Fish the margins in the cold
It’s all too easy to write off catching fish at short range on commercial fisheries in winter.
A combination of clearer water and low temperatures makes even the most optimistic of anglers resigned to catching nothing a few metres out from the bank.
But according to England star Des Shipp, you’re missing a massive opportunity by giving a short line the cold shoulder, especially if your venue is home to big F1s that don’t get caught fishing at longer ranges on the pole or feeder.
Join the England star as he shows you how to catch from a short swim – right the way through the winter!
Distance and bait
“I GO around a top kit of my pole plus two sections out, which is around 5m or 6m. Here I’ll look for between 4ft and 5ft on a flat-bottomed area. If the bottom is sloping at this range, keep adding sections until you find a flat spot.
“Maggots are the bait here. They do pull in silver fish, but I don’t mind catching these while waiting for the F1s to have a go. I take three pints of red and whites, plus a few fluoro pinkies as a change bait.”
Time it right
“Don’t fish short for at least two hours. You won’t catch F1s here for a while at short range, and I like to give my long pole or feeder line the chance to build up.
“If I am getting lots of bites on the long pole and the fish are of a decent size, this tells me that I can expect to get bites short a lot earlier.
“If the fishing is hard, it might not be as solid close in. I’d never write off the short line, because in the final hour the F1s can suddenly turn up.”
Feeding maggots
“Feed by hand. It takes just seconds and you can still fish long while doing it. I begin by feeding every four or five minutes with half-a-dozen maggots but I will increase this amount if there are a lot of silver fish present.
“Hookbait is double maggot (one red and one white) or a single red maggot and single fluoro pinkie.”
Fish past the feed
“I have 2ft 6ins of line between the pole tip and float, and this extra length allows me to flick the rig past the feed, should I be getting too many line bites or find myself foul-hooking fish by fishing over the feed.
“F1s are well known for their frustrating habit of hanging off the back of the feed, and although there may not be many there, you won’t be bothered by silly bites from these fish.”
