Angling Times (UK)

Sorting chub from the bleak

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DAVE Harrell’s ‘agitation’ feeding when qualifying for the RiverFest Final is something I’ve done for years, on shallow sections of the Thames and at Clifton Grove and Burton, on the River Trent.

I first stumbled on it when attempting to ‘feed off’ bleak in Thames matches in the 1970s.

I’d start by feeding one catapult pouch full and casting out. If I caught a bleak, next cast it would be two pouches, then three, four and so on. Once the bleak were gone, chub would be underneath.

I tried the same at Clifton, Swarkeston­e, Corporatio­n Island and Burton Joyce on the Trent. Even if I was bleak-free, if there were chub around they would get blasted. My gallon maggot bucket usually came away pretty much empty if I’d caught chub.

One day on the Crown Fishery on the Lea I fed 10 pints of hemp and three of caster for 12lb of chub... and it took three or four pouches of bait to get each bite! At today’s prices? I don’t think so.

 ??  ?? ‘Agitation’ feeding can work out expensive!
‘Agitation’ feeding can work out expensive!

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