My winter waggler tackle and method for the River Kenn......

 With so many newcomers to the Clevedon Freshwater Angling Club in the last year and as the main contact for the Club I get asked a lot of questions on how to fish it. I did post a guide on the Clubs FB Page and Website entitled ''Winter on the Kenn, advice and tips'' but here are a couple more in depth tips as a lot of our new members have not fished running water before.

I fish the waggler a lot and have had great success on it so far in January.

For this method I use ...........

4lb drennan float fish line on the reel.

A 3AA straight peacock waggler, this helps when your tripping the bottom and rides up in the water more over an uneven river bed.

For hook lengths I use the Preston Power Line in 0.11 diameter. This is fine enough for bait presentation and will land those bigger fish such as perch, tench and bream should they show up.

As for hooks and hook size I am a big fan of the Kamasan B611 in size 18. It's a lovely strong sharp hook, perfect for the hard mouths of those bigger fish and will not let you down. They come in packs of 10 or a small box of 25 if you tie your own which I do. If you don't I would recommend you tie your own, just get a hook tier and learn how to use it, you won't look back.

       

Your hook length should be about 12 inches in old money. Get yourself a plastic hook wallet to store tied hooks.

1 number 10 shot on the hook length 6 inches from the hook, 8 inches above that a number 8 then 2  number 8's above that 8 inches apart. The rest of the shot around the float but only 1 above on the rod side of the float. Dot the float well down in the water.

Before fishing and when you have set up the waggler rig make sure you plumb the depth. I simply put an AA shot 3 inches from the hook and use this as a plumet. I always set up about 3 to 4 inches over depth.

Once you are happy with your set up cast slightly downstream about one o'clock and feather the line so the bait lands in front of the float and the line below the float is fairly straight. Raise the rod in the air in order to get the line behind the float and then hold in back slightly making the float travel down your swim  slower than the flow of the river. Now and then let the float run and then hold back again. By doing this the bait will lift and drop enticing a fish to bite, well that's the plan.

Feeding is so important. At the end of the trot I put the rod down and feed then retrieve and cast again, do this every run down. Feeding very little and very often at this time of year usually works.

Some times it takes a while for the fish to turn up but keep feeding and trotting down the swim varying the speed of the float and perhaps adjust the depth if things are not working out.

The Kenn as many know is a moody water but ''he who dares wins''.

Hope this helps in some way.