LESS FEED CAN MEAN MORE FISH CLOSE IN!
Concentrate on just one carp at a time
AT THE height of summer, a successful feeding strategy in the margins can be ‘less is more’.
The best plan is not necessarily to set a trap by piling in regular helpings of feed via a big pole pot and then emptying it with one big carp after another when the times comes to fish the edge.
In shallow water, too much bait equals too many fish, and anyone who fishes commercial waters knows what that means – line bites, missed bites and fish hooked everywhere except in the mouth. Your catch rate drops and the chance of a result has gone.
So what do you do? Surely, cutting back on the feed isn’t the answer? You might think it won’t put enough bait in the swim to keep a pack of big fish happy.
“Surprisingly, it is if you plan on catching one carp at a time rather than thinking too far ahead about where the next five or six fish are coming from.
Rob Wootton is a great believer in this negative margin approach, reasoning that a carp hooked in the mouth every time will mean more weight in the net at the end of a session.
A churning mass of fish in a few feet of water may look exciting, but is no good when it comes to the actual fishing.
“Too much feed can bring too many fish into the swim and result in foul-hookers. My approach is to attract fewer fish, ideally one at a time, so that in theory, when a carp is hooked you are not spooking the other fish that are your next potential hookers,” current Maver Match This champion Rob explained.
“Even a small amount of bait has huge pulling power, so big amounts in big pots aren’t always needed. You’ll be surprised at the response just a small amount of fishmeal can deliver!”
To show off his negative margin approach, Rob pitched up at Leicestershire water Shearsby Valley Lakes, a typical commercial fishery dominated by carp. Shallow margins would prove the ideal testing ground…
NO MORE LINE BITES
“When large quantities of bait are fed in the margins the activity of carp will push the feed all over the swim and you are left without a focus area for them to feed on. My theory is that one fish eats all the bait, is hooked, and then everything is left clean for the next fish to move in.
“I don’t have fish milling about all over the swim, cruising through the line. Instead, I can tap in a small pot of feed, fish over this and not have to suffer liners or end up chasing fish around the peg.”
FISHMEAL ATTRACTION
“Because I’m not introducing big pots of bait, my pole cups stay in the bag and everything is fed via a small Middy Grip Flex pot fixed to the end of the pole. Into this
I can cram around 20 maggots, capped off with a helping of loose groundbait.
“Although it can be slow to begin with, I’ve discovered that once the carp have decided they are willing to feed in the margins, they will be react to the commotion of the pot being emptied and will be on the lookout for the next helping.
“The groundbait mix is 50/50 Dynamite Baits Marine Halibut and Green Swim Stim. This produces a strong fish meal-smelling feed that will pump out a lot of scent in the swim – it’s this that helps get the carp interested. Always feed loose rather than in little balls so that you’ve got a slightly wider spread over which to fish.”
THE PERFECT DEPTH
“It’s reckoned that around 2ft is the ideal depth for a margin swim but frankly I’d have no trouble fishing just 14ins of water, which is the depth I have at Shearsby. As long as the fish are feeding confidently, they’ll move into this sort of depth.
“It’s also advisable to use even the smallest amount of bankside cover in such shallow water, so reeds, lily pads or even a pallet in the next peg are prime real estate. I’d also prefer to fish on a flat bottom rather than a slope, so don’t be in a rush to get fishing – instead, spend time with a plummet and find that flat bottom and ideal depth as close to any features as you can get.”
FISH A LONG LINE
“My margin rig is fairly standard stuff, but one notable feature is the long length of line between float and pole-tip, which allows me to hold the pole over the bank out of the way of the fish. Otherwise, a shadow may be created and fish are bound to be spooked out of the swim.
“You don’t need metres and metres of line – just enough to control the rig properly and keep the pole itself out of the way.
“Float is a robust 4x10 pattern shotted simply with a bulk of No10 Middy Slot Shot just above the 4ins hooklink. Line needs to be robust, so we’re talking 0.18mm diameter for main to an 0.16mm hooklink for snag-free swims, upped to 0.18mm for snag pits! Hook is a no-nonsense barbless carp pattern in a size 16.”
SOFT BAITS ARE BEST
“My favourite margin hookbait is double red maggot, either dead or alive. Although feeding carp will mop up everything that you feed, I find that the rejection rate of soft baits over hard baits such as pellets is nearly always less, even with reasonably hungry carp, so I’d always pick maggots.”
SMALL-FISH TROUBLE
“This negative attack is bettersuited to waters that don’t have a huge population of small fish that will clean up the bait and leave nothing to pull in the carp.
“Even in this situation, though, if the conditions and the time of day are right and the carp are patrolling the margins, the small fish will soon disperse and smaller pots of bait will pay off handsomely.
“It does take a fair bit of faith to think that a tiny pot of feed will work hard enough to get a carp into the peg –but it will!”