The River Angler

As a keen trotter of floats, the Verulam Angling Club’s ‘Stick Float Clinic’ was something I considered too good to miss.  The opportunity to spend some time in the company of such luminaries as Keith Speer, Dave Currell and Paul would be exceptional value for money, if it was costing me £20-£30.  The fact that it was a free days tuition to club members, is just phenomenal.

To all the guys who helped arrange the day, including the teas and coffee, a big slap on the back and cheers of well done.  It was a brilliant day, with good company and lots of valuable information. The day started with the usual gathering and social banter in the car park.  Then it was grab a chair and a cuppa and settle in for Keith’s ‘talk’.  Over the next 60-90 minutes Keith shared his amazing knowledge with us.  From tackle used, to bait and tactics.  Several important bits of information for me was 1. Keep the bait going in, little and often.  Never stop feeding.  No matter how tedious, keep the bait trickling in on every cast. 2. Select the right weight of float for the job.  Don’t become too preoccupied with type/style of float, just make sure it takes the right amount of shot for the flow conditions. 3. Keep changing the shotting pattern if nothings happening.

All sounds simple, but its important to have a game plan and stick to it (no pun intended….honest!). Feeding does seem to hold the key to success.  Often loose feed is thrown in quite haphazardly. You must make an effort to loose feed consistently if you want to be successful. There was a lot of useful information in Keith’s talk, which I’m certain will help to improve my catch rates and successes and hopefully enhance the overall enjoyment of float fishing on rivers.

The practical session was great.  Quite a few of the guys had never float fished a lake let alone a river.  But in the expert hands of our tutors, they started to get a feel for what some of us already know is a very rewarding method.  No matter what your target species is, trotting is a great way to not only catch, but to explore the river.  Its perfect for finding depths and features, that you can then return to in the summer months, when targeting barbel for instance.

By the end of the day most people present had tried the method out.  Some hooking and some actually landing ( 😉 ) their first ever float caught barbel.  My best efforts on the float caught me several perch, roach, dace and a few chub.  I lost one barbel on the float but then switched to feeder and finally landed a couple of nice barbel.

All in all a very rewarding and enjoyable day.  My thanks go to Verulam Angling Club, Keith Speer and the other tutors and helpers and to all those that took part.  Well done.