Shallow up for winter redfins – Ben Fisk

Matrix’s Ben Fisk demonstrates how quality roach can be caught just inches below the surface with some clever loosefeeding tactics

Pole fishing up-in-the-water is a method reserved for those boiling hot days of summer, right? For carp and F1s I’d say yes. But there’s one species that is happy to feed in the upper layers of a lake regardless of the season – roach. I’ve had some brilliant days with silver species by fishing just a couple of feet deep in December, January and February, even when fisheries have been frozen in the morning! It’s possible to get quality fish competing in as little as 18in deep with a little thought put into rig construction and feeding. Roach respond to loosefeeding livebaits by catapult so that’s all I set out to do. I won’t put in any groundbait because I don’t intend to fish on the bottom. If I was fishing for skimmers which prefer to feed on the deck in winter, then it would be a different story. likewise, I won’t cup in any bait either. loosefeeding is so effective because it draws in fish from a wide area and the spread bait enables more of them to feed, as opposed to keeping everything tight with a small pole cup. I simply start as I mean to go on, and that’s by picking up the catapult from the off. There are only two baits to consider for this game and those are maggots and casters. Maggots guarantee bites but casters will pick out the bigger fish. When it’s really cold, however, or the fishing is harder, casters don’t always work but it’s always worth taking a few pints. I tend to buy white maggots nowadays but I usually always fish with reds on the hook, especially up-in-the-water. I think they act as more of a target hookbait, especially when the only other maggots going into the peg are light coloured.

Use a soft elastic to avoid bumping fish off the hook