Has anyone any experience of Northampton Style fishing?
The idea behind it is to fish a lot deeper than would be achievable fishing lough style. The drift is from the bow instead of a sideways drift and you fish from the stern. To me it sounds like trolling but I am in no postition to say as I have no experience of this style.

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Reservoir Trout Fishing by Bob Church and Colin Dyson
As one of the innovators of this style Bob Church covers it quite extensively in the above book.
Basically they used the mechanics of sailing to improve the drift, casting at 45deg to the boat with the drift causing the line to bow. On the retrieve the change in direction caused by the bow would often induce a take. I've tried to precis the book/method as best I can but you would probably be better reading the book which is available on Amazon
Good Luck
Billy

I fish it sometimes (sort of) at Draycote to target the overwintered fish, although we do still tend to drift side on, using a drogue if necessary. Basically you cast to the side using a Di7 or 8 line and large lures, zonkers or tube flies, letting it sink and swing round to behind the boat, then start retrieving, so its not trolling (no retrieve when trolling). Takes often come as the fly "turns the corner". Very effective it can be too for the bigger fish and a lot of the locals on Draycote do it for that reason. Some of the takes can almost rip the rod out of your hand

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Thats what I found out out that its a method to target the bigger fish. What I found was that you cast from behind the boat, and that you can also cast to the side known as "side swiping". But it seems from your experience that the side casting is the normal procedure for this style of fishing. Many thanks for the information.
Have you any info on setting up the drift as I am only experienced in side drifting.

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Invest a few pounds in Steve Parton's book as below, it will answer all your questions about Northampton Style as well as giving you a few laughs along the way;

http://www.mullarkeys.co.uk/fishing/...llarkeys/3715/

From what I have seen this really is a big water method, in England Pitsford and Draycote, each around 700 acres, are about the smallest waters that Northampton Style can be sucessfully used on.

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JH based near Southampton

Wigger , I have fished like this a quite a few times , firstly not all places let you fish like this , Rutland , Pitsford , Carsington will allow a rudder to be fitted , grafham you cannot , check with your fishery first.
Method , fit a rudder on the stern , you must be able to rotate it to steer the boat. Generally find a contour/ shelf and try and follow it , or go over areas you feel hold the fish you are after.
Most people tell you put a Di7 on , or a leaded line, this really only gets the big brownies etc which tend to stay deep all summer. However remember if you are below the fish , you wont catch. The real secret (if there is one) is to find the depth the fish are at . I quite often start with a Di7 and only fish half the line, then gradually extend the amount of line out until you find fish at whatever depth. Dont be afraid to fish with a tube just under the wave either.

The difficult bit now , all the above tends to be affected by wind speed , big wind less depth etc , so some adjustments are required to suit.
When you hook a fish spin the rudder and put the boat broadside , or you will lose a lot of fish.
When motoring back up a drift , lift your rudder or when you turn it will swivel and hit the prop.
Cast out sideways , let the line swing round as stated , but dont be afraid to carry on drifting , then do a few retrieves , short pulls , fig of eight etc. Some people actually just drag it behind the boat with no movement , it all works sometimes.
Best of luck , by the way if i had to predict ideal conditions it would be 15 to 20mph wind and bright / sunny for rudder fishing

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Some good replies here. Steve Parton's book is definitely worth a read as it goes into the methods of modern Northampton style in depth. Another one worth mentioning is Tom Ivens Stillwater Trout Fishing. Tom was a good friend of Dick Shrive, arguably the originator of Northampton style drifting. Ivens' book gives an insight into the begginings of the method.

It's also worth pointing out that it needn't be confined to deep lures, there's nothing to stop you drifting "bow down" in a 5-10 mph wind using traditional wets or nymphs on an intermediate or slow sinker. If you're drifting broadside and noticing that most of your takes or follows are coming when you're casting outside the drift rearanging the boat to drift bow down and retrieving across the wave can produce some serious action.