Back in the 70's I met up with Ray Munford an Angler I held in high esteem for his lateral thinking.We ended up being pegged next to each other at Newbridge on the Bristol Avon. I believe he explained he was investigating continental poles and associated tackle with some French Anglers. We got chatting and he explained the Logarithmic shotting pattern and how it improved presentation. I spent some time trying it out on the Avon in conjunction with the Image Sticks. Then came along the the commercial fisheries in the late 80's. I started going to Hillview at Tewksbury. One day I fished a match on the first Canal and used one on my canal floats - a 4x12 Jolly which at the time wasn't considered an appropriate float for strength, especially Carp fishing. It had a logarithmic shotting pattern. I easily won the match with 55 lb of small Carp using maggot on top-set plus one. Now that I only fish commercial fisheries all my rigs are initially made up this way.
The floats I use on Commercials tend to be anything from 4x10 to 4x18 - nothing heavier. I only use one size of shot ZLT 11's. This means I could have 14-16 shot on the line for a 4x16 float. This pattern significantly helps to keep the line straight from float to hook, which I am trying to achieve. I have experimented with fine wire as main line to get a direct stiff line from hook to float. These shot fit easily on GLine upto 0.22 (for paste fishing) and for some reason tend to stay on better than most other shot. If I do lose one I know the size and have them to hand. The shot can also be moved easily so the pattern can be spread further or reversed when fishing on the drop. Example of shotting pattern picture below - Drop shot 6 inches form first shot next shot 5 mm, then 10 mm etc...
I won't go into the maths but there is no set start point or initially spacing size, I adjust to suit the species of fish, depth of water your fishing and environmental conditions - wind etc...
I always use a number 11 back shot which I initially set 10mm from the tip of the float. I think sometimes I shot the float too fine but I'm convinced this can be very important during the winter when trying to sense fish in the peg (the straight stiff line enables this). I can adjust the sensitivity of the float by moving the back shot. The nearer the float the more weight added to the shotting moving further away has the opposite affect - simple mechanics. During the dead of winter I have used through wire Sensas Jean Francois Floats and have shotted it with upteen 13's with a single maggot over shotting it!! As sometimes encountered the float can become over shotted especially after a few hours into a match. This can be due to many things, not just water ingress to the float. The main culprit is usually fine particle build up on the lines we use today - I think there is some electrolysis taking place from line static. After a match just check with some white kitchen roll how much "stuff" is all up the line well away from fish slime.
Eyes Open, The Science Is Never Over, Keep Thinking, No Fear, Be Safe.
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