The Coach Andy May’s float advice
WHETHER you are fishing for carp on a commercial, roach on a natural stillwater or chub on the river, the waggler should instantly come to mind at this time of year.
As the fish push out of pole range as temperatures fall, rod and line tactics reign supreme, and the wag is the most versatile of them all.
Reigning Fish O’Mania champion Andy May can easily turn his hand to any coarse fishing tactic but there’s nothing he loves more than reaching for the waggler.
“It’s a tactic I have grown up using and it has caught me an awful lot of fish on a variety of different waters,” explained Andy.
“As with any method, you need to pay attention to the fine details to make it work, but the most important element of it has to be float choice.”
This week Andy reveals his top five types of waggler and when to use each one...
1 CLEAR CARP WAGGLER
“At this time of year the fish are still going to be feeding fairly heavily, but they are now likely to back away from the large splash of the float hitting the water.
“The fact that this type of waggler is fairly narrow means it will enter the water with a lot less noise and won’t spook the fish if you are fishing shallow, or close to an island in shallow water.
“At the same time, it is quite a buoyant float which will help you tell the difference between a real bite and a line bite as big carp cruise through the swim.
“I prefer a loaded version that requires very little shot on the line. It casts well and provides a slow and natural fall of the hookbait.”
2 PEACOCK WAGGLER
“Silverfish bites can be shy right now and a sensitive float like this is vital when targeting them with maggots and casters.
“Make sure it is well dotted down and you will see every single bite from roach, chub and ide when fishing on commercials.
“Once again, a loaded pattern is best, shotted to provide a slow fall of the bait through the water.”
3 CHANGEABLE INSERT
“On days when the light levels are constantly changing due to cloud cover it pays to use a float where you can change the colour of the tip.
“I carry a variety of different float tips and find that orange, yellow, white and even black can help you see the waggler better.
“The fact that these floats are clear means they are less obvious to fish in clear water, and this leads to fewer of them being spooked by your rig.”
4 SLIDER
“When you are faced with a very deep swim, the slider float can’t be beaten.
“It’s a loaded float that sits on top of a bulk shot. After casting, the bulk shot pulls the line through the eye of the float until the float reaches your sliding stop knot.
“The depth you fish at is set by the distance between the sliding stop knot and the hook.”
5 PELLET WAGGLER
“Probably the most popular type of waggler on the commercial scene, it works really well when the carp are responding to noise.
“It is most effective within seconds of it hitting the water as carp come into the swim to investigate what is going on and then take the hookbait.
“If you haven’t had a bite within 10 seconds, twitch the bait, feed a few 8mm pellets over the top and then recast.
“It’s a very busy tactic but the results can be incredible, particularly when it is mild.”