IS meat any good In the cold?
Q Does meat have any uses in cold water, or am I better off waiting until the spring before I use it again? Frank Kline, via email
Steve says: Meat can still be a good hookbait option in the cold, but rarely would I consider actually feeding it. As a hookbait, there are two ways in which I like to fish it. The first is to present a 6mm cube over the top of corn or pellet on the pole. For some reason this is an approach that seems to pick up a bigger stamp of fish.
The second is to fish punched meat on the bomb or even Hybrid feeder. The beauty of meat is that it takes flavour really well. So rather than fishing a plain piece of punched meat I will flavour it to boost attraction.
Flavours that work really well are Dynamite The Source, Ringer’s Red and Mainline’s Activ8. All have caught me a lot of carp in the cold.
When fishing punched meat, I always find that 8mm and 10mm sections are the safest bet.
Q What’s better for catching bream – fishing overdepth or just off the bottom? danny Frost, hull
Steve says: I think the answer here is to try to catch bream how they want to be caught. Fishing a lot of line on the bottom is very old school but it can work. Normally I’d fish like this when I’m sat waiting for just two or three bites with a big bait such as a worm.
Bream are most often caught, though, by just fishing normally – with an inch or two of line on the bottom. There are days where you can catch bream up in the water too.
What I’m trying to say is, be versatile and adapt to how the bream are feeding on the day. All three tactics mentioned above will work, providing they are used at the right time.
Q I’m always left with a bit of elastic hanging out of the pole. Would lubricant help? Jem harrison, dagenham
Steve says: Before elasticating your pole, always pre-stretch your elastic. Once that’s done, I set the elastic ‘pingy’, rather than slack, because after a bit of use elastic will always relax a little.
Lubricants can help in terms of making sure the elastic runs smoothly as opposed to helping with tension. If you feel the elastic is set correctly then trying a decent lubricant such as the Drennan brand is well worth a try. You might need to reapply this a couple of times during the session to keep things running smoothly. Some say water is as good a lubricant as any, and that dipping the pole-tip under the water and pulling the elastic will get it moving as it should.