Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
No features, no problem!
There’s no need to be deterred by shallow, featureless swims. Just follow Graham West’s advice and prepare to fill your net
SET foot on the banks of your favourite fishery and you’ll often get an instant sense as to which pegs to head for. Numerous factors will help you make that decision. Visible features, fish breaking the surface or a deep-water hotspot can all play a part in your thinking. But what if all those assets are absent and you are faced with the task of sussing out a large, featureless, shallow lake when the temperatures are still well below their peak? Your first reaction may be to have a crack at a much more ‘predictable’ fishery, but Brown’s Angling and Preston Innovations-backed Graham West believes a little thought can unlock venues that give little away at first sight. “When you sit down at a peg with no obvious features it can be a little daunting,” admitted Graham. “But that peg could be capable of producing a big net of silverfish. “Get your feeding and tactics right and a peg that didn’t initially inspire could be a winner.”
Look for a ripple
Northamptonshire’s Castle Ashby Fishery is one of Graham’s favourite haunts and Grendon Pond is the ideal place to display how he works out such a conundrum. With 60 pegs that are all 18in to 3ft deep at most and not a single island to prospect, how do you go about picking the right peg? “There is no obvious cover for the fish which you could explore so you need to pay careful attention to how the wind is blowing,” he said. “If the wind is howling in your face you won’t be comfortable and will be unable to present a rig properly. What you want, is a ripple blowing across your peg. “The ripple gives fish confidence to settle and feed. If you are fishing a shallow swim when it is flat calm then the fish will be able to detect the slightest movement such the pole waving over their heads and they’ll soon go elsewhere.”
Stirring the shoals
One of the trickiest elements of fishing shallow and featureless swims is attracting the shoals and then convincing them to stay put. Lose a fish or accidentally allow the pole tip to slap the water on most commercials and you’ll get away with it. Not here though. Such errors can spook every fish in your swim in shallow water. “I start the session by feeding two balls of groundbait as this gives the fish something to home in on and adds flavour and cloud. “I always find that the fish feed better off the deck at this time of year – even in swims which may be less than 2ft deep.” Once that initial feed has gone in, the catapult comes into play on a regular basis, with a constant rain of pinkies keeping the roach, rudd, perch and bonus skimmers coming. Extra groundbait is added only if bites dry up, otherwise Graham will continue to loosefeed, reducing or increasing the amount that goes in depending on whether he is catching well or not.
Clever set-up
Most pole rigs only have a short length of line between the pole tip and float, but Graham insists that an exception must be made for this style of fishing. “Waving the pole directly over the top of where you are fishing will spook fish in a clear and shallow swim so you need to use a much longer length of line between tip and float. “I make my rigs the whole length of a top kit so if the swim is 3ft deep, I will have around 4ft of line between tip and float. “However, it’s important that you maintain a tight line so that you hit every single bite.” Several patterns from the brand new range of Preston Innovations floats are suitable, with a 4x12 F1 Maggot or Chianti sensitive enough to spot every bite. Combine this with 0.11mm mainline to an 0.08mm hooklength and a fine wire size 22 hook and you’ve made an unbeatable rig. Determined to prove just how effective his approach would be at Castle Ashby, Graham invited the cameras to watch him in action. The groundbait went in but he picked up a feeder rod and had a couple of chucks. “I just need to do something for half an hour to let the shoal settle. If I start fishing over it and instantly pick off fish it could cause them to disperse and ruin the day.” As predicted, the tip didn’t budge but that quick spell on the feeder was well worth it as the silvers were waiting when he went for the pole. Finding around 30 inches of water, he started six inches off the deck and was into fish from the off. Whenever the bites stopped, he would tweak his feeding or adjust the depth slightly and that resumed the action. “When you plumb up and find such little water you are likely to panic but if the rest of the lake is a similar depth, you have nothing to fear. “Shallow waters that are full of fish will respond in even the most dire conditions and will often produce big net of spring silvers,” concluded Graham.