Feeder Fishing Tips | Six tips to tackle large wild waters - Lee Kerry

Ever fished a big reservoir? Few things inspire me as much as taking on a sprawling, wild water. There’s a real sense of the unknown and huge rewards when I get it right!

Here are six tips to help YOU unlock the potential of large waters…

Try window feeders

Leave your open-end feeder in the box in favour of a window or bullet feeder. These have all the weight concentrated at the bottom, making casting that much easier. I’ll happily use a 60g feeder on big venues.

Window feeders make distance casting easier

Always use braid

Braid gives enhanced bite registration and control over hooked fish. On big reservoirs I use 0.12mm Absolute Feeder Braid. Load the spool slightly down from the lip, to act as a brake and slow down the cast.

Long rods are key

With heavy feeders required my choice of rod is a 12ft 6ins Supera, the perfect rod for casting up to 50m on a big water. If you want to go further into the depths, you need to be looking at rods over 13ft, such as the Distance Master.

Think fishmeal

My groundbait mix is a blend of SonuBaits F1 Dark and Thatcher’s Original in equal amounts – a sticky, damp mix that will hold particles in the feeder when fishing rough, wild waters and put the feed just where you want it.

A sticky damp mix will hold particles in the feeder

Vary your feed

At the start I’ll spend 30 minutes casting an XL Window Feeder holding a mixture of baits. Once I’m fishing I can tweak the feed. If worms are the hookbait, add chopped worm. If maggots work better, up the amount of casters.

It is worth having a play with your feed choices

Cast regularly

Fish aren’t scared of a feeder going in – the noise draws them in. You should start the session with regular casts, under five minutes apiece, but even as the session progresses a five-minute cast would be the maximum required.