RINGER TO THE RESCUE Steve shows you how to get more action on the pellet waggler
THIS is a tricky one, but I think the answer is that you have to let the fish tell you.
For instance, if there are no signs of fish in the upper layers and you are getting absolutely no indications on the float then clearly there is little point sitting on the pellet waggler catching nothing.
On the other hand, if you can see fish but you aren’t catching any, then it’s all about trying to work out why.
Obviously some carp are in the area and at the right depths so what to do next?
The right depth
The first thing to consider is depth. Normally, when pellet waggler fishing I will set two rods up, one to fish deep and one to fish shallow. The shallow set-up is to fish 12ins-2ft deep and float choice for this is a Guru foam pellet waggler.
What I like about foam wagglers is that they sit really quickly after casting, so you are fishing as soon as the float hits the water. Bites on the pellet waggler can come instantly when fishing really shallow, so choosing the right float is very important.
When fishing deeper, at say 3ft-plus, I’ll use a Guru loaded balsa waggler. These are longer and lend themselves perfectly to fishing that little bit deeper.
Being loaded and made of
“It’s easy to waste time fishing a tactic that’s not right on the day”
balsa, they sit a little bit better and are very stable, which is important when you might be waiting for bites.
Starting off
So, let’s imagine you can see a few carp but you aren’t getting any signs at all. The first thing I will do here is to fish deep, so if it’s 6ft deep I’ll try 3ft. This way I’m covering plenty of water and if there are fish feeding in my loosefeed I should get indications. It’s no good fishing 12ins deep, catching nothing and getting no signs either.
By fishing deeper, I can learn a lot more because I’m covering more water. If I start to get a few indications, then at least I know there are fish feeding in the swim. I can then try and turn these indications into bites by playing around with the depth and chopping and changing my hookbaits.
Loosefeeding
Feeding is also well worth a mention. If you aren’t getting any signs, it could be because you are feeding too heavily and pushing the fish down in the water. If there aren’t loads of fish there, and you feed heavily, the fish will drop down in the water as they don’t have to compete for the loose offerings.
If I’m not getting any signs, I like to feed more often but with just three to four pellets at a time. My thinking is that by feeding more often I am making more fish-attracting noise.
At the same time, three or four pellets isn’t a lot of bait, so any fish I do pull into the swim should stay high in the water.
On the hook
Hookbait choice can also be important. I will always kick off by matching the hatch, so to speak. In fishing terms that means having the same on the hair as what I’m feeding. If the fish are mopping up the loosefeed it makes sense to have the same on the hook.
It can, however, be worth having a couple of change baits with you. I like to have some 6mm hard pellets and also a tub of wafters. When feeding 8mm hard pellets, sometimes a 6mm will get bites when it’s a struggle on an 8mm.
Don’t ask me why this is, as I’m not sure, but it’s happened too many times to be a coincidence. Equally, a wafter is worth a cast as it sinks a lot more slowly. This can often pick up a bonus fish or two.
Cast past the feed
Another little trick I use if the going is tough is to try fishing at the back of the feed. Wary carp will often come to the noise of pellets going in but will then sit behind the loosefeed, just picking off the odd pellet.
For this reason I always have a few casts just past my feed area. It’s surprising how many times you can catch past your loosefeed but not on it.
Keep busy!
Finally, when fishing the pellet waggler, the secret to success is to keep busy and try to make your hookbait behave as naturally as possible.
Casting out and firing bait at the float rarely works. Instead it’s all about regular casting, twitching and feeding. This way your hookbait is constantly rising and falling in the water amid the loose offerings. To any carp feeding it appears perfectly natural and it’s far more likely that a fish will make a mistake and suck your hookbait in.
Going back to the question, in a match situation 10 minutes on the waggler without any signs is enough for me to pick something else up. If you aren’t careful it’s really easy to waste time fishing something that isn’t right on the day or, for one reason or another, isn’t right for your peg. It might be the wind, or it might be that there just aren’t enough fish in front of you to make the waggler work.
If you are getting indications, however, then follow some of the tips I’ve given and you should be able to nick enough bites to stay on it and make it work.