Our pick of the best set-ups you need to use this summer – tie them now!
Six pages of hot summer rigs, from Method for carp to pole for river roach
CHANGE BAITS
151The key to keeping bites coming on the Method is to have a range of different hookbaits in your bag. You may start by fishing a banded pellet but, as the day goes on, the fish can wise up. Then, switching to a grain of corn, a brightly-coloured pellet bait or even four dead maggots can produce quicker bites and bigger fish. If you’re not sure what to use, change the bait every cast and see what the reaction time of the fish is.
HOOKLINK LENGTH
152Fishery rules normally dictate how long your hooklink must be for fishing the Method feeder. Normally it’s no shorter than four inches. However, if there are no rules in place and bites are coming within 10 seconds of the feeder landing then try going even shorter, perhaps as little as two inches, to put the bait closer to the feed. This should encourage a much quicker take.
GROUNDBAIT OR PELLETS?
153As a rule, micro pellets around the feeder work well for carp, whereas fishmeal groundbait strikes a chord with F1s and skimmers. The species in the lake you’re fishing should govern what goes around the Method feeder. If there’s a bit of everything, however, go with a mix of 80 per cent micro pellets to 20 per cent groundbait.
FEEDER WEIGHT
154The weight of the feeder you use shouldn’t only be decided by how far you need to cast. If you are casting to an island or a far-bank margin where there will be a slope and a change in depth, a heavier feeder will be needed to hold the lakebed and to stop the feeder sliding down the slope when a fish knocks into it. A 30g feeder should be your starting point, but you should up this to 40g if you feel the feeder isn’t staying put.
REGULAR CASTING
155The Method feeder lets you build up a swim over time, depositing small helpings of bait into a spot on every cast – but
you’ll need to keep casting it in regularly to match the appetite of the fish. A big carp will soon polish off a handful of pellets, so to keep the fish in the swim and on the feed, cast every two or three minutes. The noise of the feeder hitting the water will also help to draw carp into the area.
TRY A POP-UP
156Carp do spend a lot of time sat off bottom and in this instance, a bait presented off the deck can get you a bite when fishing pellets and maggots won’t. Slip a small brightly-coloured 8mm or 10mm pop-up boilie on to the hook and when the ball of feed breaks down, the boilie will waft up invitingly above the feed where a hungry carp can’t miss it.
LEAVE THE BAIT SHOWING
157Normally, the aim of Method fishing is to bury the hookbait in the feed so that when the ball breaks down, the bait is exposed and will be hoovered up by a feeding carp. However, when the fish are feeding well it can pay to leave the hookbait on top of the feed so a fish sees it immediately and takes it. To do this when using a Method mould, drop the hookbait into the mould first and then add the pellets or groundbait.
DOUBLE SKIN
158When fishing for big carp you need to shovel the feed in to keep them happy. A bigger feeder can help to do this but a better bet is to ‘double skin’ the feeder. Make a ball of feed as normal with a Method mould but then add more pellets to the mould and put the feeder back in, doubling the amount of bait around it.
FISH THE EDGE
159The Method feeder is not just for casting into open water or up to an island – it is also brilliant in the margins especially when a lot of fish are present and causing line bites on the pole. The feeder will keep the hookbait and mainline close to the lakebed, cutting down on the chances of liners and a bite is virtually unmissable.
FLAVOUR THE HOOKBAIT
160Any edge that you can get over the fish is welcome. Initially you can try to achieve this with the hookbait. Adding a touch of flavour to your pellets, boilie or corn can bring faster bites so before you make the ball of feed and add the bait, give it a glug of liquid flavouring – strong-smelling krill, or sweet Scopex and strawberry are all good starting points.