Plumbing the depth tell you how deep the water is in your swim, it is easy to do and very quick, but very important. All you need is your tackle set and a plummet.
What is a plummet?
A plummet is a weight attached to your hook that is heavy enough to pull the float underwater. As an alternative to a plummet you could use a large split shot, gently placed on the line just above the hook, be careful not to damage the line.
When you have plumbed the swim you can easily remember the depth by: -
With a pole, hold the line against it and mark the position of the hook and bottom of the float with some Tipp ex.
If you are fishing with a rod and reel, hold the hook by your reel, make sure the line is tight to the top of the rod then count the number of rings to the bottom of your float. If you have plumbed correctly and marked the depth then it is very easy to reset the depth if you loose a hook length or change the rig.
Just because you have found the correct depth do not be worried about moving your float up and down the line and find out if the fish are feeding off the bottom or prefer the bait lying hard on the bottom. You can easily reset the depth afterwards.
When you plumb the depth always plumb in more than one place this will help finding ledges or holes that fish like to feed around. It may find a deep part of the swim where you may catch on a colder day or where the fish are hiding on a canal with heavy boat traffic.
Remember dont just plumb straight in front of you try to the sides of the swim as well. See diagram 4
