Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Dai Gribble urges you to go roving on commercials for better catches
Staying mobile is common practice on rivers. But Dai Gribble says hopping from swim to swim on commercial venues can improve your chances
COMMERCIAL fishery fanatics and natural-water enthusiasts really are completely different breeds of angler. Those who target rivers and canals are constantly on the move, searching each fancied spot with a few exploratory casts before upping sticks and heading elsewhere in search of their next bite. Carrying only the bare essentials to reduce the burden as they trek along the bank a day session could easily end up with several miles having been covered on foot. On the other hand, stillwater anglers often prefer a much more stationary approach. A mountain of tackle is piled on to a barrow before they set their stall out in one swim for the day. This mentality is riddled with potential problems during the winter. Get your swim choice wrong and you are either staring down the barrel of a blank, or will need to summon the energy to haul your tackle elsewhere. So with this in mind, why don’t more pleasure anglers adopt a roving approach when fishing commercials? Admittedly, during the heat of summer when the banks are packed it would be difficult to explore half a dozen swims in a day without aggravating other anglers. But at this time of year, when many fisheries are at their quietest, it is the perfect opportunity to explore numerous potential hotspots during a session. Former Drennan Cup champion Dai Gribble knows the potential commercials have for big fish, but experience has told him that locating them can prove testing. “With so much water to go at it can be tricky to pin down exactly where the shoals of fish are sitting,” he explained. “Many pegs could produce a few silverfish, but if you are after bigger specimens such as perch, carp or even bream and chub then you’ve got to stay mobile and track them down.”
“Placing his worm hookbait over the top of his earlier groundbait bombardment, Dai sat back and stared intently at the bright red tip of his waggler”
Baiting to catch anything
A fine example of a commercial perfectly suited to winter roving is Staffordshire’s Baden Hall. With eight day-ticket waters, you can have a crack at more than 250 pegs. The fishery is only a short drive from Korum-backed Dai’s home, so he has gained extensive knowledge of it over the years. “It’s important to have a rough idea of what is in each lake and which part of the water has been producing sport for other anglers. “If you don’t do your homework, you will find there is too much water to cover and you could waste a lot of time fishing pegs that don’t have the potential to produce the catches you are hoping for,” he cautioned. Although Baden Hall is renowned for its big carp, it has so much more to offer. Most lakes on the complex contain healthy numbers of species such as perch, bream, chub, barbel and roach. Dai will pinpoint five or six swims for each session, taking around an hour to feed them all at the beginning of the trip to give him the best possible chance of an immediate bite when he finally gets around to fishing. At this time of year, he is happy to get bites from quality fish of all species and that is reflected in what he feeds into his swims. “I always use baits that will appeal to a wide variety of species and a dark groundbait that adds colour to what is likely to be clear water to give the fish confidence to feed. My favoured mix is a blend of Sonubaits Super Crumb Lake and Natural Worm Attractant. “I’ll introduce three or four orange-sized balls of groundbait packed with dead maggots, casters and chopped worms into each swim.” Baiting up close to any features such as overhanging trees is best, although dropping in a few balls at around 5m to 7m out on noted pegs is also worthwhile. This will leave a carpet of feed at the bottom of any ledge or slope that are often patrol routes for shoals of fish.
Travelling light
If you are hopping swims, you need to take a minimal amount of kit. There’s no room for a bulky seat-box or cumbersome rod bag. A rod, landing net, lightweight chair and a small carryall packed with bait and terminal tackle is all that’s required. “A fairly light waggler set-up is all you need as most of the spots that you fancy will have nearside features so big casts aren’t necessary.” With the huge array of species on offer at Baden Hall, Dai has many options of where to start. But Dam Pool was his first port of call having also baited up several spots on Lodge and Middle Pools. The crisp winter air was doing its best to give us both a shiver and only a handful of anglers had braved the elements on this trio of pools. All of them had set up a bivvy and three rods, effectively chucking all their eggs in one basket. Placing his worm hookbait over the top of his earlier groundbait bombardment, Dai sat back and stared intently at the bright red tip of his waggler. Several casts later, nothing had happened so he picked up his kit – taking only a matter of seconds – and headed to another baited spot. Moving was effortless. The fact that he had already baited other spots gave him confidence that he could be on to a winner in the next swim. However, the first three swims failed to produce. A move to Middle Pool, however, finally paid dividends, with a chunky perch of around 1lb 8oz coming to the net. A few silvers took the bait to keep the adrenaline running, before another stripey of a similar size showed up and marked the end of a prolific little period. “This is the beauty of fishing like this – I can catch what is there and move on to be in with a chance of instant bites because the new swim will have not suffered any disruption.” Working his way through seven different swims – and revisiting many of them – Dai finished the day with around 10 perch to over 2lb, numerous roach, skimmers and even a solitary chub. “Modern commercials have a wide range of pools and there are likely to be dozens of pegs vacant at this time of year. Take a lesson from river angler’s and keep mobile on your next trip to a commercial. The chances of a blank will reduce and you may find some very impressive fish,” concluded Dai.
How to fish Baden Hall
Baden Hall is a day-ticket fishery located close to Eccleshall in Staffordshire. It is home to eight waters that are suitable for roving, with three other lakes dedicated to carp to over 50lb. A variety of species are onsite, including carp, roach, bream, tench and barbel. Day tickets are £10 for one rod and more details can be obtained by calling 01785 850313.