Q My local river is fairly slow and deep – what is the best way to catch a mixed bag from it? LIAM JENNINGS, EMAIL

AA lot of anglers make the mistake of trying to get their bait to the bottom quickly when river fishing but an awful lot of fish will sit off the deck, especially in deep venues. Roach, dace and chub will all willingly take bait in the upper layers and the best way to cover every inch of depth is on the waggler. Use a semi-loaded waggler and place the rest of the shot around the base of the float to start with. This will give you a very slow fall of the hookbait but the lack of weight down the line could lead to missed bites. If this does happen, spread a few of those small shot that are around the base evenly down the line to create some tension, enabling you to hit more bites.

MAINLINE LOOSEFEED HOOKLENGTH FLOAT Use a fairly chunky waggler to prevent it being dragged out of position by the flow A 4lb mainline is ideal when you are aiming to catch a mixture of roach, chub and dace Regularly introduce maggots or casters via a catapult to get the shoals competing Start with a 3lb hooklength to a medium wire size 16 hook baited with double maggot