Specimen Fishing Tips | The rig for roach on coloured rivers - Phil Taylor
The float is unbeatable for river roach, but only in the right conditions. The rapid pace of the water after a deluge of rain often rules this out. The beauty of the float is its sensitivity for shy-biting species like roach. A feeder is a little too clumsy for my tastes.
The answer lies in the old-fashioned link-leger, the resistance of which the fish will struggle to detect when picking the bait up.
I clip several SSG shot on to a length of line that is tied to the mainline, using just enough shot to hold bottom. The link itself is around 6ins long. This means that when a fish picks up the bait the shot will remain on the deck and the first bit of resistance it will feel is the rod tip. By that point I’ll have seen the bite, struck and hooked the fish.
Try a link-leger for roach when floodwater makes a float too difficult to control
Specimen Fishing Tips | The best knot for tying braid to fluoro - Alfie Naylor
I reckon the best knot for attaching fluorocarbon is the Albright knot. It’s a knot I’ve always had 100 per cent confidence in, and I’ve never lost a fish using it. I’d say that I use it for 90 per cent of my fishing.
It’s great for lure fishing but you’ll struggle to find a better knot to tie combi-links when carp or barbel fishing too. It can be a bit fiddly to tie at first but once you’ve practised it a few times you’ll be able to do it with your eyes closed!
There are plenty of instructional YouTube videos out there that show you how to tie it, too, but meantime here’s a diagram to be going on with.
How to tie the Albright knot
Make a loop in the braid and run about 10ins of fluorocarbon through the loop. Hold the three ends of line/braid between your thumb and index finger. Wrap the fluorocarbon back over itself and both strands of the loop.
Make 10 tightly-wrapped turns. Feed the tag end of fluorocarbon back through the loop and exit the loop the same side as it entered
Hold both ends of the braid and slide the wraps to the end of the loop. Pull the fluorocarbon to tighten and clip tag end close to the knot.
Specimen Fishing Tips | The best big roach rig - Ryan Hayden
The most popular and effective type of bolt rig for roach has to be a helicopter set-up.
It is 99 per cent tangle-free and when used in conjunction with short 2ins or 3ins hooklink, it is a very effective self-hooking rig.
The helicopter rig - 60g blockend feeder and a short 2-inch hooklink
I like to use a relatively heavy bobbin to ensure that the line between the rod tip and the feeder is kept fairly taut to increase the self-hooking properties of the rig even further.
Use a heavy bobbin to increase the self-hooking properties of the rig
When fishing like this for big roach, bites will often be proper drop-backs (a fish picking the bait up and swimming towards you), or line will be taken. Either way, ensure that the freespool mechanism on the reel is set loose enough not to pull the hook on the take.
I use 1.25lb test curve Avon-style rods, with small freespool reels loaded with 8lb mainline. Feeders are 40g-60g blockends, fished alongside short 2in-long hooklinks and size 18 hooks.
A 3lb 10oz roach caught on this devastating set-up
Specimen Fishing Tips | The best crucian float rig - Dai Gribble
A common mistake is to use a float that is too light, which makes casting difficult and is very likely to be dragged out of position by the wind or undertow.
Select a float that allows you to easily cast past the spot you are fishing and wind it back into position, sinking the line as you do so by pushing the rod-tip underwater.
A straight peacock or crystal waggler is my float of choice, but I will switch to an insert waggler with a finer tip if bites are finicky.
In terms of size, a float carrying 4AAA is a good starting point in water 6ft-8ft deep and I lock it in place with two movable float stops. I’ll then have an AAA shot at half depth and a BB and several No4s spaced between the AAA and the hook.
I like to present my hookbait slightly overdepth with about 4ins of line laid on the bottom. If there’s a lot of undertow, place a No6 shot just on the bottom. With this set-up the bites are usually very positive, with the float often rising slightly before disappearing under the surface.
Dai Gribble and a 3lb-plus crucian
River Fishing Tips | Cage or solid feeder for barbel? - Dai Gribble
As well as carrying feeders of different sizes and weights, it pays to have different types in your tackle box so you can vary the rate at which your feed is released into your swim.
Cage and solid feeders both have uses in barbel fishing
A cage feeder will empty much quicker than a traditional, solid-style feeder with just a few holes. So, If bites are coming soon after casting, opt for a cage feeder so that the bait is deposited rapidly int the swim, otherwise the feeder will still be full while you are playing a fish and will end up emptying its contents across the river.
Cage feeder barbel fishing rig
If bites are slow in coming, however, it pays to use a solid, slower-release feeder to ensure bait is trickling past your hookbait and down to the fish for much longer.
A cracking River Severn barbel
Specimen Fishing Tips | Popped up worms for perch - Jamie Cartwright
Most of the time perch are more than happy to pick worms up off the deck. The only time I really resort to popping them up is when there is leaves or weed in the swim, as that can adversely affect good presentation.
When that’s the case, I simply hook the worm through the head and inject a tiny amount of air into the tail. I still want the worm to sink, but really slowly, and doing it like this means that on the bottom the tail sits up like a cobra ready to strike, making it visible and enticing to a hungry perch.
Jamie’s perch rig
A word of caution – if you are going to inject air into worms, make sure you work on a hard surface. Accidentally injecting air into your bloodstream is extremely dangerous!
Jamie has caught a number of huge specimen perch in recent years
Specimen Fishing Tips | The best bait and rig for big eels - Daniel Woolcott
IF LOTS of smaller species are present in the venue, then I’d use either roach or squid sections to target the eels.
If the lake doesn’t contain nuisance fish, then lobworms take some beating, but I’ve also done well on snails, slugs, maggots and lamprey.
Eels are scavengers with a diverse diet, so don’t be afraid to experiment.
A 6lb 2oz eel, they are real scavengers so don’t be afraid to experiment with baits
There are loads of rig options to try, but to avoid deep-hooking, I use one that incorporates a short hooklink made from 4ins-5ins of 50lb snag leader and small barbless hooks.
My go-to set-up is a ‘snig twig rig’, which has a section of plastic boom threaded on to the hooklink and held in place with two float stops.
This ensures that the eel doesn’t swallow the bait, and I fish it free-running to keep resistance to a minimum.
My ‘snig twig’ eel rig
Specimen Fishing Tips | The best Stillwater roach rig - Phil Spinks
Without doubt the helicopter bolt rig is the best stillwater roach set-up.
The helicopter bolt rig is deadly for big roach
The question really is, what bait do you want fish with it – maggots or mini boilies?
Maggots rule in the depths of winter when the fish are far less active, but small roach become almost suicidal on these natural baits once we get to summer.
Mini boilies will select the bigger roach
Switching over to mini boiles and swapping the maggot feeder to a groundbait feeder will be much more selective for the bigger roach.
Phil Spinks knows a bit about catching big roach from stillwaters
Specimen Fishing Tips | Clear spot or low-lying weed for tench? - Ryan Hayden
I always prefer to fish over clear areas and, as such, raking is something that plays a big part in my tench fishing.
Raking a spot not only allows you to remove weed and debris to allow better presentation, but it also disturbs the bottom and stirs up lots of natural food.
Raking a spot is a big edge for tench
No matter how good you are at chucking a rake, you are only going to achieve a certain distance.
When fishing further out, I’ll always use a feature-finding lead (in my case usually a taped-up sea fishing lead with the prongs cut short) to get an idea of the bottom.
If there is low-lying weed present, I will cast a dozen or so times with the lead to try and clear the area off a bit.
Knowing that some weed may still be present, I’ll then opt for a Method feeder to ensure good presentation.
A cracking near double caught over a clear spot
Specimen Fishing Tips | How to single out bigger rudd - Kevin Sanders
First of all, you need to fish at peak feeding times, namely dusk and dawn. Big rudd might feed during the day, but it can be hard work if it’s hot and sunny.
A surface caught lake rudd of 2lb 12oz
Second, use polarised glasses to find the bigger fish before starting. If you can’t see them, try feeding chunks of bread and see if any rudd start taking off the surface.
A surface caught river rudd 2lb-plus
Finally, don’t just cast and hope for the best. If you can see a larger fish feeding, target it by casting your bait just upstream or upwind, and let it drift to the target. Being greedy, big rudd will often beat the smaller fish to the hookbait.
Specimen Fishing | Wind direction for tench and bream - Gary Knowles
Fish will always follow a warm wind, particularly a south-westerly, so I would look to fish into the face of it. This is particularly true on shallow and uniform lakes, where the wind will quickly push rapidly warming water into the bank.
After a few days of blowing in the same direction the undertow will take the warmer water to the opposite side of the lake, so follow a new wind, but do check the forecast.
Always keep an eye on the forecast
On gravel pits with a lot of lakebed contours it’s hard to predict the effects of the wind. But unless fish are showing I’d still always start in a swim where I’m looking into the wind.
A clonking 20lb 7oz bream
River Fishing Tips | Is it worth prebaiting for barbel? - Martin Bowler
The answer to that question is a resounding yes, provided the river isn’t in heavy flood.
I often prebait with groundbait balls in summer, before leaving the swim for a few hours – or even overnight – for the fish to find the free grub and gain confidence.
Leave the swim for a few hours or even overnight for barbel to gain confidence
Depending on the depth, flow and pace, I’ll typically throw the balls five to 10 yards upstream of the spot I intend to fish.
You can use whatever bait you want, and my typical mix consists of Sticky Krill Active Mix, pellet crumb, trout pellets and Ellipse pellets. Six orange-sized balls are normally enough to work the oracle, and I’ve had some great results on rivers such as the Wye and Trent using this tactic.
Martin Bowler is no stranger to catching big barbel
For more from Martin, pick up Angling Times magazine every Tuesday!
River Fishing Tips | PVA or feeder for barbel? - Alfie Naylor
Both the feeder and PVA bag have their place in barbel fishing and are brilliant tactics at delivering loose-feed close to your hookbait.
Personally, I think that a PVA bag and lead arrangement creates much less disturbance than a feeder. The feeder does work for the bigger barbel, though, if you want to slowly build a swim by constantly casting and introducing bait.
The feeder is a great tool to build a swim with feed
When fishing for barbel on rivers like the Trent, I like to put a fairly big bed of bait out at the start, then have one cast with a bag on and leave the bait out until I get a take. After each fish, I’ll top up with two bait droppers of feed.
I prefer to use a PVA bag for a ‘bait and wait’ approach
I feel the disturbance from me landing a fish pushes them away from the baited area, and now is the time to feed the swim again.
Both methods will catch big barbel if used correctly
Specimen Fishing Tips | Areas to target for a personal best bream - Darren Goulder
Bream generally feed by grazing over a wide area, so look for somewhere that’s weed-free, with a smooth or firm silty bottom. The backs of gravel bars are good spots, if the lake has them, because fish often use these as transit routes to travel around a venue.
A feast of particles laid down in close proximity will stop them in their tracks. If the silt is soft and smelly, I’d advise you to fish on top of any gravel where it’s free of muck and rubbish.
Traditionally, bream are usually caught at range, but that is not always necessary as they can be caught down the marginal shelf too. Most importantly, keep your eyes on the water at dawn and dusk when bream can very often give away their presence by rolling on the surface.
Stay clear of weed for a big bream
Fish spawning - what to look out for
It is that time of year when the warm temperatures will be causing our most popular coarse species to start spawning. This will result in many fisheries closing to let the fish get this stressful process out of the way in peace.
Fishing for spawning fish is not only frowned upon, it is actually not that productive, as the last thing the fish will have on their mind during this period is food.
If you are thinking fish are beginning to spawn on your lake, the best thing to do, is move away from the area entirely, change your target species and let the lake owner know - so they can make plans to protect their stock.
Here are a few signs the fish may soon be spawning…
Carp, bream and tench
Currently the species likely to be getting close to spawning are carp, bream and tench. The time they do this will vary from water to water, as it is entirely dependent on water temperature.
Some may have spawned already, others will be a long way off. So, it really is just about judging the situation from the behaviour of your target fish.
Grouping together
Many species are naturally shoaled together throughout the year. But in the coming months, look out for groups of fish following each other quickly through weedbeds, close to marginal reeds or in shallow areas of the lake.
What you will initially start to see, is smaller male fish following the female and nudging at her to release her eggs. They will then frantically be looking to get in line to fertilise these once she has released.
For this reason, you will find male fish are far more active early on. These will usually be smaller fish, with a different shape and profile to the females. Males will be longer and leaner than the females, and particularly with carp, will have massive fins. With tench this is also true, but a male tench can also be spotted by a protruding muscle on its flank.
Males at this time of year will fight like crazy, so bare this in mind when you are fishing. Look out for signs of other fish following the one you are attached to, this is a clear sign spawning is on their minds.
Look out for big groups of fish
Spawning nodules
Another good indicator that carp and bream are close to spawning, is spawning nodules. These are small lumps or spots on the fish, which will make the fish very rough to touch. These nodules will cover the head and pectoral fins but do not worry they aren’t causing the fish any harm.
Thrashing
When the fish start spawning you will have no doubt about it. It is quite a spectacle to behold, particularly with carp. The fish will be thrashing through the weed and reeds at some pace, often obliterating everything in their path.
If you have lines in the water, you will get constant false runs, which may seem like screaming takes, until you strike into nothing.
The water will be churned to a mud bath pretty quickly too in some lakes. Take note of these trashed areas as it may not be caused by feeding fish like you first may think.
Carp will thrash through the weed when spawning
Let them rest
The vigorous spawning process can cause some damage to the fish as they thrash through the lakeside vegetation. Some unfortunately won’t even survive the process. It is therefore important to let the fish recover for a week or two once spawning is out the way.
If carp cannot release their eggs they can become spawn bound and die
They may spawn more than once
You may find that groups of fish on lakes around the country attempt the spawning process more that once. During these next few months, be prepared for them to start at any time and leave them to it when they do.
Get fish spotting
For carp anglers in particular, this is a great time of year to have a good look at the stock in your lake. Noted target fish will be easily visible in this period and you will get a good look at some of the less known characters too.
So, instead of an afternoon with the rods out, why not spend an afternoon watching the fish and let nature do its work?
Time to just observe
Specimen Fishing Tips | How to track down big eels - Rich Wilby
A specimen eel is a truly impressive sight but very few anglers head out targeting them. One man who does, is 2019/20 Drennan Cup Champion , Rich Wilby. Here he explains how he tracks these rare beasts down and what bait catches them…
One of the best ways to find waters that hold these elusive creatures is to keep your ear to the ground for anglers who have caught them by mistake, such as carp fishermen.
The angry head of a big eel
That’s how I found out about a certain water near me last year, and on my first night at the venue I was lucky enough to catch 15 eels to a best of 5lb 2oz.
A 6lb 9oz specimen eel
If you haven’t got any tip-offs like this to follow up, then my advice would be firstly to find a water that has previous form for the species, then seek out the deep areas. As the year progresses, big eels seek refuge in such spots.
Once you’re on a water that you think holds them, try using high-attract baits, such as half a roach or big bunches of lobworms, and to fish at night, which is when eels are at their most active.
Just part of an incredible haul of big eels