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Trundling/Rolling meat, The works.

Jon Frisby

Jon Frisby

Senior Member & Supporter
I am increasing getting drawn to this method of fishing. Can someone explain the Pro's and Cons, for Rolling and Trundling Meat.
Which is the preferred method?
The Methods?
When to use it?
Braid or Mono?
Hook Choice?
Pin or Fixed spool?
Etc.

A big thanks for all replies from me now, and all others interested, as it could be a long thread.

Jon
 
Hi Jon,

I'll tell you how I do it......

I use my 1 3/4 tc Barbel rod, fixed spool reel loaded with 12lb mono.

I have a boilie bait bag around my waste with my meat in it, a few hook's already loaded with lead wire and my chest waders.

The Chest waders are probably the most important item for me.
It means I can work along the river, and rarely have to miss any possible holding areas.


I load the meat like this...........

pic1.jpg


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Pic4.jpg


Pic5.jpg


I tend only to fish on the bounce, in low clear conditions.
Summer on the middle Severn is ideal.
A static bait can be ignored all day long, and I often out fish the 'feeder lads' 6 or 7 fish to 1.

I tend to look for features like weed beds, depth changes, snags etc.
I love the swims there the river 'V's' from a smooth glide to fast broken water.
These coincide with a shallowing up of the river bed and some weed, and tend to hold a reasonable number of fish.

I like to get into the water and start at the upper end of the glide, working my bait along the far bank, mid river and near side, covering any spots that I feel will hold fish.
I normally have 4 or 5 casts on each line, varying the distance upstream I cast, as this controls how far down the swim the bait will work before if starts to get dragged off line.

Its all about the bow in the line for me.
Get this right and the bait will trundle along in a natural manner.
Too tight a line and it wont have reached bottom before its getting pulled off track.
Too much slack line and you wont 'feel' what's happening at the business end.

Dont panic if your bait gets snagged.
If you have buried the hook completely you should just be able to tease the bait out of the snag.
First I dip the rod under water. This increases the pressure and often pulls the bait out.
If the doesn't work, slowly wind up to the bait, taking the slack out until you are in direct contact, then just 'bounce' the rod slightly.

If this doesn't work, you will then have to wind up tight and give it a pull.
Which will either pull the hook out of the snag, or break the line (which is why I carry a few spare hooks and wire in my pocket).

The bites can be anything from a slight change in pressure to a decent 'thump' down the line or anything in between.
Regardless of the bite, I wind down fast, taking out the bow and sweep the rod back over my head... making contact.


I don't tend to have a landing net with me in the water, preferring to bring the fish to hand, pop the hook out, holding the fish for a few seconds upstream in the flow and then releasing it.
I do have a net on the bank normally, just in case I hook into a decent fish or the fish requires a bit of time to recover.
This is rare tho.
I use strong tackle and play the fish hard, so I normally bring them in to me quickly.

Its a real 'searching' technique for me.
Traveling light and covering lots of water.

I have tried it in coloured water, but I dont find it anywhere as productive, unles I'm fishing heavly flavoured baits and just inching them down the swim.

In the clear conditions I feel they are sight feeding, and the greed factor of not letting the bait go past, because if they do there will probably be another hungry mouth behind that will take advantage of the food.
I've even had barbel come a good few feet off the bottom to intercept baits that are either sinking of coming up off bottom at the end of the run.....

I dont 'feed' any freebies, as I want the fish to eat my hookbait.



I hope that helps a little.

Like I said, this is my way and other will have their own way of doing it.

Its one of those methods, that the more you do it the better you get at it.


Steve
 
Nice thread lads, thanks for making all that effort with the photos Steve and thanks for initiating the thread Jon. Like this Graham
Of course, like many new "old" ideas you need to be prepared to try the method when you have a chance of a fish rather than in a snowstorm
Click to expand...

Conrad
 
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First off I`ll hold my hand up to being a newbie when it comes to trundling having only really started experimenting this autumn.

To answer a couple of your questions:

When to use it? - I`ve struggled to hold good control when theres extra water in the river (Middle Severn). This is probably just down to inexperience though!

Braid or Mono? - Mono every time. I can see the benefits of braid but absolutely hate the stuff full stop!

Hook Choice? - Super Specialist in a 4 or 6

Pin or Fixed spool? - Fixed spool without hesitation. Some fairly `long range` (for the bait size and weight) is needed on the Middle and a `pin comes up lacking in that department.

I tried Steves method of solder wire on the hook but can`t get on with it. Maybe its just the stretch I fish but theres a lot of small rocks and boulders around and I really prefer one, two or three swan shots pinched eight inches above the hook. Ok, its not the true purist way of fishing the method but I can control the weight easily to balance it in the flow and also if anything is going to get caught up behind an obstacle it will invariably be the shots which are easily teased out. I find that fishing the weight inside the meat means that every time the trundle stops I end up reeling in and rebaiting. Shots on the line just seems to suit the place I fish.......

Cracking method and super effective even in my inexperienced hands.
 
Although most people use meat for rolling/trundling, other baits can work just as well such as paste, meatballs and in low summer conditions I've had plenty on a pellet glued to the back of a size 8.

I tend to use plasticine to add weight and to keep in contact with what's going on below the surface.
 
I tried Steves method of solder wire on the hook but can`t get on with it.
Click to expand...

Mart,

Solder wire is useless, it has hardly any weight to it.

You have to use lead wire.

Either buy some of the fly tying lead wire or strip the lead core from ... leadcore.


As for braid..........
I use braid for drift float fishing for Pike and trolling on my boat, but for a mainline for general course fishing... Never (again).

Having had the horrible experience of seeing a 6lb Barbel roll up the braid on the Severn about 10 years ago (I was using 30lb Spider wire) and watching in horror as the braid filleted the flank of the fish, I'll never use braid again for that style of fishing.

Each to their own, and I'd never criticise anyone for using it, but its just not for me.

Steve
 
Dave Burr said:
Although most people use meat for rolling/trundling, other baits can work just as well such as paste, meatballs and in low summer conditions I've had plenty on a pellet glued to the back of a size 8.

I tend to use plasticine to add weight and to keep in contact with what's going on below the surface.
Click to expand...

Do you not find you suffer with hook points been turned over Dave, when using uncovered hooks?

Steve
 
Lead wire.........thats probably where I`ve been going wrong:D I`ll try that next season Steve, ta for the advice!



Having had the horrible experience of seeing a 6lb Barbel roll up the braid on the Severn about 10 years ago (I was using 30lb Spider wire) and watching in horror as the braid filleted the flank of the fish, I'll never use braid again for that style of fishing.
Click to expand...

That sounds horrific mate:eek:


Thing I find about mono vs braid is that unless theres any resistance on the line then mono is just as sensitive as braid anyway. Think about it, if you`ve got a piece of string and a long piece of elastic on a table if theres no weight on the end then they`ll both respond exactly the same when one end is pulled. Its only when theres a decent weight on t`other end that the laccy will stretch. Its this that convinces me that when trundling meat I`m at no disadvantage when using mono. Ok, maybe theres some science to contradict this but I`m happy bimbling away with my chosen methods:D
 
Always meant to try this method myself but never got round to it. Sounds really exciting and active.

Johnny: I'm sure where you sometimes fish on the Middle would be a good place to try this method, it's where i was going to give it a go myself.

Trevor
 
This is brilliant information, not just for me, but for all too - pardon the pun, but the thread is flowing along nicely.

Thank you

Jon
 
Strangely enough. I use braid for pretty much all my fishing, and Steve the softer braids like powerpro seem to be Ok in my experience. EXCEPT for rolling. I find braid is actually too direct and has the tendency to be more direct to the bait than I like.

Bites with a loop of line out is the worry of most. Don't, with the line in your fingers you will feel every touch and will be soon able to feel the difference between a bite, that will often pull the rod around and a gentle pluck to hit, and the softer touch of the bottom.

Hooks. I use the Drennan crystal longshank forged, but it has to be size 6 or 4as this pattern is a bit soft in the smaller sizes if you need to hook and hold at all.

They are ideal for pushing through the meat, twisting and I tend to use a bit of grass stem to hold the meat in behind the hook bend.

I also use swan shot up the line 9 inches or so IF I need it in flow, otherwise, au naturel.

it's the method particularaly when the fish are fairly static and you are looking to invoke a bite.

Good fishing
 
As much as anything it's a really enjoyable way of fishing.

I caught my first barbel using this method on the Throop fishery and I can remember every single second of the take and fight.

I could see 2 or 3 barbel flicking about behind some weed and the line had to be just right to get the fish interested. The barbel took the meat on the drop in the end.

That was 22 years ago when I was a mad keen 15 year old staying in a caravan having failed the previous 2 years to catch a barbel from either the Royalty or Throop.

Happy days :)
 
I suppose the advantage of using say a 12lb mono over braid would be the line due to it's large diameter would give the meat more of a pull,when fished with a loop (Tref West style).
Apart from this style of fishing I see no advantage to mono over braid,as for fish damage I've not seen any myself & neither have my fishing buddies, all powerpro users..If I did I'd obviously stop using it.
 
Scuba

Sometimes, it depends on the hook pattern.

If I get caught up a few times I will glue two pellets so that only a small part of the point is exposed, this theoretically should make hooking a fish difficult but I have found that when you whack a fish the pellets tend to come off and the hook goes home perfectly.

As for line/braid. I use Shimano Technium which is semi-stretched so it is lower in diameter than most mono's but still retains a degree of stretch. It lessens the water resistance and allows good contact with the bait, the best of both worlds really. It is not a line that suits everybody and I don't like it for summer use when the conditions are low and clear but for rolling and flood waters it excels.
 
jon, i used it with success on both the Dearne and Trent, I used 20lb stren braid but have 9lb on a pin for the dearne. morrisons meatballs always did the trick . if you want me to show you locally i will be happy to .
andy
 
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