Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Floatfishing for skimmers
Bill Reynolds reveals how this party favourite can be used to make perfect hookbaits for bagging up on silvers using traditional waggler tactics
BILL Reynolds senior used to love nothing more than winkling out silver fish on a traditional waggler and maggot attack. Roach and bream were the dominant species in lakes when the 84- year- old first started fishing but the commercial carp fishery explosion has obviously changed all that.
The increase in the number of carp and F1s in our stillwaters has led to most enthusiasts relying heavily on pellets. As a result, the fish have become addicted to feeding on them and that also includes the resident silvers.
This has sadly led to Bill’s once favourite attack losing its effectiveness on many fisheries. But the passionate angler has come up with a solution to keep the waggler and silver fish at the forefront of his approach.
“Bream and skimmers love a soft bait and you won’t catch many of them if you are using hard pellets,” said Bill.
“Many anglers think that using soft pellets on the waggler isn’t achievable because they will come off on the cast but I have found a way of making them work,” he revealed. “It involves an unusual supermarket ingredient, a couple of minute’s preparation and you’re ready to go!”
Jellied pellets
The force generated when casting a waggler is what causes an ultrasoft expander pellet to fly off the hook. With that in mind, toughening it up is key and this is where the supermarket offering comes into the equation.
“Expander pellets are usually pumped with water but I use liquefied jelly instead.
“This adds flavour to the pellets but, more importantly, it makes them firmer, enabling them to remain on the hook while being cast to your chosen spot.”
Boiling hot water is poured over a block of jelly to melt it and the hot liquid is poured into the pellet pump over the expanders.
The pellets are then pumped and, once sunk, they are left in the liquid for an hour. After that they are placed in a food bag and into the fridge overnight to set.
By the morning you have a hookbait that easily slides on to the hook but is noticeably tougher to withstand casting.
Although bream are renowned for feeding on the deck, they actually spend a lot of their time lingering off the bottom during summer.
If your bait bombs past their faces you could be missing out on the action.
“Both your hookbait and loosefeed need to flutter past where the shoal wants to sit. I feed expander pellets that have been pumped normally in water. I could feed hard 4mm or 6mm pellets but, as I said earlier, skimmers love a soft bait.
“If the hookbait was the only soft offering going there is every chance the fish would move off, or at least prove trickier to catch because they won’t be feeding with as much confidence.”
Bill feeds 20 expanders every couple of minutes and always pings a few moments before casting. This makes sure his hookbait falls through the water alongside the loosefeed, making it more difficult for the fish to spot the trap.
Clever floats
If there is any hint of slightly unsettled conditions most anglers will leave the waggler rods in the garage and switch to a feeder.
But chucking a cage or Method doesn’t give the desired presentation and Bill uses a style of float that works wonders if it is windy or towing.
“I use a really long waggler with a slim antennae to combat the wind or tow. As the mainline is connected at the bottom of the float, a long pattern gets the line well below the surface and clear of the tow. My favourite pattern is a Perfect Sensitive waggler.”
These floats are already loaded and adding a few No. 8 shot down the line keeps tension in the line, reducing the number of bites you miss.
A 12ft rod and size 3000 reel loaded with 4lb mainline are at the top of the set- up, working down to an 0.11mm hooklength and a size 18 hook at the business end.
Essex’s Slough House Lake is a typical commercial water, with the regulars piling in pellets to catch carp and catfish.
But it is also full of bream and skimmers and there’s no prizes for guessing what bait they are addicted too! A pouchful of expanders were pinged in at the start before a jelly pellet went on the hook. Chucking 25 yards, he didn’t get a bite within a couple of minutes and reeled in. The pellet was still on the hook, saving time rebaiting.
“A lot of the bites will come either just before or after the hookbait hits the deck so it is important to keep busy.”
It didn’t take long for the skimmers to turn up and fish from a few ounces to 4lb took the bait throughout the day, with one bag of expanders proving enough for both hookbait and loosefeed.
“This is a really simple but effective way of making expanders work on the waggler. Using hard pellets wouldn’t have been anywhere near as prolific,” concluded Bill.