Mark Pollard
Winning skimmer tips
LAST week I revealed how I started my canal session catching some decent roach, but landing a skimmer on my squatt line was my cue to hopefully plunder a big-fish swim I’d fed against some far-bank cover.
Cover always means big fish such as perch or bream, even in as little as 18ins of water, and cannot be ignored in a match situation. But a balance needs to be struck between catching enough from here and not wasting too much time waiting for a bonus fish.
It’s also not a given that you will catch – a bream on the squatt rig early on is generally a good sign, but there can be times when the fish are mooching about and are only interested in smaller baits such as squatts.
This happened a lot when I used to fish the canals around London, to such an extent that feeding a chopped worm line was considered a waste of time!
With this in mind, going across on my swim at Chelmscote Bridge is going to be make or break. I’ll know pretty quickly whether those bream are playing ball or not!
WHERE TO FISH
Cover holds fish, so you need to fish to a bush, an overhanging tree or brambles or – on a featureless peg – tight up to the far bank tins.
I wouldn’t feed or fish bang up against the cover as I may want to try here later in the day when the fish move. Instead, I’ll make my bed a few feet away from the cover on top of the far-bank shelf – I’m looking for a minimum of 18ins of water here.
DON’T PANIC!
I’d be stunned if I didn’t get some sort of indication early on, but if it didn’t happen, I wouldn’t be too worried.
I remember a match on the canal at Hemel Hempstead when I hadn’t caught for over three hours but then bagged 38lb of bream in the last 90 minutes and won – the bream simply turned up and this often happens.
SWITCHING LINES
If you’re not catching I see no point in staying on the big-fish line for too long, as you’d be better off resting it and catching some roach.
Come off this line and fish the squatt swim but go back and have a look half-an-hour later.
TOPPING UP
So let’s say you catch a skimmer. Do you feed more?
My rule is to feed after every three or four skimmers because if you get one, chances are that much of that initial feed will still be there.
Only when I rest this line will I feed again with another threequarters of a pot of worm, caster and dead maggots.
Much will depend on how many fish are in the peg, though. When there are quite a few then you can wait a lot longer between feeds, but if there’s only the odd skimmer about and I’m juggling between swims, then I’m topping up more often simply to try and get that odd fish to have a go quickly. This will ensure I’m not wasting too much time waiting.
DID IT ALL WORK?
My first drop across at 14m to some brambles produces a 1lb 8oz perch, and I lose another on the next drop. Fortunately, a skimmer isn’t too far off turning up afterwards, and getting on for 4lb is a good reward for 20 minutes’ fishing.
However, it becomes obvious that not many bream are in the swim so I top up relatively regularly in between nicking a
few roach on squatts.
Regular looks (every 20 minutes) are sometimes met with nothing and sometimes by a big skimmer. Six find their way into the net along with that perch for well over 12lb, probably nearer 14lb when the roach are included. A great canal catch!