What makes jigging with worms so much fun is that you can catch any species with the method. There isn’t a freshwater fish in the world that doesn’t love to eat worms. On one of my most memorable days, I managed to catch seven species in one session.

ROD & REEL

The gear is really simple and an 8ft 5-25gram spinning road.  I use a £35.00 8′ 5-25g OKUMA Wave Power.  They are great value for money and don’t break the bank.  They are so versatile you can dropshot, jig and lure fish with them. The rod is coupled with a Dawia Ninja 2000A reel loaded with 15lb braid and 10 feet of 12lb fluorocarbon leader.

JIGHEADS

There are a million jig heads on the market and can be a minefield for the beginner. After a lot of trial and error I have found the Savage Gear Micro Dart jig heads are perfect for jigging worms, either reds and dendrobaena. 

They are made with a small blob on the hook shank which helps secure the worms and lures. They come in three sizes; 0.8g, 1.2g and 2.0g. For Lobworms I up the hook size and weight to a FOX Rage Micro BULLET Jig Head. They come in a good selection of sizes from 2g to 6g.

BAIT

If you are targeting bigger fish then I would take about 50 Lobworms for a 8 hour session. If you trying to catch anything that swims then I usually take half a kilo of Dedrobaenas. If you need to step the gear down then take redworms and use the small jig heads. You’ll still get the big fish. I’ve had Pike up to 8lb on a size 8 hook with a redworm.

You will find that the worm tail that dangles off the shank gets smash up quite often thus the reason for all the bait.  The good thing about worm is that you can take them home and keep them for your next trip.

To hook the worms simply thread the first part of the worm round the bend of the hook until you can’t get any more on.  The the combination of the jig head and real worm gives is second to none.  Try it in the edge and see for your self. It will give you a good idea what is happening when you are retrieving. 

FINDING THE FISH

As with all lure fishing or jigging worms you will want to methodically cast around your swim.  Look for far bank features, culverts, boats and deeper holes. Quite often you will cast over the far side of the canal and the fish will chase it all the way across before hitting it.

The method will chuck up a whole array of species from tiny Pike, Tench, Chub and Gudgeon. 

If you enjoy fishing with worms the check out this article Catch lots of Perch for under £4

To have worms delivered to your home you can try Willy Worms

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Back in the days if someone said lets try catching Ide, I would have said, “I’m not going all the way to Denmark to catch an Ide”.

30 years on and Ide are being stocked in commercial fisheries across the UK, and must say they are a great fish to catch.

Around a decade ago a guy named Gordon Bullock created a new and exciting silver fish fishery just down the road from me. Redbridge Lakes in Woodford in Essex has now become a number one fishery for those who want to avoid commercial carp venues.

Do Your Homework

Even though I have caught Ide from there before, I quite fancied catching a few bigger specimens. So I decided on a four hour session one Thursday in September.

Because I haven’t been there for a while, homework on the venue and species is paramount. So the best person to ask for some advice was match star and friend Keith Austin. Keith has been winning matches at the venue for quite a while now. In fact Keith wins matches everywhere. He knew the methods that would put some nice Ide in my net. I visited the lake on a match day knowing Keith would be there and sat behind him and observed and questioned him like a barrister. It had been seen him in a while but he was still the nicest guy on the planet.

I decided to fish Cuthbert lake on peg 11. Each peg has a a spit of land covered in reeds to either your left or right and a bed of lily pads between each pair of swims.

Most of the Ide are caught from 12 to 16 meters out. You can fish a feeder, pole or waggler but the best presentation is the pole.

I decided to start fishing at 12.5 meters as there was no other anglers around me. If it had been a match I would have fished around 14m due to the pressure of the other anglers.

The depth is around the four to five feet and opted for a 0.5g float with a bulk of shot 12 inches from the hook. 0.14 mainline to a 0.12 hook length with a size 14 Image IM7 Barbless hook.

Bait Choice

Bait choice is pretty simple. Worms for chopping, small redworms for the hook, sweetcorn, casters and a fine sloppy dark groundbait mix. Most of the companies have a dark variety in their range so its personal choice but I would be using SSP Baits System-X Black. You need to be confident so buy something you feel will work for you.

I started by feeding four golf ball size balls of groundbait.. Included in these were around ten chopped worms, fifteen grains of corn and fifty casters.

To make it clear, all the loose feed was roughly distributed between the four ball. I wanted to fish very accurately and tightly so I fed via a pole cup.

There are a whole host of different cups in all sorts of sizes available, but I would recommend something that is robust with a good attachment.

INITIAL Feeding

I left the bait to settle for ten minutes before fishing a small redworm about two inches over depth. On a match day I probably would have used the first ten minutes to fish a small groundbait feeder over the far side towards the reed beds. As it was a pleasure day I could pour myself a coffee and let the swim settle.

Almost straight away I had a roach. This was followed but a few more roach and a small four ounce skimmer.

The initial cloud of feed had now settled and the small fish started to move away. You can tell when the bigger fish move in because the swim goes quite.

Bream and skimmers

The peg went quite for five minutes before the float slid away. A perfect little one pound skimmer slid under the net and regurgitated a grain of corn. That was a good sign that they were hungry. I’ve had fish regurgitate bait before and its a sign of how you need to feed.

I had fish on and off for an hour but not one Ide. Some more sloppy groundbait with casters and corn was cupped straight over the top of my pole float. I also decided to scale down to half a redworm. Bang! That did the trick. My number No6 Future yellow pole elastic shot out and the first Ide of the day was on. For five seconds. The hook pulled out and it was back to square one.

Next put in and another Ide was screaming around, pulling my elastic out. This time after a brief fight I managed to land it. A beautiful fish of around two pounds. If you’ve not seen an Ide before then here is my description. They look like a cross between a roach and a chub. They are long like a chub with a large chub like mouth. But they have the beauty of a roach with the reddish fins and scales.

Building the swim

I was now getting a feel for how the fish were feeding and what needed to be done. Another small ball of slop and caster & chopped worm. I had to wait but knew when a fish turned up and would find my bait. Two minutes later and Bream of around 2lb. Some people would call that a skimmer. But on this lake a fish like this should be called a bream.

After putting another helping of food out the float slipped away again. This time another Ide powered its way around the swim. They fight like demons and are great value for money and thats the reason I love catching Ide.

I continued to feed in that manor for the rest of the day. I did try corn and caster but felt sticking with the worm would get me a few more Ide. Which it did.

Feeding correctly is an art

It is an art trying to tune into the way fish are feeding. It is probably the hardest thing in fishing to get your head around as a beginner or intermediate. Even professionals like me often get stumped as the fish throw a ball from left field. Four time world champion Bob Nudd gave me one great bit of advice when I was eighteen. He said “just remember you can always put more bait in but you can’t take it out”. This bit of advice may seem like common sense but how many of us think like that. Build your swim slowly and get a feel for what’s going on down there.

I ended the session with four nice ide, seven decent skimmers and bream as well as a Tench, couple of crucians and some roach. Around 25lb and a very enjoyable and productive trip.

Check out Redbridge lakes on Facebook or at https://www.redbridgelakes.co.uk

You might find the following article on Perch fishing interesting https://www.fishingmaverick.com/catch-lots-of-perch-for-under-4/

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Now the other side of summer is firmly upon us I felt the urge for some autumn pike fishing. My son Jordan has been fishing with me a hundred times but has never caught a pike. He had taken a weeks holiday off work and asked if we could do a couple of days fishing. I  asked him where he fancied going fishing and instantly he said “I just want to catch my first pike”

VENUE

The problem was where to take him. All the venues I used to fish that held good head of Pike have all been either privatised syndicated or taken over by clubs.

After souring the internet looking for a venue with a good head of Pike I came across a little gem of fishery. Crowsheath fishery near Billericay in Essex seen the perfect place to give a beginner a lesson in pike fishing basics.

Perfect Weather

The weather looked like it was going to be perfect on the Wednesday which was still three days away. We we’re coming out of a cold spell which was going to be followed by three warmer nights and days. There was going a light southerly wind and the forecast was overcast.  Just what the doctor ordered.

Armed with a selection of frozen baits from Online Baits we got to the venue at around 10am. Unfortunately I had to do some work so we couldn’t get an early start in.

Bait Selection

2 Joey Mackerel, 3 Smelt, 3 Sprats, 2 Pilchards and 2 Bluey

I always like to take a selection of dead baits so I can chop and change if necessary.

TERMINAL TACKLE

Armed with two 2 1/2 pound Image carp rods and Nash reels loaded with 15lb Gardner GT-HD line. Float fishing was the order of the day and I dug out a couple of tried and tested Drennan 15g Zeppler pike floats. I opted to have similar set ups on both rods.  Our homemade wire trace was two feet of 30lb American Fishing Wire with two semi barbed size 6 trebles.

Mainline Gardner GT-HD 15lb

Trace wire 30lb AFW

Size 6 Drennan semi barbed treble hooks

Float – Homemade float and a Drennan Zeppler

Float stop and small bead

The swim

We asked the bailiff where was fishing and suggested the twenties. We settled on peg 21. Our swim was on a corner of the lake. We had two feet of water under our feet with it deepening off to 8 feet around three rods out. We placed the baits in around 5 to 6 feet of water halfway up the shelf. One with sprat down on the right and the other slightly left with half a bluey. Both sliding floats were fished around 2 feet over depth so the floats lay just on their side as the weight just rested on the bottom.

Jordan positioned both of the rods and we sorted ourselves out ready for what would hopefully be a good days fishing.

The breeze was making small waves and the float was bobbing and blowing around in the wind. If you didn’t have a trained eye you could quite easy not see the initial take. After 20 minutes my trained eye noticed a change in the floats position. It was a take on the sprat on the right. I told Jordan to pick up the rod and talked him through the process.

the process of striking a run

I explained that the pike picks the bait up and moves off with it. They then stop and turn the bait head first before swallowing it. The best time to strike and set the hook is as early as possible to avoid a deep hooked fish.  I said we may well miss a take or two because I would prefer that than having to deal with a set of deep trebles.  Fish welfare is priority.

Jordan was ready. Tighten the drag, test the drag, adjust the drag and when you happy strike and lean in and set the hooks. In all the excitement he forgot to tighten the drag enough. This gave the pike the time to feel the tension and the fish aborted the run.

Profanity’s followed but I explained it’s part of the learning curve and he wouldn’t do that again. We just hoped that wouldn’t be the only take that day.

We re-baited and cast back into the same spot. For the next couple hours we occasionally drew the baits back to see if the flashing of the fish can get the attention of a hungry Pike. We would pull the bait around three feet off the bottom and then let it sink and leave it for 10-15 minutes. 

At Last

Around 1.30pm I wandered back to the car to grab some food that I had in the boot. On my return to the swim I could see Jordan was standing up totally focused on the right hand float. I could see from ten yards away the float starting to move off. I reassured Jordan and went through the procedure again. What followed was a perfect strike to set the hooks. After a brief fight Jordan’s first ever Pike graced the landing net. Fist pumps and huge smiles all around. Wow was I relieved. Imagine if the only take of the day was the one we had missed.

A brief but informative lesson in fish care and finger safety followed. I wish I would have taken my own advice. I saw the fish bleeding then realised it was my cold fingers that had been caught by it teeth. At 6lb on the button it was a fish for both of us to remember.

We re-baited with a pilchard minus the head. I used a bit of bait elastic to secure the bait as I wanted to cast further along the tree line. An hour and half later the float took off like that barrel in Jaws. No slowing down he launched into another fish.

This one must have been the identical twin of the first one but I could not complain. Two fish on his first Pike trip.

We fished until it was virtually dark without any more takes and decided to called it a day.  Maybe Jordan had caught the bug and agreed on another trip the following week.

Check out my blog on River Pike https://www.fishingmaverick.com/in-search-of-river-pike/

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As a 12 year old I used to spend long summer days fishing my local river Roding for anything but pike. At that age the river seemed huge, the grass long, bugs and the fishing was always a challenge. The river is around fifteen feet wide and no more than three feet deep, and that’s if you are lucky enough to find a hole. Back in the days it used to have a reasonable head of fish including chub, dace, roach, perch, gudgeon, minnows and the occasional big eel. But Pike? Not once did it ever cross my inexperienced mind that there were pike residing where I was fishing.

30 years later and the river lost a lot of its flow and is being overtaken by reeds beds. There are only a handful of swims where I used to fish and my favourite swim now represents no more than a big reed blanket.

All the fish that are left are scared out of there wits. Cormorants are decimating the river as are people wanting to catching their dinner. All you see are minnows and the very occasional wandering chub.

It was the minnow situation that one day got me thinking about “whats feeding on these minnows”. They are too small for cormorants to bother with and don’t make much of a dinner. This is when the challenge started. Let’s see if there were any perch in the river. I know there must have been but I never caught many.

Testing my theory

Armed with a drop shot rod and a match the hatch plastic minnow I started to drop shot in the deeper swims on the river. My first outing at Shonks Mill Lane resulted in a very small jack pike around a pound and another three pounder. So there were predatory fish in the river and it looked like there were quite a few.

I spent a couple of years walking for miles up the river, trying to find places that I believed held fish. Every time I found a spot I would mark it on a map I had printed. I finally had around 15 swims that I fancied getting a pull from. The only problem was it was now the middle of summer and the river was un-fishable due to the annual influx of duckweed. I’d have to wait.

A few good down pours around October, the river finally cleared and it was game on. There was a slight colour in the water and very little flow so I would have to tread carefully. Some of the swims have fantastic features on the near bank and any disturbance would see them disappear.

First trip

My first trip out was going to be a stretch of the river at Debden. There were four fishable swims and all of them held minnows. Armed with a 7 foot spinning rod, 20lb braid and a homemade 15lb wire trace with a Rapala Flat Rap I was ready for some action. Flat Rap lures are designed to be fished be fished in the top two feet of water. Its golden orange belly has always caught me a few pike. Fish any deeper than that and you got into sunken branch territory.

My Gear

• Rod: Okuma Dead Ringer
• Reel: Dawia Ninja 2000A
• Main Line: Savage Gear 20lb Silencer Braid
• Trace: American Wire USA trace wire
• Lure: Rapala Flat Rap

You must take real care when approaching your swim. Fish don’t only live on the far bank. They can be living right under you feet so it’s always worth an initial cast close in, in every spot. After that start working your features. The left and right of the tree, in front of the reed bed, Then work the deeper water in front of you. Upstream and down stream, always varying the speed of your retrieve. On these small rivers I have found that if the pike are there they will hit it within a couple of seconds so be ready. There isn’t an abundance of food for them so when the dinner bell rings they are ready to jump the queue.

Start of the session

The first two spots drew a blank so I moved onto a swim which had a tree over the far side to my right and a sunken tree on the far bank to my left. My first cast landed precariously in the tree, hanging on by the tip of one of the trebles. With a gentle flick of the wrist the hook tore its way through the old brown leaf and landed perfectly next to the tree. BANG! A pike smashed the lure as it hit the water. After a very brief fight a lovely little two and a half pound jack graced my landing net.

For me the size of the fish I was catching was not important. It was about the challenge of finding them and presenting a bait that they couldn’t resist. It’s hard work and at times can be soul destroying. But when you do manage a fish, the feeling of satisfaction is overwhelming.

So, have another look at some of the small rivers around you and keep an open mind. There are fish waiting for you, they are just going to be a challenge to catch.

You can find a huge range of lures from Rapala at their website www.rapala.co.uk

You might find the following on Perch fishing interesting 4/https://www.fishingmaverick.com/catch-lots-of-perch-for-under-4/

The post In Search of River Pike appeared first on Fishing Maverick.

We are now heading into week 15 of lock-down during the COVID19 pandemic and the government had lifted restrictions on angling a few of weeks ago and had just lifted restrictions on meeting with friends. My daughter who hadn’t seen her University friends since lock down began, asked me if I could drop her off at her friends in Leighton Buzzard for a “socially distant” sleepover. Well why not have a little session down the canal so I set myself a challenge. To catch a load of perch for under £4.

As I only had worms with me as bait, so my main target would be Perch and that meant Slapton would be a good bet. I have fished nearly every section of the Grand Union over the last 35 years and have always done well in matches around this neck of the woods with perch.My swim was not necessarily the one I would have chosen if the temperature wasn’t going to hit 29 degrees and to be honest I found my swim on Google Earth.

I needed an east facing swim with some large trees at my back so I wouldn’t have to endure the soaring temperatures that the day was going to bring. Slapton Bridge was 30 meters to my left and the canal run straight on my right. There was a large turning bay to my left which looked fishy but decided that could wait for another day.

The right perch swim

Grand Union Canal, Slapton, Bridge No120  LU7 9DB

My chosen swim looked an absolute belter. Depth all the way across the canal and a pile of feature over the far side. On plumbing I found plenty of depth. I had 3 feet 10 inches at three joints,  3 feet 6 inches eighteen inches from the bank and an identical depth over at 13 meters against the trees. This was ideal and with boat traffic virtually none existent due to COVID19 I could hopefully build my spots without too much disturbance. I opted to feed and rotate three spots. The first at three joints. The second, three joints hard left close to the bank where there was a lot of fry. And at 13 m to see if there were any big Perch hunting around the trees.

Bait for perch

Like I said, the only bait I had in my bag were around 80 juicy dedrobaena worms that I had fed up on tea bags, carrot peelings and bread along with a quarter bag of groundbait. I decided that if I took any other bait with me it would just be too much of a distraction.
Chopped worm was going to be the method of the day and I was confident that I could get a few bites if I stuck to the method.

Rig

Due to this being a “pleasure session” and with the depth only varying by 6” or so I opted to fish just the one rig. A bit lazy I hear you shouting and yes you are right. I had a Future 0.5g (4×16) Michigan Wire stem (for stability and durability) float with Maxima 4lb mainline and a 3.3lb 0.12 Silstar Match bottom. A bunch of No 8 shot 14” from the hook and a No 8  six inches below that. It may seem a little heavy but I was on my own with no pressure and there were some big perch around.

On a match days I would have scaled down my line size. When worm fishing you really need a barb and my go to hooks are the Image Ghost Barb Hooks. The nice little micro barb (pictured)  helps keep your bait on and aids unhooking. I blackened most of my tip and set my float with only the orange part visible. This helps me detect even the slightest little bite. I love  the long tip of these floats as I can lift the whole tip out of the water and work the bait up and down.

Feeding Tips For Perch

There are a couple of simple ways to feed chopped worm, and would recommend to try these methods if you are new to this type of method. You can introduce them neat (literally just the chopped up worms) or mixed with a carrier or attractor.

Methods

Method 1 – The first is to simply chop your worms and deliver them into your swim as they are, neat with the juices. For this method you will need to use a pole cup to deliver them accurately.

Method 2 – The second is to use a carrier. I have been using molehill soil for over 30 years. What’s great about it, is it’s free and can be found in virtually any field. Alternatively you can deliver it in a groundbait of you choice. For this session I used molehill with some groundbait as I wanted to entice some small fish in the areas I was feeding and hopefully draw in the bigger perch.

My recipe for this session was 25% SSP groundbait and 75% molehill.  I only added chopped worms to the mix when I was going to feed so they didn’t dry out.

Hookbait Presentation Tips for perch

There are numerous ways to present you hookbait so here are three ideas of what I believe to be the most effective options.

1. Heads or tails: Cut the worm in half and lightly hook it at the cut end.
2. Whole worm: Hooked though the middle but make sure plenty of hook point is showing
3. A piece of chopped: Simply lightly hook a piece of you chopped worm you are feeding.

Power Tip – Work your hookbait 

Working your hookbait is exactly what it says on the tin. Moving your bait to the left and right, lifting you bait off the bottom by as much as 6 inches and moving in closer or farther out from the feeding area. Perch are sight feeders and will hunt in shoals. They are looking for small fry, small fish, tadpoles and small frogs so movement is very important .

The start

I added seven chopped worms (cut into 5mm) pieces to my carrier mix into each of my three swims. All delivered accurately by way of a pole cup. I had a walk a few swims to my left and right so my selected spots could warm up and finally got a bait in the water around ten minutes after introducing my chopped worm.

Starting three joints out, I presented half a worm (the head) lightly hooked in the chopped off end of the worm.  The float hadn’t even settled and I hooked my first Perch of the day. A typical two ounce plump little fella. The same piece of worm was used again and another fish immediately followed by two more.

So, there were a few fish about I topped the swim up with another 4 chopped worms, this time cupped in neat on there own with no carrier.  It is so important not the hammer spot to death so I turned my focus to the inside line. After shallowing up to allow for the shallower water I hooked a medium whole worm and lowered it in.

After working the worm for a minute or so the float finally sailed away and a lovely 5oz Perch graced my landing net. I topped the spot up straight with a couple of neat chopped worms and went over to 13 meters.  First cast and a 6oz skimmer bream was in the net. That was followed by a small Perch. I continued to work and rotated each spot throughout the day picking up fish regularly and mixing my feeding between neat and with my molehill mix.

“Bumping fish”

I “bumped” a few fish throughout the day. This is where the fish has taken the worm but not the hook so when you strike you feel a bump. It definitely wasn’t the hook pulling out. Towards the end of the session I hooked a small perch and just as I was lifting it out of the water a perch around 12oz attacked it. That hasn’t happened to me in thirty five years of fishing.  Pike yes but never a Perch.

I unhooked the fish and hooked the biggest worm I could find through the middle. Then proceeded to move my hookbait around the area at about 18 inches deep, hoping he was still looking for a meal. All of a sudden I saw the line start to move to right and struck into the biggest fish of the day. A lovely fat stripy of three quarters of a pound and a welcome bonus to my day.
I finished the day with 45 Perch and two skimmer bream for around 7lb. A really pleasant day considering the heat.

Lessons learned

As with every session I always try and analyse the day and see what I could have done better. This is the key to becoming a better and more consistent angler.

1. I should have had a second rig made up with a larger hook. When the spot went quite I believe bigger predators moved in.  It may have been a big Perch or a Pike. I could have stuck a lobworm on a 12 hook and had the occasional look.

2. A few smaller redworms may have caught some more silver fish over at 13 meters but it wasn’t a match.

3. I could have fed a fourth spot to my right inside the edge. This would have given each spot just that bit of extra rest.

You may also find my blog on pike on small rivers interesting https://www.fishingmaverick.com/in-search-of-river-pike/

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VENUE

Taking the advice of “Dacky”, I decided to go to Southend Farm Fishery in Waltham Abbey and fish the match lake. Having fished the lake two weeks before, I knew there were a lot of bream on waggler at full depth with corn but this was going to be something totally different. I arrived at the lake at 1pm with the aim of  spending three or four hours getting used to the rigs, feeding patterns and general idea of what to do. I saw that the wind was blowing to the far end of the lake and took a quick walk down there to do a quick recce. As I suspected there were a few big carp topping at this end so I rushed back settled into peg 1. All the swims on the lakes are really comfortable with platforms and plenty of room.

BAIT

I have been involved in the fishing industry for over 30 years and when it comes to bait I have the advantage of knowing where all the manufacturers bait comes from.  So when I chose my bait, it’s not always brand based.  The fish don’t know what bag it came out of.  For a lot of fisherman it’s more of a confidence thing. If you want to spend £6.00 on a kilo of pellets be my guest. When pellet fishing on commercial waters on a pleasure day, the cheapest pellets are more than good enough.

You may say but why is he putting hemp oil on them then. I put hemp oil on them for two reasons to create a flat spot on the water with the oil that comes off the pellets and to add a bit of weight.  The oil slick gives me a constant spot to aim for for both feeding and casting.  A kilo of 8mm standard cheap and cheerful carp pellet into a bag and added three good cap fulls of hemp oil.  I gave them a good shake until all the pellets were coated then transferred them into a 3 pint bait box.  And that was my bait done. If the hemp oil gets absorbed, then add a little more. There should always be excess oil at the bottom of the bait box.

TERMINAL TACKLE

Any time I try a new method I only take the rods, reels and bait to fish that method.  I find if I bring all my gear and different baits I just get distracted.  The idea was to learn and persevere.  A classic example of distraction was when I could see big carp hoovering up the pellets that were falling out of my catapult. Normally I would have got the pole out, but I couldn’t. 

• 5 lb Maxima main line
• Hook length 0.14mm 4.6 lb Silstar Match 12 inches
• Float: 3 SSG (4.5g) Middy Specy Wagg
• Hook: GURU MWG Size 14
• Pellet Band: Drennan micro natural latex
• Shotting: Only 1 x No 6 Stoz 12″ from hook on main line

RIG

When pellet fishing up in the water, you will be expecting to catch fish in the top four feet of water and this meant introducing 5 or 6 pellets every 10 to 15 seconds to try and get the fish competing for your the loose feed.

To this end all the weight would be located either side of the float.  Only one No 6 Stotz would be present just over halfway down the rig. If it was a match I would also have a rod made up that has no shot down the rig so I have a couple of different presentations. Daiwa Ninja 2500A was my chosen reel, loaded with 5 lb Maxima.  It’s a line that I have been using since I was a kid and it has proven the test of time.  It’s a tough line that is ideal when fishing for big fish.  The ideal hooklength, Silstar Match Team 0.14 4.6lb. Another tried and tested line that has a great breaking strain for its diameter.

LET’S FISH

I could see a few carp topping out towards the middle of the lake and just sat there for five minutes introducing around 4 to 6 pellets every ten seconds.  It was hard to keep my bait tight as the wind was gusting.  Due to the wind I decided to fish a little nearer so I had a chance of keeping my bait in an area around 3m x 3m. 

I would be patient and try and coax the carp towards me with the splashing of pellets.  With a pellet on my hook I cast past my feed by around 15 feet, fed some pellets then drew my float to the area.  I started getting the odd line bite.  They were super fast digs of the float and were hitting the line.  After another five minutes the float vanished.  It was only a small Bream around 2lb but I was off the mark.

Keep the bait going in

When pellet fishing you really need to keep catapulting pellets in even when playing fish.  It’s a skill in itself but a great weapon to have in your armoury.  Straight back out and bang, the first carp of the day shot off to my right but pulled out after a minutes fight.  After another five minutes and a few bites later I had the pleasure of landing a beautiful roach.  Not what I was after but happy none the less.

I started to up the feed.  6 to 10 pellets to see if the noise and splash could draw in some of these big carp Graham had told me about.  Ten minutes later I cast out and kept a really tight line so the bait would fall slower.  Bang!. Carp on.  A nice 10 lb common.  Maybe feeding that extra pellet worked.  Ten minutes and a few line bites later an gnarly old double figured mirror graced the landing net.

TIPS When Pellet Fishing

• Make sure you have a good rod rest set up if you can’t master the art of feeding while playing fish.  This way if you get a bite while feeding, your rod is easily at hand.
• Make sure you have a big enough landing net head.  You don’t need a huge carp fishing one but one that a 20lb fish will fit in.
• When practising a method make sure you don’t take anything that will distract you.  You need focus to learn and making mistakes makes you learn.
• It doesn’t take long to get through a kilo of 8mm pellet so make sure you take plenty of bait. 1kg is minimum but for a 5 hours session I would be looking at taking up to 4kg.
• Buy cheap pellet.  Fish haven’t got a clue what brand of bait you’re throwing at them.You can always spice them up with oils or flavouring. 

Why not check out my blog on Perch fishing with worms on the Grand Union Canal http://box5371.temp.domains/~fishioe7

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