Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Hallcroft Fishery
When this popular fishery lifted it’s long standing ban on Method feeders, Preston Innovations’ Lee Kerry couldn’t wait to give them a go
Retford, Nottinghamshire
THE bigger a fish gets, the harder it is to fool. After years of living in a venue, it is bound to have been caught dozens – if not hundreds – of times and will have wised up to pretty much every trick in the book. Clever thinking is usually required to give yourself an edge that will trip up these wily specimens. There is, however, one top fishery that is now offering an almost unique opportunity to catch these big carp on arguably the simplest tactic of them all. Nottinghamshire’s Hallcroft Fishery first opened its doors in the early 1990s and received a healthy stocking of small carp. Over the years they have packed on some serious weight and a large proportion of those fish have now reached double-figures. They have also become experts in evading capture. A change in ownership has led to a sudden rule change that could see these more elusive carp trip up time and time again. Using a Method feeder had been prohibited since the fishery first opened but the ban has now been lifted, and Lee Kerry reckons anglers will reap major rewards as a result. “When the Method feeder was created it was without doubt the most devastating tactic on so many venues. In fact, there was often no point fishing anything else,” explained the Preston Innovations and Sonubaits star. “This was because the fish weren’t used to the presentation it provided and when they saw a neat parcel of bait they suspected nothing and sucked the lot up without hesitation. “The fish in Hallcroft think they’ve seen every trick in the book but they haven’t encountered a Method feeder and there is no doubt it is going to be deadly.”
above: A choice of 12ft and 10ft rods covered his casting options during the session
Breaking the mould
Not everyone is a fan of commercial carp fisheries. They are often dismissed as being ‘muddy puddles’ or ‘holes in the ground’. Whatever your view on these venues, you certainly couldn’t level these accusations at Hallcroft. The two main lakes feel more like some kind of reservoir, such is their impressive size. Moat Pool is an absolute beast and can cater for a whopping 190 anglers. There are no islands to target and watercraft is required to work out where the fish will be sitting in such a vast volume of water. It is no exaggeration that a half-hearted approach with little thought put in to it could lead to a blank. Catching is not a certainty like many often assume it is at these commercial fisheries. Bridge is more of the same. It is slightly smaller but can still accomodate more than 80 anglers. And it was this lake which Lee headed for his first ever Hallcroft Method feeder session. Would his theory that the approach would work wonders ring true? It was time to find out...
Searching for space
Although the tactic to be used was never in doubt, Lee still had plenty of groundwork to do to put his feeder close to where the fish were patrolling. “You still have to use your watercraft skills to get in the approximate area where the fish are. Today I’ve selected a peg with a ripple blowing through that is well away from the majority of other anglers. “Big fish spook easily and if lots of feeders are crashing in, they will soon push out to the areas of the lake where there is less commotion.” Selecting a swim on the outer bank with nobody opposite, he decided to fish three different areas. The first would involve casting a 45g feeder with a 12ft 6in Preston Innovations Supera Feeder rod to the far bank close to a vacant platform. His other rod – a 10ft version of the same series – was going to fish down the middle into deeper water and/or down the edge to an empty platform to his left. “It’s been fairly mild recently so I’m pretty sure chucking into the shallow water close to the pegs will be best but the line down the middle gives me a fall-back option.”
Bide your time
The 45g Method was loaded with a blend of dampened micro pellets and Sonubaits Green Fishmeal Pro and cast with pinpoint accuracy to the far bank. But Lee warned an instant response wasn’t a given. “The lake is heavily-stocked but it’s a large volume of water so they could be well away from where I have cast. Regular casting will only spook them so I’m going to leave the feeder in for at least 15 minutes before recasting.” The first cast produced no signs but the second was a different result with a 2lb skimmer coming to the net. A quick look down the middle produced nothing before the margin was fed with a cage feeder to put a bed of pellets and groundbaits out for the fish to discover later in the session. Back to the far bank and what Lee had been hoping for occurred – a big carp snatched at the wafter hookbait. Action time! “The bite wasn’t that aggressive but it rarely is when fishing tight to a far bank because the fish can’t shoot away from you when hooked.” When an England Feeder Team member like Lee hooks a fish on the Method there is only going to be one winner. Indeed, it wasn’t long before he was pushing the net out under an 8lb common. By remaining patient he kept bites coming, with big skimmers and some stunning carp to low doubles going into the keepnet. A late look in the margins also ended in positive fashion, with a brace of lumps falling foul of the Method. “There have been plenty of anglers here today but I haven’t seen many of them catch much while I must have had over 80lb of big carp and skimmers. Permitting the Method feeder at Hallcroft is going to have a massive impact and it should be your first tactic when making choices on your next visit.”