin and a piece with a hook in it being lowered in under the rod tip so no line touched the water.
Presumably it is fished with a centrepin reel on the the ratchet so the fish can run with the bait but it won't drift off.
Does this work? Has anyone tried it?

I actually had a dabble with this method yesterday, Snape - and caught one! Very exciting!

Well done Gary.

Many thanks, Nigel - I'm hooked!

[Gary Bills]

Some of my best surface fishing has been by using this method although normally in a roving approach. I have had numerous fish just an inch or two from the bank like this, especially when a downwind scum has formed against a bank... very exciting indeed. When the fish are very shy and a little way from the rod tip I often try to hang my line over a fallen reed stem if possible so the line does not touch the surface and slacken the line to the rod top..once again the take is very exciting as the line straightens.

I really think there's nothing like it.

[Davejass]

WALLYS CAST WROTER When using a running lead you can also pull the bait just under the surface out of sight of ducks etc.

I found on a well hammered carp lake that by pulling your bait just an inch under the surface gave very positive and unmissable bites. Just something they hadn't seen before but they soon got used to it.

Wal.
Yes Wal I caught my biggest carp on this method a couple of years ago. I was keeping the bait away from the eyes of the waterfowl.
It is very exciting!!

[Chris Bettis]

Kindly refrain from explaining Chod rigs and the like. Yes Walker used the Method at Southend which was full of wildies. I fished there myself and you needed to be quick in getting even fish of 4 or 5lbs under control before they hit the far bank. Have used it since at other venues and it is a great method .

[Gary Bills]

Kindly refrain from explaining Chod rigs and the like. Yes Walker used the Method at Southend which was full of wildies. I fished there myself and you needed to be quick in getting even fish of 4 or 5lbs under control before they hit the far bank. Have used it since at other venues and it is a great method .

High Chris - I thought we were talking about margin crust, not chod rigs - I've never used a chod rig (hate the name), and I don't use the hair....
I'm all for reviving the classic carp fishing methods of the 50s, because I think they are more fun. I'm even toying with the idea of using spuds this year...!

[Nobby]

Isn't 'chod rig' just a modern name for a bait pinned to the deck by a weight? It's been a pike fishing method forever. As I understand it, the intention with carp fishing was to suspend a bait mid-water above vegetation. Whilst the intention might have been new, the actual method is old with just the usual addition by carp anglers of a ring.

As for hair rigs....they're pretty old now and there's some debate how old they really are with baits attached to hooks by loose links much older than the 'true' hair.

[Gary Bills]

Isn't 'chod rig' just a modern name for a bait pinned to the deck by a weight?

Yes, - never used it, but it's a way, a form of ledgering rig, to cope with deep silt/mud etc, when fishing on the bottom.
Margin crust, on the other hand, is the lowering of a crust onto the surface of the water, immediately below the rod tip, with no line at all on the water.

[Gary Bills]

Kindly refrain from explaining Chod rigs and the like. Yes Walker used the Method at Southend which was full of wildies. I fished there myself and you needed to be quick in getting even fish of 4 or 5lbs under control before they hit the far bank. Have used it since at other venues and it is a great method .

High Chris - I thought we were talking about margin crust, not chod rigs - I've never used a chod rig (hate the name), and I don't use the hair....
I'm all for reviving the classic carp fishing methods of the 50s, because I think they are more fun. I'm even toying with the idea of using spuds this year...!

Ah apologies, Chris -I've just re-read the posts - yes, the Chod method did arise in discussions ...I see where you are coming from now...

[Beresford]

In response to the OP – yes it works – great fun as well on a warm summer night.

As a very successful variation I've dangled freelined cockles off reeds and lily pads in an attempt to mimic snails etc.