Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
THE MAGGOT PARACHUTE!
Matt Powell explains how hooking your maggots differently can boost your F1 catches
FISHING is all about fine margins.
Use a hooklength that is fractionally too thick or a hook that is a size too big and fewer bites could be on the cards. The same principle applies to your hookbait. Believe it or not, even the way you actually hook it can have a big impact on your success rate.
There seems to be a little debate about how you hook certain offerings, with casters, expanders and worms often attached slightly differently by anglers. But there is little flexibility in the way that maggots are hooked. It is widely accepted that the point pierces the end, allowing the grub to wriggle freely.
It’s time to prepare for a bombshell because Matt Powell reckons we’re all missing a trick
when it comes to hooking maggots for F1s.
“The slower your hookbait falls, the more chance you have of tempting a big F1 into taking it,” explained Matt.
“I’ve started hooking my maggots in a different way so that they sink a fraction slower. It is only a subtle switch, but I am convinced it makes all the difference to the number of bites you get.”
Parachute maggots
F1s are renowned for exploring every inch of the water column at this time of year.
One moment they could be sat on the bottom mulling around and seconds later they have spread throughout the layers to compete for falling loosefeed. With that in mind, a hookbait that falls painfully slowly is always going to give you the best chance of enabling fish to engulf it properly. Matt has fiddled with several elements of his rig to make this happen but he reckons hooking the maggot straight through the middle is the most important move of the lot.
“It creates a bigger surface area horizontally, slowing down the speed of the hookbait as it drops through the column.
“I’ve nicknamed it ‘ the parachute maggot’ because of how it looks once hooked and the effect it provides.
“It will take a second or two longer to get to the deck and in that added time you often get a bite from a big F1.”
“It is only a subtle switch but I am convinced it makes all the difference”
Bagging zones
The sensitivity that can be applied when fishing the pole makes it the perfect partner for the parachute maggot.
Now that the F1 shoals have spread out, you’ll need to fish all over your peg. Matt dedicates three lines to the approach while feeding them ever so slightly differently.
“I’ll start 13m out with a parachute maggot hookbait and cup in a pinch of micro pellets over the top,” he said.
“Pellets tend to provide an instant response before the effect peters out a little.
“In the early stages I expect the majority of the fish to be on the deck so I use a 0.4g float that has a bulk of shot 18in from the hook with two smaller droppers below.
“It speeds the hookbait through the top layers – where I don’t expect any fish to be sat early on – before slowing it down as it comes close to the bottom,” Matt added.
His second line is located 5m out and this is fed by hand from the word go. A steady trickle of bait is introduced, with 10- 20 maggots flung in every few minutes.
“I’ll leave this line for at least 45 minutes and in that time the fish will settle and get used to coming off the deck to intercept loosefeed.
“My rig is completely different and I rely on a 0.2g float with No. 11 shot spread evenly down the rig. This provides a really slow fall that is absolutely deadly once the shoal has dispersed throughout the water column.”
Last of all is a margin set- up that is aimed at producing a run of fish in the final hour. The depth will dictate how it is fed – under 2ft 6in and it is cupped in as the fish are unlikely to come off the deck, over that and it goes in by hand to get the fish exploring the water column.
Silver success
Warmer temperatures have increased the metabolism of F1 stocks at all venues and recent reports at Moorlands Farm suggested the fish are back on the feed. The Worcestershirecomplex has introduced thousands of the species in recent years and Silver Pool is arguably the most heavily populated.
Matt has enjoyed several red- letter days on the lake with parachute maggot tactics and we joined him for a live demo.
Two pints of red maggots and a pint of micros provided the loosefeed, with a small cup of the latter tapped in on the 13m line.
His rig was placed over the top and, as he waited for a bite, the hand feeding of the short line commenced.
Small roach were the first to attack the bait but by keeping the hookbait moving he eventually gained the desired response, with a 2lb F1 soon in the net.
“This line is rarely prolific – it is more about ticking over in the early stages before bagging up short and in the margins later on.”
Four more F1s fell in the opening hour before it was time to look short.
The light float lay on its side and the shotting pattern meant it took an age to sit correctly. Within a minute of the float getting to its final position, Matt picked up the rig and placed it in again.
“I want to keep the hookbait on the move as the majority of the bites come when it is sinking.” It didn’t take long for the first bite to come as the float tip rapidly flew up before the hookbait had even touched down.
Continuously raining in maggots made sure that kind of response occurred on a regular basis and in a couple of hours he placed around 60lb in the nets. Feeding by hand down the edge triggered a similar result, with chunkier F1s to 3lb capping off an action- packed session.
“Forcing my hookbait to sink slowly is a huge part of why I’ve caught so many fish today.
“Using a parachute maggot is just one way of achieving that sluggish fall but there is no doubt in my mind that it makes a huge difference to the end result.”