Keep busy to keep catching – read Steve Ringer’s F1 advice.
Steve reveals eight simple tricks for bagging up on F1 carp
IF YOU want bites in the cold there’s no more reliable species to target than F1 carp.
Even with ice on the water you can always rely on F1s to have a feed at some point during the day.
They’re still not easy to catch, though. What I love about them is that they are a thinking angler’s fish... and the busier you are, the more you will catch.
TWO BEATS ONE
When I first started fishing for F1s I felt that because they feed very much like crucians, a single maggot would be the best bait and would bring the most bites.
It was only during a match, when I was being pestered by tiny silver fish, that out of desperation I switched to double maggot. And then the penny dropped...
I caught a succession of great big F1s on double maggot, and ever since that day I have always found that two maggots on the hook will outfish just the one.
A red and a white is a long-term favourite. I believe the white maggot stands out in clear water and the red in coloured. So by combining the two I’m getting the best of both worlds.
DEPTH IS KEY
One lesson I learned very early on about F1s is that depth is key. Nine times out of 10 there will be one particular depth that the F1s want to feed in – one day it might be 3ft and the next, 5ft.
The secret is to work out what this depth is as quickly as possible, and that can be easy to do because F1s react very quickly to bait.
Five minutes in one spot is normally enough to tell me if I’ve got it right or wrong.
For instance, if I went into 5ft at the start and didn’t get any signs I would move into 3ft and repeat the process.
CATCH AND MOVE
It’s rare in the winter to catch a number of F1s from the same spot. You tend to catch three or four and then it goes totally dead. When that happens it’s very rare for it to come back to life.
The secret is to be quick to move. It only needs to be a metre to the left or right of the original spot.
You just need to find the fish again, and experience tells me that once I’ve caught a few they won’t have gone far. It’s just a case of getting the plummet back on and trying to locate them again.
LIFT AT EVERYTHING
One of the best bits of advice I can give anyone fishing for F1s is to dot the float right down and lift at every indication.
It never ceases to amaze me how the tiniest of indications on the float can lead to the biggest F1s in the landing net.
Quite often I will lift more in hope than expectation, only to see the elastic stream out.
It’s important that you’re always tight on the float. That way you’ll hit a lot more bites, and a string of No9 back shots above the float is a great way to achieve this.
KEEP YOUR FEEDING TIGHT
Having watched some of the best F1 anglers in the country, the one thing I always notice is how they feed a very tight area and place their rig bang on the spot every time.
It might seem obvious, but this is vital. If F1s are 6ins away from your loose-feed they might as well be six miles away!
Once I picked up on this I always made sure that I picked markers on the far bank to line my swims up with, and that way I was always in the right spot. My pots are always set right at the end of my pole-tip so I can
feed right on top of my float – not 4ins short, as can be the case if you position your pots further back on your pole.
FEED A SHORT LINE
In the last few years, without doubt the most important line for catching F1s is the short line with maggots.
This is a swim I normally feed by hand, and the earlier you catch on it, the better chance you have of framing – it’s a spot you can catch a lot of fish from very quickly.
As a guide I always fish six joints of my pole out from the bank and just trickle maggots in there for the duration of the contest.
Normally it’s just a last hour line, but on the better pegs you can catch for double that time.
So good is this short line that you can often go into the last hour with just seven or eight F1s in the net and finish with 20 or more – and be in the money!
“The best F1 anglers feed a very tight area and place their rig bang on the spot every time”