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Marker floats and feature finding
By Jeff Vaughn
 This is a difficult one as a lot of feature
finding is about ”feeling” the bottom and it is difficult to
explain feelings in words. If you work at it you will soon pick
up on what I am trying to say. Also let me say upfront, whilst I
use marker floats a lot, I do not consider myself an expert. I
read articles in the carp mags where the guy finds a 3 feet wide
gravel bar at 80 yards over a silty bottom. I don’t think I
would find that unless I got very lucky.
Basically a marker float is a large buoyant float attached
directly to your mainline with a fairly heavy lead attached
above it on a wide “run: ring. Between the lead and the float is
a buffer bead and that is it. (See the photo below)
There are, as in all things carpy, a myriad of different floats
and contraptions to improve on the basic, or adapt to different
types of conditions. For the lead, between 3 and 4 ounces is
best. A true marker lead is designed with the weight at the
bottom and has bumps to help you feel the bottom better. If you
are fishing over weed you also need some kind of stem to lift
the run ring above the worst of the weed so the float can rise
without getting caught up. See it is already sounding
complicated when it is not. Take a look at the photos below and
I think you can see what I mean.
Rod and reel wise. Again as everything in carp fishing, there
are purpose made marker rods but actually not (to my knowledge a
marker reel !!) The rod can be just a regular carp rod. A true
marker rod is normally a faster action with a soft tip. So you
get better sensitivity. It is also marked near the reel in 6
inch and 12 inch gradients. So when you are pulling off the line
to raise the float you can measure the depth accurately (more on
that later) The reason there is no special reel is because any
reel suitable to cast the distance you need will do. I prefer a
bait runner as it is easier to pull off line and count the depth
using this, but you can also open the bail arm or loosen off the
drag.
The one thing you absolutely must have is braided line. I use 30
lb braid which is perfect. With nylon you can check depths, but
will not get the level of “feel” needed to determine the bottom
type. If EVER I needed to fish at massive distances I would drop
down to 20 or 15 lb braid simply to cast further.
The marker set up has four main uses. To find depth variations,
to determine the bottom type i.e mud, silt, weed, gravel etc. To
find underwater features, and lastly as a distance marker for
accurate baiting.
To find depths is easy. You simply cast out the rig, tighten
down on the lead sinking the float to the bottom, and then
slowly pay out the line, counting off the depth against the
marks on the rod until the float pops up. If your rod does not
have the distance marker simply mark it yourself with tape or
permanent marker pens.
You are normally looking for depth changes within your swim,
holes, ledges, bars etc. Normally if I am taking a look at a new
swim, I will start off at distance and work back towards me. I
will “give it a whack” check the depth, wind down and back say
10 feet and check again. Whilst I am winding back, I keep the
rod high, wind slowly and am “feeling” the bottom, for hard or
soft patches and gravel bars etc. After 10 feet I count the
float up again and compare mentally with the last depth. Is it
constant? Am I fishing a slope? Have I found a hole or ledge?
If I find something I like I clip up the line into the line clip
so later I can cast back to the spot again. I may clip up three
or four times at different lengths (obviously why I start off
long and work back) Depending on circumstances this may take one
cast, but more generally several and sometimes an hour or two.
But at the end I will have found one or several spots I like.
Once I have found an area I fancy, I then take a decision which
one I prefer sometimes if I am lucky I will find two spots one
long and one short, I can then feed both areas and alternate
between the two. Because I am clipped up once I have an area in
mind I can recast to it straight away, and will then have three
or four casts “around” the spot to check how big the feature is.
To determine just how accurately I want to fish. One I have
fully decided on the spot I will clip up finally and leave the
marker float in while I bait up. Again more on that later,
The above all sounds very easy and with some practice it is.
However it is all but useless in flowing water and much harder
in weedy areas. A word of warning at this stage. The above will
not only find all the correct depths, it will also find every
snag in the swim. So if I suspect the swim is snaggy I will just
have a few casts with a cheap lead to feel the bottom a bit. It
is much better to loose a $2.00 lead than an expensive Marker
float set up.
When using the rig to determine bottom type, things get a bit
more difficult and only practice will really help. The first
thing is to feel the “bump” you will read in carp mags comments
like “I felt the lead down with a nice satisfying Donk” The Donk
in question is the feel of the lead hitting a nice hard bottom
with little weed or silt, so you know your rig and bait is not
stuck in mud or crap.
To feel the Donk or a Plonk, a Thud or some Mud you have to do
the following. When you cast you must feather the line (slow it
down before the lead hits the water) so as you lead hits you are
on a tight line. As the lead sinks gently lift the rod so the
line is always tight and you will feel the lead hit bottom. If
you get a nice donk you are in a clear hard bottom. If you feel
the lead slowing down and it stops before you feel a donk you
are in weed. If after it lands you feel a soft plonk, and on
pulling back on it you feel the lead pulling out of some soft
stuff you are in mud or silt.
The next part of feeling the bottom is the same as and normally
done at the same time as looking for depth changes. As you are
winding back your 10 feet to check the next depth you keep the
rod high and “feel: what is happening to your lead. If it is
bumping along the bottom freely you are on a hard bottom, if it
feeling lumpy it is rocks, if the lead is getting slightly
stuck, freeing easily and then sticking again, you are on a soft
bottom or light weed. If it is clogging up badly you are in
weed, if you “feel” it is sinking deeper, it probably is and you
have found a hole (you check this by counting up the float) and
if it all locks up and does not move you are screwed and I will
sell you a new Marker float rig.
I also very often use my marker kit to pinpoint my pre baiting,
or bait while I am fishing. Sometimes it is just a range marker
and sometimes it is on a bottom feature I cannot see from the
bank. Either way I will have clipped up my marker at the spot,
taken a mark on the far bank, so every time I cast I simply line
up with my far bank point, and cast until I hit the clip. If I
am feeding by catapult I will leave the marker there. If I am
spodding I will either cast the spod on the marker (and then
clip up the spod) or quite often will have run out my marker
along the bank or back in the garden at home and already clipped
up my spod. Once clipped up I have no need for the marker in the
water.
Probably the most difficult condition to use the marker float is
in weed. If the weed is dense and thick, the float will not come
up and probably this is not a spot you should be fishing, but
amongst most weed beds are holes and areas of sparse weed
growth, very often these spots have been cleaned by feeding carp
and this is a spot you very much do want to fish. To use a
marker in weed you need the lead to be on some form of boom. i.e
the lead has either a six inch wire “extension” or a plastic
extension, sometimes with a buoyant top to it between the lead
and the run ring. (you can see some of thee above) It is well
worth learning to use your marker to find holes as the following
true story demonstrates.
Two years ago, after great fishing in May we had a sudden cold
snap, the water temperature dropped 8 degrees in two days and
the fishing went bad. At the time I had Geezer Grant out with
the Carpology team and I was tearing my hair out. There was one
area where we saw a fair amount of carp topping, but it was a
densely weeded area. Geezer went around with his marker rod and
found a hole in the weed. The hole was I guess less than 3 feet
across and 40 yards from the bank. We baited it for 3 days and
watched it grow from 3 feet to maybe 10 feet as the carp ripped
up the reeds to get the baits. Geezer then fished it and had
three 30`s….Superb angling !!
Another small story. Two of my best visiting anglers Bill and
Darren attack each swim with a lead before fishing. I will take
them to a swim and explain what I know about it. They will then
have a cast around with a lead (actually for them no marker
floats since they are only looking at bottom features rather
than depth) They will then decide where to fish. Many times this
is not exactly where I would choose, but ALWAYS they catch more
than any body else. Last year Bill found a new spot we had never
fished before and despite a miserable hangover caught 49 fish
off it in one day. Not to be outdone Darren fished it the next
day and caught 53. They were fishing a ledge I never knew
existed.
My last point is a note of caution. The marker float is an
essential piece of kit if you do not know what is in front of
you. However sometimes it can take a couple of hours to really
look at an area. Two hours of chucking in 4 oz leads is not
conducive to instant action!!! Every new swim I have not fished
is thoroughly explored with the marker kit, BUT not on the day I
am planning to fish it. If you need to use a marker on the same
day you are planning to fish keep the casting to a minimum. In
the above story, Bill and Darren cast perhaps three or four
times before choosing their spot.
Here are some great articles to get
you started!
Casting |
Feeding |
Fish Location |
Fishing the Method
Fishing With Corn
| Flavouring
Baits |
Float Fishing for Carp
Float News
| Getting an Edge
| Hook Baits
Quiver Tipping for Carp
| Spodding
| Marker Floats and
Feature Finding
|
