IF YOU TRY ONE THING Give your baits some movement to bag up on rivers
In low-water conditions, a moving bait can be deadly, says Darran Goulder...
IT CAN be all too tempting when fishing for chub and barbel in summer to simply lob out a feeder then sit back to wait for the tip to wrap round.
Of course, there are days when this approach works well, but when the water is low and clear it can make for an unproductive – not to mention quite boring – day on the bank.
Under such conditions the fish can be listless, and wary of end tackle, leading to static baits often being ignored.
A great way to inject some life into the day is to offer them a moving bait, trundling down the flow. This can alter the mindset of the fish which, keen to not let the free meal pass them by, will readily accept it.
Rolling meat, as it’s known, couldn’t be simpler. All you need is a large hook, a few weights and a small bag of luncheon meat chunks.
I faced this scenario a couple of weeks ago on the River Wye. After an unproductive morning fishing a sluggish area on the feeder, I grabbed a spare rod and went in search of a spot where the flow was quicker. I found what I was looking for on a shallow stretch downstream.
Most of the river at this point was 2ft deep, but where the flow ran under trees close to the bank it dropped to 6ft for a run of about 100 yards. There was a lovely crease showing where the shallows met the deeps, and it simply screamed ‘fish!’
First job was to introduce a few chunks of meat into the head of the run to prime the swim, before tying a strong size 4 hook the end of my braided mainline, then pinching several SSG a few inches above it. All that remained was to impale a large chunk of meat on the hook and flick it into the flow.
By gently lifting the rod every five seconds or so I inched the bait down the flow and into the back eddy against the bank, before lifting and dropping the bait again to send it trundling under the trees. I was able to work the entire swim in the subtlest manner, and bites were not long in coming. They were often savage affairs too, as a procession of chunky chub took advantage of the free meals being delivered to their door!
It’s a tactic that will work on any river, and which really comes into its own in the dog days of high summer. You can experiment with baits and also the amount of weight needed to edge the bait through the swim.
It’s mega-simple stuff, and incredibly exciting. So, next time you’re sat behind a motionless feeder rod, grab the trundling gear and go in search of the flow instead!