HOWTO WIN THEF1RACE!
edi tori al
I’m writingthisinthe second week of April andsofar Idon’t think we’vehad adrop of rain,but plenty of sunshine,clear blue skies, high pressure andsome very chilly nights.Asa result,the fshing near me hasbeen alloverthe place –one venueisstruggling to provideany big weightswhile theother is bangingout ton-plus catcheslikethey’re going outoffashion.Generally though,the fshare defnitelystartingtowake up andlook forfood
Last week we fshedthe frst of ourMatch Fishing events,the Sonubaits Veterans Spring Cupat Barston, whichproved to be alittlebit hard Still, someonehas to win andyou cansee exactly whodid on page 86.
Although it doesn’tseem like10minutes sincewe fnishedthe 2024 events last November it’s still good to getthingsup andrunning again, even if it does mean more work to be done!Justa quickreminderthatthere arestill ticketsleftfor some of oureventsand qualifers, so if youwant to take part andjoinin thefun,get yoursnow Youcan fnddetails on pages88and 89, and on theMatch Fishing website.
Ihaven’t been doing much (well, any) fshing myself recently,not becauseofa lack of desire to do so butbecause I’ve been bangingupand down theM1atweekends to seeour new(andfrst) baby granddaughter in York.Somethingsare just
so much more important than fshing,but Iwill return!
Andfnally,the eagle-eyed amongyou will have noticedthe magazine hasshrunkin size atinybit –recent changesinownership have forced us to move in step with allthe other magazinesintheir stable, so it’s utterlybeyondour power, I’mafraid. We’ve still managedtocrama lotinthisissue though, with features from top anglersincluding Will Raison,AndyMay,Cam Hughes,Joe Carass and many more,and we’ve covereda lotofbases in termsofthe fshand the fshing,soI hope you enjoyitstill.
ymour.co.uk
HAVE YOUTRIEDOUR DIGITAL EDITION?
Read
STRAIGHT LEAD –WITH ATWIST
Englandcaptain Will Raison reveals hissecrettocatchingonthe short bomb line, anditmight surprise you.
ANDYPOWER’S DIARY
This monthAndyfshes afew fnals he qualifed forinwinter, then gets straight back on to this year ’s bigmatchcampaign.
LESS IS MORE!
JoeCarassdiscusses whyfeeding patternsare more importantthan fancybaits andcomplicated rigs!
SANDCASTLES IN THE BASIN
RobPerkins reckonsloose sandcastlesofgroundbaitcan really help boostyourweights on canals.
DYNAMITE BAITCLINIC
More bait-related questions answered by Dynamite Baits’ panel of expert anglers.
VENUE DETECTIVE
If youloveyourF1fshing, Magic LakesinEssexisdefnitely a venuefor you! BenLawrencefnds outmoreabout this increasingly popularvenue.
CAM’S CORNER
CamHughescoversthree events this month– theSensasChallenge Final, athree-dayeratRycroft and thefnalround of theMeadowlands League
SONUBAITS VETERANS SPRING CUP
MatchFishing’s events for2025 gets underway with thenow-traditional curtainraiserofthe Veterans Spring CupatBarston Lakes.
MATCH FISHING 2025 EVENTS
Allthe details of ourown matches forthe year ahead, don’tmissthem!
VETERAN’S ANGLE
Winter is over says John Brooks, let thebagging begin… well,maybe not.
SENSAS HOTRODS
Howdid KyeJerromand his Hotrodsteams getoninthe Sensas ChallengeFinal on theGloucester Canal?
LAST CAST
This monthDaiwa andEngland WorldFreestyle Feeder angler PembWrighting answersour quick questions.
NEW GEAR
More of thelatestnew tackle andbaittotempt you.
SteveTuckerreveals howhe approaches thevastopenwater of Durleigh Reservoir, as he goes in search of bigslabs
HIDDEN GEM
Andy Mayvisitsa localclub waterthatholds trulyspecial fshthatcan render even him speechless!
FEEDER ESSENTIALS –OKUMA
MF’s Alex Bonestakes the all-newOkuma 6K Feeder reel to BoddingtonReservoir fora distance fshing test session.
FEEDER ESSENTIALS –SHIMANO Shimanohas achieved somethingreally specialwithits Aero X1 rangeofrods.
JUST.CATCH. EVERYTHING. We join ChrisCameron on thebanks of Woodland View fora masterclassinkeeping your optionsopento winmatches WHEN THE BAIT COMES
Bagging brothers Logun andRoame Frizzell go head-to-head at Lindholmefor F1sand bragging rights.
GEAR GUIDE
We highlightseveral of the same products from diferent brands to show youwhat’son themarket. This month, midrange4000 size feeder reels.
FIRST LOOK –MAP
We recently went to the iceTackle* TradeShowat Barstonwhere MAPhad some interestingnew itemstoadd to itsline-up of products for matchanglers
COMPETITION
We’reofering 10 luckyreaders thechancetoeachwin anew FjukaSensate™FishAccelerant bait pack worth£55.93!
Straightlead... witha twist
England captain Will Raison reveals hissecret tocatching on the shortbomb line, and it might surprise you.
WILLRAISON Age:50 Lives:Aldershot Sponsor:Daiwa
Will Raison
“It’sthe hook baits Iuse thatI believe have given me an edge more often than not.”
Bomband pellet! They go together likestrawberries and cream, andwhenit comestofshingaround25 metres on commercials it’s atacticthatcan push youto thetop of thefeldinquick time if thecarpmovein. More often, than not, thestraightleadisfshed in tandem with apellet waggler,but earlyinthe spring when thefsh arenot readytocomeshallow, the method canbesomewhat of a‘one-trickpony’,and if it doesn’tswitchon, your optionsmay be limited Or…perhaps not!
Englandcaptain Will
Raison hasbeenhaving some good resultsinthe earlypartof2025 on the straight lead,and the interestingfactorinthatis he didn’t ‘match thehatch’. Yes, he fed8mm hard pellets,but neverusedone on thehook
To fndout more about hisslight bendingofthe traditionalway of fshing a straight lead,wejoinedhim on Gold Valley’sSyndicate Lake,where aquick look at thecontentsofhis side tray gave acluetothe alternatives he believes cangiveyou an edge over anormalbomband pellet attack
Let the rod takethe strain when fishing non-elasticated setups.
“I’llgointomoredetail about thebaits abit later, butI frst want go through thegearand feeding, whichmanywill already understand if they fshthe tactic.However,there area fewsuggestions that Ifeel will help
“The frst is my tackle setup. I’mnot fshing an elasticatedrig,soI want my rodtohavea really soft action to help soften the lunges from an angrycarp. Anotherinsurance policy is my reel line. Ihaveno
Nothing complicated about Will’sstraight lead setup.
It’snot howmuch, but howregularly youfeed.
These N’ZON leads allowfor asmooth, accurate cast.
The key to accurate loose feeding.
Syndicate’scarp havewoken up.
issues using10lbDaiwa Tournament ST mono,as it’s idealtocopewiththe rigoursofcatchinglotsof bigfsh.
“I attach my lead –either a20g or 30g option –using an N’ZONleadclip system It holdsthe lead securely andallowsmetofsh it fxed or running without having to breakdownand change things.The reel line is tied to theeyedend of thequick-changeswivel, whichispulledbackinto theleadclip.Myhook link,
whichiseight inches of 0.205mmDaiwa Tournament fuorocarbon, is then attached by slipping the loop on to theother endof theswiveland then locking in placewitha silicone sleeve. This setupallows for arapid hook linkchange, be it aftera fshorifyou want to switch to afresh or diferent hook bait
“Withregardtohooks, Iuse either asize12Guru QM1ora Guru Pellet Waggler hook,bothtied with arange of hair rigs –
quickstops,baitbands and forwhenI’m fshing wafters, Iliketogoold school and have aloop with aboilie stop.Thispreventsthe wafter from beingsucked of,which canoccasionally happenwithsomebait spikes
“The distance youdecide to fshiscrucial.You want it to be acomfortable distance, andbythatI mean howfar youfeed withoutspraying bait toowidely, which won’thelpyouraccuracy. It’s somethingI’vevisited
Will Raison
before,but Ifeel it’s agreat tip, andthatiswhenyou feed with acatapult, hold thepouch againstyour chest, pull theframe away from youtothe full load of theelastic andrelease
“Thisalmostguarantees that your loosefeed will hit thesamespotevery time, andthatyou aren’t feeding toowideanarea. Look fora farbanktargetand aimfor that everytime, then you canuse themarktocastto.
“Onthe subjectofcasting, Igauge my loosefeedingfor 8mmhardpellets at around 23 to 34 metres,soit’san easy chuckwitha light lead There’snoneed to clip up If it’s anything likehere on Syndicate, thecarpare angryand youdon’t want to be trying to unclip when abig fshdarts of across the lake at speed
“Castintothe feed.It doesn’tmatterifyou are notonthe money, as your pellets will be slightly spread out, buttry andbe as accurate as possible. You areonlyfshinga single bait with no feed,unlikewith theMethod, so youwantthe fshtofnd your hook bait as they graze on your loose feed
“What to feed andhow oftenisalsoimportant.I like to be quitepositiveatthe startofa match, as Iwant to pull thefsh to me and away from thosearoundme quickly. Isuggest fveorsix 8mmhardpellets everytwo to threeminutes
“The fshwill come to this regularnoise,but once you starttoget bitesyou want to avoidoverfeeding, so cut back on thetimes between feeds. If thebites drop of
then Iwould up thefeed to sevenoreight pellets until thebites come back,thenI will cutbackagain.
“Beforeincreasingthe feed,itcan payyou to cast a littlebeyondyourfeed,say twometres, as thefsh may have backed of.Continue to feed theold lineand notthe new, andlookout forliners, as that’s aclear indication that thefsh have moved back over your loosefeed andyou candropbackinon that
“How oftentorecast? I don’tuse astopwatch once thewater warmsup. The time of year does afectthe timings, butifI feel that arecastisprudent,thenI will do it.Ten minutesis certainlylongenough, butif I’mgetting liners, however, Iwill leavewellalone,asI know Ihavefsh in thearea.
“That’scovered howI like to fshthe straight lead,but it’s thehook baitsI usethat Ibelieve have givenmean edge more oftenthannot
“I liketostart on awafter. My preference is a10mm RingersChocolate Orange yellowand orange Duo. It’s bright andcoloured, so it stands outtoany fshthat move in andsinks slower than ahardpellet, andsois visiblelonger, as it falls.
“A really good change bait,ifbites slow,ismeat. I liketofsh 10mmpunched meat,alwaysasitcomes from thetin.Itworks well andI’venever felt theneed to colour or favour it.It’sno diferent to fshing meat on thepole.
“Doublecornisanother popularchoice. Ithink a doubled-up bait stands out betteronthe bottom, and
If you choose to fish hard pellets, trysomething different.
The bigger fish are starting to showup.
This carp had ataste for chocolate orange.
Punched 10mm meat is apopular alternative on the lead.
The deadly secret comboisrevealed.
Double corn is always worth atry
A10mm Ringers Duo accounted for early fish.
again, it’s aprovenoption on commercials forcarpand F1s.
“All theabove will catch youfsh on thestraight lead,but theone hook bait that hascaughtmefsh in thedepthsofa cold winter when otherbaits fail, and whichworks allyearround too, is ameatand corn combo.
“I’m notclaimingthe
rights to this,but Ioncegot givena lessonofthe next pegbyanold guywho was catching when Icouldn’tget abite, so afterwards Iasked himwhathewas doingand he showed me
“I trieditthe next time I wasstrugglingfor bitesand it worked!I wassoldonit. It just seemstoget youbites when everyother option fails.I don’tknowifit’sthe
combinationofcolours or thefavours thetwo give of when fshedtogether, butit works.
“Tofsh it,punch outyour meat andtrimittoabout thesizeofa grainofcorn. Thread that on frst andthen thecorn. Thetwo colours really contrast each other, andstand outwellinthe water.”
The De mo Will beganhis session by fringthree pouchesof hard 8mmpellets at his ‘comfortable distance’–around 25 metres –and as he stated earlier, he started on thewafter. He hadan earlycarpafter around 15 minutes, andthree more fsh in that frst hour. He loosefed between everythree to fveminutes,
Will Raison
That’sa meatfish. First carp temped on themeat/corn combo.
Limited success on double hard pellets.
That’sanet filler These are the fish youwant
Biggest of the bunch to finish offa greatsession.
as he wasgetting liners anddidn’twanttooverdo thefeed.After acoupleof F1shechanged hishook bait to punchedmeat, and hadthree more carp in 35 minutes.
Thebites then slowed,so he uppedthe loosefeed rate andstarted to cast beyond hisfeed to seeifthe carp hadbackedof. Theresult wasa biggercarp, butall theindications were that the fshwereoverhis feed,as he sawplentyoflinersashe waited.
“It’sa littleslow, butthe waterisstill cool,although it’s alot warmer now, so Idon’t expect it to be a bagging session. Thereare fshthere,soI’m goingto trythe meat/corncombo on my feed.”
Luck maybe, or it just worked,ashis very frst cast on thecocktailhook bait produced acarp. Asecond followedtwo castslater, andoverthe next hour,Will caught steadily,including a biglump.
“Those arethe fshyou want.Overthe winter,when biteswereata premium, if youcaughtone or twobig fshlikethis, it wasmega.”
Will then switched to a hook bait that he hadn’t mentioned– double hard RobinRed pellets.Hefshed them for30minutes and temped asinglecarpinthat time.Had thecarpgone?
Achangebacktothe meat/corncombo revealed that they hadn’t,ashehad acarponthe second cast, andfor theremainder of thesession hisrod tipsaw plenty of action,including a bigdouble.
“The diferenceinmy catchrateonthe corn/meat comboismindboggling. Thefsh just didn’t want thehardpellets when I triedthem. Basicbomband pelletisa greattactic, but it doesn’talwayswork, so thealternativesthatI use give me theoptions to make changes, andasyou cansee from today’ssession,itcan give youa massive edge.”
“Basic bomband pellet is agreat tactic, but it doesn’t always work, so the alternatives that Iuse give me the optionstomake changes.”
The proof of how
devastatingthe meat/ corn combo can be.
ANGLERFILE •Age:36•Lives: Wells • Sponsors:Preston Innovations,
This month AndyPower fishes afew finals he qualified for in winter, then gets straight backontothis year’sbig-match campaign.
The fshhavecertainly wokenupa bitthis monthnow that we have hadsome warmer spring-likeweather move in.It’sbeena busy fewweeksfor me,with some biggermatches coming around,including some fnals, festivalsand some big-moneyqualifers. Here’s howitwent…
FinalsTime
It wasa strangefeeling having so many fnalsto fshearly on in theyear, but we arefortunate to have afew bigeventsrunning throughthe winter.Of whichitwas nowtimeto fshthe fnalsthatI had qualifed for, starting with theAnglingTrust Silverfsh FinalatMeadowlands.I hadactually qualifed for this fshing at thesame venuefor thefrsttime, aftercatchingjusttwo silver fsh! Iwas hoping fora bit more in thefnalnow it had warmed up slightly!
Thematch wassplit between Warren and Lambsdown. From what Icould gather,you probably needed to draw on Warren to win. Idrew on Lambsdown, thelakeI qualifed on.I won’tbore youtoo much,but it took me over an hour to geta bite,but eventually Icaught anicestamp of roachon thepolewithcasters.I was surprisedhow bigsomeof theroach were.I wouldlove to go back andhaveanother go.Unfortunately,I decided nottobotherthe scales man this time.Welldonethough to SteveReid, whowon from Warren!
Ontothe next fnal,which wasthe Fish South Silverfsh FinalatSouthendFarm, avenue in Essexthat’sa long wayfromhome, so I booked myself on to atwodaysilverfsh matchtoget myself familiarwithit.
Thelakewas split into twohalvessoyou would geta chance to draw both sides. Dayone Idrewa decent peg, Peg 1. This was in asection with thedeeper pegs.I experimented abit andfound that pellets long worked well,aswellas castersona shortpoleline. Idid okay,winning my half of thelakewitharound 20lb. Butitwas noticeable thedeeperpegstomyleft fshedveryhard, whilstthe shallowerpegswon on the day, andpegswithbushes
or tree covercaughtwell.
Thenextday Idrewa pegthatwas notonthe bank that caught thebigger weightsbut it wasanother endpeg.I fshedina similar wayagain andcaughta lot of fshonpellets.Thistime Ihad less inside coverand theshorter lines weren’tas good.I endedupwinning my sectionwitharound 20lbagain,soa nice little introduction to thevenue.
Come theday of thefnal Idrewonthe deep bank that really struggled in thefestival, so IfeltI was probably up againstit. This time thefshingwas abit diferent,and my pelletlines just didn’t seem to work. Instead, Icaughtmostofmy fshoncasters at fvemetres,
next to atreebranchthat went into thewater.Itwas obviousthere were more fshinthe pegs with cover. Perhaps becausewewere nearingspawningtime. One angler Isaw catchmorethan anyone wasWill Raison, whowas on an endpeg, on thebanktomyleft.He hadlotsofcover andwas making themostofit.
Iended up beingthe best weight on my bank with 26lb11oz, andframing in sixthplace.Winning the £10k prizewas Will Raison, so well done to himand also theFishSouth team for putting on agreat event! Next up wasthe Golden Rodfeeder-onlyfnalat LarfordLakes.Thiswas a bitofa long weekendfor
Sonubaits
On to the fnal, which
My peg in the Fish Southfinal.
meifI’m honest,but that is thenatureoffshingincold water! Dayone on theSpeci Lake wasa very slow dayfor me andthose around me,as thereseemed to be apocket of carp abit furtheralong thebank. Icaughtjustone carp anditweighed 22lb!If you’re goingtocatch one, it mightaswellbea bigone!
Daytwo wasanother toughday on thegrass bank of theMatch Lake.Itseemed likemostofthe fshwerein thebowlbehindthe island, whichwas fortunatefor the eventual winner, Fabian Arpad, whowas on theend pegatthatend.Welldone to him. Iagain didn’t bother thescalesman as Ionlyhad ahandful of carp!
Dynamite Festival, White Acres
Theverynextday Iwas straight down to White AcresinCornwall, for theDynamiteFestival. I wasona bitofa fshing marathon this week,asI was planning on coming back andfshingthe startofsome bigqualifersthe following weekend, whichmeant fshing nine matchesinnine days!Moreofthatlater,but fornow it wastimefor day oneofthe festival!
My draw putmeonPeg 24 Trelawney, whichI thought mightbetrickywithevery pegina linebeing used, apartfromthe endpegs having space. Luckily for me it wasmoreofa low weight kind of day, andI wonthe sectionwith53lb. Iwentthere with aplan to fshpellets on thelong pole,but IfeltI should have been catching more Imadea change to corn instead, whichworked immediately! With thewater
still beingclear,I thinkcorn wasstill workingwell, as it’s so visible. Somethingto remember goingforward!
Thenextday IdrewPeg 28 on Python.Not whereI wanted to draw!Thislakeis oftendominated by theend pegs,and even though Iwas in themiddleofthe lake, Ihad twoend pegs in my section, 18 and20.
Afterstrugglingtocatch on pelletsagain,another switch to corn gotme catching some fsh. As theday went on,itfelt noticeably warmer,and I managedtocatch some carp andF1s by just “dobbing” bread towardsthe islandsin theshallow water, wherethe fshwereobviously taking advantageofthe sunshine Iwas just fshing a4x10 Maggotfoata fewinches of thebottomwithsome punchedbread on asize16 GPMhook
Ialsocaughta couple of fshinthe margins, as well as swapping between my corn linesinopenwater,and bread towardsthe islands. Ifnished with 86lb, which wassecondonthe lake behind Brad Lucas, whohad over 100lb from endPeg 20.
Thenextday IdrewPeg 3onJennysLake, which wasanother “ify”draw! I didn’t want to seeBradon theend pegagain,but that’s exactlywhathappened! With awarmwindblowing down to hispeg he proceeded to
catchprobablyover100lbof bigcarpinjustthe hour,by simply fickinga shallowrig in frontoffsh he couldsee! Meanwhile thefsh seemed a bitmoresparselypopulated in frontofme, andI only caught acoupleofF1s anda carp in that time
However, afterthatI had adecentmatch catching on corn again. Icaughtcarp, F1s andcarassios at 14 metres, just CADPotting corn,then agood last hour catching
some fshonmeat shortas well as acoupleoffsh from my margins. Iweighed 79lb fora comfortablesecond in section. Brad didn’t catchmuchmoreafter that amazing start, butwon with 126lb!
Dayfourwas ourturnon Pollawyn. IdrewPeg 13, whichalwaysusedtobea good pegfor sectionpoints, as it wasalwaysinwiththe frst more difcultarm of the lake.Thistimeitwas with
Will Raison wonthe day, well done to him.
Trelawney Peg24.
Peg28onPython.
Top anglers, everyone.
pegsspreadaroundthe lake, soanythingcould happen!
Afterstartingonpellets, thenswitching to corn, neither of thesebaits were working forme. Then after switching back to pellets eventually,I startedtoget regular bitesfromthe newly stocked carp,mostofwhich weighed less than apound each!
peg Iamfamiliarwith. IfeltI wouldget aniceday’s fshing, butnever expected to win from there.
Ikeptthingssimple, hoping to catchonmeatshort and in themargins,asI knew meat hadbeen workingatthe venue. Therewas also apot/ man-made island in frontof me,soI loosefed maggots thereasitfeltwarmenough to catchupinthe water.
Apartfromthese little “stockies”I didn’t catch muchuntil thelasthour. Thiswas when thewind turnedand seemed to bring withitsomebiggerfsh.I changed to fshing shallow, feeding4mm fshery pellets
After swapping depths I had areally good runofbig F1s around twofeet deep.I weighed 63lb, whichactually won thelake!
Thelastday we were on TwinOaks. Iwas hoping to atleast endthe week on an end peg, butitwasn’ttobe! I drew Peg 30. Theend pegs onthislakehad around four empty pegs either end, so these hadbeen dominant for obvious reasonsthisweek!
Ihad abusyday catching small stockies againwith pellets,beforecatchingsome big F1sdownthe margins withmaggots.Mylastfsh was abig commonthatI weighed on itsown at 14lb! I managed to beat oneend peg by2oz butRoger Brownon the farend pegwon it with over100lb! Well done to him!
Overall, Icameseventh.I was happy with howI fshed all week,but theladsthat tookthe topspots hadall had some nice endpegsat somepoint.The draw was defnitely still important since it wasstill earlyinthe year.
Fish‘O’ Mania Qualifier
The next dayI travelledupto TunnelBarnFarmfor my frst attemptatqualifyingfor Fish ‘O’ Mania! It is always hard to tellwhere youneed to draw atthisvenue as thewinner can popupfromsomany diferentpools.
Idrew19onExtension,a
Istarted of in themargins andcaughtaround20lbin thefrsthour. Icouldn’tcatch shortatthisstage though, so Iswappedbetween the marginsand my shallow line. Icaughtlotsofsmall F1s shallow, notthe fshI wanted to catchtowin thematch as I felt they were toosmall, butI stuckwithit.
Icaughtbestona traditionalstrungout rig, with a4x8 F1 Shallowfoatbest, butthe wind wasmaking things difcult, so an in inline dibberworkedwelltoget in tightagainst thecover Icaughtmostofmyfsh between 18 inches andtwo feet.Asthe matchwentonmy pegseemed to getstronger, butmainlyfromsmall F1s, many of whichwerelessthan apound.I knew if it kept goinguntil theend,I may have achanceofwinning Ifeltthoughthata runof biggerF1s wouldget thejob done,and Iwas hoping the shortlinewould getmethere, butitnever really gave me many better fsh, so most of thelasthourwas spentfshing shallow.
In theend Iweighed in 157lband aftera bitofa wait Ifound Ihad wonthe matchand qualifed forthe FishoFinal!A greatfeelingto qualifysoearly in theyear.
Golden Reel Qualifier
Very blurry eyed,but still on abit of ahigh, Itravelledup to Larfordthe next dayfor my frst attemptata Golden Reel qualifer this year! Thematch wassplit between theMatch andSpeci lakes. Afterlastweek’s fnal Iwas hoping foranend peg
79lb and second in section on Jennys.
Peg3onJennys Lake
Peg13onPollawyn.
Iweighed in
on theMatch Lake.When IdrewPeg 20 Ithought I hadit, butthisweek they hadput fvepegsinthe bowl past theisland. Still, Ihad plenty of room,and Iwas hoping theextra pegs or anglingpressure in thebowlcould push some fshmyway,asI knew that waswhere a lotoffsh hadbeen.
Afteroveranhour, Iwas yettohavean indication!I triedthe feeder,margins,short pole,longpole, butI felt therewereveryfew fsh there! Icould seethe pegs in thebowlcatchingwell, andthought Iwas in for alongday!
ButthenI startedto seemoreand more carp cruising around,and
started to catchthemon thepolefshingshallow with pellets!I fshed with quitea long line between thepoletip and foat,soI couldfickthe rigout towardsthe fsh withoutscaring them.It wasnoticeablewhenI caught oneitwas usually abig fsh, 8to10lb, so I wouldn’t need many of these. ButI felt likeI was well behind onecertain angler by theisland, who haddefnitely caught more numbersofcarp.
With everyone having abit of spaceI felt there mighthavebeen more fshtocatch from the margins, butwiththe clocks changing and losing an hour,along with thewater being
quite clearstill, Ionly caught four or fvecarp from themargins at the end.
At theend Ithought I had140lb, andwas only acoupleofpoundsout when Iweighed 142lb. To my surprise, theother anglerscatchingweighed less than Ithought,and Ihad actually wonthe matchagain,thistime qualifying forthe Golden RodFinal.Overthe yearsit’samazing how oftenthishappens.I get arun of baddraws,or luck,thenI qualifyfor twoinone week!Itjust normally happens in June,not March, so I’m really happy to free up some time forthe rest of theseason!
RRP £339.98
RRP £49.98
Reinforced Knees
WaistBelt
Zipped Chest Pocket
Peg30onTwin Oaks.
Extension Peg19.
Part of my winning 142lb at Larford.
157lb for the win at Tunnel Barn
Less Is More!
Joe Carass discusseswhyfeeding patterns aremore important than fancy baits and complicated rigs!
JOECARASS Age: 37 Lives: SponsNorthampton or: NuFish
Joe Carass
“Three hard 6mm pellets createmore commotionand attraction than afew maggotstapped in out of apot.”
Iwasrecentlyona flming dayand Iwatched with interest thechapnextdoor andhow he went about hisday.Hewas afan of the work we do andwehad a greatchat. It didsurpriseme though,whenhis opening salvowas alarge potfull of 6mmpellets,probably more than Iwould feed in twohours at this time of the year!
We hada chat andhesaid he stillneedsthe confdence of fshing over some bait to draw thefsh in,and it got me thinking aboutfeeding andjusthow importantitis on commercialfsheriesto getyourheadaroundthe fact that less is so oftenmore when it comestobait.
Of course thereisa time anda placefor pilingthe bait in,margintimefor instance.But in spring the open waterisn’t that place, especially earlyinthe session
Why? Well fshare coldblooded andtheyare still responding to theupand down temperatures we have.Yes we’vehad some gorgeous sunny days,but youcan’t ignore that biting east wind andcoldnighttime temperatures either In short, thefsh aremore interested at themoment in fnding sunny spotsand warmingupasopposedto fllingtheir bellies. So less is more,infactsomeofthe biggest springtime weights come withoutfeeding anything at alland now is thetimefor some epic mugging action on matches, butwewon’t coverthat today.
Hi gh Impa ct Ba its
It hi nk at th is ti me of th e ye ar hi gh im pa ct ba it sa re be st .W ha td oI me an by hi gh im pa ct ?H ardp el le ts sp ri ng im me di at el yt om in d fo rm e. Yo ug et no is eb ot h wi th th em hi tti ng th ew at er an dt he mb re ak in gd ow n (s ur pr is in gl yn oi sy wh en yo ue xp er im en tw it ht he m in af is ht an k) ,a nd bo th
at tr ac tf is hi nm yo pi ni on Yo ut he nh av et he fa ct th at th ef is ha re tu ne di nt ot he m an dy ou ca nf eed ju st tw o or th re ea ta ti me an dg et a lo to fb an gf or yo ur bu ck ! Th re eh ard6 mm pe lle ts creat em orec om mo ti on an da ttr ac ti on th an af ew ma ggo ts ta ppe di no ut of a po tf or in st an ce . Th eo nl yo th er ba it I co ns id er hi gh im pa ct at th is ti me of ye ar is me at Bu ta sw ea ll kn ow it is n’ t al lo we do nm an yv en ue s an di th as be co me le ss an d le ss re le va nt in my fi sh in g. Wh ic hi sa cr yi ng sh am e be ca us eI lo ve us in gi t!
So ,f or as pr in gt im eb ai t fo rc ar pI ju st ke ep co mi ng ba ck to ha rd pe llet sa nd th e great ne ws is yo uh ardl y ne ed an y, wh ic hm ea ns a lo ve ly ch ea pd ay !
Kicking Things Off
Im en ti on ed th ec ha p fe ed in ga la rg ep ot fu ll of pe lle ts to ki ck hi sd ay offa nd It hi nk th is co me s from al if et im eo ft arge ti ng na tu ra lw at er sw he re we wo ul da ll fe ed pe rh ap s th re eo rf ou rb al ls of grou nd ba it an dt he ng o from th ere. Bu tc om me rc ia l fi sh in gi sd ifferen tb ec au se yo ua re ne ve rt oo fa rf ro m af is ho rt wo .S ow ea re ju st tr yi ng to ,a nd Ih at et hi s te rm ,f eed fo ro ne fi sh at a ti me
We arej us td in ki ng tw o or th re ep el let si na nd re sp on di ng to wh at ha ppe ns on th ef lo at
Iw ill al wa ys ju st sh ip ou t wi th as ma ll po to nt he po le an df eed th re ep el le ts an d ta ke my se ssi on from th ere. It am aze sm eh ow of te ny ou ju st ge tb it es al ld ay lo ng fe ed in gi nt hi sw ay.N ot hi ng fa nc y, ju st be in gs te ad ya nd pa ti en t.
It is ac tu al ly ha rd to do it ,b ei ng so di sc ip lin ed as to fe ed at in yp in ch of ba it an d ju st wa it fo ra ca rp to co me al on g. Bu ti tw or ks at re at an di fI ca ng et bi te sf eed in g lik et hi sI wo n’ tp ic kt he ca tty up at al l.
Have youeverseen such a simplebait tray?
Of course thereare tricks to feedingwiththe potjust likewitheverythingelse andwhenfeedingjusttwo or threepellets youneed to usethemwell. So Iwill always startbyfeeding thosepellets with my pot twofeet from thesurface to create threeniceplops This givesthe impression of more bait beingfed than youare actually introducing andincreases theimpactof so fewoferings. Ican then settledownand wait for acarptocomealong and becausethere is so littlebait on thebottoma bite won’t be toolongincoming.
Iamtotally sold on catties at thelighter endofthe scale, particularly forhard pelletworkat14metresor less they areessentialinmy view
If linersbecomeanissue, andyes it does happeneven beingasfrugalasthis, then sneaking thebaitincan be wortha try. If youdraw ona lotoffsh (ithas been known that Iusually do) thenany commotion with yourfeed candrive them crackers. Feedingwiththe pot on thesurface is thekey inthisinstancebut youmay need to be extrapatient.The disciplineand beliefneed to be therebut trustme, this feedingstyle works!
Upping The Ante Feedinglikea tight northerner is very efective andI have done really well fshing in this boring butefectivestyle.But thereare some days where thefsh need abit more encouragementtocomeinto thepeg andthisiswhere youneed to feed with more regularity andthe popular pingingstyle becomesthe waytogo.
Imuststressthatthe number of pellets does notchange, twoorthree 6mmhardpellets,but the regularity andthe method of introducingthemdoes. A nice littlecatty that makes grouping thepellets well is amust, andmatch the catty to thedistanceyou are feeding. Inever bothered with thelighter catties for years, grinning andbearing thethicker elastics,trying to simplifythings. Butnow
So nowweare trying to up theantebut Imuststress it is still nottimetoget silly anda disciplined approach will always bear fruitatthe endoffve hours. Assoon as that cattyisinyourhands it canbehardtoput it down, trustmeI am so guiltyof feedingtoo often. Butyou must respondtowhatis happening on thefoat. If youget indicationsevery time your pellets hitthe surface, slow it down.But if youaren’tgetting many signsatall then upping the regularity couldbeworth a try. Upping theregularity meansmorenoise and when it’s hard,justtrickling twopellets in every30to 40 secondswill getyou indicationsand biteswhen your pegappearslifelessat times!
Thefoattells you everything andresponding to theindications is the hardestthing to getright in fshing.But by keepingthe bait selectionsimpleyou can fully concentrateonworking outthe feedingonthe day rather than worryingifyou have theright bait on the end. Fish love hard pellets! Combiningthe twocan also work great andI will oftenpot pellets andthen ping pellets over thetop with thecatty.Thatmeans Ican be patientoverthe pottedbaitfor acoupleof minutesand if no fshcome alongthenI will resume thecatty feedingtoelicit a response.
Noi se Re sp on se Or Grubbers!
Thepenny didn’t drop on this pointuntil theday of this shoot butI am so glad that it did. Alders Farm is ginclear at themomentand Isat on fyingPeg 30 forthis shoot,which is exceptionally shallow. In fact it is hard to fndmorethantwo feet
Joe Carass
Alders Farm is alovely, well-established venue.
Not quite into margin territoryyet.
Just three at a time is enough…
…even when feeding with acatapult.
Start with the pot and moveontothe catty