quill Avon float. Originally I used these with balsa

I will start with the smallest pattern of floats that I use. These are the mini balsas that look more like a Summer close-in pattern. They do in fact work well in this role but I am using them for trotting under the near side bank in a style that float maker, Pat Tarrant, refers to as “mowing the lawn”. Basically floods and adverse conditions often force fish to move close in to seek the shelter of bank side cover. fish are often virtually touching the banks under certain conditions. In “mowing the lawn” the float is worked so close in to the near-side bank that if a cutting blade was fitted it would cut the vegetation or grass rather like a lawn mower.These small light floats create little disturbance as they enter the water and are easily held back. They are normally worked through the swim fished over-depth and virtually touching the bank. Holding hard back slows the bait presentation and encourages the fish to take the bait more readily. The shotting pattern is rather crude yet very effective with bulk shot of number 8 shots set about 18 inches from the hook with a number 8 only about 6 inches up from the hook.This method has proved deadly for many species. I have used it a lot in recent years on many small streams to great effect. It proved very effective on the Upper Hampshire Avon for grayling. I had a good day using one of these floats late in January on the Upper Avon. I had set up with a 12ft Harrison trotter with a hollow tip. Reel was an Ariel centre pin loaded with 21b b.s. line to a 1.51b trace to a size 18 hook. The float was a six number 8 mini balsa with five number 8 shot bulked 18 inches from the hook, with one number 8 shot only six inches away from the hook. The float was set at 4ft deep to trot a swim that was 3ft deep under the bank. I fed in a few maggots before working my float through the swim, nearly touching the bank whilst also holding it back. On the second cast I had a nice grayling of 21b 4oz that was quickly followed by another grayling of 2lb 6oz. The swim then went dead for ten minutes until more grayling appeared. I continued to catch close in, in short spurts to catch seven good grayling ranging from 11b 12oz to 2lb 6oz during the one and a half hour session in that swim. Although I caught plenty of brown trout from other swims, I only had one more grayling. That weighed 21b 1oz giving me a total of six, two pound plus grayling. All were caught “mowing the lawn” with those baby balsas.I use stick floats and wire stems in slow to moderate flowing water, in sizes holding between 4 number 4 shot and 8 number 4 shot. If I need to go heavier then I normally change to swan necked balsas. Basically, it is mainly pace and turbulence that determines whether a traditional stick or a wire stem is used. As a rough rule, the wire stem is used in more turbulent pacey water.I used traditional stick floats from 5 number 4 shot to 6 number 4 shot when I was fishing a small tributary of the River Colne for big roach. These roach took a lot of finding but, once located, gave some terrific results with roach up to 21b 10oz. One season I had ten different two pound plus roach from one section. The fishing was not difficult, all I had to do was trot through with a stick float, shotted shirt button style, over-depth and held back. The bait was two casters fished on a size 14 hook over a small carpet of hemp and caster. This was real traditional stick float fishing. The technique also works well for barbel under low water conditions.Although I still use various types of stick float, the swan necked balsa is now the main float in my Winter armoury. This is because I do a lot of my winter fishing from boats or on very fast flowing waters. The swan necked balsa is a good fast water or deep swim float, being relatively stable. I use swan necked balsas in sizes ranging from 8 number 4 up to ten BB shot.I often fish these floats with wet bread in the winter and fish with a tungsten olivette instead of bulk shot. These are more streamlined than shot, offering far less resistance to the strike. The olivette is normally positioned about 18 inches from the hook with a number 6 or 4 shot in between the hook and the olivette. Although by modern match fishing standards this is very crude, it is still very effective, particularly when punt fishing the tidal Thames as the water is pulling off.When the roach were really present in numbers during the sixties and seventies on my local Thames, this was the method to bag up on big roach. Just trot a big piece of wet bread under a swan necked balsa, shotted as described over plenty of mashed bread ground bait and be alert to the slightest bite. I have had some very big bags of Thames roach, going over fifty pounds in four hours, fishing with this method. It is a crude but exceptionally effective method at times.The swan necked balsa is also a very effective float for fishing the Hampshire Avon for barbel. During the 1970’s and 1980’s, I used to use one of these floats with a centre pin to trot for barbel on the Royalty Fishery. When there was no maggot ban, I used to use a bait dropper to feed the swim with maggots, then trot through holding back with maggots. Fishing this way, I had up to 22 barbel from the fishery in a day. Life was made more difficult when a maggot ban was placed on the fishery as I had to spend hours cutting up cubes of luncheon meat to feed in with the bait dropper. However the same tactics with luncheon meat as bait also gave good results from the fishery.When the river is pushing through exceptionally swiftly, a float that holds more weight than the conventional swan necked balsa is required. At these times I use a crow-quill Avon float. Originally I used these with balsa-wood bodies but now use them with high density expanded polystyrene bodies. I don’t make these as I have not learned the art of working with this material. Instead, I buy them made by “Topper Haskins”. These are very well made and much smaller than the balsa wood models but, as the density of the expanded polystyrene is so low, they hold so much more shot. They also offer less resistance to the strike which makes it easier to hit bites.These floats have a fairly sensitive and delicate crow-quill stem that can be easily broken. It is therefore advisable to secure the float with three bands. One is placed on the tip, another at the bottom of the body whilst the last band at the bottom of the crow-quill.This float is fished with a similar shotting pattern to the swan necked balsa with a large tungsten olivette replacing bulk shot. The modern crow-quill polystyrene bodied Avon float with these tungsten olivettes make a very effective fast water float that is easily used.I also carry a good selection of straight peacock wagglers for fishing further out and when there is not much flow in Winter. Some years this is more common than would be expected. On the Thames these days, with increased water abstraction, the river tends to go quickly from a flood to a no-flow situation.Several years ago, I fished the Thames in flood and returned two weeks later to find no flow. The water was gin clear, making it necessary to fish further out to where the fish had retreated. Under these circumstances, I thought that the straight waggler was the ideal weapon to use. I set up with a 13ft waggler rod with a fixed spool reel loaded with 31b b.s. line. The terminal tackle was a Pat Tarrant straight peacock float locked in position by the bulk shot with just a number 6 and number 8 shot down the line. I used a 2lb trace with a size 16 hook baited with two maggots. Although this sounds more like a still-water rig, the flow was virtually non existent making the river more like a long lake.I fished about four rod lengths out and initially fed the swim with brown bread crumb loaded with maggots. Sport was initially very slow during the morning as there had been a frost but it started to warm up and to develop into a very bright day. The float was barely moving through the swim, making it more like lake fishing than river work. I could easily see the bottom in four feet of water at one rod length out. I was having doubts about my approach when the float dipped under and I was into my first bream that was nearly five pounds. Rather than risk disturbing the fish with more ground bait, I continued to feed the swim with a catapult to introduce a few maggots nearly every cast. I gradually started to get bites and was slowly but surely building up a bag of bream that were averaging well over four pounds with the better fish running over six pounds. I had had eight bream before I caught my first fish of another species. This was a perch of about 12oz that was followed by another bream. There was not a sign of any roach or dace. Then I had a real fly-under bite and a good fight followed. I knew that the fish was not heavy enough to be a Thames carp and was hoping for a big perch when I saw the dark shape of a Thames tench. I landed it and weighed it at 31b 12oz. I fished on for another hour to end up with 11 bream to 61b 4oz, that tench and a perch. It had been more like lake fishing than river fishing and this was reinforced by looking at the bag of fish.My use of wagglers is not exclusively confined to the River Thames as I use them on many rivers. I mainly use them to fish further out or in slacker water. They have also been useful at times when I have managed to get the fish up in the water. This can be particularly relevant when fishing for chub on certain rivers. I once had a two pound rudd turn up in a catch on the River Test when I was catching a few chub up in the water. This fish no doubt got washed into the river when it broke its banks, from a flooded pond. This rudd was in perfect condition and a brilliant specimen.Finally I would like to look at the heaviest floats that I now carry. These are the new Preston Innovations Tyson bolo floats that were made for pole fishing in Ireland. These floats were made to be robust, very visible and holding a lot of shot. Mine hold up to 69.They are basically of an Avon style with a carbon stem for stability, a large balsa body for shot carrying capacity and a peacock quill top for visibility. They work exceptionally well fished bolo style, that is with a long rod trotting down the middle of the river. They get the bait down quickly to the bottom where it is required with the added advantages of stability and visibility. I also use these with a large tungsten olivette to fish fast deep water. I have used them to trot deep fast flowing swims from the boat as flood water has started to lose its colour. To date the results from using this float in this role have been good, provided that there has been no frosts or cold water entering the river.

I am a great believer in float fishing in Winter in all but the coldest of conditions. I believe that the rather simplistic guide that I have tried to give readers in this article should give a good basis for float selection and shotting in Winter.