MARTIN BOWLER: WANT BIG CARP? GET ON A PELLET FEEDER!
My match fishing approach reaps a specimen reward
IWAKE to freezing fog and a world stripped of colour… a monochrome prospect that reminds me of an old black-and-white movie.
It’s a cold, cold day and my brolly is frosted like a christening cake. What in God’s name would drive me to spend a night in such conditions when a warm bed awaits me at home?
The truth is, I can’t help myself. and the bigger the obstacles to success, the greater the euphoria when it comes. Hence my quest for a winter carp, when pike or chub would have been far easier.
At such times confidence is your greatest asset, and this is why I had made careful preparations the
afternoon before the nocturnal freeze-up.
Knowing full well that 90 per cent of the lake’s carp would be covered in leeches and buried in weed, I needed to approach the session with a ‘win a bite’ mentality. One of the other 10 per cent needed to suck in my rig.
The first rod carried a yellow Pineapple & N-Butyric pop-up cast next to a dying weed bed on a naked chod.
Fluorocarbon mainline would add stealth to the approach and, for once, I resisted the urge to introduce any free offerings. If a carp did pop out of the Canadian pond weed I wanted to give it a single item on the menu.
That was one rod taken care of relatively easily, but what of the two deeper spots I wanted to cover 30 yards out?
A brilliant winter tactic is a solid PVA bag, combining perfect presentation with a small, highly attractive pile of bait. I have seen waters taken apart by this approach in the colder months, but it does attracts small fish.
Once the PVA has dissolved, it’s not just the carp that are free to feed on the tiny pellets or crumbs. You have no way of gauging how quickly the little fish will mop up the feed, so it’s very possible that when a carp arrives all that’s left will be the hookbait.
Unless the lake is devoid of silver
“A pellet feeder gives me all the benefits and none of the drawbacks of a PVA bag”
fish this thought torments me, and that all-important confidence drains away. Fortunately there’s a better option for close-range work that gives me all the benefits and none of the drawbacks of a PVA bag, and this is what I’d chosen for my other spots.
I set up two E-S-P Terry Hearn rods with Onyx reels loaded with 18lb fluorocarbon. On to each went a 40g Drennan pellet feeder, match-style, even though big fish were on my mind. Instead of PVA carrying the feed it would be contained within a plastic cone and therefore wouldn’t dissolve.
Twenty four hours prior to the trip I had prepared tacky pellets that oozed attraction. Into a bucket went a kilo of Sticky Krill and Bloodworm pellets along with copious sloshes of Krill Liquid and Cap Oil. I added water to just cover the pellets, snapped the lid shut and left them until the session.
By the time I opened the bucket on the bank the pellets would have retained their shape but could be squeezed into a ball. I added a few solid micro trout pellets and copious amounts of hemp oil. The intention was to squeeze this into the pellet feeder, but in two stages and with different degrees of force.
To the rear of the cone the pellets were almost smashed into a paste that stood little chance of ever exiting the feeder, but the other half of the payload was treated far more gently so the mix would fall out gradually and cover the hookbait.
Now I had the best of both worlds – food on offer and attraction that would last for the duration of the cast, pumping out incredible amounts of oil. No carp could miss this signal, and when it investigated I would be waiting.
At the business end was a 3ins section of 15lb E-S-P Camo Sink Link braid, knotless knotted to a size 10 Cryogen Curve Shanx hook to leave a hair. I could have then attached a small fluoro pop-up, but today I decided to cut a Krill Dumbbell in half.
My first casts were with empty feeders to get the required distance and mark the line with power gum. That done, I loaded each one with pellets before gently squeezing the hookbait on to them. As the pellets tumbled out of the feeders, so too would the dumbells.
The first rod landed perfectly but the second needed three attempts. This is where the approach again scored over PVA – no need for drying the rig or fiddly preparation, both of which can tempt an angler into leaving a lessthan-perfect cast where it lands.
I was not worried by the thought of an obtrusive piece of plastic sitting next to the hookbait. The brown tint of the feeders matched the pellets perfectly and, in any event, why would the carp fear them? What specimen carp angler uses a pellet feeder?
When at 9am an oily slick broke the surface and my alarm screamed it was worth every second of my cold discomfort.
A 30lb common had found the pellet feeder too tempting, and my prize introduced glorious colour to a drab winter’s day.
I KNOW HOW I CAN WIN A BITE! continued