The Big River Mission!

Not many kinds of fishing are more exciting than latching into a big fish on the pole on a powerful river. It tests tackle to the limit and gets the adrenalin pumping as you never quite know what you may potentially hook! When we set ourself the challenge of fishing a renowned swim on the River Trent at Burton Joyce, we didn’t quite expect to have the session of a lifetime, catching big barbel, bream and chub on one of the most exhilarating methods of all time – the flat float It made for one of the best Matt And Tank Vlogs that we’ve produced to date!

A flat float or lollypop float is a large, slim-profile pole float that almost appears like it’s been stood-on. This shape enables the float to cut through the flowing water on a river, allowing you to present a bait either static on the bottom, or one that slowly moves through the swim as you control it downstream. These floats are available in all kinds of sizes, from just 1g all the way up to 50g+ to cater for different paces on rivers. The technique is often used on the continent, where a lot of matches and events are fished on big rivers, including international matches such as World Championships.

On this particular day, the river was flowing steady, and to hold a bait static we needed a float of 30g. This is the presentation we wanted, as a static bait that is still on the bottom is highly appealing to bigger fish, giving them time to find it over a bed of feed. We didn’t have a clue what we were going to catch but geared up for big fish.

we opted for the bullet-proof weapon that is the Aventus Zero 700 for this session. A Match Power top kit threaded up with a tightly set Black Hydro Elastic was selected. This is a powerful elastic, but one that would stretch plenty allowing us to get the pole in the air to control anything large that we hooked.

Mainline was 10lb Pulse Pro, which is actually a reel line. However, it takes so much strain and hammer with this kind of fishing it’s ideal for a mainline for this kind of rig.

As mentioned, the float was 30g, and shotting wise we had some large non-toxic drilled bullets on the line about 3ft from the hook, with a string of No8 droppers below to pin the bait down. The hooklength was 15-inches long, and made up of 0.22mm N-Gauge to a size 10 or 12 XS Spade Barbed.

Plumbing up is important with this kind of fishing, and you need a heavy 40g or 60g plummet to help you get an accurate reading when using such a heavy float, ensuring you don’t get a misreading with the heavy bulk shot. After pluming up to dead depth, we moved the float up around 15 inches, so that most of the hooklength was on the bottom, ideal presentation for big fish!

Our feeding approach was not for the faint hearted. We used a large bait dropper to deposit a mixture of particles hard on the bottom. This consisted of various sizes of Mainline Match Activated Halibut Pellets, hemp, casters, dead maggots and coarsely chopped worms. Five large droppers went in at the off to lay the bed. Often on venues like this, you need a lot of bait to get the attention of big fish in the first place. There are also a lot of smaller fish like roach and dace present that will eat the feed, so plenty of it to set the trap ensures there is always some food on the deck

We also added a splash of Big River Barbel Glug to give this mix even more smell, scent, and flavour!

In terms of topping up the swim, because of the flowing water and aggressive feeding nature of the big fish we were targeting, we chose to top-up after every fish or two with two or three more big bait droppers full of the same mixture of particles. If we had just topped-up and had a bite immediately, we would have another drop-in and see if there was another fish waiting as the likelihood of fish eating all the feed is low. However, if we’d had a longer 20-minute plus spell of no fish and then hooked one, we’d hit it again with more feed and re-set the swim.

Hookbait wise, we had two main options. The first and our favoured bait was a large chunk of lobworm. This made for a big stand-out bait, that is appealing to a wide range of species. You also find that once a fish sucks in this bait, it’s not letting go! Another nice option was a large bunch of maggots, six or eight all hooked on to make a ‘medusa’ of grubs. These were our two main choices.

After feeding the initial feed, we gave the swim 15 minutes or so to settle down and hopefully let a few big fish gather. Lowing the rig down for the first time was nerve-racking, and we tried to be as accurate as possible positioning the float right on top of where the bait had been droppered in. To hold the float static over the top of the feed, you need to use a spray bar or front rest, and pick a far bank marker where you can aim for with the feed and also when presenting the float. The front rest helps you hold the bait dead still in the perfect position.

Ideally, you want the bristle of the flat float sat straight when flat float fishing, this tells you that you are using the perfect size, and in this instance a 30g Crallusso Torpedo was perfect. If the float bristle is leaning downstream the float is too heavy, and if its leaning upstream its too light. Patience is key when doing this kind of fishing, but it didn’t take us long to start getting a few indications, that in all honesty we felt were from small fish to begin with! It pays to wait for a proper bite when doing this kind of fishing, a positive pull under, and then pause before striking to make sure it’s taken the bait properly and that its on. The last thing you want to do is miss a bite from a big fish as it may be the only chance of the day. And if you strike at strange indications, you run the risk of foul hooking a big fish, which isn’t ideal.

After around 15 minutes the orange bristle sailed away very positively, and before we could lift the pole off the bump bar there was Black Hydro streaming out to the middle of the river! Bottoming us out, it was a case of holding the pole as high as possible! Everything locked up, and whatever was on the end was heading for the far bank! Keeping the pole high is a big help when you hook big fish like this, because if the elastic does bottom out, you have the option to then lower the pole and gain yourself a few more yards of give to try and turn the fish.

Early in the fight, we both felt we knew what fish this was, and keen for it to stay away from the rocky outcrops and snags in the edge, we waited for the fish to tire out in the flow, before getting a glimpse…it was a barbel! Catching this species is simply amazing, they fight to the death, and to get one on the pole in this session while filming a vlog was a dream come true. We were both buzzing when it slid over the net, a whiskered warrior around 7lb!

This particular session turned into the day of a lifetime, and taking it in turns to catch a fish each on this amazing tactic, we absolutely loved it and filmed what was our favourite Vlog to date! Several more barbel followed, as well of some huge river bream, and Tank also managed a great big chub too! By the end of the day we’d ran out of bait from topping-up all the time, and both needed a rest after battling big fish on what has to be one of the most exciting ways of fishing ever.

Hopefully this has given you a bit of inspiration to head out and give flat float fishing on big rivers for quality fish a try, and of course you can always watch the Vlog too for even more entertainment end encouragement! Good luck!