Commercial Fishing Tips | Time to catch them 'deep shallow' - Steve Ringer

September 29, 2020 Guest User

October may be just around the corner, but you can still catch carp shallow – albeit with a slightly different twist.

The days of setting the rig a foot deep and blasting bait around the float are over for another year, although fish will still be feeding well off the bottom.

So how do you catch them then? By adopting a ‘deep shallow’ approach, you’ll still pick them off. This involves fishing at half depth so, in 8ft of water, you’ll set the rig 4ft deep. Finding the fish is key and involves a lot of adjustments to your depth until you locate the carp.

That’s not to say you won’t still catch fish a foot deep and, on very warm days, carp will quickly come up in the water. That’s something that I always bear in mind at this time of year. I’ll always have a very shallow rig set up and ready to go.

Normally, though, I’ll begin fishing deep shallow and work my way in from there.

If I catch, great, if I am getting line bites, this tells me the fish are shallower and I need to make a change.

Catch shallow - Main.jpg — Shallow fishing with a twist!

How deep to fish?

Unless it is a hot day, the fish will be anywhere from 2ft to 4ft deep in a swim with 8ft of water. Begin at half depth using a loosely strung bulk with shot 3ins apart in the bottom half of the rig. This creates a slow fall of the hookbait but gets it down to the fish relatively quickly.

Create some noise

If I see fish moving close to the surface, I reach for a 1ft deep rig. In this situation, it can pay to stop feeding totally and either slap the float and hookbait on the water a few times, or tap the pole-tip in the water to create a noise that fish will come to investigate.

Constant feeding

Feeding should be regular, even if you aren’t catching. You need a stream of bait falling through the swim to pull fish into the peg. Six to eight 6mm pellets is enough, but if bites slacken off, I may reduce the number of pellets. If there are lots of fish about I’ll feed more.

Which float to use

A classic bristle-stopped pattern such as the Guru AR or Pinger is better than a dibber, but used in a small size, around 4x10 or 4x12. Depth adjustments happen if I’m getting bites but not hooking fish. Shallow up a few inches and eventually you’ll find the fish!

Use a small sized classic float like the Guru AR

Commercial Fishing Tips | Puller kits, why, when and how you should use them - Steve Ringer

August 6, 2020 Guest User

Almost every modern pole now comes with top kits fitted with side puller systems.

At first, these seemed like a gimmick, useful only if you couldn’t land a big fish on light elastic. Nowadays, though, they are indispensable and a big help in getting carp in quickly.

In layman’s terms, a puller kit is a top kit with a side hole drilled near the bottom end. A PTFE bush or dedicated puller bush is fitted and the elastic pokes out, tied off with a bead and knot. When you break the pole down to the top kit, you can grab the bead and knot, pull elastic out and keep it there.

This means there’s less elastic for the fish to pull against, and as a result it will tire faster, while you will be able to dictate the battle and keep it away from snags.

I’ve even seen them used for roach and bream on rivers, so the puller kit is not just something you’d use for carp.

But what is the right way to play a fish on a puller kit without ending up having yards of elastic trailing all over the floor?

It all begins with having the right elastic in the first place…

The right elastic

With a puller kit there’s no danger of being broken, even with soft elastic. Don’t go too light, though, or the puller won’t work properly. White Hydro is soft enough to let you strip back lots of elastic but still cushion any surges a fish might make.

Picking the right pole elastic is important

How much to pull?

If you pull so much elastic out that there’s just a foot left coming out of the pole tip the elastic may bottom out and the pole may break. I’d strip enough out to have control of the fish while it can at the same time absorb the power of a bolting carp.

Don’t overstretch

The fish should be on the surface without the need to overstretch with the net. If you can’t see the float when you pull to net a fish, you must pull more elastic out until you can. Let the lot go back into the top kit if the fish gains its second wind.

If you can’t see the float when you pull to net a fish, you must pull more elastic out until you can.

How many sections?

I run my elastic through either a full Power top-2 or the No2 and No3 sections of the Match kit with the No1 section removed. This equates to 5ft-7ft of elastic, ample to let a fish run but short enough to strip back when it’s time for the net.

In layman’s terms, a puller kit is a top kit with a side hole drilled near the bottom end.

Commercial Fishing Tips | Time to get down the margins! - Steve Ringer

June 26, 2020 Guest User

As much as I love my feeder fishing, there’s something unique about doing battle at close range with massive fish.

Often these can be located just inches away from the bank, where you can see them swim into the area and upend to feed, sending clouds of mud from the lakebed billowing upwards before your float vanishes and the fight kicks off.

If you’re on the lookout to up your personal best, there really is no better way to do it than from in the margins.

Because this is a method that works later in the day, it’s ideal for after-work or evening sessions when a couple of hours is often ample to catch a string of fish.

So why not get up close and personal with the fish? It’s a really satisfying way to fish.

The right floats

A margin swim is typically 12ins-18ins deep, calling for a 0.3g or 0.4g float. In deeper water you’re better off trying to catch shallow with a 0.2g float. In any case you must always get the float as close to the bank as possible to eliminate line bites.

Get the float as close as possible to the bank

Big baits

For carp, double corn, double expander pellet, two worms or eight or nine dead maggots is perfect. For F1s, double maggot or caster rules on a size 16 hook. Red-dyed meat or pellets work really well in heavily coloured water.

Dyed meat works brilliantly in coloured water

Find the flat spot

If I can’t find a flat area, I will fish on the slope and set my rig to 14ins, plumb up and find where this is on the slope. I then lay the rig in with the float closest to the bank and drag it into position so that the bait is resting on the bottom.

Try the feeder

A big Hybrid or Method feeder fished on an underarm cast tight to the bank is an easier way to fish than the pole. If you are getting line bites on the pole, a change to a feeder will give unmissable bites and properly hooked fish.

The feeder will give unmissable bites down the margins

Steve Ringer's guide to fishing for skimmer bream

February 10, 2017 Bauer Xcel

Feeding loose micros into deep water can be the kiss of death when you’re fishing for F1s and carp, as it leads to lots of line bites and foul-hooked fish.

But for skimmers it’s a very different story. This is a method that I first came across a few years ago after making a trip up to Hayfield Lakes for a silverfish match.

My plan was to target skimmers over groundbait and dead maggots and pinkies. In theory it was a good plan, but despite trying lots of different ways of feeding the swim, after two-and-a-half hours I’d managed just one small skimmer.

With time running out I knew I had to try something different to pull fish into the swim. I’d been told that Kinder potting 2mm micro pellets worked well for the skimmers on there, but I had dismissed it – frankly, feeding loose micros into 10ft of water seemed like madness to me.

But with nothing to lose I decided to give it a go so I quickly attached a Kinder pot and filled it with micros. Two feeds later I had a bite, then another and another, and within 20 minutes I was getting a bite every put-in from small skimmers. The difference was quite simply amazing. I can only think that the micros falling through the water were pulling fish into the swim.

Since that day it’s an approach I’ve used a lot and it’s rarely let me down. Right now, on waters with a silverfish bias, it’s definitely worth trying. I have to admit, it still doesn’t seem right, but it certainly works!

Wetted-down 2mm coarse pellets and expanders for the hookbait

How many pellets?

When it comes to bait it really doesn’t get any simpler - all you need is a pint or so of wetted-down 2mm coarse pellets and a few expanders for the hook.

I always like to prepare my micros the night before, slightly overwetting them so they soak up as much water as possible and expand to their maximum size. In fact, if you have the right micro pellet it’s even possible to use them on the hook!

Coarse pellets are best for this type of fishing as they are light in colour and skimmers can spot them easily as they fall through the water. As I’ve said many times before, I’m convinced that when the water is clear fish feed by sight rather than by smell, so these falling pellets offer a high degree of attraction.

Feeding

Steve starts by sprinkling half a pot of pellets

To kick the swim off I like to feed a quarter of a small 100ml Drennan pot of loose micros.

After the initial feed I like to let the swim settle for at least 30 minutes – I’m not a fan of going straight in when fishing for skimmers as I feel they need time to feel confident enough to feed. When I do decide to have a look, though, I will first load up a small Guru pole pot full of wetted-down micro pellets.

I’ll sprinkle half out straight away and wait for a bite. If I don’t get one within two minutes I’ll sprinkle in the other half of the pellets. I’m totally convinced the reason this method works is bait falling through the water, hence even if I’m not getting bites I like to keep a bit of bait going in.

From this point on I’ll feed to bites, and once I start getting a few fish I will feed again. This is a busier than usual way of feeding for skimmers, but it works, believe me!

Start on an expander

When it comes to what to fish on the hook I will always start with a 4.5mm Ringers Coolwater Expander. Skimmers love a soft pellet, and an expander stands out well over a bed of micro pellets, giving the skimmers something they can easily home in on.

I also carry a variety of sizes and colours of expander, just so I can mix it up throughout a session. You’ll often find, for example, that you’ll catch well on a standard 4mm expander to begin with and then bites will go a little bit funny, even though there are still fish in your swim.

I think what happens is that the fish get used to feeding on the micros and start to ignore the bigger baits. When this happens I switch to a 3.5mm F1 Light expander pellet to match the feed and keep catching.

My Rig (click to open in full)

Follow my advice for a catch like this..