Simple Match Fishing Forum

I'm after a little bit of technical advice regards trotting.

Currently I fish for barbel on the Trent trotting. I use 6lb mainline and a 4.4lb bottom. The fish run to very big, 17lb or more. I seem to catch my fair share too.

But someone said I should drop down from 6lb to 4.4lb for my mainline. Suggesting I would catch more fish when trotting. So can someone explain why that would be so? Dropping from .22 to .20 would it make that much difference, is it worth the risk with such big fish. And what hook length should I opt for? How different would the hook behave on the slightly finer line?

Thanks all and this is my first thread too.

Dicky.

Is there really no-one trotting these days? Is it all carp ponds, whips and poles?

Hi mate, I have been off the forum for a while but here is my opinion, keep doing what you are doing if its working, yes a lighter mainline may give you better float control if you are trying to use small stick floats as it should be more supple and less affected by any wind, but, I would fish it with the same hooklength as you are fishing now. It is hard to break 4lb line on anything short of a carp rod unless you strike like Zorro, but the 6lb mainline gives you more security with the shot on the line.

Out of interest what size floats are you using? And are you using shot or ollivettes as the bulk?

Hello. Thanks for the response, I'm grateful.

Anything from the Dave Harrell range from Four No 4 sticks Fourteen No 4, though to big Avons, Truncheons, Speci wagglers, normal wagglers. I find I catch very few other fish, when fishing for barbel. No decent chub or roach, but I'm planning to do more roach fishing in the future all being well.

It's interesting that you see very few people fishing with a float on the Trent these days. It's normally 2 rods pointing towards the stars. Are there still any really good stick men about, fishing the Trent Ben?

Dont listen to them mate,maybe the line you use could be altered,i use 7.9lb silstar matchteam straight through,i did this because a friend was catching as many lesser fish,roach,chub as i was,which made me think it made very little difference,so i changed and hey,it didnt,barbel were landed veritably easily,i caught big roach,small roach and big chub,confidence is key,hooks with this tackle are the most important consideration,dont go super heavy on the wire,unless your confident it will perform,and yes there are people who still trot a float through...