Silvers on the waggler

[Maverick]

Although I do an awful lot of pellet waggler fishing during the summer months, I have never tried my hand at waggler fishing through the layers for silver fish.

Now the one thing I'm stumped on is the size and type of float to use. Do I need a straight waggler or an insert? My eyes are not so good now I'm older so if the insert was to thin I may struggle to see it. What weight of float? I guess I will be fishing as far as I can fire maggots or casters what distance will this be?

The target fish will be roach, skimmers and maybe a nice bream or three. There are no F1's in the venue.

Any recommendations and advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Kojak]

It’s something I do all through winter, I use an 11ft soft waggler rod (not a pellet waggler) and the float is usually one of the Drennan Glow Tops or Dave Harrell Sensitip wagglers (see photo) I tend to loose feed caster and fish between 10 and 18m I find it out fishes the pole where Roach are the target, it’s served me well in the silvers league and I’m quite often in the frame?

 

[Maverick]

It’s something I do all through winter, I use an 11ft soft waggler rod (not a pellet waggler) and the float is usually one of the Drennan Glow Tops or Dave Harrell Sensitip wagglers (see photo) I tend to loose feed caster and fish between 10 and 18m I find it out fishes the pole where Roach are the target, it’s served me well in the silvers league and I’m quite often in the frame?

Thanks Paul, what weight of floats do you use to cast the 2 distances you mention?

 

[Anglingman]

The depth and landscape of the lake bed will play a major influence in the range you fish. No good fishing at 10m if the fish are in deep water at 25m and that will then change what tackle you need, Weather conditions may dictate how far you can fire your bait but there are ways (eg balls of maggots stuck together using horlicks (other malt drinks are avail )). as a rule of thumb I like to fish a number 8 for every foot of depth so will select a loaded waggler, normally insert for me, that will take the shot i need. a small swivel (size 20) will be used between reel line and hooklength to cut down line twist. I use drennan 3.2lb float fish main line for most situations although this might be stepped up if larger fish are expected. Drennan silverfish hooks size 18 are my goto. If i have say 8ft of water I will string out 5 or six number 8's "on the drop" and fish through the water looking where bites are coming from. Maggot or caster with some hemp are a good bait choice but no problem with feeding pellets if skimmers are prevalent. It is a style of fishing I love.

 

[Maesknoll]

Something I do a fair bit of in the winter, maggot, caster or corn for skimmers.

I use a nice soft rod, Normark Microlites being my choice. Reel line after some experimentation is 3lb Preston Sinking Feeder line. Floats are either Drennan Glow Tips or Preston inserts. Most of the shot round the float to start with, depth dependant, and a couple of 8, 10 or 11 stotz down the line - one of the only times I use stotz, because I think the sink slower than shot and they can be easily moved around to change the rate of fall.

Hooklength will be either 6” or 12” depending on depth and fish target size, 6” for smaller fish, 0.10 and will drop to 0.08 if necessary. Guru F1 hooks, 18, 20 or 22.

Feed little and often, if the bites are coming on the drop, don’t wait too long before recasting, although the occasional wait might see a bonus fish on the deck.
If you want to use double maggot or caster, use a micro swivel in place of the last dropper, this will stop hooklength twist.
Make sure you check the wind bit of the forecast before you go, no point starting at 25m if the wind changes or gets up and you can only get casters 15m out.
Dot the float down as much as you can, the Drennan Glowtips are great for seeing bites on the drop and lift bites, but some days, Silvers will give really positive bites on the waggler.

Glow Tip Antennas | Drennan International

Glow Tip Antenna Wagglers are perfect for reading shy bites from silverfish, crucians, and F1s. They are similar in shape to the cult classic Drennan Stillwater Blue, but with a couple of modern twists. The antenna is made from a very strong and flexible material so that it will stand up to...

www.drennantackle.com

Preston Insert Peacock Waggler Float

Key Features Prestons new 2015 float range Dark navy blue colour Highly durable Top quality floats Stunning high quality finish Hi-Viz tip for visibility Suitable for all-round applications Various sizes available

www.anglingdirect.co.uk

 

[Kojak]

Thanks Paul, what weight of floats do you use to cast the 2 distances you mention?

I use between 3BB and 3AAA depending on the conditions, these days I rig up with a few shot round the float with up to 3 droppers then the rest of the weight is made up by wrapping lead wire around the base. By wrapping the lead wire you can swap floats very easily without having to adjust the shot!

 

[david white]

I too fish similar to how Paul explains ( albeit purely for pleasure but it’s a method which puts a big smile on my face ) I tend to use a float which easily over cast the required distance as over casting ( or to the left and right ) of the normal feed area can pick up better sized fish with the added bonus of if weather conditions charge your already geared up to cope

 

[Maverick]

Some great info there. Thanks Lads. Just one more question. Do you attach the float with a snap swivel like in pellet wagg fishing? Just thinking I could leave the rod set up after a session in this way or am I wrong?

Thanks

 

[scorchy]

Used this at the weekend to win our club match.
Wind dropped enough for half an hour to put 8lb on silvers in the net and a win by 3lb. Had already put together 20lb of skimmers beforehand.
Use the drennen glow tips and maxima 3lb with a light rod.
Great fun if the cross wind wasn’t an issue I would of been on it all day and a good chance of 30lb quality roach.
Proper fishing.
Now looking for a long decent hook length box, not keen on the foam spool types.
Any recommendations for a 2ft hooklength box.

Thanks

 

[Total]

Some great info there. Thanks Lads. Just one more question. Do you attach the float with a snap swivel like in pellet wagg fishing? Just thinking I could leave the rod set up after a session in this way or am I wrong?

Thanks

You can do mate. .......Just make sure your waggler rod is not too short for your venue.....13 footer covers all my venues.

 

[Tinca Steve]

If you cannot see a thin tip, alter your floats to give you a much bigger diameter but extremely delicate tip. These are the ones l use , altered with a bit of black plastic straw. There is a hole right at the top of the float to allow water to enter the straw. A single #8 will sink the float . Shot the original float right down as low as possible .
From the hole to the top of the straw is about an inch. Nice and wide so can be seen at distance but also very delicate.

 

[Kojak]

Some great info there. Thanks Lads. Just one more question. Do you attach the float with a snap swivel like in pellet wagg fishing? Just thinking I could leave the rod set up after a session in this way or am I wrong?

Thanks

Have a good close look at the photo mate, it shows the lead wire and how I attach the float (swivel float adapter) ?

 

[Maesknoll]

Some great info there. Thanks Lads. Just one more question. Do you attach the float with a snap swivel like in pellet wagg fishing? Just thinking I could leave the rod set up after a session in this way or am I wrong?

Thanks

I leave my rods (3 piece) set up, wagglers attached with push on waggler adaptors. Not sure what difference the attachment makes to leaving the rod set up?

 

[Tinca Steve]

No difference with any type of adapter, a lot if you dont use one. I set mine up to the lightest float I'm liable to use. And alter all the rest of the floats in the range, adding weight to each float permanently.

 

[david white]

Following on the advice regarding modifying your float tips may I just suggest trying different colour tips, I guess I fished for nigh on 45 years with red or black floats before trying a yellow tip couldn’t believe the difference it’s made ( sometimes a white tip is even better ) rightly or wrongly I also find a thicker tip dotted right down suits me better in some circumstances ( not when fishing up in the water though ) especially when predominantly silvers fishing

 

[derwentboy]

I love those Drennan Glow Tip Antenna wagglers...it's my go to float many times...sometimes with a smaller version on a whip

 

[Tinca Steve]

Following on the advice regarding modifying your float tips may I just suggest trying different colour tips, I guess I fished for nigh on 45 years with red or black floats before trying a yellow tip couldn’t believe the difference it’s made ( sometimes a white tip is even better ) rightly or wrongly I also find a thicker tip dotted right down suits me better in some circumstances ( not when fishing up in the water though ) especially when predominantly silvers fishing

Straws come in many colours and diameters.

 

[Silverfisher]

Waggler fishing for silvers, that being roach and perch on my local venue, is pretty much all I do Stillwater fishing wise. I use an acolyte ultra, series 7 float reel, 3-4lb maxima mainline, 2-3lb hooklengths, generally loaded crystal insert wagglers but occasionally the straight ones and both in sizes that take a couple no1 or bb and a no8 dropper to set them right, then maggot or hemp on a size 18 hook. Doesn’t need to be anymore complicated than that in my experience.

 

[John Step]

I like Tinca Steve's adaption for sensitivity. I seem to remember there was a float manufacturer who did this but his look pretty good for the job.
I will adapt some of my floats.

What I have been doing is raiding the long nylon bristles from the garden broom and aralditing about 2 inches of one into the top of a waggler. For open water ie a light background I paint the bristle black.

It can be weighted so just the bristle is above water and a gnats breath sees it slide away. No good if there is a lot of tow of course.

 

[Northantslad]

5bb insert clear crystal waggler for 3-4 rod length casts, 7bb if further-both are for calmish conditions.

If wind and ripple to combat then a thicker bristled float up to 3AAA. If there is tow in that, just go with the heavier float option so you can tighten up to it, cast beyond your target area, sink the rod tip and twitch it back to sink the line, you can also lay a little bit more line on the deck by going overdepth in order to combat tow.

Always fish it dead depth usually and a good tip when plumbing at distance and to achieve dead depth accurately, is to leave the bail arm off and line slack as you are waiting for the float to appear up. Plumb up with just a couple of shot locking the float, once at the right depth, add the droppers, then more to the main bulk until right. Might seem odd, but if you get the shot around the float all done first, it can then be an issue getting the right number of droppers in, for that reason I go droppers first straight after plumbing.

A quick change float adaptor is essential if you need to alter things during the day. Hook wise is a drennan maggot red to nylon, start on 20 to 2'12, up it to an 18 on 2'12 or 18 on 3'6 if larger fish and/or carp appear. Mainline is 4lb.

Have 75% of the shotting around the float, but build into that some no'6 shot should you need to get a bait down quicker and slide one or two down to the 3/4 depth mark. In a five foot swim a couple of no'8 shot spaced equally apart from the hooklength join is usually sufficient to give a decent fall to the bait and encourage bites almost immediately on settling if the fish are in a follow it down mood. If deeper, then add a 3rd number 8, again equal distance up from the next dropper. Your main shot loading should take the float down to the base of the bristle, then the droppers creep it down to the desired amount of show-as little as you can see I would say.

Feeding wise (maggot), although a little and often (feed then cast over it) works generally, sometimes a bit more feed and fish it out works. If bites are hard to come by, or you were getting regular bites at a set time, but now the float goes out and just sits with no bite, feeding a small amount over the top always seems to encourage a bite.

Points about length of rod are spot on, a 10ft rod is fine for shortish casts, going up to 12ft or 13ft for longer, picking up the line on the strike must be factored into this decision too, a longer (with a soft action as mentioned already in the thread) will do this well and if it comes to a choice, then longer is best. You will quickly see if you have got this one right, if you continually don't connect with bites, the larger hook option sometimes plays a part in that too.