Trotting a River: Float Fishing Guide

By Alex Clayton · Updated 23 October 2026

The first complaint most stillwater anglers make on a river is that the water moves, so the float won’t sit still. With trotting, that movement is the point.

Trotting is float fishing where the float and bait travel down the swim at the pace of the current, usually under a stick, Avon or chubber float, while you control the line so the bait drifts naturally at or just off the bottom. A legered bait sits static on the riverbed, and a waggler on a lake waits for fish to find it. A trotted bait goes looking for them.

This guide covers trotting float fishing in seven steps: legal and fishable water, tackle, shotting, depth, feeding, line control and species. It assumes you can already float fish. If you can’t, start with our float fishing guide.

Step 1: Check the River Is Open, Legal and Fishable

English rivers are closed to coarse fishing for three months every spring, even when the lake down the road is open.

Close season (England): 15 March to 15 June inclusive on all rivers, streams and drains. Most stillwaters and canals have none, but canals that are canalised rivers, most SSSI stillwaters and most Norfolk and Suffolk Broads waters do. Clubs can extend it but not shorten it (GOV.UK national rod fishing byelaws).
Wales: the river coarse season runs 16 June to 14 March. Stillwaters and canals have no close season, apart from certain SSSIs (Natural Resources Wales). Scotland and Northern Ireland differ: check with Fisheries Management Scotland or DAERA, and see our fishing seasons guide.
Rod licence: required in England and Wales from age 13, and free for 13 to 16 year olds. Prices change each April, so check our rod licence guide before you buy.
Permission: club and private water needs the owner’s permission, usually a club card or day ticket.

Trotting works best on a steady river that is clear or slightly coloured; in coloured or flood water a static bait usually does better. GOV.UK Check for flooding shows the latest levels at measuring stations, but it is a flood-risk service, not a fishing forecast.

If the gauge is rising fast and the water looks like tea, leave the float rod at home and leger, or wait.

Step 2: Pick a Trotting Float, Rod and Reel

The centrepin is the classic trotting reel, yet a cheap one can be worse than the fixed spool already in your bag. John Wilson, writing in Angling Times, warned that budget pins release line too slowly.

Choose the float first, because the swim decides it.

Float	Best swim	Typical bait
Stick float	Steady, moderate glides	Maggots, casters, bread punch
Avon	Faster, deeper water; carries more shot	Worm, heavier baits
Chubber or loafer	Streamy swims	Bread flake, big baits

A stick float attaches top and bottom with float rubbers and is the first choice for most running water. Dom Garnett, writing for fisheries.co.uk, suggests newcomers use a reasonably heavy float, around 4AA or more, because it is easier to cast and control. Wilson made a similar point: a light stick in pacey water lets the bait lift and dance, so step up the float rather than fight the current.

Rod: a 13ft match or float rod is the standard. A 14 or 15ft rod gives more control across the flow, makes mending easier and picks up more slack on the strike.

Reel: a centrepin gives direct control and smooth line release. A fixed spool works with the bale arm open, line peeling off under a finger on the spool lip.

Mainline: 2.5 to 3lb for roach, dace and small chub, and 4lb if barbel or big chub are likely. For chub, Angling Times suggests line of about 0.14mm, stepping up to 6lb where snags are close.

Centrepin trotting is worth learning if you fish rivers regularly, but buy a decent pin or none at all. If you trot a few times a season, keep the fixed spool and spend the money on floats.

Step 3: Shot the Float With Legal Weights

In England, lead weights between 0.06g (size 8) and 28.35g (1oz) are banned on the line. That takes in every shot size larger than a No.8, including the BBs, AAs and SSGs that cock heavier trotting floats, so those must be non-toxic, such as tungsten. The byelaw doesn’t cover weighted line, feeders, flies or lures (GOV.UK national rod fishing byelaws).

Build the basic shirt-button rig:

Fix the float top and bottom with two or three float rubbers.
Space small shot evenly from roughly mid-depth down, so the bait falls slowly and evenly.
Pinch a small tell-tale shot within about six inches (15cm) of the hook to register bites.
Add shot until only 2 to 3mm of tip shows. Garnett advises dotting it down as far as is practical.

Pattern	When to use
Shirt-button (evenly spaced)	Steady glides; fish feeding off the bottom or on the drop
Bulk plus droppers	Pacey or deep water, or to get past small fish that pinch bait on the way down
Shot bunched near the float	Shallow, fast water

Garnett places the bulk around 18in (45cm) from the hook. For long trotting, Wilson suggests a bulk of BB or SSG about 1ft (30cm) from the hook, which again means non-toxic shot.

If shot keeps pinging off the line, Stotz or styls slip less than traditional split shot.

Start with shirt-button shotting. Switch to a bulk in fast, deep water, where an evenly spaced rig never gets the bait down in time.

Step 4: Read the Swim and Set the Depth

The float looks perfect for ten yards, then drags under on the bottom, or the bait sails high over the fish. Both faults usually start before the first cast, with the wrong swim or a guessed depth.

A good trotting swim is a steady, even-paced glide, ideally over gravel. Look for creases where fast and slow water meet, and avoid boily water, which scatters loose feed. The tail of a glide often holds the bigger fish, and chub like far-bank cover such as overhanging brambles and roots.

Before you feed seriously, run the float through a few times to learn the pace, the depth and where the snags are.

To set the depth:

Plumb the swim, or start slightly shallow.
Deepen the float a little at a time until it dips or stalls as the hook touches bottom.
Come back up an inch or so (2 to 3cm), so the bait trips just clear of the bed.

Don’t shorten the whole rig for a single snag. Wilson’s advice was to hold back hard as the float reaches it, so the bait lifts and skips over.

By the end of this step the float should travel the full run without dragging under. For wider watercraft, see our river fishing guide.

Find the bottom first, then deal with snags by holding back, not by changing depth.

Step 5: Feed Little and Often Down the Swim

Feed before the very first cast, not after the first bite. Angling Times recommends 20 to 30 maggots in before you trot at all, then a steady supply from there.

Build a routine you can repeat every trot:

Throw a small pouch of maggots or casters slightly upstream, so it sinks into the line the float will take.
Feed every trot, or every other trot.
On longer runs, feed over the float as it sets off, again partway down, and at the end of the trot.
Add a pinch of hemp every few trots to hold roach and grayling. A bread mash slick can draw fish up the swim.
Put fresh bait on the hook every cast in cold water, because the cold saps maggots quickly.

Quantities vary by target. For a full day on chub, Angling Times suggests about 4 pints of maggots, while roving with bread flake needs little or no feed. Roach and dace respond to a steady stream of small feed.

Watch where the bites come. If they settle at one point in the trot, you have fish on the feed. If they start coming further up the swim, the fish are moving up to meet it.

A small pouch every trot beats a big one every ten minutes.

Step 6: Run the Float Down and Control the Line

The float races ahead, bites never develop, and a bow of line forms downstream of it, which can spook fish before the bait arrives. Line control is the core skill in trotting, and it fixes all three.

Cast: flick the rig underarm or sideways a little upstream, then close the line up behind the float. A correctly shotted rig rarely tangles.
Let line off: release line smoothly from the pin or open spool, rod tip up, the line to the float as straight as the flow allows.
Mend: flick the line upstream to remove any downstream bow, without pulling the float off its course.
Hold back: slow the float slightly below the pace of the current, so the bait runs ahead of it near the bottom, as loose food would. Holding back hard lifts the bait over snags (Step 4).
Strike: sweep the rod firmly sideways, upstream or across the flow, which picks up line faster than lifting straight up. Hold the rod rather than rest it, because river bites are quick.

Garnett points out that a bite can show as the float lifting or moving sideways, not only dipping.

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Float drags under mid-trot	Bait catching bottom; set too deep	Shallow off slightly or hold back
Float rushes ahead or veers off line	Downstream bow; line lying on the surface	Mend upstream; keep the tip up
Missed bites	Slack line; slow strike	Tighten up; sweep strike
Float sinks on the cast	Over-shotted	Remove a small shot
Bites only at the end of the trot	Fish dropping back; feed too heavy or going too far	Feed less; shorten the trot

Hold back in pacey water, where the current would otherwise rush the bait through, and let the float run at current speed on slow, steady glides. On a mixed run, trotting float fishing means doing both in one trot.

Step 7: Match the Trot to Roach, Dace, Chub and Grayling

The rig that catches roach on a size 20 rarely suits a 4lb chub in a snaggy swim. Float, hook, bait and trot length all change.

Species	Float	Hook	Bait	Where they sit
Roach	Light stick	20 or 22, fine line	Pinkies, squatts, casters, bread punch, hemp	Steady glides
Dace	Light float	20	Maggots, bread punch	Well-oxygenated, faster water
Chub	Chubber or heavy Avon	8 or 6	Bread flake, large worm	Far-bank cover; mid-river runs
Grayling	Stick	Sized to the bait	Maggots, worm, bread	Gravel runs and eddy creases on cool, clean rivers

Trotting for chub: a typical chub is around 40cm and 4 to 5lb (about 1.8 to 2.3kg), according to the Canal & River Trust. Angling Times rates autumn and low water as best, and suggests four or five trots through a small-river swim before moving on. More in our chub fishing guide.

Trotting for grayling: grayling need cool, clean, fast-flowing rivers and are strongest in the Midlands, the north of England and Wales. See our grayling guide.

Long trotting means running the float much further downstream than a standard trot, usually on a centrepin with a heavier float, to reach fish holding well down the swim.

Hold fish over the water and return them quickly. English river byelaw daily limits are 15 small coarse fish of 20cm or under, 2 grayling of 30 to 38cm and 1 pike of 65cm or under, and keepnets must have knotless, non-metallic mesh and be at least 2m long. Many clubs set stricter rules, so check yours.

Long trotting suits chub and grayling on clear, steady rivers. Skip it on tiny, overgrown streams.

Frequently asked questions

What is trotting in fishing?

Trotting is float fishing where the float and bait travel downstream with the current, so the bait searches a long run of river instead of sitting still. Legering, by contrast, holds a static bait on the bottom. The key skill is line control, covered in Step 6.

Can you trot with a fixed spool reel?

Yes. Open the bale arm and let line peel off under a finger on the spool lip. A good centrepin gives smoother, more direct control, but a cheap one can release line too slowly and be worse than a fixed spool. See Step 2.

When is the best time to go trotting?

In England, river coarse fishing reopens on 16 June after the close season of 15 March to 15 June inclusive; in Wales the river season runs 16 June to 14 March. Autumn and winter on clear, steady rivers suit chub and grayling. In Scotland or Northern Ireland, check with Fisheries Management Scotland or DAERA.

Can I use lead shot for trotting?

In England, only in size 8 (0.06g) and smaller, or over 1oz (28.35g). Every shot size in between must be non-toxic, such as tungsten. Step 3 explains how to build a legal shirt-button rig.

What is the best float for trotting?

A stick float suits steady glides and small baits. An Avon handles faster, deeper water, and a chubber carries big baits such as bread flake. Beginners find a heavier float of around 4AA or more easier to cast and control. See Step 2.