HOW TO LOAD A CAGE FEEDER

Always carry a roll of insulating tape when fishing the maggot feeder or a plastic cage. Small strips can be added to the feeder to slow down the rate at which the loosefeed escapes. This can be handy in winter when you want to leave the feeder in place for longer periods but still need the reassurance that some food remains in or around the feeder for when fish finally show up

There are a lot of holes in the side of these feeders to enable groundbait to seep out quickly. Cage feeders are great for releasing a cloud of groundbait on reservoirs to create a column of attraction in the water.

This can be used in a number of different scenarios on both reservoirs and rivers. Pack it with maggots when trying to catch roach and perch, or with hemp and casters which will trickle out slowly for chub and barbel.

You’ll almost certainly have to experiment to find the right hooklength for these feeders on any given day. Buy ready- made rigs or make your own between 12in and 36in

Barbel and chub often inhabit the same swims and they can be caught on the same rig! Hemp and casters used to be the best baits, but the quantity of pellets now fed in running waterways has led to the fish seeing them as their top food source. Find a swim with a decent flow or plenty of cover and this rig will serve you well.

When a shoal of bream need stopping, a cage feeder packed with groundbait will do the job. This style of feeder is great for delivering the big quantities that are often required. Include a sprinkling of loosefeed and you have a meal that slabs will hoover up. Make your hookbait part of it!

When fishing a gravel pit for big roach, bream or tench, bites may be scarce. But when you are called into action you need to land every fish. A helicopter maggot feeder rig is the choice of many top specimen anglers because it is tangle- proof and makes sure the fish hook themselves after engulfing the hookbait.

Remove the cap from the top of the feeder Sprinkle a small amount of loosefeed into your groundbait Fill the feeder to its maximum capacity with maggots Use your finger and thumb to push the loosefeed into the middle of the feeder Push the cap shut to trap the maggots in prior to casting Cap each end of the feeder with a finishing plug of groundbait

HOOKBAIT Cocktail baits work well as they give you the best of two worlds. Corn stands out well while the movement of a worm section will also get spotted quickly HOOKLENGTH Bream can sometimes shy away from the feeder itself, picking up scraps that drift off the main pile of food. Start with a 3ft hooklength of 0.15mm line and shorten that by 6in at a time if you are getting indications but no firm bites BAIT Pack the feeder with a fishmeal groundbait to attract bream. Include chopped worms, corn, casters and maggots to create a dinner plate the fish will graze over FEEDER A plastic cage with plenty of holes enables the groundbait to release quickly. If you want a slower release, try a feeder with fewer holes

BUFFER The feeder is cushioned by the buffer bead and the rig sleeve helps to prevent tangles FEEDER By enlarging the holes of the feeder, 3mm and 4mm pellets will be able to exit easily HOOKLINK The hooklength should be 60cm long so that the hookbait sits close to the loosefeed HOOKBAIT Pre- drilled pellets make attaching a new hookbait quick and easy

TERMINAL TACKLE If you are fishing for big roach, use 6lb mainline, a 0.15mm hooklength and a medium wire size 16 hook HOOKLENGTH A short hooklength of 4in- 6in is sat above the feeder and kept in place by beads either side. It can then spin round freely – hence being called a helicopter rig. This presentation prevents tangles BAIT Maggots leak out of the feeder and hookbait ends up sitting among them. This makes it tricky for the fish to pick out the trap