Aside from what many articles may tell you, I find it’s difficult to say a particular rig is the best for ‘x’ or ‘y’ situation - especially when it comes to fishing in silt. Why? Well, because the type and density of silt can differ from one water to another, and even from one spot in a lake to another! Capesthorne Top Pool is the perfect example of this. The make up, density, and colour of the silt in the shallows is completely different to that in the main bay, mainly due to the fact that the silt in the shallows around the inlet is mineral based (i.e. washed in) and the silt in the bay is organic breakdown (i.e. leaf litter). If you draw a line from the Black Hole to The Point, all the silt on the bay side is firmer (roughly speaking) than that on the other side all the way up to the shallows. Also, if your intention is to fish to clear spots then these are often very firmer, even in silted areas, as they are often kept swept clean down to the firmer layer of detritus beneath. A lot depends on how the water flows through the lake and deposits the silt.

The trick with heavy silt is not to let it worry you - just the opposite in fact; I make it work to my advantage. I’m a firm believer in keeping rigs as simple as possible - so much so, that 99% of my fishing is done with the same basic set-up; main line through a tail rubber, then a lead-clip and onto a gizmo - what could be simpler than that? I use the same rig for weed, silt, gravel - whatever!

The key is in presentation. When I choose the spot, I make a few tentative casts and feather the lead down onto the bottom. I then gently reel in to see what’s going on with the spot. I may have anything between 4 and 20 drop casts into the area so that I know *exactly* what the lead & hooklink are doing in relation to silt, leaves, weed or whatever else may be down there. As long as you keep the noise and disturbance down and feather the cast you don’t need to worry about spooking them. Once I have a complete mental picture of the spot I can then put a bait out and leave it for as long as it takes with complete confidence knowing that the presentation is perfect and I don’t need to touch it till it screams off.

This Top Pool specimen (which is actually older than I am!) was fooled in heavy silt by very basic rig combined with a short hooklink.

There’s only one water where I use a different set-up and that’s Birch Grove where I use running leads due to the large distances and the close proximity of snags. I think confidence in rigs comes from observing what the fish do over various set-ups. Some of the theories that anglers concoct about rigs and hooklinks are quite simply ludicrous. It may well look the ‘dogs’ when dropped in the kitchen sink, but the reality of a big cast with weed or silt is another ball game completely. When I first started fishing the Top Pool I was trying all manner of set-ups to try and bag a fish, and it was not until I actually started getting up trees and sticking my head through bushes to watch their reactions over different set-up’s that I finally began to figure it out, and after many, many, years watching the fussy buggers, my conclusion is that simple is always best!

You don’t need to worry about the bait being masked or even completely buried - the fish are used to rooting around in it, for that’s how they find most of their natural food - look inside the mouth of silt-water carp - it will be almost black with all the silt it’s been rummaging through! I’ve had it before when I’ve been stalking with worms over a handful of particle mix - the fish comes along, stops on the particle mix and sees no danger as the lead, hooklink and worm are completely buried in the silt, so then goes down and has a rummage in the silt and then senses the smell/movement of the worm and bang - Fish on!

If anything I would say that a partially or completely submerged hookbait may give the fish more confidence - think about it. What would look more suspicious; a hookbait that is just lying there neatly on the lake bed (with exposed hooklink) or, a bait that the fish has actually had to root out to uncover?

Hence on some silted swims I will actually cast out hooklinks as short as 3”. Most people would consider that insane when fishing into silt - for me it’s just about putting the bait where the carp are used to finding it. I know which I’d go for if I was the carp!

Julian Grattidge
Febuary 2006