UK Coarse

Float · Technique journey

Trotting a river

Running a bait down a river at the pace you choose. Stick, Avon or bolo — the skill is the same. After 16 June on rivers in England and Wales.

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What it is

Trotting is the river skill, not a single float. A stick on a gentle crease, an Avon on a heavier glide, a bolo when you need to hold. You feed a line, mend the bow, hold back to lift the bait, and let it run to search.

It is older than the method feeder and still the most satisfying way to catch roach, dace, chub and the odd barbel on running water. Depth, pace and feeding are the whole game. Five bad trots while you find them are normal; then you stay on that line.

Rivers, streams and drains in England and Wales are closed to coarse fishing from 15 March to 15 June inclusive. 16 June is opening day.

When to use it

Open-season rivers. A crease you can reach with a 13–15ft rod. Roach, dace, chub, sometimes barbel. Coloured water after rain. Summer hemp and tares.

When not to

Stillwaters (that is a waggler). The close season. A weir that wants a feeder. Pace you cannot hold with the floats you own.

From the graph

Who it catches, and where

The kit

A starting point, not a shopping list you have to finish. Match the water in front of you.

Rod
13–15ft river float rod. Length is control. A 10ft wand on a 15-yard crease is a struggle.
Reel
3000, or a closed-face. Both work. You need to mend, not winch.
Main line
3–5lb for silvers; 6lb if chub in snags are the job.
Hooklength
18–30 inches of 0.10–0.16mm. Stronger under a bush.
Hook
16–20 to maggot or hemp; 14 for bread, worm or a bit of meat.
Float / feeder
Stick, Avon or bolo to match the pace. Too light and it drowns; too heavy and it looks like a boat.
Accessories
Shot, plummet, licence, landing net, a note of the close season.

13–15ft float rod, 3–6lb line, stick 4–12no.4 or an Avon 4–8g, shirt-button or bulk-and-dropper shotting, 18–30 inch hooklength, size 16–20.

On the peg

Feeding strategy

A few maggots or grains of hemp every run, on the line the float will travel. Not at your feet. Little and often beats a handful every twenty minutes.

How to set it up

Float attached top and bottom with rubbers, or a loafer-style Avon. Shot so you can hold and let go. Plumb so you know the depth; then fish a few inches off, or trip the bottom for chub.

Where to cast

The crease. Under the far bush for chub. Down the run for dace. Not the dead slack unless that is where they went after a spate.

Depth / presentation

Running at the pace of the surface, held back to lift, or tripping. A bait six inches off the deck in a four-foot crease is often the one.

The first hour

Read the pace, pick a float, feed a line, and run it. Five bad trots are normal. Then stay on that line.

Conditions

A readable pace, not a flood. Overcast helps. Bright, low, clear water wants finer tackle, hemp, and more holding back. A downstream wind is a gift; a howling upstream one is a feeder day.

How to fish it

Licence, open season. Stand or sit so you can follow the float with the rod. Feed, cast slightly upstream or into the crease, mend so the line does not belly and drag, and trot it down to the end of the run.

Hold back to lift the bait in front of a bush. Let it go to search. Strike downstream and up, in contact. Then walk the next trot through the same water.

If they want hemp, feed hemp and hook maggot until they graze, then a tare. If chub melt the float under a tree, trip the bottom with something bigger.

Starting routine

First hour plan

  1. 0–10 min

    Confirm open season. Read the pace, pick a float, plumb, feed the line the float will travel.

  2. 10–30 min

    Trot, mend, hold, let go. Stay on that crease. A dozen maggots a run. Do not search three swims in twenty minutes.

  3. 30–60 min

    Dragging in: mend, or a heavier float. Skating: you are holding too hard. No fish: wrong line. Tiny fish: hemp, or a bigger bait under the bush.

Bite indication

A dip, a hold-under, a sail-away. Dace are gone if you stare. Chub melt it. Roach often hold it under.

Striking

Downstream and up, not into the bank behind you. Keep in contact so the strike actually moves the hook.

Playing and landing

Steer chub away from the bush you just pulled them out of. Net dace. Barbel on a float: mat, and do not horse them in a heatwave.

Common mistakes

Fishing a river in May. A waggler shotting on a stick. Never mending. Feeding at your feet. A 10ft rod on a 15-yard crease.

Troubleshooting

Float dragging in: mend, or a heavier stick or Avon. Bait skating: holding too hard. No fish: wrong line, not wrong maggot. Tangled shot: you struck at the bank.

Beginner setup

A 6–8no.4 stick, shirt-button shotting, size 18 to maggot, a gentle crease after 16 June. Feed a dozen maggots a trot.

More advanced

Hemp on the hook over hemp feed for stamp roach. A slightly overdepth trot for chub under the tree. Swap to an Avon when the stick drowns. Change the bottom shot before you change peg.

Catches

See it fished

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