8 WAY TO WIN ON A BOMB RIGHT NOW
Guru’s Pemb Wrighting reveals his deadly tricks
THE bomb has played a big part in my winter fishing down the years. There’s a lot more to it than meets the eye once you’ve scratched beneath the surface and got to grips with just what’s required.
However, there’s no magic rig to tie or wonder feed to prepare. You do need a truck load of patience, as well as hookbaits that stand out to any fish that come wandering into the swim.
Here’s how I fish it...
1 SEARCH THE SWIM
Commotion from the bomb going into the water is minimal compared to a feeder and, in clear water, nothing is more likely to see a shoal of carp clear off than a big feeder boshing over their heads every five minutes.
The bomb also allows you to search the peg thoroughly without ruining it by leaving patches of bait all over the place – a key part of bomb fishing is to continually cast to various spots in the swim to find where the fish are.
Before a match starts, cast around and count the bomb down to try and find any depth changes or shallower areas. With a map of the swim in your head you will have a better idea of where you’ve been fishing and which spots have been best. 2 FEEDING
You don’t have to feed anything when using the bomb but I do like to catapult a few 10mm pellets into one area to give me a go-to line late in a match, when the carp will have built up their confidence and will feed. This is effectively ‘ringing the dinner bell’ for the fish, tempting them into the area and then giving them a highly visible bait to find.
If I am fishing farther out and the catapult can’t reach, I tie up a simple PVA mesh bag holding half-a-dozen pellets. Nick this on to the hook and then cast. This puts the hookbait right in the middle of the feed, ready for when a carp comes along.
3 BOMB SIZES
My feeder and bomb bag carries a range of leads from two-thirds of an ounce up to 2oz. The one I use the most is the two-thirds. With it I can comfortably reach most spots, even with a PVA bag attached.
4 SLACK QUIVERTIP
The quivertip is set quite slack, especially if there is any tow on the lake, but this will also help show up any line bites in a positive way. Liners but no fish tell me that fish are in the peg – it will then be a case of changing hookbaits until I catch one.
5 BAIT CHOICES
10mm pellet: I’m a fan of big, colourful baits but it’s amazing how many times a plain 10mm hard pellet will catch better than anything else. Presumably this is because the hookbait is the same as the feed that’s being trickled in through the bag or catapult. 12mm meat: I use a Guru punch to get a 12mm diameter cylinder of meat, and then nick the end off to produce a piece roughly 16mm long. This is a big bait that no carp can miss, but to help further I soak the cylinders in Pineapple Supreme Bait Smoke Goo, which gives off a little green cloud in the water. Additives are a personal thing, but I don’t think they can do any harm in winter, when every bite counts. Wafters: These are white 12mm dumbell boilies that sis on the bottom naturally but are very light so they will ‘waft’ up off the lakebed when a fish moves over the bait. Quite simply they offer
7 END TACKLE
“Bomb fishing suits targeting big carp so don’t skimp on the gear. Mainline is 8lb Guru Drag Line with a 0.19mm N-Gauge hooklength and a size 12 QM1 hook.
“This will land the toughest of double-figure fish, and I let the bomb run on the mainline, stopping it with a snap link swivel that has the swivel part removed. This lets me clip on hooklengths in seconds, so I can have traces ready made up with different baits to change over quickly.
“I always use a 12ins tail even if fishery rules say I can go shorter. I’ve experimented with long tails and down to short 6ins ones but I keep going back to a 12ins link.”
8 TIME THE CASTS
“A bite can come completely out of the blue, and the longer you leave the rig in the water, the more likely you are to get a bite.
“As a rule of thumb I’ll wait up to half-an-hour before recasting, but a pattern will emerge during the day and until you catch a few carp, you won’t know what this will be. It could be that bites come within five minutes of casting or it could take an age!
“What I would say is that when you land a carp, make sure you cast back to the same spot as its mate could well be sat there waiting. Sometimes the action of a fish being hooked and drawn out of the area can pull a few more in, and it’s not time wasted if the tip flies round again!
“If you’re not lucky enough to wet the landing net, put the next cast into a completely different area and repeat this process.
“Change the bait over too, as this is often what will trigger a response from the fish.”