Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Aron Williams
How to attract fish using scent and sound
THE sun is splitting the trees as we turn down the quiet lane that leads to Redhill Fishery. Set among quiet, rolling hills near Monmouth, the venue is an oasis of calm and tranquility. The fishing, however, is not so sedate! The venue is packed with carp and F1s, with summer match weights regularly exceeding two, or even three hundred pounds.
We meet our star for the day, Aron Williams, who greets us with a broad smile before taking us on a quick tour of the venue. At just 27, Aron has crammed a lot into his life so far, being a World Kickboxing Champion, reality TV star, now a successful personal trainer and gym owner in nearby Tredegar.
“Fishing is my first love nowadays. You can have a great five hours sport without getting hurt, which makes it much more fun than kickboxing,” joked Aron.
As with most things that he turns his hand to, it would seem that Aron has been doing rather well. He has half a dozen match wins under his belt this year alone at Redhill Fishery.
“The fishing here really suits me, as it’s all about being aggressive, positive and making the fish come to you,” he explained.
We asked him to talk us through his approach…
Pull them in!
“Although well- stocked venues aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, the thing I like about them is that they tend to be fairly consistent whatever peg you choose to sit on. The fact of the matter is, the fish want and need to feed, so they have to come to you. The anglers who perform best on such waters are the ones who do the best job of attracting the fish, then catching them efficiently.
“As with most densely- packed waters, there is plenty of colour in the water here at Redhill, helped in no small part by the lovely, rich red ground which the venue gets its name from.
Although the fish do have limited visibility – I will come on to how I make the most of this later – I am relying heavily on the use of scent and noise when it comes to pulling the fish into the area.
“There is a but here, though – and it’s a big but. The single biggest problem that you can make for yourself on well- stocked venues is bringing too many fish into your peg at one time. This is when problems with line bites and foul- hookers lead to lost fish, lost tackle and a dream session can soon turn into a nightmare.
“So, the key to my approach is what I like to call controlled attraction. Bringing in just enough fish at any one time to instigate a bite.”
Traditionally, pellets are the main feed of choice on this kind of water. Not only are the fish reared on them, but they are also fed on them by the owner to keep them in prime condition. But they have a downside. The fish have been caught on pellets countless times so, in daylight hours at least, they can be wary of them.
For this reason, Aron has been using a different kind of hook and feed bait – the new Fjuka 2in1.
“This has proved a deadly edge for me, often getting me bites much quicker than I might expect with a pellet on the hook.
“There are three key reasons for this in my mind. Firstly, the smell and flavour of these baits is not only totally unique, but very fast releasing when in the water. Slow release baits are all well and good on days when you expect to have to wait for bites, but when you are looking to catch a lot of fish, you need your bait to get to work fast,” he said.
“Fjuka contains an attractant called Sensate ™ , which is designed to disperse flavour very quickly into the water, through a blend of ultra micronised attractants that actually work up and into the water column.
“A second key property is the weight of the bait. It is heavy, sinks quickly and doesn’t tend to waft up off the bottom. This is crucial on a water like this where you want to keep a bait nailed to the deck to avoid line bites and foul- hookers.
“Thirdly, the colour of the bait. I mentioned earlier the dense, red colour of the water here at Redhill, so if you want your bait to have visual attraction, it needs to be bright and vivid. The Fjuka 2in1 baits are certainly much brighter than the average pellet, and the Fjuka Neeonz are even brighter still.
“I suppose a final plus would be how fast these baits enable you to be. You can simply hook them, and off you go. There’s no banding or lassoing required as with a hard pellet, or shipping back to rebait as you might have to with a soft pellet. They hook easily, and stay put on the shank until a fish is hooked,” he added.
Make some noise!
The other big advantage you can give yourself on coloured, densely- stocked waters is noise. Whether from actually feeding bait, or mimicking the sound of bait entering the water, you can use this to pull fish in. As with hard pellets, Fjuka 2in1 makes a nice ‘ plop’ when it enters the water, which pulls in inquisitive fish.
Feeding by hand can be especially deadly or, if fishing longer on the pole, it can be good to shake in your hookbait from a height out of a pole- mounted pot.
“I then wait a couple of minutes. If no bites are forthcoming, I tap the pole tip on the surface to imitate the sound of more loose offerings going in. This gives all the advantages of the noise of feed entering water, but without the negative of too much bait going into the peg. This is a deadly weapon on its day, but one should always be wary of doing it too much without feeding any bait, as the fish can wise up to it if you don’t keep a rhythm of feed going in,” advises Aron.
Tackle talk
Catching big weights is about having confidence in your gear and being efficient. Aron uses a robust 0.17mm Guru N- Gauge mainline to 0.15mm hooklengths of the same material. He favours a Guru SLWGS hook in a size 14, matched to a 4- 8 Nick Gilbert Microbore Hollow elastic. Shotting is a strung bulk of No. 10s.
You want a strong, robust but also sensitive float with enough bristle to enable you to read what is happening.
“The Nick Gilbert NG XT Finesse ticks all the boxes. These are supplied with either a carbon, glass or wire stem, but I really like the wirestemmed version. Not only are these super stable in the wind but it also sets as your bait is falling through the water, enabling you to really read what is happening.
“Perhaps the most important quality of the float, however, is its nice long bristle. Unlike many anglers, I like to leave a fair bit of this showing, so I can properly read what is happening under the water. If you dot your bristle right down, every line bite and false indication will pull your float under, but if you leave a couple of inches showing, you can distinguish the true bites from everything else.”
The session
Aron starts the day on the long pole, planning to lure the fish back towards him. Catching close should always be the end game when after a big weight, as not only can you be quicker in landing fish you hook and getting back in the water, but also the closer you can catch to the bank, the easier it is to keep the fish on the bottom because they are less likely to rise up close to bankside disturbance.
“I feed a few fishery 4mm pellets, and a few white Fjuka 2in1 baits at 13m, and wait for a response. Needless to say, I am not waiting long! A positive bite sees carp No. 1 on its way in.
“One of the biggest lessons is the importance of not rushing. Catching big weights is all about being smooth. When you hook a fish, take your time and make sure you land it. Have your rollers set low, so you can ship back without jarring, and use a light elastic with a puller kit. This way, the fish will often follow your pole back to the net.”
Fishing in this controlled way, he soon has six F1s, and two carp. Most bites have come a couple of minutes after feeding, but on a couple of occasions when bites haven’t come so quickly, he tapped the water to instigate a response, and this has bought a bite.
All the while, he has been feeding six- 10 pieces of Fjuka 2in1 on a four- metre line every couple of minutes. This will be the bagging line. This shorter swim is yet to be fished but after an hour it’s time for a look. As expected, fish are feeding!
“No need for a pole pot here, I can feed accurately by hand, and the carp and F1s queueing up. One deadly trick is to hook a fish, let it swim out of the peg, then feed, so when you go back in your next fish is waiting.
“I end the short session with 80lb+ in a couple of hours and feeling great after some Welsh spring sunshine.”