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Casting/fishing up river

Derek Funcks

Derek Funcks

Senior Member & Supporter
Its not something i normally do, as i can,t quite get my head around it. For instance, if my lead/feeder is say 20ft upriver from where im sitting, and ive let a big bow of line out. If i did get an indication of some sort on the tip, do i strike up river pulling the bow tight towards the lead, or try and reel in some slack and strike down river ? I tried it once, but the tip just kept bouncing ? don,t know if i had enough weight on to stop this, or is there another reason ?
 
Once you get it right, it basically fishes itself. Cast out, let enough line out so the feeder/lead just holds bottom. When the fish takes the bait, it should dislodge the feeder/lead. The pressure on the line and weight then swings it downstream, hopefully hooking the fish. The rod tip should be bent over whilst the lead is in place, when you get a take, the tip will dip slightly and then spring back upwards and go slack. Reel down untill you feel the fish and land it.

I found it worked better for me in match situations where there were quite a lot of fish in the swim, rather than sitting it out for a big fish.
 
Try it with an ounce clip on backlead derek, cast out to where you want , clip on the backlead ,bounce /feather the backlead down the line untill its more or less on the river bed, this helps to take out more of the bow and keeps yor mainline out of sight and away from the baited area, it also lets you tighten up more directly and the rod tip is a lot less taught, so you can see the slightest of movement on the tip, i fish with backleads 99% of the time , took me a bit of time to get used to it, but started out trying n one rod and after a while realised the rod with the backlead was returning far more fish ,
Regards
 
Jim Ufton said:
Try it with an ounce clip on backlead derek, cast out to where you want , clip on the backlead ,bounce /feather the backlead down the line untill its more or less on the river bed, this helps to take out more of the bow and keeps yor mainline out of sight and away from the baited area, it also lets you tighten up more directly and the rod tip is a lot less taught, so you can see the slightest of movement on the tip, i fish with backleads 99% of the time , took me a bit of time to get used to it, but started out trying n one rod and after a while realised the rod with the backlead was returning far more fish ,
Regards
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I find it very interesting that you use back leads 99% of the time Jim. I've used them on and off over the last 10-years but generally not when fishing less pressured venues (and obviously not in snaggy areas) reasoning that they aren't needed for less wary fish. But if your getting better results using them on the Upper Trent then that totally knocks my theory on the head. Those Upper Trent fish, however few, doesn't see anything like the angling pressure you find on most barbel rivers.
 
I usually always fish upstream if i can on one rod, and it seems to have increased my catch rate on the upstream rod since i started doing it.
Back-leading is something I've never done though, but it's something I've thought about, seems a bit of a dark art to me though.
 
Jim Ufton said:
Try it with an ounce clip on backlead derek, cast out to where you want , clip on the backlead ,bounce /feather the backlead down the line untill its more or less on the river bed, this helps to take out more of the bow and keeps yor mainline out of sight and away from the baited area, it also lets you tighten up more directly and the rod tip is a lot less taught, so you can see the slightest of movement on the tip, i fish with backleads 99% of the time , took me a bit of time to get used to it, but started out trying n one rod and after a while realised the rod with the backlead was returning far more fish ,
Regards
Click to expand...

Jim - do you backlead on both rods?
 
John Care said:
Jim - do you backlead on both rods?
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Yes , very rarely i fish the downstream rod without, and thats if there is colour in the water , like i said , took a while to get used to , the other advantage it gives is fishing flooded rivers, the upper t and dove are monsters with 2 foot on, but i can still fish far bank with this method, with out the rod bending in half,,,
 
Cheap as chips to make, pack of bank tackle clips and 1oz cube mould, squash the lead in a vice, job done IMG_20230223_135923_245.jpgIMG_20230223_135940_670.jpg
 
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Joe Winstanley said:
I find it very interesting that you use back leads 99% of the time Jim. I've used them on and off over the last 10-years but generally not when fishing less pressured venues (and obviously not in snaggy areas) reasoning that they aren't needed for less wary fish. But if your getting better results using them on the Upper Trent then that totally knocks my theory on the head. Those Upper Trent fish, however few, doesn't see anything like the angling pressure you find on most barbel rivers.
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Dont think i would have caught half as many fish joe,
 
I thought that there was little need to back lead when upstreaming as the flow will pin the line down for you. I suppose that in a low pace swim it might be worth considering. When I have had it work for me the bites have been very confident and no need to strike, just tighten up and hold on! Back lead or extra lump of plasticine is something I need to get back in the habit of doing when fishing downstream for sure.
 
Jim Ufton said:
Yes , very rarely i fish the downstream rod without, and thats if there is colour in the water , like i said , took a while to get used to , the other advantage it gives is fishing flooded rivers, the upper t and dove are monsters with 2 foot on, but i can still fish far bank with this method, with out the rod bending in half,,,
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Jim - another question; when you say you feather the back lead down once your rig is in the water, how far from your lead does your back lead usually end up? I mean, can you cast mid river and have your backlead just a couple of rods out, or under your rod tip?
 
m - another question; when you say you feather the back lead down once your rig is in the water, how far from your lead does your back lead usually end up? I mean, can you cast mid river and have your backlead just a couple of rods out, or under your rod tip?
 
John Care said:
Jim - another question; when you say you feather the back lead down once your rig is in the water, how far from your lead does your back lead usually end up? I mean, can you cast mid river and have your backlead just a couple of rods out, or under your rod tip?
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I slide them down about a rod length out on the thames,usually very little flow its just to avoid all the bloody boats!!!
 
I prefer to fish downstream, however in flood upstreaming is worth a go enabling lighter leads for a more sensitive presentation. But it always feels a bit 'wrong' to me 😕.
 
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