KNOWLEDGE

USE FINE WIDE GAPE HOOKS

Caster is one of the best hookbaits so a wide gape hook is needed, but it should also be as light as you can get away with. I use a Kamasan B911 F1 hook which is fine wire but strong, without being overly heavy so as to make the fall of the bait seem unnatural. Sizes 16 and 18 are ideal for casters, maggots or pieces of worm.

VARY YOUR HOOKLENGTHS

I always use a hooklength. Not only does finer line bring more bites, but it also means that should I hook an unstoppable carp, I know that the hooklink will break before the mainline does. My mainline is 0.14mm Garbo Line to a link of 0.10mm, but I will up this to 0.12mm for bream and tench.

TRY AN INSERT WAGGLER

Pick a float that allows you to reach the spot with an easy cast. Garbolino’s hollowtipped loaded peacock insert is perfect as it is very buoyant and, being loaded, needs no shot around it for casting, cutting down on tangles. The hollow tip also shows up well at range and, being an insert, it lets me fish with a bait set shallow, falling on the drop or pinned to the bottom as the need arises.

AVOID CARP

The secret to not having a load of carp in the peg is not to go mad with the feed! Keep the loosefeed going in on a steady, little-and-often basis.

PICK OUT THE BETTER FISH

Silver fish are shoal fish and so where you catch a 4oz roach or skimmer, you can be sure that something bigger won’t be too far away. How do you get them to feed, though? Casters always pick off a better stamp of fish and working hard to present the bait properly is crucial. This means not moving the float once it has settled, getting the hookbait to fall through the water at the same time as the loosefeed and having the odd cast a foot or so past the feed area, because big fish can often back off from the main shoal.