Plumbing The Depth
Plumbing the depth seems to confuse a lot of beginners but once you understand the principles, with a little practice it becomes second nature.
The idea is that you set up your float rig, attach a plummet or weight to the hook, have a guess at the depth and cast out to where you want to fish. When setting up the rig to plumb the depth I just like to use 2 small number 8 shot to lock the float in place. This means that the float will be extra buoyant so it will try and fight it's way to the surface better, which helps during plumbing.
Types of Plummet.
1 - Cork Plummet.
The picture on the right shows the "cork" or "dumbbell" plummet. The hook and line ate passed through the top eye of the plummet and the hook point hooked into the cork at the bottom.
The hook hold is very secure and rarely comes of in casting.
2 - Clip Plummet.
The picture on the right shows the "clip" plummet. The two tags are pressed down and the clip opens up like a jaw. The tags are released and a spring keeps the jaws closed, grasping the hook.
This type of plummet is OK for plumbing the depth close in, but can fly off during casting.
3 - Split Shot.
With this method a large split shot, which should be big enough to sink the float, is attached to the line just above the hook. I normally use a BB, AA or SSG (swan shot).
When waggler fishing this is my favourite method for plumbing the depth.
Video Showing How Attach a Plummet to a Hook.
Many thanks to Liam for demonstrating how to attach a plummet to your hook and line.
Method.
In writing these instructions I am assuming that you have the float attached by 2 small shot, which would not be enough to make the float cock in the water properly. In other words the float should lie flat on the waters surface before you attach the plummet. I will go into how to plumb the depth with a self cocking float further down the page.
The float with the plummet or shot attached to the hook is cast out to the place you want to find the depth. The plummet with the hook goes down to the pool bottom and the float tries to reach the surface.
If the float does not rise to the surface then the rig is to shallow. The float needs to be moved further up the line, away from the hook and try again. If the float lies flat on the surface, then the rig is set to deep. Move the float further down the line towards the hook and try again.
Keep on trying until you just see the float just showing above the water, as if it were set for fishing. You have now found the depth. Move the float a couple or so inches away from the hook to fish on the bottom, or move the float towards the hook to fish off the bottom. How much you fish over or under depth is up to you.
When plumbing the depth, bear in mind the following:
- Make sure that the attached plummet or shot is enough to
sink the float, when you are plumbing the depth.
- Having cast out do not keep the line tight to the float.
If you do you may prevent it from rising to the surface.
Give the float slack line so it can move freely.
- If there is a wind or surface drift it will again put the float under tension and may again prevent it rising to the surface. Sink the line and then make sure the line is slack to the float, so it can rise to the surface freely.
Plumbing The Depth with a "Self Cocking Float".
As the drawing above shows, the big problem with plumbing the depth with a self cocking float, is that it will not lie on it's side if it is set to deep.
You need to get the float so that it is under depth, or in other words to shallow. This means that the float will not show above the surface of the water. I would then keep making the rig about a foot deeper and keep on plumbing until the float shows above water.
Once the float has shown above water, this still could mean of coarse that the float is set well to deep. So I would make it shallower by about half a foot and try again. If the float again showed I would make it shallower by 3 inches. If the float didn't then I would deepen it by 3 inches.
By continually halving the distance in this way you can "home in" on the depth.
If you find all that to complicated, just keep altering the float until moving it up and down an inch or two makes the difference between seeing it or not. You can then alter the depth accordingly, if you want to fish on the top or the bottom.
Plumbing The Depth Is Important.
Take the time to plumb the depth correctly, it's amazing the number of people who don't. It only takes a little practice and you soon learn how.