THIS WEEK: Refine your feeder tactics and catch more silvers
MODERN-DAY feeder fishing is far removed from even 10 years ago.
Advancements in tackle, bait and anglers’ understanding of how the fish react make this tactic every bit as complex as running a waggler down a river or coaxing out shy-biting roach on the pole.
The two-day Preston Innovations FeederMasters final at Bough Beech Reservoir was a prime example, with anglers having to fish for both skimmers and smaller roach. Here, winner Adam Wakelin reveals how he did it by keeping busy…
SPODDING “Spodding is a big development in feeder fishing, using a large baiting up or ‘bosher’ feeder, as I call it, to pile in a lot of feed in one go. I took a dedicated spod rod and a big pit reel loaded with spod braid.
“I put in four litres of bait in 15 minutes – Ringer Baits Natural and Dark groundbait plus corn and micro pellets. The idea was to pull the bream and skimmers into the peg and to keep them there.”
TOP HOOKBAITS “Four or five dead maggots and hair-rigged corn were best on Saturday, whereas on Sunday I dropped right back to three maggots or a couple of redworms.
“On the short line, single maggot was best for the roach.”
WHAT GOES IN THE FEEDER “This was very different on each day because of the size of fish I was after. On day one I had my best chance of a weight from the natural bank, and there had been a lot of perch about, so I decided to feed corn and micro pellets.
“On day two, perch were fewer and the skimmers smaller. This meant changing to a classic bream feed of chopped worm, casters and dead maggots.”