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Feeder fishing a deep weir?

S

Steve Quinn

Member
Evening folks, long time lurker and here's my first post! Genuine question that I have zero idea about so need some help.

I've been lucky enough to get invited to fish a weir pool on a big river by the lock keeper. Though he has no interest in fishing he obviously knows the geography of the weir. He tells me over the far side there is a very deep hole (roughly 12 foot deep) and is the spot to fish. I've obviously feeder fished before and fished weir pools so not daunted by this (and have the gear to do the job) but not quite this level. I'll be fishing during the day so was going to opt with constant casting of a big maggot feeder. Question is what ounce feeder should I go for as I want to get it down as quick as possible and should I tape the feeder to stop the flow of the maggots being washed out as the feeder drops down? Any other tips you could give me then let me know. Maybe you think I should just not bother with the maggot feeder and go for a different approach all together? Perhaps glugged and sticky pellets squeezed tight into a open end feeder?

I'm all ears 👍
 
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Hi Steve, although I've not seen said weir, I would approach it with 6oz open end feeders with most of the holes taped up and the bottom end also...and then plug the top with a really sticky mix.
You then have 2 attractions . And can switch through baits , I e. Maggot, pellet, boilie. Etc
Good luck 👍
 
As you’ll probably know weirpools can be snag pit, especially the deeper holes where the snags (and fish) will settle. So if it was me I would spend a bit of time leading about and seeing where the flow takes different sized leads to get an idea of where to place a lead/feeder of a certain weight to hold bottom and avoid the snags and expensive feeder losses! Then in my opinion just fish with nice smelly pellets/boilies….fish in weirpools tend not to be fussy eaters as they don’t have much time to be before the food gets swept away.
 
Alan Palmer said:
As you’ll probably know weirpools can be snag pit, especially the deeper holes where the snags (and fish) will settle. So if it was me I would spend a bit of time leading about and seeing where the flow takes different sized leads to get an idea of where to place a lead/feeder of a certain weight to hold bottom and avoid the snags and expensive feeder losses! Then in my opinion just fish with nice smelly pellets/boilies….fish in weirpools tend not to be fussy eaters as they don’t have much time to be before the food gets swept away.
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I will ask him about snags. He didn't elude to any to be honest. My first visit is really a pleasure session and a learning curve so I'm not putting myself under any pressure apart from enjoying myself and seeing what happens.

Thanks for all your help.
 
Actually it's pretty amusing, the more I think about it, the more I realise that perhaps I'm not as well prepared as I thought. It's dawned on me that I will have to dust off a old (but decent) Shimano 2 1/4 TC carp rod as I doubt my Greys X Flite 2lb TC will be up for the job. Also I'm thinking about feeders, the Korum River Feeders I have up to 130gram (which is I guess 3 1/2 oz) fully loaded with pellet will be obvs heavier. Do you think that will be enough to suffice? Jim mentions above 6oz feeders, with that loaded with bait will be like a brick! And seems a daunting weight to cast. I will be using 12lb GR60x as mainline.
 
If you can get tight up to the apron of the weir it's surprising how little weight will hold & allow the bait to drop into the hole. I think the flow would whisk away your maggots so a big lump of paste or double lobworm might be a better bet & you'r not losing £££ of feeders either.
 
Julian Marshall said:
If you can get tight up to the apron of the weir it's surprising how little weight will hold & allow the bait to drop into the hole. I think the flow would whisk away your maggots so a big lump of paste or double lobworm might be a better bet & you'r not losing £££ of feeders either.
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Yep, those Korum feeders are not cheap...
 
Steve Quinn said:
Actually it's pretty amusing, the more I think about it, the more I realise that perhaps I'm not as well prepared as I thought. It's dawned on me that I will have to dust off a old (but decent) Shimano 2 1/4 TC carp rod as I doubt my Greys X Flite 2lb TC will be up for the job. Also I'm thinking about feeders, the Korum River Feeders I have up to 130gram (which is I guess 3 1/2 oz) fully loaded with pellet will be obvs heavier. Do you think that will be enough to suffice? Jim mentions above 6oz feeders, with that loaded with bait will be like a brick! And seems a daunting weight to cast. I will be using 12lb GR60x as mainline.
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130 grams is 4.6 ounces.
 
I fish the weir at Topcliffe on the Swale whenever I can, it goes down to 17 feet (according to the bailiff) and is very snaggy. My experience below is based on a small - mid-sized river like the Swale, so might not be suitable for larger rivers, but this weir is a fair piece of water.

There's a lot of barbel held up in this weir, which allows for experimentation on hiw best to then; I typically find that depth is the most important key to success.

When starting a session, I have a good plum about for both snags and depth with a 3oz bomb. I find two areas with slightly different counts of how long it takes the bomb to hit the deck. Ideally 1 on a 6 count and 1 on an 8 count; and it goes deeper than this.

Normally, one depth will outfish the other and typically this year it has been the shallower depth.

I generally fish 4oz groundbait feeders loaded with a variety of pellets and plugged with softened 3mm Halibut pellets. There's sometimes the option to fish from an island in this weir, facing up to the weir and I've got away with 3oz feeders, when my lines are pointed upwards, into the flow. Longer hooklinks outfish shorter ones as well, as I imagine there is some spread of bait fishing in that depth and power of water.
 
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