Winning tips
from Ian Chadburn
AN fishing real ISLAND estate terms in – match but is prime what happens match has when an island every to peg fish in to? the
Subtle changes to your attack can still give you an edge.
At Forest Lane Fishery’s Don Lake, near York, most pegs offer an island to have a go at on the feeder – but carp, the target species, can drift in and out of the swim and back away from a feeder landing on their heads.
Leeds matchman Ian Chadburn has a few tricks up his sleeve. It’s not, he says, a case of accurate casting centimetres from the far bank – in fact, quite the opposite can be true, as he was keen to demonstrate for our cameras.
Q
Faced with an island, how close do you cast to it?
IAN CHADBURN: I always start by casting 3ft to 4ft away and work my way closer as the day progresses.
Q
If you begin by dropping a little short, at what time do you go further across?
IC: When the fish back off I’ll put another foot or so on the cast. If this fails, I’dd ass another foot until I eventually end up tight to the island.
Q Does the size of the ledge or any the difference gradient to of where any slope you cast? make IC: Not really. I’d change the size of the feeder and use a lighter quivertip if there was a steep slope off the island to help the feeder grip and not be pulled offline.
I’m using a 20g Guru Method feeder today with a 1oz tip in the rod, but on steeply-sloped venues a 30g feeder with a 0.5g tip will perform miles better. The aim is to achieve only a little tension in the quivertip after casting so that a fish picks
the bait up and feels minimal resistance.
Q
How regular should your casting be? IC: My first cast will be left for five minutes so that I can gauge how many fish are in the swim and how they are responding to the feeder going in over their heads. After this I let the carp dictate matters – it could be I cast every 30 seconds or every four minutes.
Q
What about feeder size and weight?
IC: A 20g Guru Method is ideal for this swim, but if I was underarming a feeder into the margins I’d go for a 30g model, as the marginal slope is a lot steeper. As for the bait capacity of the feeder, summer carp are hungry, so give them a decent helping every cast. A mediumsized feeder is ideal.
Q
How long is the hooklink? Would you ever shorten it?
IC: Always four inches. Any shorter and I find the feeder can actually catch the fish when they are feeding, leading to liners and foul hookers. A 4ins link will give you positive bites.
Q
What are the mainlines, hooklinks and hooks in terms of breaking strain and sizes?
IC: Trusty 6lb Maxima is the mainline, and a hooklink of
0.16mm or 5lb breaking strain is made up of Sensas Feeling Classic New. My preferred hook is a size 16 Kamasan B911 ExtraStrong incorporating a bait band.
Q
You’re fishing the Method.
Would a Hybrid or even a pellet feeder work as well?
IC: In summer I prefer a Method feeder, which allows me to vary the quantity of bait I load on to it. The pellet feeder is better in the spring when fish are beginning to come out of winter mode, while the Hybrid works best in open water when I want to control the way the fish approach the feeder and how they pick the hookbait up.
Q
You don’t use a Method mould – why is this?
IC: I find a mould a bit limiting in terms of being able to alter how much feed goes around the feeder. It’s always the same amount! I also think squeezing the pellets on by hand is quicker. Don’t get me wrong, moulds have their place but they’re just not for me.
Q There’s 4mm pellets also a going mix of around micros the and feeder – why the 4mms?
IC: This is done to give the carp something extra to search around for in the swim. Everyone uses micro pellets so I want to do something a little different to hopefully give
me an edge. The 4mm pellets are covered in water just long enough that they sink, so are effectively quite hard compared to the micros, and will begin to break down in the swim. The micros are overwetted so that they stick to the feeder frame.
Q
Do you ever use groundbait in
with the pellets?
IC: No, because I want the pellets to break down quickly off the feeder and I find that groundbait dries the pellets out, which goes against what I’m trying to achieve. Groundbait will only be considered if the venue I am fishing responds well to paste.
Q
What are the top hookbaits to use?
IC: A hard banded 6mm pellet is hard to beat and allows me to fire the same pellets out over the feeder to get more bites. Wafters and the like can work, and I like Dynamite Baits’ Match Minis or Speedy’s Washters as a change bait, just to see if they can pick out a better fish.
Q If feeder allowed, be better would than an elasticated a running version?
IC: I don’t think that elasticated feeders make much of a difference these days. Modern reels are excellent, and as long as the clutch is set properly, any lunging fish at close range shouldn’t come off.
Q
Does pinging pellets over the
top make a big difference?
IC: It helps to draw fish into the swim from a wider area and only needs four or five 6mm pellets popped in over the top on each cast.
Don’t worry about accuracy – you’re aiming to use the loosefeed to attract fish. It’s what’s around the feeder that will feed them and get the bites!
Q
IC: Can this It can, style a closer but of much fishing? line ever depends work for on whether the fish want to be in the deeper water a couple of rodlengths out. I’d prime this swim for two hours with loosefed pellets or small balls of micros and drop in on it from time to time. If fish are there you should get an instant response.