Plumbing to exact depth

[Neil ofthe nene]

As for plumbing up. Like Gozzer I will use a grain of corn to fine tune if I am looking to achieve "dead depth" or find my starting point and then add or subtract depth as the day progresses. It is also useful to check depth if bites cease as often the fish will have hollowed out a depression while feeding. The grain of corn will do this as well as sometimes producing a bonus fish.

Because the waggler cannot be as precise as the pole you can only really set a general depth either over or under and then see what happens.

There is a way of fishing dead depth. But that is one of the few "secrets" I do keep to myself.

 

[Roytonpainter]

I find if I fish overdepth I have problems with fish swallowing the bait but not seeing the bite

 

[Neil ofthe nene]

I find if I fish overdepth I have problems with fish swallowing the bait but not seeing the bite

Welcome

The issue is probably a combination of how far overdepth and how low in the water you shot your float. Try just 1 inch overdepth and the float as low as possible as you can get it and still see it, or rather tell when it isn't there. You may find you are striking at some false bites but you will hit more of the proper ones. If pole fishing it can help to have the line from pole to float as short as conditions allow. I find that I don't strike as violently this way but I do connect with the fish quicker.

 

[alsur]

On still water I always start at half way down body, on running water a quick go with plummet at top of swim the add a couple of inches on and run float down swim if it doesn't pull under I'll add more till in does then shallow up a bit, in fact swims I fish a lot I dispense with plummet. On rivers I fish the depth normally varies along swim but after a few run downs you get to know where you need to hold back to lift bait off bottom.

 

[Jimpanzee]

Based on a Matt Hayes video (which I think you shared Zerkalo) I have been plumbing to the exact depth and then add 10cms or so..I’m still struggling with bites but I put that down to the time of the year.

 

[The Landlord]

Based on a Matt Hayes video (which I think you shared Zerkalo) I have been plumbing to the exact depth and then add 10cms or so..I’m still struggling with bites but I put that down to the time of the year.

How far is your tell tale shot from the hook?

 

[Jimpanzee]

How far is your tell tale shot from the hook?

I just had to google what tell tale shot was...? I’ve been using 60cm hooklengths and I’ve tried either putting it at the top of the hook length or just before the hook length is attached..any tips or suggestions?

 

[The Landlord]

The final shot, just above your hook. Sometimes if it's too far away, you won't see the bites quickly. Try moving it closer to the hook...4 inches or 6 inches.

 

[Jimpanzee]

@The Landlord Sorry, I just edited my original response to you. Noted - thanks for the tip ?

 

[Northantslad]

Noticed that too @Zerkalo , and on other ones too, they seem to be plumbing to the base of the float body and calling that dead depth?

But hey what do i know....

I like to plumb to how much bristle i know i will be showing and call (and mark) that as dead depth, then adjust accordingly if i want to go over depth.

Only thing i put it down to is perhaps they are allowing for the curvature of the bottom foot or so of the rig (dependent on shotting pattern), so technically an inch or so (around a float bodys length) lost in that curvature. The difference between what a plummet on a tight line shows and what the rig actually hangs like once 'free' to hang.

 

[Silverfisher]

I like to plumb to how much bristle i know i will be showing and call (and mark) that as dead depth, then adjust accordingly if i want to go over depth.

That’s pretty much what I do, that or slightly more dotted than what I want to show. Seems to be about right more often than not.

 

[davepellet]

I tend to plumb at least an inch overdepth when fishing expander (usually more)

the plummet will straighten the line more than when you're actually fishing, marginal but a fact, so if you do plumb absolute dead depth, you'll probably notice your float won't sit right as the line won't be as taught without the plummet

also - as has already been mentioned - you might be fishing dead depth on the square inch you originally plumbed, but with the best intentions in the world you will not be fishing exactly the same spot throughout the session... even if you're in line with your far bank marker & fishing the same distance... how many of us can maintain the same posture for 5 hours?

 

[baggy]

I plumb up the same as Mr Shipp as he showed me first hand on a coaching day and it made a massive difference to my catch-rate. He did go into more detail than in the video but if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me

 

[Zerkalo]

Like Des Shipp says in the video, before he changed he was used to plumbing to 'dead depth' on the bristle because of canals. I was a canal angler and for some reason then it was more common to plumb to the bristle so just touching bottom, can't work out why we did this on canals but I would agree with his explanation for Carp, F1s etc the fish will touch the line first if fishing this way on commercials, so have always done it overdepth.

 

[G0zzer2]

I think it important to explain that we will all experiment with depth during the day. In other words I (and I expect all the experienced anglers here) will be altering the position of the float, and often by as little as half an inch (1.5 cm) at a time.

So my plumbing up to dead depth is only the starting point. In fact I like to find a slowly-sloping piece of bottom which allows me to start fishing with the bait at dead depth, but which has the rig towing towards the slight shallower area (usually against the wind), at which point the bait is perhaps laying on an inch. That gives me the best of both worlds.

 

[Zerkalo]

You can never be sure with 'experienced anglers' how people do things differently. In the Des Shipp video the question is actually 'why do 'top anglers' do plumb differently to each other. Quite a few might be plumbing to 'dead depth' eg not have the inch or two or more on the bottom. He says Will Raison and himself both did it until he found out accidentally one day that laying on a bit worked for him.

 

[alsur]

Watching Jamie Hughes he plums up to roughly bottom of body similar to Des Ship if it's good enough for both them it's good enough for me.

 

[G0zzer2]

You can never be sure with 'experienced anglers' how people do things differently. In the Des Shipp video the question is actually 'why do 'top anglers' do plumb differently to each other. Quite a few might be plumbing to 'dead depth' eg not have the inch or two or more on the bottom. He says Will Raison and himself both did it until he found out accidentally one day that laying on a bit worked for him.

Yes, but that's only his starting point. He found that fishing that extra half-inch deeper when fishing a banded hard pellet paid dividends on a lot of occasions, as he believes it stopped fish hitting his line before taking the bait. But he doesn't stick with that all day (unless he's catching fish all day). When I saw his explanation I wondered whether the length of the hair would have been a factor.

My starting point is dead depth, but I probably would not keep with that setting all day.

So there's no right or wrong - only what the angler is comfortable with.

 

[davylad]

I agree too about silt having a big effect. Instead of fine tuning the depth at the start when pellet fishing, I always start with what I think is dead depth, then see how my bites go to fish in the net. If I feel it's not quite right I alter it until hopefully it is.

 

[Roytonpainter]

Welcome

The issue is probably a combination of how far overdepth and how low in the water you shot your float. Try just 1 inch overdepth and the float as low as possible as you can get it and still see it, or rather tell when it isn't there. You may find you are striking at some false bites but you will hit more of the proper ones. If pole fishing it can help to have the line from pole to float as short as conditions allow. I find that I don't strike as violently this way but I do connect with the fish quicker.

Ok thanks for your input will give it a go I use 6inch hook lengths been told to use 4inch which makes sense try that as well