Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Fresh tactics for new F1s – Jamie Hughes
Long-established residents are cunning and hard to catch, but when new fish come in straight from the farm they’ll take pellets with relish, says Jamie Hughes
NO OTHER species causes such widespread division as the F1 hybrid. It’s frowned upon by the purists and those that have a passion for natural waters, yet seen as the saviour of fishing by commercial enthusiasts, whether owners or anglers! Those that criticise them will often refer to the species as ‘dumb fish’ that are ‘easy to catch’. Anyone who targets F1s on a regular basis knows full well that this condemnation is well wide of the truth. They are one of the trickiest fish in stillwaters to catch, developing a cunning ability to spot a hookbait that is behaving unnaturally. Get your tactics wrong and you might catch the odd fish, but you won’t stand a chance of putting together the type of hauls that the top match anglers record each week. But there is an exception to the rule, when F1s are indeed ‘dumb fish’. Newly-stocked fish that have come straight from a fish farm act in a completely different manner to their more established brothers and sisters, and reigning Fish O’Mania champion, Jamie Hughes, knows full well that a rethink is necessary to catch large numbers of them. The Bag’em Matchbaits and MAP-backed angler regularly visits waters with a big head of the species and has two separate approaches – one for big F1s that have been in the lake for several years and a second for fish that have just been stocked. “We are at a time of year when thousands of small F1s will be stocked, and you can put some really big weights together if you fish in the right way,” explained Jamie.
Positive rigs
Big F1s have been caught dozens of times and this leads to them wising up. A trickle of loosefed pellets will fall slowly through the water column and a hookbait that descends at a faster pace will look unnatural and be rejected. To counter this, a strung-out shotting pattern slows the fall and tricks these cagey fish into taking the hookbait. But the rules are completely different for freshly-stocked F1s. “They haven’t gained any sense of danger and will take anything that they associate with food. They tend to sit close to the bottom so you need to get your hookbait down quickly using a bulk of shot 12in from the hook,” explained Jamie. “Small F1s won’t care that the hookbait has bombed into the swim. By getting it down fast you reduce the time it takes to get a bite.” A soft elastic prevents you bumping off these soft-lipped fish. Jamie uses a grade 3-6 MAP Twin Core. Mainline is 0.15mm MAP Power Optex to an 0.10mm hooklength and a size 18 Guru F1 Pellet hook. The fairly thick mainline helps keep a tighter line between pole tip and float.
The only bait you need
Only one bait is required – pellets. “These F1s have come straight from a fish farm and they are fed solely on pellets. That is what they look for when feeding. Maggots and corn will be ignored until they see more of them.” A 2mm or 4mm expander pellet is the perfect hookbait, with micro pellets the best feed. Jamie prefers to feed a small cup after every two fish and will introduce them loose to start with. “If the fish go into a frenzy and I start getting line bites I will add a pinch of groundbait to my pellets to make them into balls,” he advised. “This gets all the bait to the bottom quickly so the fish are concentrated on the deck and not dotted throughout the water column.” His chosen groundbait is Bag’em Matchbaits XP, made of ground expander pellets.
Shoal chasing
Any shallow water in your swim isn’t worth your attention at this time of year because the fish will look for deeper spots where they are more confident to feed. Fishing a few metres off the far bank in around 3ft of water and down the track works on snake lakes, while fishing the long pole on open-water lakes fares best. But fishing the same spot all day won’t keep the bites coming with any regularity. “Once you have caught a few F1s from one area they will spook and bites will dry up. But they won’t move far away,” Jamie reassured. “Placing your rig a few feet away from the original zone in the same depth of water can reinvigorate the session and get your float going under again. “By staying proactive and regularly trying new areas you will keep the bites coming all day long. “A few small F1s can be caught quite easily, but alter your tactics for them and you will put a lot more in the net than the nearest angler to you,” concluded Jamie.