Commercial Fishing Tips | How to fish up to islands - Steve Ringer
Islands are great holding spots on fisheries, and they prove almost as attractive to anglers as they do to the fish!
Faced with a swim that features an island, it’s the most obvious area to target because fish naturally live there, using the island as cover, so you won’t have to do anything special to start catching.
However, bites can soon dry up given the relatively shallow water you are fishing in, and that makes your next moves crucial to success.
Having other areas to target, feeding differently and changing hookbaits will all get results, so don’t keep plugging away doing the same thing that worked well in the first hour of the day.
Often, making what seems like just a small change can have a huge effect!
Fish multiple swims
Unless there is a mudline between reeds or sedges, I would have an eye on several areas of an island. This gives you somewhere to move to when you’ve had a few fish from a spot and then they back off a little and bites die away.
The right float
The size of float I use is based around how many fish I am expecting. If it’s not too many, something like a 0.2g Guru AR pattern is perfect, but if a lot of carp arrive, you’ll need a float of double that size to give you stability in among feeding fish.
Pellets and pots
Pellets are the safest bait and feed to use if you don’t know a venue that well – they’re never the wrong choice! I’d begin by feeding with a pole pot, trickling in a dozen 6mm hard pellets and then changing to a catapult to create some noise.
Change the baits
Banded hard pellet is my starting bait, as these won’t come off if you miss a bite. On venues with smaller fish, an expander pellet is perhaps a better option. If there aren’t too many silvers, groundbait and maggot can be a great pairing too.