Winning tricks
from Andy Dyson
THERE are small windows in the fishing year when certain baits rule the roost.
Now that autumn is well and truly here, meat takes over from pellets as one of the best baits that you can have on your side tray on commercial fisheries.
Exactly why a tin of ‘Spam’ proves so prolific when the weather is cooling down is a bit of a mystery, but ask most anglers and they’ll point to that change in temperature as a key reason. The fish do know that the days are shortening and the mercury isn’t climbing as high as it did a few months ago.
As a result, carp and F1s indulge in a big feeding marathon, getting the calories on board ahead of leaner times. Meat offers them exactly what they’re after in terms of fat and proteins to prepare them for the cold.
Be warned, however. There will be a very definite cut-off point for meat to keep catching, and that’s normally when a run of frosts arrive and the water begins to clear.
With luck that’s several weeks away yet, so for the next few weekends you can rely on meat to keep on putting fish in the net.
To show the autumnal pulling power of meat, Maver Midlands man Andy Dyson set about the Meadow Pool at Staffordshire’s Heronbrook Fisheries for the Angling Times cameras, armed with nothing more than two tins of cubed Plumrose. Let’s see how he got on…
WHERE TO FISH
“I’d always have two lines on the go, simply so I can rest one and drop in on the other through the day. With the weather getting cooler, more and more fish will be heading into the deeper water which, on a snake lake such as Meadow, is bang down the middle at around 7m.
“There’s 5ft of water here and my second line is over towards the far bank, but careful consideration goes into deciding exactly where I fish.
“The top of the shelf is too shallow, while the bottom of the slope is a little too deep. Instead, I find a spot around six inches up this slope where the depth is around a foot less than down the middle.
“Many anglers aren’t fans of fishing on the slope itself, but I’m convinced that the fish don’t have to upend to take a bait there. In effect, they can swim in and pick the bait up with the minimum of effort.”
THE SESSION
“You’ll not catch on meat” was the consensus of Heronbrook regulars that Andy spoke to, owing, they reckoned, to the first frosts of the year – but the water and air temperatures were warm.
“We’ll catch,” Andy winked, and 10 minutes after kick-off a 5lb carp was panned from the long pole line.
Dripping in five pieces of meat each time and regularly lifting and laying the rig back in, bites became more and more regular.
All the time, Andy was flicking in a few bits of meat on to the 7m line. After 90 minutes and 15 carp and F1s across, he could resist temptation no longer.
“I wasn’t expecting that long line to be that good – it bodes well for the track”, Andy mused and, sure enough, first drop in snared a big F1.
Plenty more followed, prompting him to show just what effect feeding more bait would have. Even though there were plainly plenty of fish in the peg, doubling the amount of bait going in killed it.
“That’s what I mean about not feeding more,” Andy said. “We’re always thinking one step ahead and about how best we can catch, but with meat in autumn, less is most certainly more!”