Hello everyone … I’m so excited about being involved with Fishery.co.uk; I had a lot of laughs doing my filming last year and I hope that shows when you watch the upcoming episodes!
On top of the excellent episodes showcasing a very handsome chap’s unbelievable fishing skills, errrr… I’m also going to be writing about various things that I come across whilst fishing … every day, it is hard sometimes you know, but, someone has to do it … me! Woohooooooo!
As I write this it’s actually snowing outside, good old British weather! And that leads me nicely into my first point. Just last week we were experiencing highs of 17 degrees and all of a sudden, the temperature has plummeted to 6 degrees. What I see as a coach and also as a regular match angler, is people stuck on what to do when the temperatures do drop so severely. Basically, this time of year if we have a period of warm weather (which we have had for around 2 weeks) and suddenly it goes cold again, the water will still remain warm enough, so long as it doesn’t remain a constant cold temperature for over a week, the fish will still be feeding very confidently, even if your hands feel cold, I can guarantee the water will be warmer and the fish too.
So, don’t panic and start to go back to winter mode dripping in 2 maggots and 4 micros, or start dobbing bread! Feed, and the fish will come, especially when they start to get ready for spawning. The fish actually need to eat to sustain themselves through the spawning period, so high protein baits like worms, casters and meat all score well this time of year, of course the fish will pretty much eat anything (a bit like myself), but they will actively seek out the higher protein baits. It’s the same when they come out of spawning and when they start to have a feed up for winter, usually beginning of October. I would say that the next few weeks are the best times for getting all snarled up in lovely fishes!
Fish Shallow
My favourite tactics for this time of year (and every other day of the year) is to target the fish shallow. The fish have been in winter mode and lying in that deep cold water for so long that as soon as it starts to get warmer and the days longer, they start to wake up, and the best tactic for big weights of fish is to get them shallow. I always use a MAP 4×8 S2 shallow float for the pole with a nice light elastic, like MAP yellow hollow, and shot the rig with 3 number 11s spaced evenly down the line. Personally I prefer to feed casters and have a worms head on the hook, but pellets, maggots and meat will all catch you plenty of fish. The beauty with worms and casters however is the fact it will catch you everything swimming, you wont miss out on anything, and myself as a match angler I want to be putting fish in the net all the time.
Get on the Pellet Waggler
Another favourite tactic late spring into early summer and autumn is to target the great big carp on open water using the pellet waggler … wow, this tactic can see you put huge weights on the scales. I prefer to feed 4 to 5 8mm pellets first, and then cast my waggler into them, wait 15 to 20 seconds before winding back and repeating the process. I don’t use the big traditional pellet wagglers however, as on some 
waters the big crafty carp have wised up to them, and you miss too many bites. I use Drennan crystal wagglers which are loaded, anything from 2.5g up to 4g is perfect. Use a high-tech 0.20 or 0.22 main line with long long 16 inch 0.20 hooklength, and a strong hook with a band on a hair and put an 8mm pellet through the band; wowsers, I’m getting all giddy thinking about it now! You have to be strict on yourself though and remember to work at it, most of your fish will come on the drop as you feather the waggler perfectly into position!
Anyway, that’s enough from me for now, and hopefully I have given you a few tips and teasers, so until next time, tight lines and hope to see you all soon … snarled up in fishes, oh yeahhh!
