Steve Ringer
Why you’ve got to be a part of the red meat revolution
LOOKING back through a few of my old match diaries the other week I was surprised to see just how short a life span some baits and tactics have in match fishing.
Perhaps the one that stood out the most was the red meat revolution of five or six years ago.
It’s a bait that burst on to the commercial match scene and simply took waters apart.
Yet after one maybe two years it pretty much vanished from most anglers’ bait trays.
Looking back, there was no real reason for this. It didn’t lose any of its effectiveness – all I can think of is that it just fell out of fashion with anglers and then disappeared right off the radar!
Without doubt this has worked in my favour, as red meat is a bait I’ve continued to use on and off through the seasons. Right now I reckon I catch more carp on the stuff than ever before, probably because no-one else is using it!
So why does red meat work? Well, the answer has to be that it is very definitely a stand-out bait which feeding carp can really home in on.
This is especially the case when it’s fished over a bed of hemp and corn. That’s when red meat seems to work at its very best.
Drop your hookbait on top of your feed and just look at how much it stands out!
By now you’ll gather that it’s time to dig out that tub of bait dye and get on the red meat again…
HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED?
In terms of how much I need, all I do is cut one 300g tin of luncheon meat into 6mm cubes.
There are loads of red liquids on the market but my favourite for red meat fishing is Ringers Red Shellfish liquid.
Not only does this give you a lovely, deep red colour but it also adds a bit of flavour to the meat to make it stand out in the crowd.
On top of the meat, which is used mainly for the hook, you also need something to feed, and nothing beats hemp and corn.
This is an aggressive way of fishing and the amount of bait I take reflects this. For five hours’ fishing I’d expect to feed around four tins of corn and two one-pint tins of hemp. Because I am doing all my feeding via a pole pot I mix the two together before I start.
WHERE TO FISH
You can fish red meat on the pole anywhere, but I reckon it’s at its best when fished short, five to six joints out.
I like to fish it at an angle of either 10 o’clock or two o’clock, if you imagine your swim as a clock face. This way I can play hooked fish in front of me without disturbing the feed area.
Perhaps the most important thing, though, is deciding how far out to fish. It’s not merely a case of shipping out and thinking ‘I fancy fishing here’ – you need to plumb out from the edge down the near slope and fish about a foot on to the flat.
Some anglers like to fish on the slope, but I have always preferred the flat. I’ve always found that a bait on the slope tends to lead to an increase in the number of line bites and foul-hooked fish.
FEEDING–BIGPOT,LITTLEPOT
There are two ways to feed when fishing red meat, and probably the most common is known as ‘big