Feeder Fishing Tips | Why you need to hair-rig worms - Adam Wakelin
Hair-rigging makes the worms sit better on the hook and stops them folding over the hook on the strike, so there are a few good reasons to do it, especially at this time of year.
I fish a hair rig with a bait stop and thread on the worms with a baiting needle - it’s dead easy to master if you practise.
What size worm to use is the next decision. One or two whole dendras are great for big bream but, as things are going cooler, I scale back to two halves or sections of worm.
Hair-rigging worms stops them folding over on the strike
Feeder Fishing Tips | 5 tips for bream on the feeder
Milder weather means one thing – bream! There’s no better way to catch them than on the feeder!
Vary the feed
Once you start fishing, try to judge how many fish are in the peg by the bites or indications you’re getting. If that’s not very many, it may be worth cutting back on the number of freebies going in through the feeder. There’s no point piling in more and more bait when there aren’t many fish there in the first place.
Let the fish tell you how much to feed
Big hits of bait
Making several quick casts at the start of the match will get some bait into the peg, but don’t bother doing it with the feeder you’re going to be fishing with – these are too small and will take too long. Instead, invest in a baiting-up feeder with a much bigger capacity. Between six and eight loads of bait are ample, using groundbait and a scattering of casters, dead maggots and pinkies, finely-chopped worm and a few bits of corn.
Baiting up feeders are a good way to kick off the swim
Watch the clock
Top bream anglers will always have a stopwatch by their side to time how long each cast is left out in the water. This is to try and work out when a bite is likely to come – if, for instance, you are getting most of your bites within 10 minutes, there’s little point in leaving the feeder out for longer than this.
Time how long you leave the feeder in
Redworms are autumn kings
Worms will still work their magic at this time of year, but on tricky venues it’s worth sourcing some redworms for the hook. These tiny worms are loved by bream, especially skimmers, despite their smaller size. Two or three fished on the hook make a brilliant bait, tipped off with a dead red maggot.
Redworms are a deadly bream bait
Add some colour
In clearing water, certain colours of bait and feed work really well for bream, with yellow the best of them all. Corn or a small yellow wafter or boilie catch loads of fish and you can also pep up your groundbait by adding Pastoncino. These small pieces of biscuit come in bright yellows and reds and just a handful stirred into mixed groundbait puts lots of little flecks through the feed for the fish to pick out when feeding.
Adding some colour can really boost results
Commercial Fishing Tips | Carp on the bomb with Darren Cox
The bomb is often seen as a winter method, when fishing a single hookbait with no feed is needed, but it works well at this time of year too, as Andy Bennett showed recently by winning Fish O’Mania using it.
Carp of all sizes can be caught on the bomb
It’s a good tactic when there are a lot of fish feeding over a lot of bait, because if you use a large stand-out hookbait you can catch them quicker. Two bright, hard pellets or a grain of corn are brilliant, because they are easy for the fish to find in among the loosefed pellets that you’ve been catapulting over the top.
I’ll also have a bomb set up if I am fishing the pellet waggler, as some fish will remain on the bottom, having followed the loosefed pellets down. A few chucks on the bomb can nick a few extra fish if the waggler goes a bit quiet.
Go easy on the feeding. You don’t want five or six carp hunting about when there’s 300 pellets on the bottom, as this will make them harder to catch. The idea is to give them just enough to be feeding on, almost trying to starve them into taking your hookbait.
The bomb rig
Rig components
Mainline - 8lb Shimano Technium with a 5ins twizzled loop above hooklength
Hooklength -10ins -14 ins of 0.20mm Garbolino Super Soft attached to feeder bead
Bomb - 0.5oz Guru Square clipped to a feeder link which runs on the twizzled section of mainline
Hook & bait - Size 12 or 14 Guru QM1 with a grain of corn or two hard pellets.
River Fishing Tips | Six tips to make river fishing easy with Lee Kerry
Tackling flowing water is one of the most exciting challenges in fishing.
The way that fish behave in moving water is totally different to how they behave in still water. On a river, they will generally sit in line with the flow and compete for food, and there are a number of ways that you can go about trying to catch them from this line.
Choose your species
When a river is low and the water clear, target smaller fish like roach, dace and perch. If the river is carrying extra water and colour, skimmers, bream and barbel can all switch on.
Have feeder options
Use an open-end feeder with SonuBaits Black River groundbait if the river is coloured. Alternatively, to kick off a peg, use a blockend with hemp, maggots or casters.
Use sturdy tackle
I use an Extremity 520 reel paired with a 12ft 6ins Supera rod – a great balance for many fast-flowing rivers using feeders to 2oz. Mainline is 6lb Sinking Feeder Mono.
Balance the rig
Fish with a bow in the line and the rod pointing downstream towards it. Balance the weight of the feeder with the flow, so as a fish picks up the bait, the bite shows as a drop-back.
Cast regularly
Early in the session, I’ll cast every minute to get a steady stream of bait in the swim and attract the fish. Later, I’ll lengthen the gap between casts to around three minutes.
Don’t go too short
Long hooklengths are best as the bait will sit downstream of the feeder and be the first thing the fish finds as it moves up to the feed. A size 16 to 0.15mm mono is a good all-round choice.
Commercial Fishing Tips | Margin Feeder Fishing With Steve Ringer
Perhaps one of the most underrated tactics on commercial fisheries is fishing the feeder in the margins.
In fact, when you think about it, it’s amazing that it isn’t used more because the approach has several big advantages compared to fishing the pole.
Firstly, you don’t have the carbon waving about over the fish’s heads, which can spook them in shallow water. Secondly there is very little chance of foul-hooking fish because by fishing the feeder in the edge, the carp hook themselves – which eliminates striking at line bites, too.
The other bonus to the tactic is that you aren’t restricted on the distance you can fish at either, because even if you have a really long margin you can fish it easily with a feeder!
One of the most underrated tactics on commercial fisheries is fishing the feeder in the margins.
Where to fish
There are a few features to look for that always hold fish. The most obvious one is an empty platform. I prefer to fish to the side of them because the water will be shallow, meaning I’ll have less trouble with line bites.
Empty platforms are great spots to fish to
Feeder size
A large 28g Guru Hybrid is ideal. I like to fish with a slack line from rod to feeder, so there’s less chance of fish spooking. Don’t worry about not seeing a bite – you can’t miss them when a fish takes the bait!
You a large feeder, you won’t miss any bites!
Bait choice
This is decided by the depth of water. If the margin is over 2ft deep, I’ll use micros with a hard pellet or wafter hookbait. If the swim is just 12ins deep, I’ll use groundbait with dead red maggots on the hook.
Let the depth dictate your feed choice
Casting times
If you see fish moving about, be patient and let them find the bait – around six or seven minutes between casts is about right. If there’s no signs of action, wind in and fish somewhere else until the carp turn up.
Search them out
River Fishing Tips | Running or fixed feeder for chub? - Hadrian Whittle
My rig actually works on both principles – it’s a hybrid of a running and fixed set-up. The feeder slides on the line and is stopped above a short length of twisted line via a float stop or bead.
The black-cap feeder rig
Above the feeder is another stop that can be slid up and down to increase or decrease the gap between the stops and, thus, how far the feeder can move.
By leaving just an inch gap and having the feeder balanced to just hold bottom, anything taking the bait moves the feeder, which then hits the stop and helps to hook the fish.
There are days when lengthening this gap works, others when shortening it right up catches more.
A cracking river chub
Match Fishing Tips | 5 tips to win big with bream
Stillwater fishing for bream has changed a good deal since the days of squatts, swingtips and target boards. Here are some top tips to help you put a big net of slabs together…
Vary your hooklengths
This can vary throughout a match, but the agreed starting point for many anglers is between 50cm and 75cm. You will rarely need to go longer than this, unless the fish are showing signs of feeding well off bottom. Shortening the hooklength can pay off if you are missing bites, because putting the hookbait nearer the feeder can result in a more positive indication on the tip.
Shortening your hooklength can really pay off
Twitch the bait
Sit on your hands and wait for the tip to go round. That’s the rule from the old school bream fishing handbook, but today things are a little different. By moving the hookbait slightly, you can tempt a bream into taking the bait, but will also be pulling the bait closer to the area your feeder has dropped its goodies. Half a turn of the reel handle is usually enough movement.
Moving the bait can pick up extra bites
Use braid
Swapping from mono line to braid on your reel will bring many advantages. Being thinner in diameter, braid casts a lot further and adds accuracy. Also, when a fish takes the bait, the bite is magnified tenfold as a very positive pull on the quivertip. Using a length of shockleader makes casting completely safe – just remember not to strike hard when you get a bite. Simply pick the rod up and pull into the fish.
Braid is the best line for bite indication
Cast accurately
There’s no point in getting your rig and feed right, only to undo that hard work with haphazard casting. Accuracy is king here and using the line clip on the reel and working with a marker on the horizon as an aiming point will help no end. Having a big enough feeder to hit the mark each time is advisable. If you do make a bad cast, wind in and cast again. Leaving out a feeder that’s miles away from the feed area is a waste of time.
Accuracy is key in all fishing
Go for fishmeal
Even on natural lakes, fishmeal is having a big impact. That’s not to say that you need to go down the 100 per cent fish route, as this might be a bit too strong. Instead, balance out a classic sweet groundbait with a helping of fishmeal or, better still, go for a sweet fishmeal blend that’s already mixed. Adding a few dampened micro pellets to the mix along with the usual casters, dead maggots and chopped worm will further increase the pulling power of your groundbait.
Bream love fishmeal groundbait
Commercial Fishing Tips - How close should you fish to islands? - Tommy Pickering
How close you should fish to islands all depends on the fish.
Islands are a great holding feature for fish, but you don’t always have to fish tight to them
F1s like around 18ins of water and I normally catch them by casting just short of the island.
Carp prefer 12ins of depth and can be attacked by chucking tight. Late in the day the carp may well end up almost hugging the island, moving into the really shallow water.
To find this depth, cast out with a bomb and try to get a feel of things. You won’t have a count, as the water is too shallow, but if it’s a foot deep, the lead should hit bottom immediately. If it’s a bit deeper, it’ll take a fraction longer to settle.
Carp prefer 12ins of depth near islands
Feeder Fishing Tips - Knowing the depth on the bomb or feeder - Mick Vials
A rule of thumb states that a 1oz leger bomb will sink around 2ft 6ins for every second you count, so a count of eight means that point you’ve cast to is around 20ft deep. The trick is to start short at, say, 30 yards, then work your way out by a few yards at a time.This way, you will soon work out the contours of the lake and identify where it is shallower, where it deepens off and where there are any ledges or plateaux.
I believe it’s not so important to find the depth, more to find how the bottom of the lake varies and where the fish will be.
To get a count, I clip up on my reel, cast the bomb to the clip then, with the quivertip still bent, begin counting as soon as the bomb hits the water. When the tip springs back slack the bomb has hit bottom and you can stop the count.
A rule of thumb states that a 1oz leger bomb will sink around 2ft 6ins for every second you count
River Fishing Tips | Feeder fishing for river bream with Ed Warren
With the exception of barbel, no species appreciates coloured water more than bream.
That murky brown tinge is perfect for the fish to feed, and although the pole and, at times, the waggler can catch bream, nothing beats the feeder.
It puts your bait close to the feed and keeps everything still on the bottom, something bream demand. In a wind the feeder is a whole lot easier to fish than the long pole, and all in all it’s a very simple way of fishing, with easy-to-tie rigs and bites that are a doddle to spot.
Pick the distance
Traditionally, bream favour the deepest water possible, but that’s not always the case. I’d have a few quid on them living towards the far bank, well out of the way. Water 4ft-plus deep is a good spot to base your attack around.
Find this depth by casting a leger bomb around the swim and counting how long it takes to hit bottom. A count of three or four is about right. This searching of the swim will also highlight any snags in the area. You need to be fishing on a clean riverbed, so bear this in mind.
Easy rig
For river bream, a simple rig is best. The feeder slides on the mainline, stopped by a couple of float stops and a bead, below which I twist around 6ins of line to create a stiff boom to eliminate rig tangles.
That leaves the hooklink, and how long it should be. I’d start at 1m and be happy with this, never making it longer and only shortening it if I were catching fish that had taken the bait well down. Going to a 50cm link will show bites up quicker and mean every bream is hooked in the lip.
All about feed
Chopped worm and caster is packed into a feeder capped off at each end with groundbait. The mix is 50:50 sweet and fishmeal, that pongy fish smell putting scent into the water to help the bream find the bait.
I make five quick casts to get some bait in, then rely on each cast to keep the swim on the simmer. Casts are five minutes apart. Bream won’t be eating a lot at this time of year so there’s no need to pile in the bait.
Fish direct
Some river anglers like to create a long bow in the line and rely on the quivertip dropping back to show a bite. I prefer to have a tight line from rod-tip to feeder to show every small indication from a fish taking the bait.
The Avon is fairly slow-flowing so the pressure on the line from the flow won’t move the feeder. This is why there’s no need to have a bow on the go.
Commercial Fishing Tips | Running or inline bomb? - Phil Ringer
More and more anglers fish a bomb running freely on the line. This is much safer because if the line breaks, a hooked fish can pull free of the bomb.
However, an elasticated set-up has advantages, these being that the elastic acts as a shock absorber when playing a fish under the rod tip.
It also makes the rig self-hooking as a carp taking the bait pulls against the elastic. However, many fisheries don’t allow elasticated bombs or feeders so make sure to check the rules first!
River Fishing Tips | Tame the Severn on float and feeder with Kelvin Tallett
We are all guilty of falling into lazy habits with our fishing, simply setting up one rod and waiting for a bite – but when targeting winter chub and barbel on the river this isn’t always the right way to go.
It’s very rare that you can lob out a feeder and catch steadily all day, as you can in summer, but by alternating between the feeder and the float you can stay one step ahead of the fish, and catch a lot more in the process.
I discovered this during a recent session on the River Severn at Arley, Worcestershire, where regularly changing my tactics resulted in a cracking bag.
Meaty Maggots
The only bait I took with me was a gallon of bronze maggots, with a few reds mixed in. I know that these are great for winter chub and barbel – the key to success would be to discover the right tactic for the day in question.
I’m a big fan of boosting my maggot hookbaits, and one of my favourite additives is Bait-Tech’s Sizzling Spicy Sausage glug. After riddling the maggots off, I’ll add a decent spoonful of flavouring to every few pints of grubs, before tying them up and leaving them in a bag overnight.
This gives the flavouring time to soak into the bait, but the biggest advantage, I find, of doing this is that it makes the maggots wriggle more in the cold, which in turn makes them more enticing to the fish. Although not everyone is convinced by glugs and additives, in my experience they really do work, so I would recommend giving them a go.
Starting on the Stick
I arrived at the river to find it running a foot above normal level with a decent colour. Combined with mild and overcast weather, I was hopeful of a few bites.
I sat in a typical Severn swim – long and open, with 500 yards of river visible downstream.
A hundred yards down the peg the riverbed shallowed slightly, and it’s an area where I knew the fish love to sit in summer. In the colder months, though, they move into the deeper water, which is where I would be focusing my attack today.
Setting up a stick float, a Bolo float and a maggot feeder, I started on the stick just to get a feel for things, feeding two half-pouches of maggots every run down.
You may be wondering why I didn’t just feed one big pouch, but feeding smaller amounts more regularly keeps a steady stream of bait flowing through the peg. This really gets the fish competing.
After an hour’s fishing I hadn’t received a bite, which was slightly unusual, but I wasn’t too worried – I simply reached for the feeder rod instead.
Feeder Success
Five quick casts put a bit of bait down in a specific area of the swim, and 20 minutes later the tip bounced round and I was into a hard-fighting fish.
A good barbel was netted shortly after that, and over the next half-hour I put two more barbel in the net, the bigger of which was a clonking fish close to 10lb.
Following this burst of activity, the swim went through a 30-minute lull and I suspected that the fish had dropped downstream.
I responded to this change by picking up my rod with a Bolo float attached. With this set-up I was able to follow the shoal as it moved gradually further down the peg.
Bolo Bagging
After feeding a few more pouches of bait I swung the Bolo out, and shortly after that the float tip plunged beneath the surface.
Another barbel was the culprit, and over the final hour it was followed by one more of its mates, as well as a bonus chub.
Eventually the fish backed off further and further downstream and it became increasingly difficult to keep in touch, so we decided to call it a day.
Had I not set up the Bolo rig the action would have come to a much swifter conclusion, and I would have gone home having caught just a few early fish on the feeder.
Pulling out the keepnet, I reckon I had around 30lb, all taken in just over three hours’ fishing. I’m sure that without the choice of tactics, my final tally would have been around half that weight, whereas by switching between the float and feeder I was able to stay in touch with the shoal.
There’s no doubt that you will still catch by just setting up a single rod, but next time you go out on the river make the effort to give yourself a few options – it could just result in a session you won’t forget in a hurry!
Kelvin’s Tackle
Rods: 13ft Daiwa RS Power Waggler, 12ft/13ft Daiwa RS Power Feeder
Reels: Daiwa TDR 3012
Line: DH Angling Pro Float 6lb, DH Angling Pro Feeder 8lb
Hooks: Drennan Wide Gape size 12
Floats: DH number 2 Heavy Base stick 8x4, DH number 2 Bolo 4g
Feeder: 60g Nisa Block End
Commercial Fishing Tips | Hybrid feeder tips with Steve Ringer
There are actually five sizes of Hybrid feeder, and the ones I use the most are Mini, Medium and Large.
Mini Hybrid
This is my winter feeder for venues like Barston, where I’m casting about trying to find a group of fish – ‘dobbing with a feeder’ I call it. I can cast a 30g Hybrid a long way with very little splash on impact, and I’m convinced this makes a big difference when the water is cold and clear. I also carry the Mini Hybrid in 18g and 24g versions for shorter-range work.
Medium Hybrid
This is for ‘standard’ work in both 32g and 42g. The 42g version is used for long-range work, as when launched it really will go the distance because it’s relatively small and compact.
Large Hybrid
These get the most use, and I carry them in 28g, 45g and 60g. The 28g Large is my favourite summer feeder when I want to feed a bit of bait on venues like Barston and Larford. It’s heavy enough to get the distance, but not so heavy that it will sink into any soft silt that might be present. The 45g Large is my feeder for Boddington, where even in winter a big feeder produces more bites. I can only assume the carp find it easier to home in on a larger amount of bait, even in the cold.
The 45g of weight is needed to get the distance, as 100m casts aren’t unusual on there in the cold.
I also carry the 60g Large Hybrid for punching into a big wind with a 14ft rod.
How to load a hybrid feeder
Load the body of the Hybrid feeder with your mix – pellets, groundbait or a combination of the two.
Compress the feed with your finger. The tighter it’s packed, the slower it will break down.
Place your hookbait – here a pink wafter – in the centre of the feed already in the Hybrid.
Add more feed to make an aerodynamic load and you’re all ready to cast.
Baits for the Hybrid
Over the years the Hybrid feeder has become synonymous with pellets – anglers don’t realise it can be used with both pellets and groundbait, or even a mix of the two. I regularly use a Hybrid with groundbait when fishing for bream or skimmers.
FOR MORE GREAT TIPS FROM STEVE, PICK UP THE MAGAZINE OUT EVERY TUESDAY.
River fishing tips | Fish the feeder for floodwater bream with Kelvin Tallet
Hopefully by the time you read this, the floods in your area will have subsided or at least begun to.
I live in the West Midlands, and I’m lucky in that there is a wide variety of rivers to fish. Except in the most extreme conditions, I can usually find somewhere to go. And as someone who loves running water more than anything else, I will go out of my way to find fishable areas.
Even when there is extra water in a river, as long as it can be accessed and fished safely, there will be fish to be caught.
Deep areas, the inside of bends, lock cuttings and backwaters will all produce fish, and it’s amazing what species will turn up in places you least expect. You’ll even catch out in the main flow, although fishing here can be challenging!
Warm flood
Of all the fish in our rivers, two species seem to positively thrive in what I would describe as a ‘warm flood’. This is where the river has been high and coloured for a few days, debris has been washed away, and levels have settled or maybe started to fall.
In these conditions, barbel and bream make good targets and it was bream I decided to fish for during a trip to the Warwickshire Avon near Stratford recently.
The famous Lido stretch of the river here offers numerous swims which vary tremendously according to the state of the river. Some that are hardly worth fishing in normal levels can suddenly produce when there’s extra water in the river, and for today’s session I visited one of these in the hope of catching some bream.
I’m sure there are swims on your local river that become similarly transformed in a flood. The fish you catch may not be huge, but the feeling of satisfaction can be immense when your quivertip goes round or drops back and you feel that tell-tale ‘thud’ of something worth catching on the other end.
Plenty of feed
Today’s session was always going to be feeder job with bream the target. My plan was to introduce a decent bed of bait at a nice comfortable cast towards the main flow, but not right in it.
I began with six big feederfuls of groundbait to which I’d added plenty of chopped worms and red maggots. Once the feeder had hit bottom I ‘struck’ to release the feed, and once I was happy I set my rig up. This incorporated a feeder with 1oz of lead attached – not a heavy weight but enough to hold bottom in the moderate flow. Had the flow had been stronger, a heavier feeder would be required.
The rig
Slide a Korum Feedabead on to the mainline.
Clip your chosen feeder on to the Feedabead.
Tie a quick-change bead on to the end of the mainline.
Attach a 2ft hooklength to the quick-change bead. The hooklength had a 9ins loop at the top, knotted at 3ins intervals to make three smaller loops acting as a boom.
Finally, fix a small shot 4ins above the hooklink to create a mini bolt rig
The session
It was a beautiful early winter’s day and I really fancied it for a few fish, but instead of the hoped-for bream, my first fish after 20 minutes was a small perch.
Not the ideal start, but I needn’t have worried because on the next cast the tip jagged round again and this time it was decent skimmer bream, which looked a picture in the sunlight. Another soon followed, again on worm tipped with a dead maggot on a strong size 16 hook, before bites stopped.
I wondered whether this might be because the fish were feeding well and they wanted more bait, so I added two more baiting feeders, this time with more worms added. This worked a treat as three more skimmers followed in the next half-hour.
Again, bites ceased, so two more big feeders of bait went in and the skimmers returned, along with a couple of roach and another perch. So it continued, and I ended the day with eight skimmers, two roach and two perch – an extremely pleasing result at a time when many anglers wouldn’t have gone anywhere near their local river!
CLUB INFORMATION
Kelvin was fishing the Lido stretch of the Warwickshire Avon near Stratford. Visit www.leamingtonangling.co.uk for details
Bag up on silverfish and bream by visiting your local reservoir!
The UK is home to dozens of giant reservoirs where you will struggle to see the far bank due to the sheer size of the venue.
While there is no doubt that the prospect of fishing such a huge expanse of water is daunting, the sheer numbers of fish they often hold means they are well worth your attention. But just how do you go about locating the shoals in a fishery of that size and then persuading them to feed? England star and Preston Innovations-backed angler Lee Kerry has all the answers…
Target species
“If you are looking to get away from carp and F1s then a big reservoir could be right up your street. Roach, bream and skimmers often feature heavily on waters like this, and they can be anything from small hand-sized fish to lumps that would easily smash your personal best!
“Look in Angling Times to check match results and see which species is dominating, or speak to local anglers and tackle shops to help gauge the situation.”
Tactics
“The biggest shoals are likely to be well away from the bank, so a feeder approach is often best on big reservoirs. If it’s bream you are looking to catch, a simple groundbait feeder will often outscore anything else.
“Some anglers might think that for bream you need to put in a lot of bait immediately, but this isn’t the case. I prefer to build a feeder line up gradually, casting every few minutes with a small or medium-sized feeder. There’s no need to use light tackle because a lot of the fish won’t have been caught before.
“I’ll often have a 2ft-long hooklength of 0.13mm Preston Innovations Powerline and a size 16 hook. Thick lines are stiffer and lead to fewer tangles.”
Bait
“A dark groundbait is always best for bream and skimmers, as I believe they spook a lot more readily over a light bed of feed.
“My favourite mix is Sonubaits F1 Dark, as it has a strong sweet smell and is packed with fishmeal that skimmers can’t get enough of. I will also add some finely chopped worms and a few casters to the mix to keep the fish grubbing around. “It’s a matter of trial and error when it comes to hookbait – maggots, pinkies or even a worm can all have their day.”
Search the swim
“If bites don’t come quickly, it can be tempting to pile a lot more bait in to gain a response, but it is often better to explore your peg a little. Casting just 10 yards further could put you in deeper water, and that is where the fish could be held up. It may take a short while to find the shoals but if you’re on pegs that have form, you’ll never be far away from a hungry shoal.”
How to catch a net of bream
March and April are historically the months when bream and tench really begin to feed in earnest.
The pages of Angling Times are filled with massive single fish or big nets of smaller specimens, and already bream have begun to figure heavily in readers’ catches. Every day that passes means longer daylight hours, combined with the clocks going forward at the weekend, and that means more sunshine and warmer water temperatures.
Combine this with preparations for spawning and it’s no wonder that early-spring is seen as a bit of a bonanza for catching bream. The feeder remains king of them all for catching a net of bream on natural waters, so if you’re a bit rusty when it comes to fishing the tip, here are six essential bits of advice to help you get stuck into a shoal of slimy slabs!
Step 1) Choose the right feeder!
Gone are the days of using a standard open-end feeder for bream if you want to cast a long way. A small open-end or cage is fine for a 30-yard chuck, but if you need to cast further then look to invest in some of the modern rocket or distance feeders (below) on the market.
These are wire cage feeder swith the weight built into one end. They cast smoothly in the wind and will fly a long way. What size you pick depends on how far you need to go, and the conditions, but don’t force the cast – it should be a comfortable one to ensure accuracy.
Step 2) Go the distance
The water will still be a little clear and that means the chances of catching bream at shorter ranges are slim. You need a decent cast of upwards of 50yds to find the fish.
In open water this should put you in a decent depth but it’s worth counting how long it takes the feeder to hit bottom so you can work out how deep the swim is. As a guide, every second that it takes to get down equates to around a foot of water if using a standard 30g feeder. Around 6ft should be the minimum depth you’re looking for.
Step 3) Try using braid
The water will still be a little clear and that means the chances of catching bream at shorter ranges are slim. You need a decent cast of upwards of 50yds to find the fish.
In open water this should put you in a decent depth but it’s worth counting how long it takes the feeder to hit bottom so you can work out how deep the swim is. As a guide, every second that it takes to get down equates to around a foot of water if using a standard 30g feeder. Around 6ft should be the minimum depth you’re looking for.
Step 4) Pick the right groundbait
Whether you use a fishmeal mix or a sweet one will depend on the venue you are fishing, as some waters respond to fish while on others it can be a turn off.
If you are unsure, go down the classic route with a sweet mix combined with brown crumb. On waters where fishmeal works, a 50/50 blend of fishmeal and sweet will do the job. Mix this on the damp side so it stays in the feeder on the cast, but riddle it off to ensure no large lumps are left when it’s time to fish. It is also worth including some dark groundbait somewhere along the line in clearish water.
Step 5) Give them lots of goodies
Although we’re not yet at the time of year when loading a feeder with chopped worm and caster will work, you still have to make sure that some freebies are included in the groundbait mix in order to keep the bream feeding actively. Chopped worm and caster remains number one, but remember to chop the worm quite finely to release as much scent into the water as you can.
Micro pellets are another good addition on waters that see a lot of pellets used. If this isn’t the case, then dead maggots are a good substitute and a few grains of corn won’t do any harm. For the hook, two or three dead maggots will let you feel your way in, but worm will always pick out the bigger bream.
Step 6) Patience pays
You rarely catch bream immediately even in the height of summer, so this is definitely the case in March and April, when the fish aren’t fully in the feeding groove.
It’s reckoned that no bites in the opening hour of a session is a good thing, as this will allow you to build up a feed area without spooking any fish by catching them too early. However, if you get two hours into the day and haven’t caught it’s time to rethink the plan.
Casting further can work, as can the odd cast closer to you. A great trick is to chop some worms into a mush and pile these into the swim, relying on the scent cloud to attract a few bream into the area.
How to get early season feeder success!
With the rivers closed, it’s now time to start looking at commercial waters to get your fishing fix – and there’s no better way to keep the bites coming than by fishing the feeder.
Whichever model you use, the swimfeeder is simple to fish with relatively easy rigs, and deadly accurate in terms of placing your hookbait right next to a small pile of feed at up to 60 yards range.
It’s a little early in the year to bank on catching consistently on the pole or waggler, and you can even use the same rod and reel that’s served you so well on the rivers in the past few months. Here are six things to master if you’re planning a session on the swimfeeder over the coming weeks…
1) Choose the right feeder
This is the first consideration when deciding to fish the feeder. A feeder is ideal for when the fish want a bit of bait to get stuck into, but don’t go too mad by picking a big feeder that holds a lot of pellets right now.
Minimal feed will still be best, so that means picking a smallish feeder that’ll drop just a good pinch of bait into the peg on every cast. Method or pellet feeders are both good but the Hybrid feeder from Guru has won over lots of anglers in recent years.
If the water is cold and clear, try changing from feeder to bomb from time to time. The bomb will offer minimal disturbance in the peg while giving you the option to fish a large, highly visible hookbait around minimal feed.
2) Find where the fish are
Depending on the swim, you’ll be faced with several options as to where to fish. The swim could have an island, a far bank, overhanging trees or lily pads that are just beginning to establish themselves again after winter.
All will attract and hold fish, so if your swim has any feature, cast to it. However, don’t be tempted into casting tight up to this feature, as often the water there will be very shallow.
Instead, aim to land the feeder a metre or so away, where the water will be a little deeper. In open water, make the cast to a range that you can comfortably reach and, if that is your plan, where you can feed over the top with a catapult.
3) Use bright baits
Changing hookbaits can be the key to cracking a commercial in early March, as the water will still be a little on the clear side and the fish not yet in full-on feeding mode.
Tried and tested favourites such as hard pellets and dead maggots work brilliantly for smaller fish but colour plays a big part, giving the fish a hookbait that they can easily pick out from a small patch of pellets or groundbait.
Corn is brilliant, but if you want to go down the boilie route a bright yellow, green or pink mini pop-up, dumbell or wafter-type bait can really trigger a response.
4) Feed over the top
You don’t always have to rely on the feed that’s going into the swim via the feeder to keep the fish happy. Loosefeeding pellets over the top of where you’re casting to can pay dividends too.
This is a popular ploy when bomb fishing too, introducing half-a-dozen 6mm or 8mm hard pellets over the top via a catapult every few minutes. This way you can regulate how much feed is going into the peg and work out how the fish are responding to it.
5) Use light hooks and lines
Although spring is just about here, that doesn’t mean that you should switch back to heavy lines and big hooks on a mixed fishery. Erring on the light side will get more bites over five or six hours of fishing, but a balance needs to be struck – go too light and you may get broken by a big fish, whereas too heavy and the fishing will be patchy.
For a typical mixed commercial water when F1s, skimmers and the odd better carp are likely, a hooklink of around 0.12mm matched to 5lb mainline and a size 16 or 18 barbless carp-style hook makes for a balanced set-up. Only if the peg is snaggy or the fish particularly big should you think about stepping up to heavier tackle.
6) Time your casts
With any form of feeder fishing, a big puzzle to solve is how long to leave the feeder out before recasting. On natural waters for bream, or when in search of big carp, this can be up to half-an-hour, but if you are fishing a heavily-stocked commercial water that’s home to small carp, F1s, skimmers, tench and barbel, you can reasonably expect to get bites fairly regularly. You should be aiming to build a swim up over time to create a small area for the fish to feed over.
Casting every five minutes will quickly establish feed on the deck, and if you are using small baits such as maggots and 4mm pellets you should catch within this five-minute window. Only if you change to a bigger bait in search of something that pulls back harder should you leave the rig out that bit longer.
