METHOD FEEDER
• Middy 4G Micro Muscle Feeder rod • 4lb main line • 28g Method feeder • 3in 0.16mm Middy Lo-Viz hooklength • Size 18 Middy 93-13 hook
PASTE RIG
• 4x12 Middy Styrex 2 float • 0.16mm Middy Lo-Viz main line • 0.14mm hooklength • Size 16 Middy 93-13 hook • Double Middy 6-8 Hi-Viz elastic
BAIT
• 3 pints of damp micro pellets for the Method feeder • Soaked 6mm pellets dusted with crushed expanders for feeding the margins • A tub of homemade fishmeal-based paste
Chris chose to fish paste, hardly a speed bait.
The Method was the starting ploy for Chris. To gather the required information we would sit behind Chris and use a stopwatch to measure the amount of time his hook was out of the water; this didn’t include the time playing fish as we deemed that to be a fundamental part of catching them. We would, however, note the length of time it took to land his fish, to determine an average. As time was called the stopwatch sprang into life and the seconds began to tick away. Chris began the match by feeding two pots of pellets into his margin swim before baiting up his Method feeder and casting out. A full two minutes and six seconds had passed before his bait was in the water and he was finally fishing. A few regular casts saw
the tip went round again as another small carp took a liking to his single white maggot hook bait. Despite his best efforts he lost the fish, and with the same thing happening to his next two we felt as if we may have jinxed him, although Chris didn’t seem unduly worried: “I’m not too concerned about losing a few on the Method, it’s quite normal here. The main thing is I’m giving my margin swim a chance to build up; I just have to judge it right, so I’m not too far behind the people who started on it.” After 20 minutes Chris had five fish in the net and it was time to try the margins. He had been regularly feeding both his Method and margin swims with 6mm pellets but it was interesting to see that he would be fishing paste in the margins – not a bait that is often chosen for speed fishing. Chris had set his rollers to enable him to ship back to bait up without breaking down, but we still felt it would result in a lot of wasted time… unless he came back with a fish every time! He was soon into a steady
On average, it took Chris 42 seconds to land each fish.
more time added before he caught his first fish. It was noted that Chris was baiting his feeder by hand, something he believed was quicker than using a mould, and was also casting his feeder just 14 metres out in an attempt to catch fish as quickly as possible. With two fish in the net www.matchfishingmagazine.com
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