HOW MANY OF US STILL

joffmiester · #1

how many of us still fish a slider float i found this useful piece

ENGLAND
The modern slider float, or sliding waggler to be specific, is an English invention. The 1975 World Championships, held on a canal in Poland, saw Ian Heaps win the individual crown with a couple of carp caught on this method. This brought international attention to the method and since then, ironically, gained popularity and strength on the continent, whilst in the UK it declined due to the rise of feeder fishing in most competitions.

The English slider method has undergone a change since that initial victory, when Ian used a No.4 shot above the bulk to sit the float on. This had proved to be the source of countless tangles and much frustration, but today things are quite different! So let’s take a look at the latest set-up of English slider rigs with Stuart Conroy:

It's a tried and tested set-up that Drennan Team England have implemented and used for over decade. The rig itself is so simple; being as comfortable at catching bream at 45 metres, as catching roach and skimmers at 17 metres.

Mainline should be a minimum of 0.20mm, as this will eliminate tangles with a facing wind.
Floats should only be semi-loaded sliders, with at least 20% of the capacity of the waggler e.g. a 10 gram float would have 8 grams down the line and 2 grams loaded in the float body. This keeps the float on the bulk shot when casting.
Floats such as the Rive Scotthorne patterns, with brass inserts are ideal and should be connected to the mainline via a Drennan float adaptor. This adaptor is very important because the swivel is squashed slightly, creating an oval which helps the float and adaptor trap on the sliding stop knot.
The bulk shot should be positioned approximately just over a metre (4ft is Stu's recommendation, or about 1.20m) from the hook. Never use more than four large bulk shot as any more can contribute to tangles. A couple of trimming shot is okay but make sure all the splits in the shot are placed in a line for neatness and, under no circumstances, you should not leave any gaps between the shots.
Dropper shots, keep it simple. Position a No.4 shot 30cm below the bulk, a No.6 shot 30cm below that, then a No.8 swivel 30cm below that, to which a hooklength of approximately 30cm is attached. The swivel is used to eliminate spin on the retrieve. Hooks and hooklength breaking strain should be suited to your intended quarry. Sometimes dropper shot sizes need to be increased if lift bites are likely to be encountered. Make sure they are increased in their respective sizes, again to prevent tangles.
Lastly, the all-important slider stop knot completes the set up. Try to prevent the use of beads and other unnecessary objects on your line. They are NOT NECESSARY, according to Stuart.
STOP KNOTS:
Stuart's stop knot
Take around 6inch (15cm) of 0.25mm line and place it alongside your 0.20mm mainline, then form a loop. Pass one end of the 0.25mm line through the loop and around the main line. Repeat this five or six times, moisten then pull tight. Trim the ends back to around 3cm. This will help the line pass through the rod rings. The knot can now be adjusted to the required depth. You will realise that Stu passes the line through the loop on each turn, which is unlike the classic whipping knot, where the line is simply wrapped round the main line rather than through the loop each time.

Pierre Francois' stop knot
Pierre Francois has a different approach. He uses a lighter line than Stuart, such as a 0.14mm or 0.16mm, but then doubles the line over before tying the knot. This is actually quite easy to do. Take a length of nylon about 30cm long and double it over. Then about half way along the doubled section you form a loop. Simply wind the doubled tag ends around both the loop and the main line five times then back through the doubled loop once. Pull the knot tight and there you have it, a doubled slider knot. By using slightly finer diameter nylons the knot catches on the rings less and seems to bite into thicker reel line better, moving less. I've tried using a doubled slider knots with a thicker line, but it seems to make the knot slide more easily!

The Italian way!
One of the latest stop knot trends to come out of Italy is that of using marker braid, rather than mono line. This is a strong braid of between 10 and 15lb, which the carp boys use specifically on their marker/spod rods. The braid is capable of biting the reel line very tightly and has the added advantage over nylon of being bright green or yellow and thereby easy to spot!

Arch · #2

We used to use one on an old brick pit called Staningale, or "Stannygull" to the locals. Was very deep though. I fished a pole sometimes simply because i was a lazy bugger. One occasion i fished a 10m pole and only took one section off to land fish, took ages for the float to cock. Not one of my favorite venues.

#3

I dont mind posting stuff on forums

So here is a little story from way back when i was in Northern Ireland for a weeks fishing on the river Erne in Enniskillen staying at the chalets right on the banks of the river next to the Killyhevlin Hotel .

Ian Heaps was staying in one of the chalets , i think he was resident there not sure though ? Anyway to cut a long story short it was all pole fishing off the chalets own pegs ( staging) after getting to know "Heapsy" after a couple of days he promised to show me how to fish the slider one evening using his own gear and how to feed groundbait by hand mid river whilst others from our party watched ...... this was way back when bobby sands died whilst we were over there and it all kicked off proper style , very scary stuff !

Anyway after spending around 3 hours or so being coached and using top tackle for them days a lovely net of bream , hybrids and proper roach was had ....... the key heapsy showed was how to run the slider through right over the "fizzing" g/b , accurate casting and letting te rig run through overdepth correctly brought a bite and a fish everytime once they were settled on the feed , three or 4 maggots on a big hook no messing about , topping up with a ball of g/b every 3 or 4 fish

brilliant memories for just the cost of a pint

...... think the feeder was invented not too long after !

joffmiester · #4

thats one place i used one dodge a section called the salmon run it was top six deep and i caught my pole in the gap in my stand and broke the section

i still caught on it

#5

I went over to Ian Heaps house in Sudbrorough, Northants one night. He showed us how to set up sliders for a venue called the Kinda Canal in Sweden for the World Inter clubs in 1987.
Top guy, very helpful.
I had 20 lb next to him in a match on the Erne, he had 166 lbs