Marker Float Setup

By Steve Smith

When Carp fishing a marker float has a number of uses but the main ones are. Depth finding, allowing you to calculate, with reasonable accuracy, the depth of the water around the hook bait.

Feature finding, allowing you to discover the various contours and features lying beneath the surface of a swim. Accuracy, as an aid for accurate casting and spodding allowing you to get your hookbait and free offerings in the same spot every time.

A Pear shaped lead is best as they not only cast more accurately but their shape offers less resistance and less risk of snagging up in weed.

Set Up

1. Marker Float
2. Quick release swivel to allow you to change floats. A Rubber bead should be pushed over the swivel eye to prevent the running ring from snagging on the float and preventing it from rising to the surface.
3. Braided main line for maximum sensitivity.
4. Running ring with a cork ball pushed over the small eye to keep it off the bottom and free of weed and snags which could prevent the float from rising to the surface.
5. A Length of stiff link. If you make this 12ins it will aid you with depth finding as this will need to be added on to give you an accurate depth. or a purpose made marker stem available in the Korda Drop Zone Marker Float & Lead Kit.
6. Quick release swivel so you can change the weight and shape of the lead as required.
7. Pear shaped lead works best.

Now you have set up your marker float find out how to use it in my article Feature Finding

Acurate Spodding/Spombing

By Steve Smith

If you are fishing beyond the range of a catapult and Bait Boats are banned then a Spod or a spomb is a very versatile and invaluable tool for delivering a large quantity of bait in a tight area.

Tackle for spodding/spombing

The two most important pieces of kit for spodding are the rod and reel. The rod and reel you chose will depend on the type of spodding you intend to do.

The smaller spod can be cast using a normal carp rod and reel set up but if you are going to use the bigger spod's then you are going to need a rod of at least 4-5lb test curve. Nearly every rod manufactures now have dedicated spod rods in their own range. The spod rod will take a lot of abuse during a season with the constant cast and retrieve of a loaded spod. My rod of choice is the Greys Distance spod plus. At the end of the day if you spod regularly your spod rod an reel will get more use than you normal fishing rods and reels and therefore a quality setup is needed.

Greys Distance Spod Plus Rod with Diawa Emblem Spod reel

The best reels for spodding are the big pit reels, like the Daiwa Emblen or the Shimano Biomaster, which allow you to retrieve the spod a lot faster than the standard carp reels. I Prefer to use braided line for my spodding as the low diameter and no stretch allows for more accurate casting. My reel is loaded with 20lb whiplash braid which has a diameter of 0.25mm. this is not strong enough to take the full force of regular casting with a heavy spod so it is vital that a shockleader is added. I use 50lb Arma-Kord shockleaders and will put at lease 3 turns onto the reel. If you are going to use braid it is essential that you use a finger stole or a golf glove to avoid line cuts.

The spod itself

There is a whole range on the market, from the small pocket rocket for adding small amounts of particles into the swim to the large Korda free Spirit designed for putting large amounts of bait out at distance. there are also bollie spod's designed specifically for delivering bollies. I tend to carry a variety with me so I can adapt the spod to accommodate the swim and conditions I'm. fishing in. Remember you can use any bait you like in the spod I like to use a mixture of particles and pellets and adding a tin of tuna works wonders on my lake. So Experiment!

Accurate Spodding

Every one has their own way of spodding so I am going to describe the way that works best for me.

Once I have found the area I want to put out my first bait using my marker float, I'll cast out an empty spod past my marker float and wind in until the spod is were I want it, Then I will clip up the line in the reel clip and wind in. Then using my distance sticks (places a rod length apart which is 4 yards) I simply wrap it around the pre-spaced sticks in a ‘figure of 8’ pattern until the line hits the clip on the reel. I the place a marker on the ground in the position of the tip ring with the line still in the clip and then reel in the line off of the distance sticks. I now know the exact range of the spod.

I will then pick the marker rod up and wind down until I feel the float hit the lead. Holding the rod in the position it would be in after a normal cast which in my case would be about 45° I would then place the line in the clip and reel the float in. I will then wrap the line around the distance stick until I hit the clip making a note of the number of wrap and placing a marker on the ground by the rod tip. I then use the same amount of wraps for my baited rod making sure the rod tip is positioned by the marker on the ground. placing the line behind the line clip I now know my baited rods are going to land on the same spot every time and my spod is going to drop bait right on top of them.

A Few tips to bear in mind when spodding. Keep the braid wet at all times to avoid wind knots. Also to aid in accuracy you need to spod in a rhythm so it helps if you raise your bucket of spod mix up as far as you can so you don't have to keep leaning over. and most important Don't overfill the spod or you will leave a trail of bait on the cast 3/4 full is plenty and make sure you allow enough time for the spod to empty.

Accurate spodding is an art and one that only comes with practice. So get out there and practice.