The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

J.T wrote:Always thought that was just a bit of artistic licence to be honest, to make it appear more dramatic.

I think you are right and BV would not have suggested anyone actually adopt that style.

I would love to have met and fished with him.

Mark wrote:I would love to have met and fished with him.

Likewise.
I know people who spent time with him and he was certainly a character.
I just looked in his book 'freshwater fishing' and he gives clear diagrams of the angle to hold a rod at when playing a fish so I am sure his sketches were figurative.

Add me to the list, would have love to have met and fished with him. :thumb:

I have recently made some 6-9 inch goose and swan quill floats and it has just occurred to me I might be able to use them for laying-on this summer. Will they be suitable for this method??

On the topic of quills, how long is considered too long to be effective; my biggest is about 9", should I make them a bit smaller??

You're about half-way there: Peter Drennan's Tench Perfections were 14" long, and Billy Lane made some 18" bodied peacock wagglers - "Missiles" - taking 5 swan for long-range bream fishing.

Edit: Should have added that the above are straight, peacock floats; curvy quills don't cast too well, so at close range, you would need extra length only to beat surface drift, or give extra load-carrying capacity.

I used to 'lay-on' on the Tidal Thames. Similar to the diagram above but - float was double rubber - shot was also up the line whilst some shot was on the bottom. Possibly more akin to stret-pegging as much as laying on. The float was overdepth and the line was tight from rod tip to float tip even with the float occasionally 1/2 way out of the water. Normally I fished in an eddy right on the edge of the current where it had been cast.

A running lead instead of shot near the hook and it would have been float ledgering I suppose.

Never used either in stillwater though.

Like this?

viewtopic.php?f=171&t=3057&p=39175&hili ... mes#p39175

I wonder if you're one of the chaps I learned it from?

I always thought the lead should be spread out and not in one place. The shot being swan or AAA and strung out a couple of inches between each shot starting about 12-18" from the hook, with a single BB about 4" from the hook. This way the bite registration is better because the fish only has to move a few of the shots before the float is moved by the current and one sees a bite. If all the shot is in one place like that diagram then the fish has to move the whole mass and will be spooked more easily when pulling the bait; but that way might be OK on still waters but why would anyone bother laying on, on still waters!!??

I only use this method on flowing water and then the diagram needs to show a bend in the line, and to keep the float more perpendicular I also use some shot a few feet below the float, and this also reduces the bend in the line!

Well both the replies above seem to be about 'laying-on' and/or 'stret-pegging', dependent upon your view!

Shot on the bed should be replaced with a light sliding ledger weight thus minimising any resistance to the fish and giving an immediate indication on the float.

I fished the Tidal at the bottom of my road in Radnor Gardens from about 1960. Also went to Marble Hill Gardens (Hammertons Ferry), Teddington Lock (Ham/Surrey side), as well as Twickenham Embankment.

I later used it for barbel at Staines Gasworks and other hotspots (under you tip) downstream to Kew. Still have a 15ft fully ringed Lerc pole with detachable butt which was the barbel rod.