The Coach How to feed the edges
WE’RE now in prime margin fishing time on commercial fisheries.
Ever-shorter days see the carp moving close in earlier in the session in order to get their heads down and feed, but this style of fishing remains something so many anglers struggle to understand properly.
To put you on the right track, we asked England international William Raison for his words of wisdom…
1 WHAT’S A GOOD MARGIN PEG? If the wind is warm, I’d always fancy a corner peg with the breeze blowing into it. Cover is also important, as a swim with reeds or lily pads will hold more carp than one with just bare bank.
In terms of depth, I’m looking for 18ins-2ft of water tight into the bank before it gently slopes away to the maximum depth of the lake. 2 IT’S ALL IN THE TIMING To maximise my chances of catching I’ll wait until the early afternoon to fish the margins so I’d spend the first three hours or so of a session fishing the long pole, feeder or waggler.
However, I’ll feed the margins from the word go, initially with six tangerine-sized balls of groundbait packed with sweetcorn and dead red maggots over a tightish area.
3 DON’T LOSE WHAT YOU HOOK! My margin rig is made up of 0.20mm (6lb) Match Winner line fished straight through to a size 14 Gamakatsu Carp barbless hook, finished with purple Hydrolastic in the Power top kit of the pole.
Float is a standard rugby ball shape with a thick bristle – 4x14 size shotted with a bulk of No8s around 8ins from the hook.
The rig is set to be fished an inch overdepth, with 3ft of line between float and pole-tip.
4 PLAYING BIG CARP A hooked carp will instantly bolt off into the lake away from the reeds, so I let it run and then stop, keeping the pole low at all times.
I then unship slowly, breaking down to the top kit and stripping out elastic using a side puller system on the pole.
It’s then a case of gradually easing the fish up on to the surface for netting, but you still need to be prepared for last-minute runs
towards danger. If this happens, drop the pole low and do it all again, releasing the elastic to let the fish run again. .
5 FEEDING AGAIN Once I’ve caught a fish, I’ll try and get another before feeding, but if nothing happens after a few minutes I’ll pot in another ball.
If they respond to that I’ll keep on doing it, feeding after every fish. If you are getting no indications or bites from the swim, more feed is needed.