Fish Better with Des Shipp

Brush up on key angling skills with England International Des, to put more fish on the bank

River feeder fishing

THIS MONTH: FEEDER FISHING ON RIVERS

OUR river systems are absolutely teeming with big fish and the feeder is without doubt the best way to get amongst them.

Whether you fancy banking bream, barbel or chub, there is every chance a venue can be found close to home.

Most of these hefty specimens have been present in the waterway for years and they have wised up to angling trickery.

In order to force them to slip up it is important to get your bait and tactics spot on and this month I reveal five top tips to bagging up on rivers with the feeder.

ROD REST POSITION

Have your rod rest on a 45- degree angle. Imagine your swim as a clockface with 12 o’clock in front of you and point the rod at 1 o’clock ( 11 o’clock if the flow is going to the left). This combination makes sure most fish hook themselves

FORM A BOW

Allow the feeder to hit the bottom after casting and then peel 5m of line off the reel. This creates a bow which takes pressure off the feeder in the flow and helps it stay put

GOLDEN HOUR

It is important to build up a bed of bait in the first hour to help concentrate the shoal. Cast every five minutes regardless of how many bites you are getting. Maintain this rate if you are catching, reducing frequency to 10 minutes if the first hour proves slow

HOOKLENGTH CHOICES

I tie all my river feeder hooklengths at 3ft. I start fishing with my hooklength this long but if I am missing bites I will cut it down by a foot as the fish are likely to be closer to the feeder itself

TIP SELECTION

Reading the rod tip is vital if you want to register bites. Your target fish may be big but they won’t necessarily rip the rod off the rest. A 2oz tip won’t be affected by the flow in all but the worst conditions and will only move when you get indications or a bite from a fish

THERE are still many anglers who view the feeder as a ‘ chuck it and chance it’ tactic but it is much more than that. The intricacies of the rig are likely to have an impact on your results, with feeder choice and how it delivers the bait certain to make or break proceedings.

Carrying lots of different styles isn’t the way forward and no matter what venue I fish or in what conditions, one of the five highlighted here will do me proud.