Margin pole rig

Although Ali doesn’t come from a match fishing background, historically he has generally done well in challenges that involve pole fishing. It is also a method which the guests seem to get to grips with quickly – even if they have never fished before – and it never takes long before they are able to use it proficiently enough to catch fish. Often in these types of challenges it has come down to speed and who can catch the most fish, with bites being plentiful. But there have also been times when honing his tactics have really paid off for Ali and his guests, and that has rarely been more apparent than during a challenge for crucian carp with Tony Bellew. He explained: “Getting bites wasn’t a problem, but the lake was full of small silver bream and roach, and only crucians counted in this challenge, so the team that was able to suss out how to catch them had a big advantage. “Everything changed for us when I spotted some tail patterns right in the margins, and although I didn’t make any major changes to the rig, dropping it just inches from the bank a little way down the margin from where we were sat made all the difference, and we were soon steadily catching our target species. “This was far from an ideal scenario, as we all know that when fish are that close you need to try and be as quiet as possible. But not only did I have a guest who wasn’t used to a pole and dropping in a rig with as little disturbance as possible, and then being careful not to move it around, but we also had a film crew with us who had to move around to get the shots they needed to make the TV show. Luckily, however, the fish didn’t seem to mind too much!” said Ali. Ali’s margin pole rig which he uses in shallow water is constructed from 0.15mm N-Gauge rig line, with a 0.4g float, and size 18 LWG Ready Rig, with the bulk shot around two-thirds depth and a dropper close to the hook.

Ali uses a 0.4g float for fishing in the margins The bulk shot is set at two-thirds depth with a dropper shot close to the hook Baits such as sweetcorn will help to avoid smaller nuisance fish and pick out a better stamp

Ali and Tony (left) caught plenty of fish once they’d found them in the margins