Paul Garner

The first day of my mini break to Herefordshire to fish the beautiful river Wye coincided with a wet weather front and a quick glance at the river the night before saw it at least sixteen feet high, however we had been expertly informed that it was dropping fast and would be fining down nicely the following morning.

Catching at a quicker rate

As promised it was and everything looked perfect to set up two lines of attack. The first being my new Sphere Silverlite System Whip aimed at fishing 8m to hand in a depth of around 7’ of water. My second line of attack was my trusted Sphere 14’ Match Rod teamed up with a Sphere MgTi 940 reel loaded with 4.5lb Black Magic Gold Mono along with a 4.5g Scott Douglass bolo float that would be run down the inside crease. Both the whip and bolo would be fished on the same line, the whip enabling me to catch at a quicker rate to hand, with the bolo giving me the option to search the bottom of the swim should the fish drop down the peg.

Gauging the response 

Feed would be hemp and caster in generous quantities with a single caster on the hook in an attempt to avoid the millions of bleak that also seem to be thriving in the river. I mixed together two bags of Browning Champion’s Choice River and two bags of Black Magic groundbait but decided not to feed this from the off and gauge the response of the loose feed in an attempt not to attract the bleak.

Searching the peg

I decided to start on the bolo float to search the peg, this was set with a 4g olivette as the bulk with three no8 shot directly under the olivette and two no8 set four inches apart above an eight inch hook length of 0.16mm Cenex Hybrid Power Mono with a size 14 Sphere Match hook finishing the set up. This setup looked and acted perfectly in the crease which was about 8m from the bank. The first hour was hectic with the dace and roach responding to the hemp and caster loose feed, a nice run of quality roach up to 1lb from the inside glide preceded until the flow started to ease with the river continuing to drop.

Far greater control

This marked the time to move on to the 8m whip line which gave me far greater control and enabled me to fish a lighter float of 3g, a slim line pattern was used to enable me to both run through and hold back the float at different intervals to entice a bite. The rig was set at 8m to hand on 0.16mm Hybrid Power Mono to a 0.14mm six inch hook length of the same material and once again a size 14 Sphere Match Hook completing the set up. This was my first outing with the Sphere Silverlite Whip and something I had been rather looking forward to giving a run out for some time. Due to the size and strength of the fish in the Wye I decided to use the hollow top kit and had elasticated the top section with a short length of Browning yellow 2.10mm Stretch 7 Elastic which has a rating of 8+, perfect for both providing a cushion on the strike and enabling me to swing dace up to 8oz to hand.

It’s fair to say the dace were queuing up on this line and the superior presentation that the whip provided enabled me to end the session with over 30lb of prime fit river Wye dace and roach.

Tim Bruce

I run Stretch 7 yellow elastic through the hollow tip of my whip in case of bonus fish.

Sphere Match hooks are perfect as they keep their points no matter how many fish you catch.

Tim’s Tackle

Sphere Silverlite System Whip

3g Float

0.16/0.14mm Cenex Hybrid Mono Line

Sphere size 14 Match Hook

Stretch 7 Elastic

Sphere 14’ Match Rod

Sphere MgTi 940 Reel

4.5g Scott Douglas Bolo Float

4.5lb Black Magic Gold Main Line

4g Olivette

0.16mm Cenex Hybrid Power Hook Length

Sphere size 14 Match Hook

Tim’s Bait

Hemp

Caster

Champion’s Choice Black Magic and River Groundbait

Tim displays his cracking Wye catch of silvers. 

I love the competitive nature of match fishing and the banter on the bank, yet there are times when I need to get away from it all, go back to the days off old and just chill and if I can catch a few fish whilst doing so then all the better.  

In the deep end

Fortunately living in Berkshire I have numerous chalk streams that flow across the county and if you look hard enough you will find the odd free stretch. These are usually clear and shallow and to get the best from them it’s a case of getting my Black Magic thigh waders on and literally getting in! Travelling light with just a float rod, landing net and bucket containing bait and a small amount of spare terminal tackle is all that’s required and as I wade downstream it’s simply a case of introducing some bait, trotting through  a few times, catching some fish before moving on. These free stretches often pass through urban areas, yet by getting in the water you soon forget about the ‘hustle and bustle’ around and drift into a world of your own, right back at one with the natural world around, great for relaxing the mind, if not the body. 

Traditional trotting float

The tackle I take on these short roving sessions consists of my old and trusted Browning 13ft Ultra Light Legend float rod teamed up with a Sphere MgTi 920 reel loaded with 0.14mm Cenex Classic Mono. The rig is kept simple, just a traditional trotting float cocked with a 3g olivette and the hook length, which is created from Cenex 0.13mm Fluoro Carbon, has a single small dropper shot placed on it before finishing it off with a Sphere Match size 16 micro barbed hook. 

A grain or two

Usually all that’s required for bait, especially after the first frosts is a pint of maggots but today I’ve bought along some grains of sweetcorn as its early autumn and the minnows might just be a problem. A bait pouch is also an invaluable piece of kit as it allows me to feed effortlessly as is a disgorger that I hang on a piece of string around my neck and a peaked cap to block out and sunlight. 

The colder, the better

Today’s two hour session has produced plenty of fish including some cracking dace, grayling to over a pound plus one small trout and plenty of minnows that just seem to feed harder the more maggots that are fed so the sweetcorn did come into play in some swims. The bigger fish that move into these urban areas in the depth of winter and still to arrive and this style of fishing will just get better and better the colder it gets. If you want to clear the mind and catch plenty of fish this coming winter then it might be worth looking close to home as many tiny streams can produce more fish than you realise.    

Justin Watkins 

Justin’s Tackle

13’ Ultra Light Legend Float Rod 

Sphere MgTi 920 Reel

Cenex 0.14mm Classic Mono

Cenex 0.13mm Fluoro Carbon Hook Line

Sphere Match size 16 Hook

3g Float

Justin’s Bait

Red & White Maggots

Sweetcorn

Use quality lines and don’t be tempted to fish too light. Fluorocarbon is brilliant for hook lengths in the clear water.

The Method feeder is a brilliant way of catching carp, F1’s and bream all year round. Simple to tie, tangle-free and deadly accurate, this is a set-up that you definitely need in your armoury.

Many commercial fisheries insist that all Method feeder rigs should be free-running, so that if a rig should be lost there is little chance of a fish being left towing a feeder around. Although it might appear that a running Method will create less of a bolt-effect, in practice it works really well and is just as effective as a semi-fixed feeder.

One thing to bear in mind is to use strong hooks and lines when Method feeder fishing. Not only are you likely to encounter some big fish, but constant recasting with loaded feeders can be quite a strain on the main line in particular. Bites are also often very savage, and once again, this will soon reveal any weaknesses in your rigs.

4. Tie on a size 12 Sphere Beast eyed barbless hook using a 12-turn knotless knot.

5. Tie a small figure-of-eight loop knot in the end of the hooklength, which should be around 12-15cm in length. Attach it to the Connector Bead.

6. The finished rig should look like this. You can use a small wafter, boilie, pellet or punched meat on the hair as a hookbait. Load the feeder with Method groundbait or soft pellets.

COMPONENTS

0.20mm Method Mono main line

0.16mm Hybrid Power Hooklength line.

Size 12 Sphere Beast Barbless Eyed Hook

30gram Hydrus Method Feeder

Medium Connector Bead

Hair Stops

Originally Published in English

The middle to lower river Trent is booming at the moment with huge numbers of silver fish to be caught in many areas. One of the great things about the river at the moment is that you can pick and choose your tactics based on the peg that you are fishing. Generally speaking, the more depth and flow that you have close in the better a peg will respond to float tactics, whether that be running a stick float through, fishing a Bolo, or on the pole line that I will be fishing today. I wouldn’t say that todays peg is perfect for the pole, the deepest part of the river is further out, but for a great days fishing you can’t really beat the precision of the pole, and it is just such a lovely way to fish. 

I am on a peg at Burton Joyce today, which is pretty typical of the Trent around Nottingham. The main species to aim for are roach and dace, with a few perch thrown in for good measure. There is also the chance of a bigger bonus fish, particularly chub, but you can’t count on these. The rocky banks slope away quite steeply, and once you get past the weedy margins the depth levels out at about 2.5 metres by 13 metres. I will start off at this distance, as it gives me somewhere to go if the fish start to back off. 

KICK OFF WITH GROUNDBAIT

I am not intending to start on the pole line, but I will introduce a little patch of feed that the fish will hopefully settle over and gain confidence, ready for when I want to use this line. With the hemp fishing in particular, the longer that you can leave the fish to settle the more confident they will be and the more bites you will hit. 

I’ve made up some really dark groundbait using the Champion’s Choice Black Magic and Champion’s Feeder Black Roach mixed 50-50. To being with, I will introduce two decent-sized balls of this mix, laced with some hemp and casters. I’ve compressed the balls fairly hard to get the groundbait down to the bottom before it starts to break up as I want it to act as a focal point in the swim. 

ADJUSTABLE RIGS

I am going to aim to catch fish by slowly running the float down the peg. A good starting pace is about half the speed of the surface, as this helps to keep the hookbait running in front of the line, and better matches the flow close to the bottom. Holding back slightly harder will cause the bait to rise off the bottom slightly and almost stop, often conjuring up an extra bite. 

My rigs are pretty straight forward and are designed to enable me to control the fall of the bait. Floats are a Chianti-style pattern that have a slim profile which cuts through the water perfectly and carry 4×14, split into no.10 shot spaced at 6cm intervals. By breaking up the shot I can adjust the fall of the bait. Bulking the shot up to get the bait down faster, especially if bleak in the upper layers are a problem, or spreading them out to give a more natural presentation. 

The rigs are made up on 0.14mm diameter Cenex Hybrid Power line, to a 0.12mm hooklength, terminating in a size 18 Sphere Match hook. Make sure you bury most of the caster inside the hook as this will bring more bites from the roach, especially when the water is clear. 

For this style of fishing I run solid no.6 elastic through the top kit of my Xitan Z16-L Advance pole. I have fitted a puller kit just in case I hook a bonus fish as this will enable me to tension the elastic quickly, giving me more control. 

BAITS

With roach being my main target on this line I am going to feed a small pinch of caster and hemp twice each run through. Because of the bleak, which can be a right pain on some pegs, I will avoid feeding maggots. The casters sink a little faster, and being dark are less likely to be picked off by the bleak. 

The hemp is an obvious choice for roach, both as a feed, and if the fish get on it later in the session, as a hookbait too. Once the roach are confident on the hemp the average size of the fish will definitely be a bit bigger than with the casters, but it can take a few hours for them to get enough confidence to take it well. Go on to the hemp too early and you will either get less bites, or fat bites that are difficult to hit. 

I have some maggots with me as well, and these will come into play as another change hookbait should the bites on caster slow down. With regular feeding though I would expect the fishing to get better for at least the first couple of hours, before I need to make any changes. 

IT DOESN’T TAKE LONG

This morning I have started on the feeder, fishing half-way across the river, for a couple of hours before dropping back onto the pole line. I have kept feeding the float line the whole time with a pinch of casters and hemp every couple of minutes and I’ve not noticed too many bleak swirling on the surface, which is a good sign. I’ve been busy catching a decent dace almost every cast on the feeder, and it is easy to forget to feed the pole line, when you are as busy as this, but it is essential to keep the bait going in to build up this line. 

I could have stayed on the feeder, but as I am practicing today, I force myself to put the rod down and pick up the pole. First run through, with the rig plumbed to have the bait just tripping along the bottom, the float only moves about a metre before it pulls under confidently. Roach number one is soon in the net – a good start. 

With a slight upstream wind today presentation is pretty good and I am able to edge the float down the peg at whatever speed I choose. Soon I find the area where most of the bites are coming and I slow the rig down a touch when it gets to this spot. The roach vary in size, from a couple of ounces, up to about half a pound, lovely sport, only partially spoilt by a big pike that has taken up residence right in front of me! 

I suspect there could be more predators about, as the bites start to become a bit more sporadic after the first hour, which often happens if there is a big fish down there spooking the roach. The fish have kept coming though and a switch to hemp has made a difference too, with the fish getting noticeably bigger. The bites are really positive too, and despite me fishing with quite a long line on a top-four kit, so that I can run teh rig down the swim, I’m not missing many indications. 

The great thing with the Trent is that you can catch on so many different methods, with each peg being different. I must say though that for a really nice days sport nothing beats running a float through on the pole for me. These tactics will work equally well on other large rivers with a bit of flow too. Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed. 

Tom Noton

Browning Hot Rods

I use a slimline 4×14 float unless the conditions are really blustery, or the flow very strong.

Strung out no.10 shot allow me to adjust the fall of the bait through the water column.

Don’t fish with too short a line. I like to be able to run the float down the peg and search for extra bites.

Tom’s Tackle

Xitan Z16-L Advance Pole

Cenex Hybrid Power 0.14mm rig line

Cenex Hybrid Power 0.12mm hooklength

Sphere Match Size 18 Hook

4×14 Chianti Pole float

Tom’s Bait

Two pints of casters

Two pints of hemp

One pint of maggots

One bag Champion’s Choice Black Magic

One bag of Champion’s Feeder Black Roach

The river Trent has some brilliant silverfish sport.

Originally Published in English

The Champions Method Mussel Green Groundbait has quickly become one of my favourites and I have found it equally effective when used for bream as it is for carp. Like most Method groundbaits, it has quite a high fishmeal content, but also contains mussel additives that fish really love. Let’s take a look at how I mix it to the perfect consistency every time. It’s a good idea to make mixing groundbaoit the first thing you do when you arrive at your peg – by the time you’ve sorted everything else out it should have soaked up enough water and will be ready to fish with.

Whilst you can combine this groundbait with others, I find it works great on its own. A bag of groundbait is ideal for a days Method fishing.

Chris Wright

Once you are happy with the consistency of the groundbait leave it for a minimum of ten minutes and then pour it onto a maggot riddle.

Riddle the groundbait to help break down any lumps and also to further mix the groundbait to a finished consistency.

The finished groundbait binds well, ideal for the Method feeder, and breaks down quickly, releasing those fish-attracting flavours.