Dave Harrell’s
What happened when Gary Pilsworth and I previewed the Division One National venue
Trent feeder tactics
ILEFT you last week with the news that Gary Pilsworth’s pole and hemp attack on the River Trent at East Bridgford had produced 20lb-plus of roach.
Before our five-hour session we decided to see whether a pole or feeder approach would work better. We tossed a coin and I ended up on the feeder with a good chance, apparently, of a decent net of skimmers by fishing an open-ender.
I set up a Daiwa Tournament RS 1213Q feeder rod at 12ft. The 1ft extension piece enables feeders to be cast much further and is also useful when there is a lot of flow, as you can keep more line out of the water.
Reel choice was a TDR 3012, loaded with 8lb Pro Feeder line. This is only 0.24mm, much thinner than many feeder lines, while retaining strength and just the right amount of stretch. Hooklength was 0.14mm or 0.16mm Pro Rig, and to this I tied medium wire size 16 and 14 prototype hooks.
My rig was simple. It’s one that I’ve used for years and it’s a ‘safe’ and very effective way of catching all species. I always use a float stop above the feeder, which can be slid down to create a bolt rig. This results in the fish hooking itself, especially on swims with a lot of flow. Alternatively, you can slide the float stop up and let the feeder run freely.
My groundbait mix was 50/50 Bait-Tech Halibut Marine Method Mix and brown crumb. I’ve got so much confidence in this mix for bream and skimmers and it’s won me a lot of money on a variety of rivers. For loosefeed additions to the mix I’d got two pints of casters and 1kg of worms.
HOW THE SESSION WENT
To start with, I set the hooklength at 60cm. Hookbait was half a dendrobaena on a size 14, hooked through the head and then cut off halfway down.
I filled the feeder with chopped worms and casters and plugged it either end with my favourite bream mix before casting out to mid-river. I use Nisa feeders for all my open-end river work and my initial choice was a medium size with a 1.5oz lead fitted. By
allowing a bow to form in the water, this weight was plenty enough to hold the bottom.
I expected to have to wait a while for my first bite but I started to get tweaks and little pulls almost immediately. A 1lb 8oz skimmer was my first fish and its twin followed on the next cast. I was fully expecting to get one on my third, but the next bite and the one after that came from perch. I stopped putting worms through the feeder and instead used just casters and groundbait. This seemed to have the desired effect and more skimmers followed.
I could see Gary was catching really well and to try to keep up with him I put on a bigger feeder and piled more casters in. It worked to a degree but with two hours of the five remaining my swim dried up. I tried fishing past my feed and downstream, but no matter where I cast to, no further