Stick Float Fishing - Finessing the Shotting

‪@MarkWintleFishing‬ Back in my match fishing days obtaining finesse when stick float fishing was essential. Until 1987 we could legally use lead shot in the popular sizes for stick float fishing which were no. 4s and 6s but the lead ban stopped that and nowadays we can only use sizes 8s and downwards. Tin shot, eg Anchor Double Cut, work OK but as they're physically bigger some of the finesse is lost and the way around this is to use no. 8s and 10s, doubling up as necessary. In this session I do just that and the improvement in presentation is apparent. It's more fiddly and time-consuming to set up and some match anglers make up rigs in advance on pole float winders to save time and effort during match conditions but I prefer, given that I only set up one rod and am not in a match to set up on the bank which gives a rig with less knots. I've been using tin shot in the recent past for stick float fishing but this session has changed my mind and I'll be using the no. 8s more frequently in the future.