KEEP CASTING... YOU’LL CATCH MORE SKIMMERS
Garbolino UK boss Darren Cox gets the fish heading down to the bottom
THE old-school rules of bream feeder fishing dictate that you kick a peg off with a big hit of bait and wait for the fish to turn up.
But in winter, the traditional rule book plays no part for me when I’m after skimmers on big lakes – instead, I adopt a ‘fast fishing’ approach with quick and regular casts.
What’s the thinking behind this you may ask? Well, in recent years we match anglers have cottoned on to the fact that skimmers in particular spend much of their time swimming a few feet up in the water column, only occasionally tipping up to feed on the bottom, even in the depths of winter.
Bosh in some feed and wait and I’d be missing out on a lot of bites, but by casting every two minutes or so with a dry feeder mix that explodes out of the cage feeder just before it touches down I give myself the best chance of catching skimmers milling around just off bottom.
This is an attack that works well for hybrids in Ireland but is just as good on home soil on venues such as Meadowlands Fishery near Coventry, which is where I am today.
The skimmers here are around 1lb apiece and famed for feeding off the deck, so my ploy will be to force them down by creating a constant plume of feed particles close to the bottom, coupled with the bulk of the feed that empties out on the deck.
I think about it like this. If I was fishing the pole in winter I’d use small pot to build the peg with small helpings of bait, rather than throw in six or seven big balls of groundbait – so I try and do the same with the feeder.
I’m building the peg during the course of a five-hour match, and happy to catch roach and perch initially before the skimmers get stuck in.
What happens is that the opening hour or so sees the resident fish in the peg feed, but as that quick casting begins to
have an effect, skimmers from the surrounding area are slowly drawn to the feed and the fishing gets better and better.
THE FAST FISHING PROCESS
By casting quickly and regularly, I will soon develop a routine that’s never broken.
I begin by casting the feeder and, once it hits the water, I put the rod-tip underwater. With the bail-arm still off the reel, I follow the feeder down until it hits bottom and the line goes slack, creating a bow. If I get a bite on the way down, I’ll feel the knock on the tightened line.
When things have settled I gently bring the rod back on to the rest to take up this bow without moving the feeder. All the while I am in contact with the feeder and ready to spot a bite. Chuck out, put the rod on the rest and spend 30 seconds tightening up and you’ll never spot a quick bite!
A SHORT ROD IS VITAL
Even something as seemingly irrelevant as the rod you use will make a difference.
I go for a short 10ft Garbolino G System Mini Carp, a supersoft bomb rod that cuts down on bumped fish on the strike and, crucially for me, means that a hooked fish pops up on
the surface closer to me than if I were using a 13ft rod. This way there’s less chance of the hook pulling at the critical moment.
On the subject of tips I use a ½oz or ¾oz glass fibre quiver and fish with it almost totally slack so that I can see every nudge. Skimmers in winter are notorious for feeling resistance and dropping the bait, so don’t give them the chance to do so!
HOOKBAITS AND FEED
The groundbait mix is the important thing here and I use a 50/50 blend of Mainline Method and Thatcher’s Original.
These are mixed dry, so that when I add particles like chopped worm, the consistency won’t change. A dry mix will create that plume of feed in the water just off bottom, which will draw fish in.
What I add to the mix depends on the response of the fish. I start with just a dozen particles made up of casters, dead red maggots and dead fluoro pinkies crammed into each feeder.
Chopped worm is great in mild weather, when I’d pop a pinch into each load along with a few micro pellets too, but in very cold weather I’ll go for just dead maggots, pinkies and casters.
For the hook I swear by dead baits as these are super-soft, almost like a home-bred gozzer which bream love!
Two dead red maggots or three dead fluoro pinkies are my main hookbaits. These are highly visible to the fish as they fall though the water. A redworm can be a deadly change bait, especially for a bigger fish.
WHERE TO CAST
Finding a specific depth to fish into is not as vital as finding the deepest water in the peg.
Therefore I’ll cast around with a bomb and locate where the deep water is by counting down. This could be 20m out or 50m.
When I’ve located my spot I clip up, because it is vital that the feeder lands in the same spot time and time again. The only change to this will be when I take the clip off and have one or two casts a metre past my main spot to see if any better skimmers have backed off from the feed.
A SECOND LINE
Even in feeder fishing, the thing is to have a second line on the go as you would when fishing the pole. For that reason, once I have identified my main area, I will open up a second swim 20m further out into the lake.
This will have two or three big feeders of bait put into it at the start, and it will then be left well alone. I then have a back-up line to look on if I feel I need to rest the main area.