Commercial Fishing Tips | How to hit more bites from F1s - Reece Hearn

I catch a lot of F1s in the cooler weather just as the bait settles, and in clear water I think that the fish actually watch the bait fall, so how you present the hookbait will go a long way to deciding many you actually hook.

I try to bomb the rig down towards the bottom as normal but then stop the fall with about 12ins of the rig sticking out of the water to let the rig straighten up. 

I then slowly lower in the rest of the rig to give the bait a super-slow fall in the bottom foot of water.

I’ll also lift and drop the rig the same distance when fishing to keep the pellet falling in front of the fish. Try this and you’ll hit more bites!

F1s will watch the hookbait fall

F1s will watch the hookbait fall

Steve Ringer's 12 tips for the year ahead

Plot your way to the greatest year ever with Steve Ringer's month-by-month guide to his favourite tips and tactics.

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January - Come closer to the bank to catch

The closer you fish, the faster you catch. I call this my ‘5m’ line but I often find myself fishing at around 6m-7m, and will plumb up to find a spot just over the nearside slope and on to the flat, deeper water where F1s feed with confidence in clear water. The beauty of this line is that you feed it all day but don’t tend to fish it until the last 90 minutes of the match… when you can double your catch! 

The secret to making this line work, though, is the frequency of feeding. F1s are attracted into the swim by bait falling through the water, so kick off by feeding 4-6 maggots – you can up this to as many as 70-80 maggots later if there are loads of silverfish present! I feed by hand, which makes it a lot easier to keep the swim topped up when I’m fishing other lines.

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February - Feed Micros for winter skimmers

Feeding loose micro pellets into deep water can be the kiss of death when you’re fishing for F1s and carp, leading to lots of line bites and foul-hooked fish – but for skimmers it can be brilliant! This is a method I picked up while fishing a silver fish match at Hayfield Lakes. 

I’d been told that potting 2mm micro pellets worked well for the skimmers, but feeding loose micros into 10ft of water seemed like madness to me. Not catching much on my groundbait and pinkie approach, I decided to give it a go, and two feeds later I had a bite, then another and another. Within 20 minutes I was getting a bite every put-in. I can only think that the micros falling through the water were pulling fish into the swim. Since then this has been an approach I’ve used a lot.

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March - Early bream, it's all about worms

In cold, coloured water there is no better bait for pulling bream into a swim than worms! 

For a five-hour session I want to be using at least half-a-kilo of small dendrobaenas, and I will kick off by casting out six big cage feeders of my favourite 50/50 mix of Ringers Original Bag Up mix and Ringers Dark.

This is packed with as many very finely-chopped worms as possible, plus a sprinkling of micro pellets, casters and a few dead maggots.

This combination helps me introduce as much scent and attraction into the water as possible, in order to draw the fish to my hookbait.

This is usually two big pieces of hair-rigged worm – the perfect spring feed for bream!

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April - Fish deep on the waggler

In the warmer weather fish start to move around looking for food. This is where searching the layers of the water can pay off. My favourite way of doing this is to fish a deep pellet waggler or, even better, a sinking float.

These ‘floats’ have a removable stopper. Add small shots to fine tune them so they sink slowly through the water column. On the waggler I start with a 5ft hooklength but will come shallower if I get indications. 

The slow sinking float/bomb has a shorter 2ft 6inz hooklength. In an ideal world I will catch a few fish early on the waggler and then, if bites slow up, I will make the switch to the slow sinking bomb.

Bites are signified by watching the line where it enters the water or, when the carp are really on the feed, watching the rod-tip. 

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May - Go on the heavy hybrid

Once a Hybrid feeder hits the bottom it needs to be heavy enough not to move, otherwise the hookbait gets pulled away from the loose offerings. Feeder size determines the amount of bait you’re putting in and I use either Mini, Small or Large  in various weights. When fishing in open water on small lakes, or when I only want to feed a small amount, a Mini in 24g is perfect.

The Small version is a more general-sized feeder for year-round use and comes in 24g and 36g weights. I pick the heavier version for longer casts. A ‘Big Bertha’ Large version, in 28g and 45g weights, allows you to get a lot more feed out and it’s the 45g size that I love for venues such as Boddington, where 90m-plus casts can be required.

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June - Mug carp on the the mudline with meat

One of the most exciting tactics you can fish at this time of year is what I call ‘mud line’ fishing, where you fish across on snake lakes in literally inches of water, tight to the far-bank mud.

While it might not sound glamorous, it’s actually a very prolific approach and, if you get it right, quite often you can actually see the fish swirling in the shallow water as they take your bait.

It’s vital to find the right depth of water, and ideally you need 8ins-12ins tight against the bare bank in between areas of cover.

Baitwise there’s no better combo than 6mm meat cubes and wetted-down micros – the pellets give off loads of attraction, while the meat gives the fish a decent meal.

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July - Lighter elastics are best for shallow fishing

When trying to catch big summer weights while fishing shallow, one of the best tricks is to go against the grain and use lighter elastics. This allows you to feed when playing fish and line up the next carp to be caught.

I use White Hydro, which is very soft and extremely forgiving, and when fished on a puller kit I can pretty much land anything on it, everything from a 1lb skimmer to a 10lb carp.

Being initially soft, it has the benefit of allowing me to lift into a fish and then, while the elastic is doing the work, I can feed the swim until the fish slows down and I can start to ship back.

The softness of White Hydro means the fish don’t splash all over the surface, something that can cause other fish in the swim to spook. 

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August - Clean up with a window feeder

Window feeders take some beating when you need to get a lot of particles into the swim. They are a vital part of my bream fishing at this time of year, especially when fishing at distance.

The weight on a window feeder is situated at the base so they cast like bullets and can still be fished accurately even at long range.

I tend to use the bigger sizes – they allow me to really attack the swim as they carry a lot of loose offerings. 

There are lots of baits you can use in a window feeder, including casters, maggots and micros, but where I gain an edge in my bream fishing is to fill the feeder with chopped worms and give them a covering of groundbait to seal them in.

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September - Use groundbait down the edge

Over the last few years groundbait and dead maggots have taken over as the best margin feed, but you need to find the right depth for it to work – between 10ins and 18ins is perfect!

If you are faced with deep margins then you’re better off using heavier baits that will stay on the bottom, such as corn or even big hard pellets.

I prefer a heavy coarse mix, and my favourite is Dynamite Sweet Fishmeal in the 2kg bag. I always like to slightly over-wet it, as I want to give the mix some weight so it will stay on the bottom.

As for feeding, it’s a case of really attacking the swim, and I will kick off with between eight and 10 large, 250ml pots of bait to try and hold the fish in the swim for as long as possible.

October - Go mini on the method

There are some really annoying swims in fishing – ones where there’s a fishy-looking far bank or island too far away for the pole.

This is when Mini Method feeders around the size of a £1 coin really come into their own – not only do they create minimal disturbance when cast into shallow swims, but they deliver a small mouthful of feed that’s ideal in the cooler conditions.

I use 2mm pellets as feed and fish a 6mm wafter hookbait on a size 14 QM1 hook.

As for colour, I will vary it a lot but as a guide, if the water is clear, I will look to kick off on a light, bright colour such as yellow or even white.

If your lake is holding a bit of colour then I’ve found a fluoro pink or even a pellet-coloured wafter is better. 

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November - Try a double wafter on the bomb

This trick has caught me a lot of fish recently. Instead of using hard pellets like everyone else, I’ve been fishing double wafters, and have been mixing the colours to create unique hookbaits.

Two wafters just sink when they’re attached to a size 10 QM1 hook, which means when a carp goes to suck the hookbait in it becomes very hard for it to eject it again, as it literally flies up inside its mouth.

While I’ve caught a lot of carp on two pellet wafters I’ve actually found that the washed-out yellows are a better bet.

I think the reason for this is that once in the water, two washed-out yellows look just like two coarse pellets that have been on the bottom a while and are viewed as being safe to eat.

December - Dig out the bread and get dobbing!

If you want to search your swim for carp in the cold then there’s no better tactic then dobbing bread discs on the pole.

Rush beds, overhanging trees and far-bank stick-ups are all obvious areas that are likely to hold fish and, as long as there’s around 2ft to 4ft of depth, they’re perfect places to explore with dobbed bread.

Most of my bread fishing is done with either an 8mm or 10mm sized piece of punch.

I will start on an 8mm and switch to a 10mm piece if I can’t get bites – the bigger the bait, the easier it is to spot!

Because you’re not feeding you need to really work the hookbait by lifting and dropping the float around 6ins clear of the water and then slowly lowering it back in again.

This causes the hookbait to rise and fall in the water, a movement that fish at times find irresistible, and bites tend to come just as the float settles.

Catching F1's when the water cools with Des Shipp

Maggots or pellets for F1s in winter? It’s a question I’m often asked on my coaching days and it isn’t an easy one to answer.

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I’ve enjoyed some great results fishing and feeding maggots, even when there’s ice on the water.

However, maggots are no good if your swim is full of tiny roach, so then pellets will be my first choice.

Pellets are more selective and you wait a lot longer for a bite, but you’ll bypass the little fish and know that when the float buries, it’ll be an F1 or a decent skimmer. So what exactly is my approach with pellets?

New line for pellet

You’ll struggle to turn a maggot line into a pellet one – instead start a new line a few metres away and feed just pellets. This always seems to work better than trying to catch off one line that’s already full of tiny silver fish.

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Feeding

For both baits, I begin by introducing eight or nine dampened 4mm pellets every drop in a small pot. I also have a catapult to hand in case I want to begin firing in bait to make noise the F1s will come to investigate.

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Band on the hook

If the small silvers are feeding, a soft expander pellet will simply be ragged off the hook, so that means using a hard 4mm pellet hookbait.

I fish this in a small pellet band, slipping the hook through the band and then slotting the pellet into place. 

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Two rigs for one job

My favourite float is a 4x12 F1 Maggot, which is light enough to give the pellet a slow fall through the swim. 

I’m convinced that F1s and skimmers in winter sit a foot off bottom and watch it fall the final few feet before taking it. 

Line is 0.13mm Powerline to a hooklink of 0.10mm or 0.12mm, and a size 18 PR434 hook with Preston Innovations 9h original Hollo elastic. I set the rig to fish slightly overdepth, plumbing up so just the float body is above the surface, being sure to dot the float down well and lift at every dip.

Lowering it in

Slowly lower the rig in rather be in a rush to get the float cocked. I’ll lay the bottom half of the rig in, then lay the upper half of the rig complete with float in the opposite direction over the top.

The pellet sinks naturally, giving the fish time to pick it out and take it. A strung bulk is ideal for this, in the bottom third of the rig. 

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!

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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.”

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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.”

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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.”

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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.” 

Feeder tips to keep you catching in the cold

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The first frosts have arrived and the days are most certainly cold now.

This will have an effect on the fishing at even the most prolific of commercial carp waters and, in this instance, I bank on the bomb or a small feeder to get the best out of my peg.

This static approach allows me to set a trap and wait for the fish to come along, but it also lets me explore a lot of the peg in a way that the pole can’t. However, there are some things that you need to do in winter that are far removed from the way I’d fish the tip in summer. These may only be little tweaks but they really do make a difference in the cold!

Leave the bait in

In winter, it is important to think about how many carp you may realistically catch. For example, if this is only 10 fish in five hours then that means a fish every
half-an-hour. Because you won’t get a bite on every cast, there’s no need to go reeling in the bomb or feeder every few minutes. 

Lots of casts means more disturbance in the swim and the chance of spooking the fish. For that reason I’ll leave my rig in the water for up to 20 minutes at a time before winding in.

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Use light bombs

It’s important to fish as light as you can on the bomb. This is due to fish not liking the sound of a heavy weight hitting the water, especially on a calm day. Use a bomb that’s just light enough to cast to where the fish are. I normally find that three eighths of an ounce to half an ounce are about right for a short to medium-range chuck.

Watch that tip!

Using a bomb is one of the easiest ways of finding fish in the winter because the quivertip registers giveaways in the shape of line bites. I begin by fishing short and then creep out further and further into the lake until I start to get line bites. When this happens I then know that I’ve found the fish.

However, don’t strike at these ‘liners’ because you could end up foul-hooking fish, plus you’ll be bringing the rig in and casting out again, thus creating needless disturbance in the swim.

6 ways to catch in the cold

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1) Stand out from the crowd

When the first cold-snap hits, fish in commercials can suddenly switch off until the temperature stabilises. 

During this time, getting fish to feed can be tricky, but making your bait stand out is a big edge. Of course, too big a portion of food can be off-putting, so small, visible and potent is the key. 

A brilliant way to achieve this is to use crushed bright-coloured boilies in a PVA bag. Some ground-down yellow Pineapple Mainline Baits portions dampened with sweet Cell Sticky Syrup creates a strong-smelling, brightly coloured little area of attraction on the bottom, with your hookbait right next to it. Carp passing by won’t be able to resist such a vivid little trap.

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2) Pin it to the deck

A short fluorocarbon leader at the terminal end of your winter leger rig can make a big difference in cold and clear water when wise fish are the target. Fluorocarbon is almost invisible in water, and also very heavy, so it’s bound to lay hard on the bottom. 

When fish move over your rig, they won’t bump into the usual line protruding off the bottom and spook out of the swim. A leader of just three or four feet of 0.30mm fluorocarbon will do the trick perfectly. Simply loop-to-loop connect the leader to the mainline, with your chosen leger or feeder rig tied on the fluorocarbon as normal.

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3) Move to natural baits

After a summer of eating typical commercial baits, thinking outside the box in terms of hookbaits is another way to fool winter commercial fish. Presenting multiple maggots in a bait band when legering is a lethal little trick for big carp! 

This is a hookbait that big fish on commercials rarely see, and is often unusual enough to tempt them into picking it up.

You will also find that fish take natural baits confidently, so if you’re only getting a few pulls in a session you can be sure that a switch to a soft, natural bait will bring more positive bites. 

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4) Read the signs

Just because you’re legering doesn’t mean that you can’t read the swim properly. Slow-moving winter fish often give themselves away by causing line bites, which can be small, slow movements on the tip. 

These aren’t always like the big, steady liners you get in the summer, so it’s vital to have your rod correctly set with front and back rests so you can ‘read’ the tip positioned just off the water. 

If you find yourself sitting for long spells with no indications, it’s worth casting around to try and fish the fish.

If you’re getting liners but not proper bites, the shoal is likely to be closer to you, so dropping shorter may just catch you those extra fish.

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5) Use lighter bombs

In cold water, fish can be very spooky, so staying as quiet as possible on the bank and when casting will stop them spooking away from you. 

A lighter, smaller and more discreet bomb or feeder can make all the difference, cast and feathered into the swim as quietly as possible. 

A tiny 10g lead makes just a small ‘plop’ on entering the water. Smaller leads are also less visible on the bottom and won’t frighten the fish.

If you’re casting regularly to try and find the fish, think mini and light!

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6) take care with your feed…

Giving the fish the right amount of bait is essential. The difference between feeding 100 pellets and 50 pellets can make all the difference between a good and a bad day’s fishing. 

Finding the right amount of feed to place in a PVA bag, or the right size of Pellet Cone to use, is most important. 

If you were fishing the pole, you’d be happy to change between a large and a small pole pot, so why should it be different on rod and line? 

Measure out your feed amounts and, if you’re not getting bites, ring the changes to try and discover what the fish want on any given day.

How to catch fish on the mini method feeder

There are some really annoying swims in fishing. You know the ones – swims where there’s a really fishy-looking far bank or island that’s just too far away for pole fishing.

In some cases you can opt for a long line on the pole and flick the rig out into the right spot, but on windy days you can forget that as it’s a recipe for broken sections and tangles in the vegetation.

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For me it’s far better to fish a feeder and just recently I’ve been using some really tiny – £1 coin-sized – Mini Method feeders from Guru.

Crashing a big feeder into shallow water is definitely a big ‘no-no’ and so a mini feeder is perfect. Not only do you get to fish the right areas, but you can deliver a small mouthful of feed.

While it can be used for longer chucks, for me these mini feeders are at their best when fished at 17m-25m, and are perfect for those awkward casts which can’t be reached on the pole.

Provided you feather the rig during the cast any disturbance it creates is minimal, and you can also get your rod low and out of the wind.

To prove just how good this tactic is I headed out with Angling Times photographer Lloyd Rogers just as the tail-end of Hurricane Ophelia was raging across the country – not the time to be waving around 16m of carbon pole…

It’s got to be pellets!

While you can use groundbait or pellets on the mini Method, for me, it’s all about pellets.

Carp love pellets and, in my opinion, they are a much safer option than using groundbait as this can be a bit ‘Marmite’ to the fish on some days.

The type of pellets you use is down to personal preference but today on Meadowlands’ Warren Pool I’m using the 2mm fishery pellets, which are basically a good quality coarse pellet.

Just to give them a little boost and make them stand out from everyone else’s baits I like to give them a squirt of Ringers Chocolate Orange liquid.

Pellet prep depends on the type of pellets, but I like to cover the pellets with cold water for 45 seconds, then drain and leave to stand for at least 30 minutes when they should be ready to use.

Beware though, the pellets will dry out during your session so it’s important to keep adding water to them throughout the day to keep them at their best.

weight is important

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The feeders I use come in one mini size but in two weights – 20g and 30g – and the one I use depends on the situation I’m faced with.

Today it’s roughly a 21m cast tight to the bushes on the far bank and I’ve found there’s no real slope coming away from the bank, so for this reason I’ve opted for the 20g feeder as it will make less disturbance on the cast and still stay in place in the swim.

Had there been a big slope, however, I would have opted for the 30g feeder so that once it hit the bottom there was no danger of it moving. The feeders I use are elasticated and the elastic choice depends on fish size. While I always like to stick to the short, X-safe stems due to the feeder size, I will vary the elastic.

For example, if the average carp is 5lb-plus I’ll use the heavy black elastic but, if I’m targeting F1s and small carp, I opt for the white light elastic. 

Bearing in mind the size of fish on Warren Pool is 5lb-plus, my hooklength is 4ins of 0.17mm N-Gauge line and the hook is a size 14 QM1.

Wafters are winners

As far as hookbaits go it will come as no surprise that it’s all about using wafters.

Quite simply I just don’t think there is a better hookbait option, hence I now use them for nearly all my Method or Hybrid feeder work.

It’s really important when using wafters on the Mini Method that you drop down the size of the baits, and I’ve found 6mm wafters are the perfect match for the small feeder.

Of course, wafters are semi -buoyant and so a size 14 QM1 just sinks a 6mm wafter, leaving you with the ultimate in critically-balanced hookbaits to fool even the wariest of carp.

Regarding colour, if the water is clear then I will look to start off on a light, bright colour such as yellow or even white.

If your lake is holding a bit of colour, a fluoro pink or even a pellet-coloured wafter are better. 

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Where to cast

When faced with a swim like I am today which looks like a jungle, I always look for a slight cutback where I can get the feeder close in to the bank. 

The fish tend to like being under cover so the closer I can get to the bank the better. Instead of fishing on the front of the tree line, I’ve found a small gap that probably enables me to get a good 2m closer to the bank than would normally be the case.

In an ideal world, I like a swim with several of these cut-outs so if bites dry up in one I can then switch to the other. This isn’t always possible, but when it is I will always look at it.

Keep it slack

One of the most important parts of using the Method feeder is making sure that once it hits the bottom it doesn’t move.

When fishing at such short range I like to fish as slack a line as possible as this helps to minimise the chances of the feeder moving should a fish bump into the line.

Bites can still easily be seen because, invariably, a take is signalled by the rod tip heading for the water or, on occasion, a drop-back as the fish picks up the feeder and runs towards you.

Even with a slack tip, a drop-back is easily distinguished as the line falls back towards you from the point it hits the water. 

HOW TO LOAD THE MINI FEEDER 

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1) Start by adding a pinch of pellets to the base of the mould and then put the hookbait on top.

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2) Next, fill the mould with pellets covering the hookbait in the process. Once the mould is full, place the feeder on the top and apply firm pressure when pushing the feeder into the mould.

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3) Finally, to release the feeder you can either tap the base of the mould or squeeze the sides. All I then like to do is to give the pellets on the feeder a squeeze prior to casting so they stay on when it hits the water.

How to tie Steve Ringer's best feeder rig

In recent seasons I’ve had a complete re-think of my feeder rigs and I now swear by a running paternoster rig for all my natural water feeder fishing for roach, skimmers, and bream.

It’s a simple rig and, thanks to the home-made feeder link I tie, it’s completely tangle-free!

The anti-tangle properties mean it doesn’t snarl up on even the biggest casts.

This in itself gives me the confidence to leave my rig out in the water for longer periods – something which is crucial when it comes to feeder fishing at this time of year.

Paternoster rigs took a bit of a back seat in favour of short, bolt-style rigs for many years,
but they’re having a real resurgence right now as the passion for feeder fishing continues to grow and big matches return to our larger waters.

I’ve been using this rig for a couple of seasons now – including at the World Feeder Championships for England, and I’m yet to find any downside to it.

The rig casts well when used with the correct feeder, you can quickly and easily change feeders and hooklengths when you need to, and bite detection isn’t compromised either – so what’s not to like about it?

If you haven’t got on to my feeder link yet, here’s how to tie it… it’s not difficult.

To make the link you will need some 0.47mm Korda Mouth Trap – a stiff filament carp anglers use to make chod rigs – size 14 or 16 snaplink swivels, 0.6mm crimps and some wide-bore beads which you can find at most hobby stores these days.

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1) Cut a 4ins length of the Mouth Trap material and thread on a crimp, followed by a wide-bore bead. The bead needs to be wide enough to not only get the Mouth Trap through, but have enough bore diameter for your mainline or shockleader to run through too.

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2) Put the line back through the second hole in the crimp and pull everything tight. You will then have the bead sitting on top of the crimp. Ensure the bead is sitting straight and then use crimping pliers to fix the bead  into place.

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3) It’s then a case of repeating the process at the other end of the link, only this time you’re fixing in a snaplink swivel instead of a bead. The snaplink allows you to clip your feeder on and off the rig.

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4) The length of the finished link is down to personal choice, and I’ve used them from just over an inch to 4ins long. In my experience, though, 1.5ins is the perfect length.

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5) With the link ready to go, I then thread it on to the mainline or shockleader and add a small line stop or feeder bead below.

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6) To keep the hooklength away from the feeder I use an anti-tangle, twizzled loop at the end of my mainline. Simply take hold of the end of your line and roll it between your finger and thumb so it twists up.

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7) Tie a double overhand loop at the tag end of the twizzled loop. I like the twizzled end to be around 4ins long to keep the hooklength away from the feeder.

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8) The line stop and feeder link pull down to sit against the knot, and the hooklength attaches to the small loop at the end of the twizzled section. Job done!

Steve Ringer
Former Feeder World Champion

8 Tips to help you catch more fish

With winter just around the corner, many lakes and commercials are starting to undergo a transformation that can make the fishing a lot harder than usual however you can overcome these challenges by taking a look at these 8 great fishing tips from Steve Ringer.

1) Pick the right bait colour for water clarity

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Many anglers don’t realise how important this really is but I know it catches me more fish.

Right now the colour is dropping out of our stillwaters and when it comes to bait colours and water clarity in autumn and winter then I always tend to stick to the following rule – the clearer the water the brighter the bait you need to use.

If the water is clear then bright baits such as sweetcorn really come into their own for carp.

Equally, just adding a bit of colour to a relatively dull bait can make a big difference – when fishing for F1s in the cold I will always opt for a red and a white maggot as opposed to two reds.

I really believe that in the cold carp like to feed on sight provided the water clarity allows this, hence bright baits will always produce more bites.

If the water is coloured then scent comes more into equation so baits such as pellets both soft and hard really come to the fore.

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2) Keep it simple with hooks

A lot of anglers are confused when it comes to knowing which hooks to use and end up carrying far too many patterns.

I like to keep things nice and simple. For most of my fishing on UK stillwaters I stick to three main patterns…

  • Super LWG – a strong, light, wide-gape hook and without doubt the most versatile pattern in my box. If I include the eyed version there really isn’t a bait I can’t fish with a super LWG. From maggots to hard pellets, this hook covers it all. Strength wise it’s also more than capable of dealing with carp as well as being a good silver fish hook when bagging. 
  • QM1 – I use these when fishing the feeder or bomb and hair-rigging my baits. Due to the unique shape, once a fish is hooked it rarely comes off.  A top hook for rod and line work. 
  • F1 Pellet – this is a fine-wire, ultra-sharp, strong hook that’s ideal for pole work in the winter with baits such as corn, pellets and maggots.
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3) Altering shotting patterns will get you more bites

Regular readers of this column will know that I’m massive fan of a strung-out bulk of shot on my pole rigs, as shown on the left.

It’s such a versatile set-up. Take F1 fishing as an example. When fishing maggots or even pinkies I always like a slow falling hookbait so I will fish a loosely-strung bulk with the bottom shot set 5ins from the hook and the rest of the droppers spaced at 1.5ins intervals above this.

When fishing with pellets however, I’ve found you need a more positive approach to get the bait down quicker and so will adapt my strung bulk so it’s tighter together. The bottom shot is still 5ins from the hook, only this time the rest of the droppers will be spaced at just 0.5ins intervals.

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4) Where you position your pole pot is crucial…

Small things can make all the difference and one of the biggest mistakes I see a lot of anglers make when pole potting is an incorrect pot position.

Their pole pot is positioned 6-8ins back from the tip of the pole which means every time they feed they are short of their float. Your pole pot should always be as close to the tip of the pole as possible. When targeting F1s in particular this can make a huge difference to your catch rate.

Guru pole pots HERE 

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5) Go longer later

If you watch me fishing you might not spot that I don’t always fish in exactly the same spot throughout my match, but it’s something I do that I believe makes a big difference.

A little trick I use a lot when feeder fishing is to fish past my feed area in the last hour of my match, once bites have died off.

What tends to happen is that due to the disturbance of the feeder going in and fish getting caught a few fish will sit off the back of the feed picking up any loose offerings that land there.

These fish can then be picked off in that crucial last hour just by taking the clip off and going one to two metres further.

It’s amazing how often this approach works and I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve gone an hour without an indication only to add a couple of metres and get two fish in two casts. Had I not made this change I have no doubt I wouldn’t have caught these fish.

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6) Get a stopwatch!

When feeder or bomb fishing in the cold one bit of kit I simply wouldn’t be without is a stopwatch as I always time both my casts and bites as this makes my fishing a lot more efficient and effective.

I might start off with 10-minute casts and then if I don’t get any bites in that time I will lengthen this to 20 minutes.

Once I start to get bites though, every time the tip goes round I will make a note of how long the feeder or bomb has been in the water.

Normally, once I’ve had three or four bites I’ll start to see a pattern emerge, and I might find all my bites are coming between 11 and 12 minutes for instance.

I can then start to use this to my advantage as in if this is the bite time there is no point leaving the feeder/bomb out for any longer than this.

So to sum up, using a stopwatch just makes me that little bit more efficient at my peg which in turn I believe leads to more fish in my net!

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7) why it’s so important to use back shots

Perhaps one of the best bits of advice I have ever been given was from Alan Scotthorne regarding the use of back shot.

Instead of using a single shot just above the float as most anglers would, Alan was using a string of small shot above the float, normally No9s. Presentation was so much better, even in a crosswind.

A string of back shot makes you stay tight on the float which means you hit more bites – simple as that!

I like to have the first shot three to four inches above the float and then the rest of the back shots at 3ins intervals above this. If it’s really windy I will put the shots closer together.

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8) how you feed from a pot is crucial

Once the water gets cold and clear I believe that bait falling through it attracts fish, even when fed in very small amounts.

It’s important to choose the right lid when pole potting and I prefer one that allows me to sprinkle bait into the swim on a regular basis.

When feeding maggots I might use the medium Guru pole pot and three-quarters fill it with maggots. It allows me to feed six or seven times over the top of the float without having to waste time shipping back in to refill the pot every time.

15 tips to keep the carp feeding with Steve Ringer

I love this time of year on the stillwaters, as the fish really get their heads down for a feed.

Carp in commercials aren’t stupid, and they can become cagey as the summer wears on, but now they know they’ve got to get some grub inside them before winter arrives – and that means big weights if you get your tactics right.

I believe that a lot of anglers fish too negatively too soon, cutting back on bait and feeding, and they can suffer the consequences at the weigh-in.

As you’ll know, I’m a big fan of fishing positively and right now that mentality can really pay off.

Heavy feeding – at the right time – the use of big baits and managing your swim properly come into their own on many of the waters I fish and have helped me to some of my biggest-ever catches at this time of year.

Some of them have come from fishing not much further out than the end of my keepnet! 

Here are a few of the tricks I use for success in autumn…

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1) Find the hotspots 

Plumbing up is crucial right now, as you need to find the natural hotspots in your swim where fish hold up in numbers – it’s not just visible features above the water that hold fish.

Many anglers have a preconceived idea of how to fish a peg and only plumb areas they intend to fish, rather than the whole swim. They then miss out on a potential fish-holding area, as they have no idea it’s there!

I always spend a good five minutes plumbing around so I have an accurate picture of what’s in front of me.

It might sound like something small that everyone does, but do it properly and it can make a massive difference.

2) Go a foot past the slope 

Instead of fishing right at the bottom of the near shelf, go out 1ft further on the flat bottom below the slope.

Fish right at the bottom of the slope and you’ll get fish there and on the flat, which can mean line bites. Where the bottom has properly flattened out is often referred to as the ‘5m line’, but it can be further out.

3) Fish to the side 

Fish the 5m line at an angle – either at 10 o’clock or two o’clock, imagining the swim as a clock face.

Which way I fish depends on wind and tow. I always like to try and fish so my float is moving away from me, rather than back underneath the pole tip, as this helps with good rig and bait presentation.

If there’s no tow then I will look to fish to the side where I think the fish are likely to come from. For instance, if I draw peg 9 and the fish are in pegs 6 and 7 then I will fish towards the lower numbers. 

The big advantage to fishing at an angle as opposed to straight in front of you is that when you hook a fish you don’t end up playing it right on top of where you are feeding.

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4) Give them some meat

Meat is an awesome bait at this time of year, possibly because the fish are bored of seeing pellets by now. I always have two or three tins of cubed meat on my bait tray.

A 6mm cube catches all sizes of carp but is big enough to avoid the attentions of silvers. To get a real edge with meat I feed it with crunchy casters, which hold carp in the swim for longer periods. On commercials I feed a 250ml pot of two-thirds caster and one-third meat to kick off.

I then loosefeed meat over the top. If bites fall away I get the big pot out again and feed some more hemp

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5) Keep it wet 

Keeping meat damp on the bank stops it drying out and potentially floating, as well as helping to soften it –and carp love a soft bait!

To keep it damp all I like to do is cover it with water and then drain the water off after five minutes. 

This ensures the meat will be wet but not soaking, and I then cover my bait box of meat with a wet towel to stop the air getting to it.

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6) Go longer in the margins 

When you are looking to catch carp in the edge you need to think about fishing long as opposed to short.

The reason for this is, carp tend to be more confident the further down the bank you fish, which is down to the lack of noise and disturbance. 

For this reason I will quite often fish a full 16m down the edge if my swim allows it. 

If you have a good edge swim, as in one with cover or depth, it can be well worth looking there early on just to see if there are any resident fish you can pick off. I prefer to have my first look without feeding. Then, if no bites are forthcoming, I’ll feed a small amount of bait to try and pull a fish or two into the area.

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7) Feed particles in the edge 

The margins are still a great area to target at the moment – you just need to change your approach slightly.

Rather than dumping loads of groundbait in the edge I find it better to feed dead maggots and wetted-down 2mm pellets.

These make a great combo – the pellets attract the carp and then, once they arrive, they feed on the dead maggots.

8) Try liquid corn 

Just because it’s that bit colder doesn’t mean that on snake lakes you can’t catch in the shallow water.

The key is to put a cloud in the water, and nothing beats liquidised corn. Fed through a Kinder pot, it explodes on the surface and forms a cloud in the water. Carp will then move into the cloud to feed.

When fishing in this manner I like to put four or five grains of corn in a small pot then cap it off with the liquidised corn.

The fish are then attracted by the cloud, but once there they will feed on the solid offerings on the bottom.

Hookbait for this tactic can either be a single grain of corn or, better still, a corn skin, which is light and will flutter enticingly in the cloud.

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9) Use back shots 

Good presentation is vital when pole fishing, so it never ceases to amaze me how many anglers still don’t fish with back shots.

Back shots are something I now always fish with – normally this involves a string of three or four No9 shot between pole float and pole-tip.

The first shot is positioned 2ins-3ins above the float and the rest are then spaced at 3ins intervals above this.

These back shot not only help in terms of presentation but they also make me stay tight on the float which, in turn, means I miss fewer bites.

10) Work your rig 

Two ways to induce a bite are to lift and drag your rig.

Lifting and lowering the riginvolves lifting the float 8ins-12ins clear of the water and then slowly lowering it back in again. 

This has the effect of making the bait rise and fall, and bites tend to come just as the float resettles.

The second way is to slowly pull the hookbait along the bottom. This bit of movement catches the carp’s eye and bites tend to be very positive as the carp suck in the meat hookbait on the move, virtually hooking themselves as they do so.

The key to making this work is not to pull the float too quickly – its bristle should only just rise above normal level when you are dragging it.

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11) Try pinging pellets 

Even in the autumn, noise can still be a great way of attracting carp into your peg and there is no better way than pinging in hard pellets little-and-often on the pole.

As a rule I will use hard 6mm pellets and feed 3-5 pellets every 90 seconds to try and pull fish into the swim.

I will keep pinging until I get an indication then, once I do I, will stop pinging and keep lifting and dropping the rig until I catch the culprit! The secret to this type of fishing is not to feed too much – if you do, line bites and foul-hookers can become a nightmare!

12) Create a slower falling rig 

As the water gets that little bit clearer, light floats really come into their own when pole fishing as they give a slower fall of the hookbait. This, I believe at this time of the year, produces more bites as the fish follow the hookbait down before taking it. 

I’m talking about using a 4x10 float in 6ft-7ft of water. Shotting is a lightly strung bulk of No11s with the bottom shot 6ins from the hook and the rest spaced at 1.5ins intervals above this.

13) Make sure you land every fish 

Every carp must count, and using White Hydro I can land carp from 2lb to mid-doubles on properly balanced tackle.

Fish it with a puller kit, as this way you can hook a fish, steer it out of the swim and then, once the fish is in close, use the puller to quickly gain control. Yes, it might take slightly longer to land a big fish but surely as long as it ends up in the landing net it’s worth the wait.

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14) Go bigger with hookbaits 

Meat is the ‘in’ bait but it’s still well worth putting a bit of thought into your hookbait choice.

I always like to kick off on a single 6mm cube – after all I’m feeding 6mm cubes so it makes sense to fish the same on the hook. I will chop and change depending on bites, and if I find if the fishing is hardtwo cubes tend to produce more bites than one or even half a cube.

I can only think it’s because a bigger bait stands out more so the carp home in on it that bit faster!

The same goes for corn, where two grains can outfish a single grain.

15) If all else fails

The ‘late line’ is a swim I don’t always fish unless I need to get out of jail, and even then I’ll only fish it for the last 30 minutes of a match.

As the light fades, the carp will move closer to the near bank to feed. One area they seem to like is right in front of my keepnets. During the match bits of bait get dropped in front of the nets and the carp move in for a free feed. 

Therefore, if I’m struggling with 30 minutes to go I will always set up a top kit and short four line to try and take advantage of this. It’s something I have been doing for a few years, and more often than not it’s worth a bonus fish or two – often big fish too. 

I feed just enough bait to catch a carp, so 8-10 grains of corn and a pinch of pellets is ample. 

The trap has been set, so all I do now is sit and wait – normally I don’t have to wait long!

Top five ways to improve your pellets when fishing

Looking for a way to boost your pellets? well we've got five tips for you that will help you enhance your pellet mix for when you are next out on the bank. 

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Try a wafter

Pellets are quite a light bait, but in sizes over 10mm try using a wafter hookbait instead. Not only are these very tough, but their added buoyancy definitely improves hookholds by counterbalancing the weight of the hook.

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Use pellet mash

Fill open-end feeders with a mix of pellets and pellet-based groundbait. Soften the pellets in water for a few minutes, drain and leave them for a few hours until they have softened, and use a little groundbait to bind them into a stodgy mix.

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Get on the Method

A big Method feeder loaded with sticky pellets is a useful alternative to the blockend feeder, as it keeps the feed more concentrated, particularly when the river of your choice is flowing faster than normal.

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dropper or spod

In deep or wide rivers, loosefeeding by hand or with a catapult can be impossible. In these circumstances reach for a bait dropper to combat a fast flow or deep water. On wide rivers use a spod to deposit pellets along a line mid-river.

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Boost the attraction

Add a small amount of liquid attractor to pellets the day before fishing and they will soak up the additive, giving the pellets an extra boost of flavour. Try hemp oil, L-Zero 30 or any quality bait dip to obtain the best results. 

Steve Ringer's autumn margin fishing masterclass

Now's the time of year I love on commercials – it’s margin time! The fish are well aware that colder weather is on its way, and September is when they really start to get their heads down and try to pack on a bit of weight.

This makes margin fishing, with its heavy feeding regime, one of the best tactics for a big catch right now.

Q. When should I try fishing the margins?

Steve says: I won’t feed down the edge until at least three hours into a session because there’s no point until the carp are starting to move closer to the bank looking for food.

If you feed any earlier, small silver fish will eat everything and the initial impact of feeding the swim will be lost. What you have to remember about edge fishing is that when the carp arrive you can catch very quickly, so a big weight will still be possible even in the last hour.

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Q. What depth do I need to have to be able to fish down the edge?

Steve says: Ideally I like to have between 10ins and 18ins of water down the edge. If the water is shallower than 10ins, big carp can be very spooky and difficult to catch, even though you can see them!

Equally, if it’s too deep, it can be tricky to keep the fish on the bottom and line bites then become a problem.

When plumbing up, try to find a relatively flat area to both feed and fish on. What you don’t really want is a spot where the bottom is all over the place, as it makes it hard to settle the fish if this is the case.

You also need to be fishing as tight to the bank as possible to stop fish swimming the wrong side of the float, as this can lead to line bites and foul-hookers.

Q. Do I need a particular type of float?

Steve says: The best margin floats are not only tough, but have a decent bristle, and will take a bit of shot.

A 0.2g or 0.3g MW Margin Diamond is perfect, even when fishing in just inches of water. 

The Margin Diamond has a big, thick bristle which allows me to read what’s happening in the swim a lot easier, especially in helping me tell the difference between liners and proper bites. For this reason I like to leave a good half-inch of bristle showing when edge fishing.

Q. What rig do you use? Do you fish straight through or use hooklengths?

Steve says: I fish heavy for big fish... 0.22mm N-Gauge mainline to a 4ins hooklength of 0.19mm and a size 14 Guru XS spade-end hook.

Hooklengths make my rigs more adaptable and save loads of time, should I need to change the hook size or pattern on the bank.

Shotting is a strung bulk of No10s with the bottom shot 6ins from the hook and the rest spaced at one-inch intervals above this. 

I don’t like the bottom shot too close to the hook, as I find when big fish are in the swim it can lead to line bites and fish spooking.

Q. Which elastic is best?

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Steve says: Nine times out of 10 it’s Red Hydro, on lakes where the carp average 8lb-plus.

Red is powerful enough to quickly steer the carp out of the swim once hooked, but at the same time it’s still soft enough to absorb that first run.

On waters with smaller fish I will use White Hydro on a puller kit, giving me that all-important softness on the strike but then the ability to get fish in by using the puller.

Q. How much bait do I need to feed, and how do I feed it?

Steve says: Really attack the swim. I kick off by feeding between eight and 10 large, 250ml pots of bait.

There are two reasons – first, to try and hold the fish in the swim for as long as possible and second, to give the impression to any fish in the area that I’m packing up and have thrown all my leftover bait in.

Q. What bait should I put on the hook?

Steve says: Big hookbaits! You need to give the carp something they can really home in on among all the loose offerings.

My favourites are bunches of 8-10 maggots, or even double corn if small nuisance silver fish are still a problem.

Always have the same bait on the hook that you are feeding. Edge carp can be clever, and it makes no sense to feed one bait and fish another!

Q. Should I feed again after catching a fish?

Steve says: I always try to ‘fish out’ my initial feed first. Once this is done there are several ways you go about feeding the swim and it’s simply a case of working out which one is right on the day.

You can try putting a big pot in and catching a fish and then feeding another big pot – alternatively you can repeat the big hit of bait and try and catch several fish off that. There are no golden rules, so experimentation is the key!

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Q. Do you still use groundbait as feed?

Steve says: Groundbait is brilliant in shallow water, but if the swim is too deep, even a heavy overwetted mix can prove to be a recipe for disaster.

The problem with groundbait in deep water is that once there are carp in the swim it gets wafted about all over the place. In deep water this leads to carp feeding off the bottom.

In deep margins you are better off looking at heavier baits such as sweetcorn or big hard pellets that will stay on the bottom.

With the right depth, though, there’s no better edge combination than groundbait and dead maggots.

My favourite mix is Dynamite Baits Sweet Fishmeal, slightly over-wetted so it will stay put on the bottom. 

Q. How do I stop fish from spooking?

Steve says: Quite often you will look down the edge to see tails everywhere, only to quickly ship your rig out and discover they have all vanished.

You ship back in and then they are back again. It’s so frustrating, and the reason they do it is that they have been spooked by the shadow of the pole over their heads. To try and prevent this I hide my pole by keeping it over the bank rather than over the water. A longer-than-normal length of line between pole float and pole-tip can help too. 

Q. How long should I give it?

Steve says: You need to be patient. Provided you know there are carp in the swim, just sit and wait. ‘Chasing’ will only spook them out of the swim and lead to foul-hookers.

The only moving of the float I like to do is to occasionally lift and lower it, just to make sure the rig is sitting straight. Lifting and lowering can also help a feeding fish spot the hookbait.

By Steve Ringer

How to get big weights in fishing matches

With many match fishing venues currently producing massive weights, we thought that we'd team up with top match angler Andy Power to bring to you some top tips on how to produce some of these big weights for yourself. Check out these top match fishing tips below and let us know how you get on next time you are on the bank! 

Big weights are coming in thick and fast 

Big weights are coming in thick and fast 

1) Don’t get carried away and fish tackle that’s too heavy. You’ll get more bites and land more carp with balanced mainlines, hooklinks and elastics.

2) Don’t just think about the fish you’ve got on the hook – feed where you’ve been fishing while you’re playing a carp.

3) Cover all your options. Don’t just fish in one place, as bites can often dry up. Have at least three lines of attack.

4) When it comes to feeding, little-and-often is best. Don’t just keep piling the bait in.

5) Line bites can be an issue when fishing the margins. Plumb around to find the right depth – 2ft is just about perfect.

6) Feed a meat line at the bottom of the near shelf for bonus fish late on. This has worked for me so many times.

7) If there’s one bait that I’d take for a session on a commercial it would have to be pellets. They are the number one by far.

8) Don’t just check the weather for sun, rain and wind. Pressure can be vital – when it’s high fish will feed up in the water, whereas when it’s low they’ll be down on the deck.

Pellet waggler tips

There are some situations when you can get away with simply casting in and waiting for a bite, but fishing the pellet waggler certainly isn’t one of these to get the best out of this tactic you will have yo follow these simple pellet waggler tips. Tommy Pickering reveals the four-step routine he follows to keep fish coming thick and fast when using this deadly approach.

1) Place the rod on the rests and catapult out 12 pellets to your target zone. Use 6mm pellets when you are after a mixture of carp and F1s, stepping up to 8mm pellets when carp are the main species.

2) Put down the catty and immediately cast directly over where you have fed. The best type of float when fishing at a range of less than 35m is a Preston Dura Wag carrying between 3g and 5g.

3) Once the float has landed, do not move it an inch. The fish will come and investigate the noise created by the float entering the water, so moving it even slightly will take it away from the area towards which the fish are heading.

4) Expect to get a bite within 10 seconds. If you don’t, repeat the feed/cast sequence. The hookbait looks at its most natural as it is falling through the water, but once it has stopped in midwater you are highly unlikely to get a bite.

How to fish shallow with Steve Ringer

Want to have an edge on commercials? then follow these great fishing tips from top match angler Steve Ringer as he guides us through the steps he takes when fishing shallow. 

Get on a Jigga rig

A Jigga float is a dibber-style float with a tube running through it. It runs freely up and down the mainline, resting only on a float stop set 4ins from the hook.

As you lower the rig in, the float stays on the surface and the hookbait falls through the water as you lower the pole-tip down.

The depth at which you fish is controlled by how high or low you have the pole-tip from the water. This way you are covering a lot more levels in the water, and if a fish sucks the hookbait in it simply hooks itself against the top of the pole, due to the tight line between pole-tip and hookbait. 

The float never moves and the first you will know of a bite is when the fish hooks itself and elastic streams from the top of the pole – there’s no striking and missing bites.

Try banded casters

Hair-rigged casters are deadly for catching F1s shallow, but how do you hair-rig a caster without crushing it? 

The trick is to use a bait band, and it’s a case of pushing the caster inside the band so it grips the bait and holds it in place.

You’ll find that the bait is tougher than you think when set up this way, and quite often I can catch five or six fish without having to change the hookbait.

As the caster falls side-on through the water at the same pace as the loose offerings, it appears more natural, and this can make a big difference with F1s.

Choose the right floats

I choose between two rigs for shallow fishing. In swims 12ins deep or less I will use an MW Cookie, a short dibber-style pattern which is ideal for fishing extremely shallow.

If I want to fish a bit deeper, from 12ins to 2ft, my float choice will be a 0.1g KC Carpa Ape. The wire stem and nylon bristle of this pattern offer more stability, making this float more suitable for fishing that little bit deeper.

Be positive with shotting 

When fishing at 12ins or less I don’t have any shot down the line so I get a slow fall of the hookbait. However, from time to time missed bites can be a problem and then I will fish a little bulk of four No 11s set 4ins from the hook to make the rig a lot more positive.

From 18ins-2ft I fish with six No 11s down the line. These are strung out, with the bottom shot 4ins from the hook and the rest spaced above at 1ins intervals.

fish Short hooklengths

For most of my shallow fishing I’m targeting carp in the 3lb-8lb bracket, so my mainline is 0.17mm Guru N-Gauge to a 4ins hooklength of 0.15mm.

When fishing shallow I always like to use a short hooklength. This allows me to make the rig more positive, should the need arise, by putting a shot near the hook without having to put it on the hooklength itself.

Check out what the perfect hooklength is here

hair-rig your baits

I use an eyed hook for shallow fishing so I can present the bait on a hair with the use of a band. The hookbait falls naturally through the water and the whole hook is free, so nothing hinders a decent hookhold.

My hook choice depends on the bait I’m fishing but, for example, if I’m fishing hard pellets I will use either a size 16 or 18 eyed LWG. If it’s solid with fish and I’m bagging I’ll use a size 16.

Make a noise

Making a noise when fishing shallow draws fish into your swim. Tapping your pole-tip on the surface mimics the sound of bait hitting the water, and when fish arrive, the only bait there is your hookbait. Bites will be positive.

Slapping your rig in is another deadly trick, and I will do this three or four times to create maxium surface noise. Not all fisheries allow slapping, however, so check with yours before you go ahead and give it a go.

long line for wary carp 

A little trick I use a lot when fishing shallow is to set up a long line rig which I can use for flicking past my feed. There are two advantages to this – first, I can use it to pick off any wary fish that are sitting at the back of my feed.

This is something that happens a lot as a session progresses and a few fish have been caught. The rest can quickly become cagey and back away from both the pole waving about above them and the loosefeed itself.

All you need is a relatively short float which takes plenty of weight –something like a 4x14 – and I will have up to 5ft of line between the pole float and pole-tip.

This allows me to cover a much bigger area than would be the case with a standard short line rig.

Use a softer elastic

For me there’s only one elastic for shallow fishing, and that’s White Hydro. 

It’s very soft and extremely forgiving, and when fishing it with a puller kit I can land pretty much anything on it, from a 1lb skimmer to a 10lb carp.

Being initially soft, White Hydro has the benefit of allowing me to lift into a fish and then, while the elastic is doing the work, I can still feed the swim until the fish slows down and I can start to ship back.

Another advantage is that if I’m catching big skimmers or even F1s the softness of White Hydro means they don’t splash all over the surface, something that can spook the other fish in the swim.

try feeding casters

All species love casters, and they make a brilliant fish-attracting noise as they hit the surface of the water. 

The only real downside to fishing casters shallow is the quantity required, as you need at least four pints to do it properly – you will have to feed off any small fish first in order to bring the carp into the swim.

Once the carp arrive, though, there is no better bait for holding them than casters.

big baits bring more bites

There’s nothing more frustrating than being able to see carp in the edge and then not be able to catch them. This is where big ‘target baits’ such as 10-12 dead red maggots really come into their own.

If you think about it, there are going to be lots of maggots on the bottom so if I fish just two or three on the hook it’s going to take a while for a carp to find them. Fish a bunch, however, and bites can be instant!

Hard pellets – keep feeding!

When not a lot is happening I try to draw a few fish into the swim by making a noise with hard pellets. I ping in three or four 6mm or 8mm pellets on top of the float every 20 seconds.

Carp will home in on the noise, but I’m not putting lots of bait on the bottom and risking killing the swim by feeding too much.

Blow up your pellets

A few years back, while I was packing up, I noticed a few hard pellets had fallen under my seatbox and had taken on so much water they were almost twice the size and looked as though they’d been on the bottom for a while. 

I decided to pump some hard 8mm pellets and leave them in water so that they ‘blew up’ into massive, soft pellets and it was staggering how many bites I got on them – try it!

red meat

I love fishing meat, and nine times out of 10 I like to use it straight out of the tin –but when the water is coloured you need to switch to red cubes instead.

These cubes offer a strong silhouette and give the carp a bait they can really home in on.

I use Ringers Red Liquid to dye my cubes, but I will only dye my hookbait meat and not the cubes I’m using for feeding the swim.

Dumping in hemp

One way to prevent the foul-hooking of carp when fishing meat close in is to feed heavily with hemp. At the start I will pot in two-thirds of a large 250ml Drennan pot of hemp alone to form a bed. 

Then, if I start to catch a few fish and begin to foul-hook the odd one, I will simply introduce another big pot of hemp to settle them back down again.

Pack in the particles

The secret to building a big weight of bream is to use as many particles – such as casters, pellets, and chopped worms – as you can cram into your groundbait.

Pile in the particles in the first hour then, when the bream turn up (which is ideally about 90 minutes into my session), I’ll have a lot more bait on the bottom than those around me and can hold the bream in the swim for much longer as a result. 

heavy feed close in

While most people use the margins as a ‘get out of jail card’ late in a match, I like to fish short on a top kit.

I lash in up to three handfuls of hemp, corn and meat to create the impression of someone packing up, then go straight in over the top. Quite often I will get a quick response. Keep lashing the bait in to try and make something happen and draw the fish in.

two are better than one

Sweetcorn is a fantastic hookbait, and I always find that two grains are better than one.

Loads of times I have caught on corn and alternated between single and double on the hook, only to find that two grains consistently produced quicker bites and bigger fish.

I think this is because the bigger bait stands out over the loose offerings and that two grains are treated with less suspicion than one.

Stand out or blend in?

There are two types of baits you can use on the Method feeder – blend in and stand out.

Blend in baits are those such as hard pellets that match the pellets on the feeder. When the fishing is hard and the fish are picky they can be fooled into thinking it’s a safe meal.

If there are loads of fish in the swim then stand out baits such as mini fluoro boilies or bread really come into their own. 

These work because they are highly visible and give carp something they can home in on.

Double cut your meat

A great trick for shallow water is to make a cloudy chopped meat mix. I pass around a third of my 6mm meat cubes back through the cutter, giving myself a feed made up of all different sized pieces of meat which, when fed, almost explode on the water’s surface.

Add a few 6mm cubes to your feed and once the fish arrive they will follow the 6mm cubes down to the bottom, where you can catch them.

Top 10 pellet waggler tips

If you look out over your chosen venue and a series of swirls appear out of pole fishing range, it’s time to pick up the pellet waggler.

Warming waters and more hours of sunshine are leading to large numbers of carp basking on the surface and this month we reveal the top 10 tips to making the most of the deadly approach that is capable of outscoring everything else this month!

1. Light Mainline

The pellet waggler is a great tactic for catching carp well into double figures, but heavy mainline plays no part in this method. Fishing heavy mainline will make casting more difficult and 4lb Maxima is more than strong enough to beat even the biggest fish in your chosen water. Set your clutch so that fish can strip line when they make a sudden surge and you’ll never suffer a mainline breakage.

2. Loaded Floats

You can expect to catch fish in the top couple of feet of water now that the water has warmed up, but your hookbait needs to look natural if the carp are going to intercept it as it falls. Use a loaded pellet waggler that is locked in place by float stops so that you don’t have to put any shot on the line, enabling the hookbait to drop through the layers at a very slow pace. If your loaded float doesn’t quite sit as you want it, wrap a little solder wire around the base to address the balance.

3. Don't Feed Past Your Float

Spraying in bait with a catapult at regular intervals is vital if you want to get the carp competing, but where the loosefeed enters the water is important. Make sure all of your pellets land just short of the float. If they go beyond it, you will push the fish out and be forced to cast further to get back in touch with the shoal.

4. Feed Dry Pellets

Dampening your pellets is one of the first things that a lot of anglers do, however, they are much more effective used straight from the bag. Dry and untreated pellets will sink at a much slower rate which is important when you are trying to catch shallow.

5. Use a soft rod

Hook a fish just a couple of feet deep and it will instantly charge off, testing your tackle from the very first second of the battle. In order to prevent hook-pulls, a soft-tipped rod is crucial. An 11ft version is ample for fishing commercials where you don’t need to cast any further than 30-40 yards.

6. Find The Depth

If you are fishing a water that is 8ft deep, the fish could be sat anywhere in the column. A good starting depth at this time of year is 2ft, but this should be adjusted by a foot every 10 minutes until you start getting bites. If you begin to miss bites, shallow up as the fish are sat above your hookbait.

7. Bait Bands

There are two ways in which you can use a bait band – both directly on the hook or on a hair rig. Hooking the bait bands means that it is tight to the hook itself but make sure that the point is fully visible or you will lose fish. A hair rig is best when fish are slightly cagey and you are just trying to catch a few carp as opposed to 100lb.

8. Get Into A Routine

A pellet waggler is at its most effective seconds after it has landed because it is the splash that attracts the fish into the swim. If the float doesn’t shoot under within 15 seconds, twitch it by turning the reel once and wait another 15 seconds. If you don’t get a reaction, reel in and repeat the process.

9. Wide Gape Hooks

Narrow gaped hooks tend to lead to a lot of bumped fish when using the pellet waggler and a wide gape version will lead to a much better return because the point will penentrate the mouth much easier. A size 14 or 16 Guru Pellet Waggler or Preston Innovations PR36 will complement your rig perfectly.

10. Quick Changes

If conditions change you may need to make rig changes and certain adaptors will enable you to do that in seconds without tackling down. A Preston Innovations Waggler Adaptor will enable you to change the float quickly, while a Cralusso Match Quick Swivel will make changing hooklengths a simple process.

Tommy Pickering's 10-second rule

The vast majority of anglers who fish the pole have a small pot attached to the end of their top kit. They feed a small amount after every fish, as they should, but not always in the correct manner. This week I reveal my 10-second rule that will help you feed and get bites within seconds of your hookbait touching the bottom.

Ship the pole out and line it up with a far-bank marker. This will ensure that you fish to the same point every time and keep the feeding tight.

Once you have shipped out to the right distance, turn the pole cup over and drop the loosefeed into the water. At this point it doesn’t matter how or where the rig is sat. It’s getting that feed in quickly that matters.

With the loosefeed in the water, lift your rig so that it is directly over where you have just fed. Hold the whole pole float out of the water for 10 seconds. The hookbait then falls through the water with the loosefeed, making it harder for the fish to suss out which pellet has a hook in it.

Once you have counted to 10, gently lower the rest of the float into the water. Fish should swarm around your feed in an instant, and because the fall of your hookbait has looked extremely natural, it won’t be long before it is slurped up and the elastic starts to stream out.