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Touch ledgering

W

Wayne Carroll

Member
I fish a small river with a low stock, it can be tough to get a bite most days. I find it difficult watching a quiver tip for hours without movement so I'm wondering if touch ledgering is the way to go.

Can I touch ledger with an avon top and still get the same effect? Any advice is much appreciated.
 
Wayne Carroll said:
I fish a small river with a low stock, it can be tough to get a bite most days. I find it difficult watching a quiver tip for hours without movement so I'm wondering if touch ledgering is the way to go.

Can I touch ledger with an avon top and still get the same effect? Any advice is much appreciated.
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I use touch ledgering with the Avon top when I think it is not sensitive enough. You feel the bites on the line before any movement on the tip. But, to your original problem, if the quiver tip has no movement in hours, assume it is sensitive enough, I am afraid you may get same results with touch ledgering, after all, these are almost same tactics just different way to feel the bites.
 
You certainly can Wayne. The most comfortable way I have found is to have the rod on a rest ( the type where the line runs through unimpeded ) you then hold the rod with your finger crooked round the line. It's a very effective way of fishing. Once you get to know the feel of a bite it becomes second nature when to strike. You will, with practice, get to feel when the Barbel or Chub first mouths the bite and you will often get a pluck followed by an pull. The beauty of it is you can relax and enjoy the scenery without missing a bite! For very wary fish it sometimes helps to point the rod in the direction of the bait but it's not often I've found that necessary. Sometimes with a shy biting fish it can pay to carefully move your rod towards the fish as it takes to reduce the tension encouraging the fish to take a hold of the bait. That's caught me some good fish over the years. The more you use the method the easier it will become as you will develop your own style. Some people dispense with the rest and lay the rod across their leg but the important thing is to hold the line. Some people hold the rod with one hand and the line with the other. As I say, experiment and find what suits you best.
 
Andrew Jackson said:
You certainly can Wayne. The most comfortable way I have found is to have the rod on a rest ( the type where the line runs through unimpeded ) you then hold the rod with your finger crooked round the line. It's a very effective way of fishing. Once you get to know the feel of a bite it becomes second nature when to strike. You will, with practice, get to feel when the Barbel or Chub first mouths the bite and you will often get a pluck followed by an pull. The beauty of it is you can relax and enjoy the scenery without missing a bite! For very wary fish it sometimes helps to point the rod in the direction of the bait but it's not often I've found that necessary. Sometimes with a shy biting fish it can pay to carefully move your rod towards the fish as it takes to reduce the tension encouraging the fish to take a hold of the bait. That's caught me some good fish over the years. The more you use the method the easier it will become as you will develop your own style. Some people dispense with the rest and lay the rod across their leg but the important thing is to hold the line. Some people hold the rod with one hand and the line with the other. As I say, experiment and find what suits you best.
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Thanks Andrew I'll have to try it more, I gave it a go earlier but as I mentioned bites are few and far between so unfortunately didn't put it to the test. I'll try again tomorrow.
 
Wayne if your struggling for bites particularly this time of year I would scrap all ledgering methods at least until dusk and go with a moving bait. On small rivers like you describe a bait bounced across the bottom can be lethal and more often than not will easily out fish the static bait methods. There’s afew techniques you could try and your Avon rod will be perfect.

You could roll or trundle meat or paste
You could do the same with a banded pellet
These techniques tend to work best with bigger baits but if conditions are really tough and small baits are the order of the day, you could put a small bait on and set it to bump along the bottom under a float.

It will keep you focused all day and increase your chances of a day time capture when things are tough.
 
Richard Isaacs said:
Wayne if your struggling for bites particularly this time of year I would scrap all ledgering methods at least until dusk and go with a moving bait. On small rivers like you describe a bait bounced across the bottom can be lethal and more often than not will easily out fish the static bait methods. There’s afew techniques you could try and your Avon rod will be perfect.

You could roll or trundle meat or paste
You could do the same with a banded pellet
These techniques tend to work best with bigger baits but if conditions are really tough and small baits are the order of the day, you could put a small bait on and set it to bump along the bottom under a float.

It will keep you focused all day and increase your chances of a day time capture when things are tough.
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I've often thought a moving bait would be better. There's a bit of a problem with crayfish on our stretch so meat is pulled off the hook in certain stretches. I have tried rolling meat with no success, I struggle to feel the bait through the swim but I know I need to practice more.

I'm hoping to do more float fishing this year, I have a glide rod with a centrepin. In low stock stretches would you move around looking for fish while float fishing or would you hang around and build the swim over a few hours? I'd love to get better at float fishing as I think it's a dying skill that most avoid nowadays.
 
Not particularly my cup of tea , but you could use a baitrunner reel/ centre pin with a strong ratchet and a bite alarm , negates staring at the tip for hours or getting cramp in your crooked finger . That said , touch ledgering is absorbing and its amazing what you can feel through the line before there is any indication on the rod top .
 
Wayne Carroll said:
I fish a small river with a low stock, it can be tough to get a bite most days. I find it difficult watching a quiver tip for hours without movement so I'm wondering if touch ledgering is the way to go.

Can I touch ledger with an avon top and still get the same effect? Any advice is much appreciated.
Click to expand...
I agree with comments on a moving bait and keep mobile…baiting and fishing many swims if possible. Alternatively hemp and maggot/caster feeder in a likely spot will keep you active with the smaller fish using a quiver tip, will build the swim up and if any bigger fish about they will eventually move in on the action - it’s a great way of building a swim up and keeping active and there’s not many fish who’ll not get caught in maggots/caster
 
When touch legering my go too rod to use is an avon style rod, although any rod of suitable power will do. I've used a 12ft chimera 1.75 test rod for the purpose of touch legering many times.
I find I feel a tap through the blank rather than through/on the line. The tip will always show a bite before the line down by your hand. If you have any slack line then watch that at the furthest point you can see it, because the bite will always show sooner the further down the line 😉👍.
 
Sid Croft said:
I don't see any reason why you cannot touch ledger with an avon top. I do and would say that your fingers will detect any movement of the line before your tip does.
;)
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Many a time especially at night when my eyes are tired from staring at the beta light, I've had to close them and revert to touch legering, and it worked. Inevitably a barbel will bolt & hook itself in any case. But touch legering is a great little method to do. Esp if your roving & trying to locate the fish. 👍
 
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