Steve Parry

Steve Parry shows how fishing a Hybrid feeder and using a catapult to feed five pellets every few minutes will keep the bites coming

Enjoy the best of both worlds

ASMALL handful of bait will have been enough for a whole session in recent months. Now, at last, it’s time to start ramping up how much you feed.

With water temperatures gradually creeping up, the fish will start to break from their tightly packed shoals to go in search of food.

This means you can reach for the catapult and start pinging in some freebies, safe in the knowledge that spreading the bait a little will no longer have an adverse effect on your results.

Guru’s Steve Parry relishes the opportunity to adopt a more positive attack and has devised a clever way of maximising the number of bites he gets. “The noise of bait entering the water definitely gets the attention of carp at this time of year but their appetite isn’t quite at its peak,’ he says.

“We’re still some way off the point where they quickly hoover up every morsel of bait. Instead, I’m feeding to attract them and then making sure my hookbait is the stand- out choice for them to eat once they arrive,” said Steve.

“I’ve combined the feeding strategy of one style of fishing with a deadly rig from another to enjoy the best of both worlds.”

Blend of two styles

Once the heat of summer arrives, bomb and pellet tactics are deadly. Regularly catapulting pellets creates a carpet of bait for the fish to feed on. Your hookbait will inevitably be taken in no time at all. At this time of year, however, the carp aren’t emptying the swim of freebies. You need a way to make sure the hookbait is one of those that they do go for.

“There is no doubt the rain of pellets going into the swim pulls fish into the peg. They’re starting to feel hungry and the noise triggers their inquisitive nature. Once they arrive they may only eat a proportion of the bait before moving off. If you’ve got hundreds of pellets on the deck and your hookbait is one of them, it really is pot luck as to whether it gets taken,” cautions Steve.

Rather than gamble with bomb and pellet tactics, Steve goes down a different route – the Hybrid feeder.

“It stands out like a sore thumb on the bottom and when fish come over the bed of pellets, the first thing they’ll see is the feeder packed with micro pellets.

“I rarely get line bites and I believe this is because the fish attack the feeder as soon as they come in, rather than mill around.”

“Pinpoint accuracy isn’t as important now. Fish are on the move, picking up food as they cruise around”

Lay on a big spread

Keeping the feed in a tight area has been the name of the game during winter but that rule can now be abandoned.

Instead, laying down a carpet of bait that is spread over an area of a few square metres is the way forward.

“Pinpoint accuracy isn’t as important now as the fish are on the move, picking up food as they cruise around,” says Steve.

“I look to feed five 8mm pellets every couple of minutes. I use this size because they fly out of the catapult with ease and can reach the 30- 40 yards I tend to target.”

There’s no clipping up with the rig either and Steve likes to explore his swim by casting to slightly different spots each time.

“The loosefeed is well spread so there is no need to hit the exact same point every time. I believe the fish can wise up to the trap going in the same place, so putting it in different areas over your loosefed zone definitely makes a positive difference.”

Theory proves correct

When asked by IYCF to show just how deadly his tactics were, Steve suggested that we head to Lancashire’s Rosemary Wood Fishery.

Moss Lake has been in typical winter form until recently, with the big shoals of carp congregating in certain areas and refusing to budge an inch.

They’re now on the move and it seemed like the perfect setting for the demo.

Selecting a peg down the middle of the back bank, Steve cast a mini 24g Hybrid loaded with sticky pellets 30 yards.

The rod went on the rest and Steve picked up the catapult. Five pellets were despatched and he repeated that every couple of minutes.

He cast again after 15 minutes without any action, and the 8mm pellet hookbait was swapped for a coloured wafter.

“If I keep making some noise then I am almost certain it will draw a response. It is just a matter of staying patient and sticking to the steady feeding regime.”