Tip - castable depth guage!!

[Aquaman01]

Sure, Smartcast is cool, but this is cool, too. I found it on a British carp site, and it's nifty. I'll be trying it this weekend.

Have a spare rod like say, an ice-rod. Get a slip- weight and a float. Put the line through the slip-weight and tie it to the float. No swivel or anything - direct-tie however you have to so that the weight snugs right up onto the float.

-Cast at the spot you're curious about. The weight will sink to the bnottom, and the float will...float. Adjust float type and weight until you have a float that surfaces vertically from the weight, but doesn't pull it off the bottom at all - not a flutter.

-Reel line through weight and submerge float until you feel the float hit the weight. Now put your reel into either free-spool or back-reel, and use your rod's guide spacing to measure out how much line it takes to surface the float. That's the approximate depth, minus variation for current drift.

This would also seem to be a great way to find current breaks and eddys.

------------------
Aquaman
<')}}}}}><{
Peace and Fishes

[Guest]

Great things - wouldn't be without them. Best not to use when you're actually fishing though - many's the time I've seen anglers use these and thrash the water into foam trying to find features, then sit back and wonder where the fish went!

Best used to find and note down features before you go fishing - making a simple map is easy using a marker float. Also if you can use one to mark the spot you're fishing to introduce free offerings - just leave the float on the top and throw out the freebies to it.
Cheers
Steve