IF YOU TRY ONE THING Double up for silvers – try Darren Cox’s two-pronged approach
Darren Cox explains why two lines are all you need to bag up on commercials
COMMERCIALS are as popular now as they’ve ever been, but anglers now want something a little different from them.
The days of wishing to catch nothing but carp and F1s are long gone for the majority, with mixed bags now a much more appealing prospect.
With that in mind, a growing number of fisheries have dedicated pools specifically for silverfish, and the move has been widely welcomed.
A whole host of species are likely to be on offer, with quality roach, bream, tench, chub and barbel a possibility on most of these waters.
But as with every style of fishing, there’s a knack to having a red-letter day, and I’ve worked out a simple yet deadly approach that’ll keep bites coming from start to finish.
Two-line attack
The finesse and accuracy of the pole makes it my No1 choice for this type of water.
My starting swim is just 4m out, and this is a real ‘catch everything with fins’ zone. Casters are the only bait I will use here. Regular feeding is the key, so I’ll introduce around 10 shells every 30 seconds by hand.
I’ll have rigs to catch on the deck and up in the water and more often than not I’ll have early success on the deck before the shoals rise.
Feeding a little more, trying a double hookbait instead of a single, and making changes to the shotting pattern can all help to improve the stamp of fish you are catching.
My second line is pencilled in at around 10m out. Bigger bonus fish such as bream and tench, that will feed on the deck, are the main focus here.
A couple of big balls of groundbait laced with corn, micro pellets, chopped worm and caster go in at the start. My favourite mix is Mainline Match
Green Supreme, with a small handful of Tom Thick Black added for good measure.
I’ll give this line a go a couple of times an hour, but only for short periods. If the fish are there, you’ll get a quick bite.
It might only produce a couple of runs of fish all day but, when the float goes under, you can feel confident that the fish will be of a better quality than the average stamp on the caster line.
Hit every bite
Several species of silverfish – particularly roach – can hit the hookbait at lightning pace.
They can snatch at it, suss out what’s going on and drop it before you’ve even had the chance to strike.
But setting your rig up appropriately can reduce the number of times this will happen when fishing shallow on the short pole line.
I use a reasonably long length of line between the pole-tip and float, as this allows me to swing a decent percentage of the smaller stamp fish to hand when using just a top kit and a No4 section.
Around 3ft of line is a good starting point, but it is really important you maintain a tight line between tip and float.
Place a couple of No8 backshot around 12ins from the poletip and allow these to sit underwater when fishing.
This won’t affect how the float sits but it will keep everything tight. When the float goes under you’ll be in touch with the float the second you strike, leading to more bites being converted.
Give these tactics a crack this week on a silverfish-dominated water and you’ll constantly be on your toes guessing what will take the bait next.