Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Keep your loosefeeding under control to catch big
Regulating how many pellets you feed, and how often, is the way to bag-up during early-season sessions, says Zac Brown
WITH the countryside awash with daffodils and mad March hares darting over the fields, spring has very much arrived. Not only is this visible above ground but, below the waterline, the fish are slowly wakening from their winter torpor. And they’re ready to feed. With the river season over now well behind us, spring is a time when anglers turn their attentions to stillwaters. And one of the best baits to use at this time of year is pellets. Because waters are starting to warm, smelly, oily fishmeal pellets are the F1 anglers’ friend. They’re a bait these fish simply adore. But how do you go about fishing with pellets at this time of year? Do you feed a little or loads? Do you feed often or sparsely? Do you loosefeed via pole pot or cup, or use a catapult? These are all important questions that require the correct response and a change of tactics when encountered. To illustrate how to fish with pellets in the spring, we called on the services of Preston Innovations-backed Zac Brown. Fishing on Orchard Place Farm at Paddock Wood, Kent, Zac set about showing us just how easy it is to manage your way to a net brimming with F1s using only a handful of hard pellets…
What pellets to use
The most obvious question is why are pellets such good fish-catchers? Zac told us: “Pellets are one of the best baits you can use when targeting commercial carp and F1s. The main reasons are that many of these fish are stocked from fish farms so they have been raised on pellets since the day they were born. The result is they regard pellets as a natural food source. They’ve eaten pellets most of their lives and instinctively realise the benefits they offer.” Secondly, with the spring sunshine starting to warm up the waters, the F1s are becoming more active. With this increased activity comes the requirement for more food. The more active they are, the more energy they use, the more they need to eat to replace that loss. The mixture of vitamins, proteins and carbohydrates found in carp pellets not only makes them superb bait but also a product that promotes good health, providing them with all of the nutrients that they require. “The difficult side of fishing with pellets is managing the swim correctly, to prevent the fish going into a feeding frenzy,” Zac continued. The way the 33-year-old Crawley rod does this at this time of year is with the use of a catapult. He wants to make a noise when loosefeeding and it is the sound of pellets ‘plinking’ into the water that spurs them to investigate. “Pots are fine when it’s colder, because you can be much more accurate, but unless you sprinkle them from a height, you lack the distinct plink of pellets hitting water,” he said. “Conversely, you don’t want to cup in a load of loosefeed because you could feed too much and ruin the swim before it has started to produce!” For Zac, good fishing is all about peg management. You need a line of fish queueing up to take the bait, but not too many in the swim at once as this leads to foul-hooking.
Light tackle wins the day
F1 fishing early season is best accomplished using terminal tackle that’s as light as possible. This involves a No.10 Preston Innovations Dura Hollo elastic, a 0.13mm (4lb 12oz) Preston’s Powerline mainline, 0.10mm (2lb 10oz) hooklink and a size 20 PR36 hook, set to fish a hair-rigged bait band. He fishes a F1 Maggot 4x14 float into the 5ft swim. This is shotted using a strung-out bulk of seven No.10s so that it is just overshotted. Then, to keep the bristle above water, he dabs the tip into float grease. “With the rig set to fish at dead depth and the grease holding the bristle as a dot on the surface, even the tiniest of bites will be very positive,” explained Zac. Sonubaits Fin Perfect 4mm pellets are used straight-out of the bag. To ensure they all sink when loosefeed, Zac covers them in lake water and immediately pours it off. This removes any grease from the outer skin of the pellets. On the hook he prefers to fish a hard, banded pellet, but this time he uses a 6mm size because it is better presented in the small bait band. “I’m a great believer in matching the hatch when I’m fishing. If I’m feeding pellets, I’ll fish pellet on the hook. The same goes for casters, corn and maggots,” added Zac. When loosefeeding, he likes to start the session slowly, catapulting 6-7 pellets every two minutes until he starts to get a few bites. At this point he will start to experiment with the feed to see what difference, if any, a change actually makes. He may feed 20 pellets every cast or not feed as often. “There is always a pattern on any given day that will get more bites quicker,” he said. “The aim is to get into a rhythm, managing the swim with the number of pellets you feed. Every throw will be a coconut if you get it right. If you miscalculate, the fish will let you know as they won’t bite!”