River Fishing Tips | How to shot a stick float - Kelvin Tallett

The stick float is a fantastic method, offering superior presentation to the waggler for close-range fishing on rivers. But there is much more to it than simply setting the float at the depth of your swim and running it down with the flow. 

Constant adjustments should be made to your rig and feeding to keep in touch with the shoals of fish.

A typical shotting pattern is using the shirt-button option where each shot is evenly spaced down the line, like the buttons on a shirt. This gives the hookbait a very natural fall of the bait through the water. 

Stick floats are best shotted ‘shirt button’ style

When you hold the float back against the current, it will allow the bait to rise up slightly off the bottom, which can produce a bite when running the rig through normally won’t. A bulk of shot is very rarely used when fishing the stick float.

Get the stick float right and big bags of fish await you