Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Mikey Williams
It’s a feeding strategy that we’ve all heard of. But are we doing it correctly? Guru’s Mikey Williams explains exactly how much and how often we should be feeding
How often is ‘little and often’?
F YOU could only employ one feeding regime on commercials for the rest of your life then ‘little and often’ would be an absolute banker. The steady trickle of bait going through the water column eventually triggers a feeding response as suddenly as if someone had flicked a light switch, especially when silver fish are on the agenda. It’s a phrase all anglers are familiar with. But how often actually is ‘little and often’? Chucking in a small handful of bait every five minutes might seem ample. Or is it? Guru’s Mikey Williams would have fed at least 20 times in that same period. By his own admission, he isn’t happy just to sit and hope for the best. He believes that a regular feeding routine of up to five times a minute is the best way to stimulate fish. “After months of eating very little, silver fish on commercials are now feeding heavily and it’s pretty much impossible to introduce too much bait at this time of year,” he explained. “It might sound over the top but in five hours I’d feed well over 1,000 times! I’ve worked on a few tricks in recent months that make sure I catch lots of big roach, skimmers, ide and chub while also minimising the number of carp and F1s that take my hookbait.”
One bait wonder
When it comes to bait selection it’s an easy decision for Mikey. “Maggots are the only thing you will see on my sidetray because they appeal to literally everything that swims. I’ll take at least five pints, which might sound a lot, but when you aren’t spending a penny on groundbait, pellets or corn, your bait bill isn’t going to be any higher than usual.” At this time of year silver fish will happily feed well off the deck and the best way to keep them high in the water is to feed 20 maggots every 15 seconds. There’s no need for a catapult as Mikey sets up to fish at 6m which can be fed comfortably by hand. “Sticking to that feeding regime for the whole session is vital. If you drop off, even for a few minutes, you’ll notice the bites dry up or the stamp of fish will get much smaller as the bigger ones drift off. “Even when you hook a fish you need to keep feeding. I feed as soon as I hook one, again as it goes in the net and then once more just before I ship out for the next put-in.”
A trio of shallow rigs
When fishing shallow many anglers set up a single rig but because of the way feeding behaviour changes during a session, Mikey sets up three shallow rigs that all offer a slightly different presentation. “The first rig I use is set between 18in and 2ft deep and has a 0.2g Guru AR float. After a period of regular feeding the fish will compete aggressively and keep coming shallower to try and be first to the bait. “Missing bites is a sign that this has happened and at this point I switch to my second rig. This has the same float but in a 0.1g version and the rig is set 10in-12in deep. “On some days the shoal will move up and down the water column rapidly. You’ll catch one just under the surface, another at 2ft deep and then they are back up again! In this scenario a jigga is much better. This is a specialised float where the line runs through the middle. It involves regularly lifting and dropping the line so the hookbait works the water column, covering a lot of space. The float is always in the water and little rattles or the elastic ripping out represent a bite.” All three rigs are made with the same terminal
“The way to keep them up in the water is to feed 20 maggots every 15 seconds”
tackle – 0.17mm Guru N-Gauge mainline to an 0.12mm Guru Pure Fluorocarbon hooklength and a size 16 Guru F1 Pellet hook. Elastic is a softly set Preston Innovations 10 Dura Hollo. F1s and carp will sometimes move in but switching depths to get above or below where they are can help you relocate the silvers. “At times it might seem like the silvers have been bullied away but they are likely to still be around but at a slightly different depth to the carp or F1s are. “If you think silvers are deeper then bulk your shot close to the hooklength to get it down to them quickly, reducing the chance of a carp or F1 snatching it on the way down. If they are shallower, string out the shotting to slow the fall of the hookbait.”
Building up a sweat
A mixed fishery was required to fully showcase Mikey’s tactics and he had somewhere in mind within a split-second. “Redhill Fishery in Monmouth is a fantastic mixed complex and it’s impossible to guess what you’ll catch next on Penny’s Lake.” The three rigs were set up and the baiting regime began from the off, with the first 20 maggots going in by hand just before he shipped out his baited pole rig. In the first five minutes alone Mikey had fed around 20 times, flicking maggots around his target zone each time. Small roach were the first to respond but he knew the bigger ones would soon bully their way in. Sure enough, a series of stunning roach up to 1lb were brought to the net. It wasn’t all plain sailing though, and there were numerous periods where F1s came into the swim and deterred the silvers. Switching rigs, depths and shotting patterns soon helped him relocate silver fish and he ended the session with more than 30lb of quality roach and skimmers. “If I’d have taken a lazy feeding approach I’d have caught a fraction of that as the bigger fish would have had no incentive to come into my peg and compete. Lash in the maggots this month and make shallow silver fish sport look easy,” concluded Mikey.