Best floats to use while roach fishing
High water levels and very low temperatures have kept most river anglers out of action for a couple of weeks... but good news is on the way!
Levels have dropped now and the long-range forecast predicts rising air temperatures. When this happens, my attention turns towards roach at this time of the season. They can be very fickle some days and you could be forgiven for thinking there are none in front of you, but when they do switch on you could be in for your best silver fish catches of the season!
You need to time your trips to coincide with these days so always keep an eye on the temperature and use the River and Sea Levels website to get familiar with the various levels up and down your favourite rivers. I’ve got all the gauge stations stored on my mobile phone so I can easily check them at any time.
All you need to do is type in the venue and if there’s a gauge nearby, it will come up: https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/river-and-sea-levels
To help you try and identify the rigs you need for this time of the year, I’ve selected a picture of a typical roach river.
As you can see from the rigs I have chosen, the depth varies and most of the flow is down the middle and across the river.
The Rigs
4ft DEEP, SLOW FLOW
LINE AND HOOK: 3lb (0.14mm) Pro Float main, size 20 hook to 0.08mm or 0.10mm Pro Rig hooklength
FLOAT: 4No4 Alloy Stem Shouldered Stick
This is the area that I would save to the very end of the session but I would fire two or three maggots or casters in every minute or two for the whole session. I’d rarely feed more on this close-in line as we might only fish there for an hour so we want the fish to be hungry and competing. This line of the river and the last hour before dark go together. Set the rig at full depth and ease the float through very slowly.
11m to 13m POLE LINE, 6ft DEEP, MEDIUM FLOW
LINE AND HOOK: 3lb (0.14mm) Pro Float main, size 20 hook to 0.08mm or 0.10mm Pro Rig hooklength
FLOAT: 0.60g DH17 pole float with strung-out No8 shots. Position bottom shot 10ins from the hook
ELASTIC: Yellow Daiwa Hydrolastic
Your presentation should be perfect at up to 13m with the rig on four or five sections of pole. Set the rig to just touch bottom, but experiment with it up to 6ins off bottom or slightly overdepth and held slightly in check. Feed three or four maggots and a few grains of hemp every minute or two.
THREE-QUARTERS ACROSS BOLO LINE 8ft DEEP, MEDIUM FLOW
LINE AND HOOK: 3lb (0.14mm) Pro Float main, size 20 hook to 0.08mm or 0.10mm Pro Rig hooklength
FLOAT: 1.5g or 2g No4 Bolo with olivette set 18ins from the hook and a single No8 shot 10ins from hook
Feed four to six maggots every cast on this line, as there should be plenty of fish here, especially if the river has some colour. The beauty of the Bolo is that you can fish it with good presentation even in tricky downstream wind conditions as long as you the right-size float.
THREE-QUARTERS ACROSS WAGGLER LINE, 8ft DEEP, MEDIUM FLOW
LINE AND HOOK: 3lb (0.14mm) Pro Float main, size 20 hook to 0.08mm or 0.10mm Pro Rig hooklength
FLOAT: 3AAA or 4AAA Straight Peacock Waggler
Always cast this rig downstream, as you’ll have perfect presentation immediately and no bows in the line to pull the float off course. Start off feeding light but step it up as the fish respond. Six to 10 maggots should be enough.
