RINGER TO THE RESCUE Steve shows you how to catch in the margins on a feeder

Champion angler Steve takes an in-depth look at your angling problems

THE ANSWER to this is ‘yes’. Fishing a feeder in the margins is a highly effective yet massively neglected tactic on commercials, where we all tend to be a bit obsessed with fishing the pole.

The main advantage of a feeder is that you pretty much eliminate the chances of foul hooking fish. Line bites can still be an issue, but the difference is that they’re easy to read, and you only have to pick the rod up when you know there is definitely a carp on!

The right tackle choices

Short rods make edge fishing easier, so I’d opt for a softactioned 10ft model. The soft action is important for absorbing the first run of a big carp when fishing at such short range. A stiffer rod runs the risk of a broken hooklength in those first few seconds after picking the rod up.

Mainline is 8lb Pulse Pro, which sounds heavy, but there’s no point in fishing lighter when targeting carp in the edge.

Feeder choice can be baffling, but it’s relatively simple. I love a 28g large Hybrid for edge work. It’s big and carries plenty of bait, which is crucial when edge fishing. That isn’t to say a Method feeder won’t work, because it will – it all comes down to confidence and I prefer the tighter bait presentation that a Hybrid feeder offers.

It’s worth mentioning the weight of the feeder too. It’s important that you use a feeder that’s heavy enough to stay put when there are a number of large carp in the swim. Go too light and they’ll easily knock it out of the way or waft it clear of where you want to be fishing.

Match hooks to baits

Hooklengths for what I’d call good-sized carp (fish in the 6lb to 10lb bracket) are 4ins of 0.19mm N-Gauge, hook choice depending on hookbait. If you’re using wafters then it’s a size 10 or 12 QM1, but for dead maggots it’s a size 12 Kaizen.

Is a feeder a good option for catching fish in the margins? Paul Winnalls, Birmingham

You have to bear in mind that if I’m fishing maggots it’ll be a big bunch, say four to six of them on the hook.

For bait, you have the option of either pellets or groundbait, or even a mixture of the two. At the moment while the water is still a little cool, I’d always opt for pellets on their own or perhaps pellets with a couple of handfuls of groundbait.

Once the water properly warms up, then groundbait becomes my No1 option because margin carp just love it.

Priming the peg

In terms of feeding the swim you have two choices. You can actually feed the edge with a pole as you would normally, and just drop the feeder over the top, or you can use a big Bait Up feeder to set the swim up quickly. If using the Bait Up feeder I’d kick the swim off with six to eight loads and then top up to bites after that.

What you feed is entirely up to you, but pellets and corn are good safe options with the weather the way it’s been.

If I feed corn I like to fish a 6mm yellow wafter over the top because it looks just like corn to a feeding carp. I’d only fish maggots on the hook if I was feeding maggots too.

Escape a liner nightmare

Where to fish is also worth a mention because I had a really good experience of this in the recent Golden Rod final at Larford Lakes. I drew on the Match Lake and fished around 10m down the bank. This worked really well to start with, but eventually I ended up with a lot of carp in my swim, and line bites became an issue.

Some of the liners were so big that they were moving my feeder. It was a bit of a nightmare, and after 15 fishless minutes watching my tip go back and forth with no proper bites, I knew I needed to change something.

I started a new line 3m down the bank, my theory being that less line in the water would mean fewer line bites. I also fished on the near edge of my feed so that my mainline wasn’t running through the bait.

It worked a treat and I caught three double-figure carp in the last 15 minutes of the match to finish with a flourish. This only really works well when there are a lot of fish in the edge. If there’s just the odd carp coming in then fishing a bit further away tends to work because the carp feed more confidently.

Be accurate

Because you’re fishing at such short range, clipping up is pretty much impossible.

Accuracy is important, though, and this is where a line marker pen comes into its own. Instead of using the clip I simply use the pen to mark the mainline at the required distance. I then stop the line with my finger as soon as I see the marked section of mainline leave the spool of the reel.

By using the pen, I can ensure that I’m fishing in the same spot every cast without the risks entailed by using a line clip.

“Feeder choice can be baffling, but it’s relatively simple. Use a Hybrid”