KNOW YOUR STUFF

WHAT can look like an unmissable lift often results in a strike into thin air, followed by some swearing!

You can leave the bite to develop into a proper sailaway if you like, but nine times out of 10 this doesn’t happen. Instead, adjust the shotting of your rig to convert the lifts into fish. This is easily done by grouping the small shot spread down the line into a solid bulk just off bottom, with the bait presented a few inches overdepth. A fish will pick the bait up and register on the bulk, lifting it and seeing the float rise along with it. This type of positive indication is a lot harder to miss! Bulked shot bring positive indications.

WITH the water holding a bit of colour, a depth of 6ft will give bream the confidence to feed, but you may need to fish at 14.5m or more to find them. Introduce a decent initial hit of bait, and then fish the feeder while waiting for the bream to move in at closer range.

Throw in eight to 10 balls of groundbait laced with casters, dead maggots, chopped worm and corn, then loosefeed casters every 15 minutes to keep the peg on the boil. Feed to your bites, and if things go dead, another two balls should get the fish feeding again. When a fish takes the bait, the float will rise before the fish bolts off and the float shoots under the water. Set the float so that just the tip is visible. Set the depth so that the shot is close to the deck. Try bulking your shot just off bottom a few inches from the hook. A lake bream on the pole is a real

achievement.