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Advice on fishing a rising river, bringing down weed, leaves etc

William Taylor

Senior Member
Hello,

This is my first season river fishing and I am having a great time catching a few fish on the Severn at Bridgnorth.

Today, i nipped down for a few hours and whilst I was there the river was rising a fair bit. Because of this, lots of of weed, leaves etc were coming down. As soon as I cast out, my rod tip was pulling around as I was getting lots of weed and leaves getting caught up on the line. I have been ledgering, fishing with my rods high up to keep as much out line out of the water as possible.

Does anyone have any advice or methods to combat this and to stop/minimise the amount of leaves and weed getting caught on the line?

Thanks
 
Hi Will.
The way I see it, you have two options...

Either back lead it and pin down as much line as you can out of the weed and fish with the rod tip low, or position yourself in a swim so that you are casting upstream - this way some of the line near the terminal gear gets pinned down by the flow and any weed that does hit the line is being pushed away from your lead and hook by the flow rather than towards it.

I generally prefer the second option. You do still get weed collecting along the line and it will eventually build up to the point your lead is pulled out of position, but the presentation is good and you generally get to keep your rod in the water longer than if you are fishing the rod downstream. You can also be confident that your rig is free of weed.
 
I used to worry about this all the time. Now I just fish a heavier lead. Every now and then you will get the weed build up and wipe you out but I just keep recasting. I used to move swims or call it a day in the past but for the last couple of seasons I have done well when the conditions are like this.
 
In addition to the above, look for the creases and upstream ledger in those if you can. Unfortunately, the leaves are something we just have to put up with.
 
Another approach although often not possible , is to find a swim with a promontory , sit on the extreme end of the sticky out bit of bank and cast directly downstream and have your rod in a rest directly inline with your line / the current with no angle, and touch ledger . Surprising how little lead you can get away with and leaf build up on the line will be a lot less than stringing a washing line across the flow .
 
Another approach although often not possible , is to find a swim with a promontory , sit on the extreme end of the sticky out bit of bank and cast directly downstream and have your rod in a rest directly inline with your line / the current with no angle, and touch ledger . Surprising how little lead you can get away with and leaf build up on the line will be a lot less than stringing a washing line across the flow .

well learn something new each day...I would have just called it a point:)
 
Fair point re the point , promontory was perhaps a little grandiose even pointless . Yes find yourself a point and sit on the end of it :)
 
Another approach although often not possible , is to find a swim with a promontory , sit on the extreme end of the sticky out bit of bank and cast directly downstream and have your rod in a rest directly inline with your line / the current with no angle, and touch ledger . Surprising how little lead you can get away with and leaf build up on the line will be a lot less than stringing a washing line across the flow .

That's great advice Mike...but I did literally fall foul of that once, sitting on the end of a promontory thingy...fell in... the' promontory' was an undercut bank:eek:

The Wye does have a few promontory, or as we call 'em down south croys, and I will certainly heed your advice this Autumn. :)
 
No need to pin line down. When I'm fishing severn in summer flood 2oz lead tops. Need more lead in wrong place. A braid stop or even a shot a foot above the lead stop crap coming over your bait. I look for pegs behind tress . You be surprised how close in you catch
 
No need to pin line down. When I'm fishing severn in summer flood 2oz lead tops. Need more lead in wrong place. A braid stop or even a shot a foot above the lead stop crap coming over your bait. I look for pegs behind tress . You be surprised how close in you catch

I go to Poundland :D:D:D

I,ll get me coat ;):)
 
What Dean said float stop up the line stops a lot of rubbish.
 
Thanks for that chaps.

Really helpful, you have given me a better idea about how to approach it.

Quick question about the 'float stop' method. So, is the float stop used a foot ish above the lead, and the float stop is used to hold back a small weight which pins down the line? Just trying to get my head around it.

Cheers
 
Thanks for that chaps.

Really helpful, you have given me a better idea about how to approach it.

Quick question about the 'float stop' method. So, is the float stop used a foot ish above the lead, and the float stop is used to hold back a small weight which pins down the line? Just trying to get my head around it.

Cheers

The float stop is just that, not as a stop for a back lead.
 
Whatever method you use to get over the problem is worth the effort. A rising river has no equal for barbel feeding in my experience. As Dean said, tight to the near bank reduces the problem and the fish are certainly there.
 
The float stop is just that, not as a stop for a back lead.

Ok, You must forgive me. I am just finding my way around the river!

So, in terms of my rig. its a float stop...lead...buffer bead...and then hooklink?

So, the point of the stop is to allow, effectively, a longer hook length?

I know this must seem stupidly obvious to all of you, but before you reply, my previous fishing experience has been that of fishing in some poxy hole in the ground, pulling in overfed swollen carp! So, I really struggling with this.

Anyway, thanks chaps.

And I hope you don't hold my previous fishing experience against me. haha
 
Hi William,

The float stop is to stop the debris that is hitting your from line sliding all the way down to your lead/hook link. I always use a float stop above my lead in all situations, something I've done for years and it certainly helps. You still get wiped out by the amount of debris but I've found the stop reduces this. Sometimes moving the stop down towards the lead you can create a semi fixed bolt rig. I sometimes have the stop an inch away from the lead and swivel with has turned those plucks and pulls into wraparounds. Try it and good luck.
Cheers Ian.
 
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