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Rolling Meat

Chris Cheshire

Chris Cheshire

Senior Member
ok... I have always been a static fisherman, but since my girlfriend very kindly bought me a centrepin for my birthday I have been experimenting with the roving approach.

Im not sure what i'm doing wrong - I fish just enough weight to NOT hold bottom , cast slightly upstream then 'feel' the bait bounce through the swim.

What i'm finding is that from the upstream cast to level with me is taken up by the bait finding the bottom, I then have probably 30 seconds of contact with the bait before there is too much line in the water to feel whats going on?

Im fishing the Severn around tewkesbury and severn stoke so the swims are normally quite deep and steady.

i've spent the day at severn stoke, had no bites and lost more hooklengths than I care to admit

other anglers seem to be doing quite well with this method, perhaps I just need some pointers?

chris
 
I've tried and failed to roll meat (the way I do it) on the lower.
It's just too deep for the method to work correctly.

Ideal for the middle/upper Severn or the Teme tho.

If your getting snagged then your either hair rigging baits, or adding weight to the line somewhere, I guess?

Both are recipies for disaster on the Severn/Teme.
Add lead wire to the hook and burry it in the meat.
Make sure you dont have any hook point showing, and don't be tempted to add weigh to the line, as this just becomes a snagging point!

Steve
 
Thanks Steve.... you hit the nail on the head!

started off using hair rigged meat on a braid hooklink, with 2 swan about 18ins from the hook... once i'd lost all four of my pre made hair rigs I dropped back to mono with the bait directly on the hook, which I have to admit was less troublesome!

id put the improvement down to changing swims, but now you point it out... lesson learned!
 
Hi Chris,
once you have got your rig right, a big hook and a big lump of meat, it's then down to patience and experience.
You will be wondering what a bite feels like, and shall i give up and go home, but keep at it mate, once you have caught a fish or two, your confidence will then grow.
The first thing is the cast, make sure that you leave a bow in the line so as the bait can travel downstream in a straight line and not get pulled back to where you are casting, if possible walk very slowly downstream following the bait as it goes, so it's no good fishing if a downstrean bankside snag such as a tree or bush will stop your walk.
Put just enough weight on the line so as it trundles through the swim, some anglers use plasticine, whilst some use a pieced bullet or swan shots, if it stops, leave it there for a moment or two before you give it a twitch to get it going again on it's journey downstream, it does help at times to point the rod at the bait and hold the line with your finger and thumb, if you are lucky enough to have a Barbel take an interest in your bait, you should feel it very easy with your finger and thumb as you would do with touch ledgering.
Trefor West is a master at upstream legering, but i suppose thats another story.
And for us old anglers who have been there and done it, don't let the back ache stop you from rolling meat.
good luck mate and keep at it, perhaps Ray Walton may give to a few pointers.
Brian.
 
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If in doubt give it a clout, the fish may pick up the bait without moving off, that means strike, if it does move off make sure you don't let your rod go otherwise it's a trip to the tackle shop with another big hole in your budget.
So i would strike on anything that is that small bit out if the ordinary.
Brian
 
Brian Willson said:
If in doubt give it a clout, the fish may pick up the bait without moving off, that means strike, if it does move off make sure you don't let your rod go otherwise it's a trip to the tackle shop with another big hole in your budget.
So i would strike on anything that is that small bit out if the ordinary.
Brian
Click to expand...
very true, I've had stopping bites that the bait would just stop dead like a snag, gave it a yank and hence, a barbel, they are not always 2ft pulls.
 
Interesting post Chris, and something I've been meaning to have a go at this season too. I want to give it a go on the Lower Severn, and think it will involve a bit of trial and error regards swim choice and water level/current. I had a go for the first time last week on the Wye, and thoroughly enjoyed it despite not catching. I found using braid in the shallower, pacier swims more productive in terms of running the bait through, although the fish obviously thought otherwise!

Taking this back to the Severn, I think I'll be looking for the slightly shallower swims (for the Lower anyway) and perhaps some extra pace brought about by floodwater (although no more than a couple of foot). Not sure if it'll work, but worth a go anyway!
 
Thanks guys - from what I can gather, its back to sitting behind my rods for the lower severn. I was hoping for a more interesting approach tho (not that for a second I'm implying sitting watching a pair of rods uninteresting!)

kind regards

chris
 
Bruce Fowkes said:
Interesting post Chris, and something I've been meaning to have a go at this season too. I want to give it a go on the Lower Severn, and think it will involve a bit of trial and error regards swim choice and water level/current. I had a go for the first time last week on the Wye, and thoroughly enjoyed it despite not catching. I found using braid in the shallower, pacier swims more productive in terms of running the bait through, although the fish obviously thought otherwise!

Taking this back to the Severn, I think I'll be looking for the slightly shallower swims (for the Lower anyway) and perhaps some extra pace brought about by floodwater (although no more than a couple of foot). Not sure if it'll work, but worth a go anyway!
Click to expand...

There goes the neighborhood! Bruce i've not tried on Lower as tough but Dave and I will take you on the Teme for you to have a go, nothing more exciting than when you can see your bait being munched by a barbel that shoots out from a snag. On braid its even more exciting as you feel everything.
 
There is an article about doing exactly this in Improve your Coarse Fishing- think it's on the Severn too. Based on the lovely illustrations and step by step guide- you simply can't fail. If only it was that easy.....
 
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