THE RESULT
“Swapping to a cage feeder creates a cloud of
bait through the water column, which should
help to draw fish in and down to the bed of
feed I’ve already got going in,” Simon tells us.
Unfortunately, after what seems to be a
positive start, the feeder looks to be a dead
end, so he quickly changes tactics, calling his
pole lines into operation.
Starting off short at 6m, his target is roach,
which are more likely to be in the shallower
water closer in. A quick put-in with single
is switching lines after just a couple of fish.
“My 14m line is in around nine feet of water
so I’m fishing an olivette rig under a 1.5g
round-bodied DC18 float,” says Simon as he
ships out. “This will get the bait down quickly
to where the skimmers are feeding and give
me good stability and bite indication.”
Almost as soon as the single 6mm expander
and size 16 Kamasan 911 F1 hook hit
the deck the float goes. A quick lift of his
Garbolino M1 pole and a better fish is on, the
Simon work
ed hard
today, rotati
ng lines,
gently feed
ing cagey fi
sh
and finally
getting into
a
rhythm tha
t saw him ta
ke
an impressiv
e weight of
nearly 20lb
. This came
mainly from
the 6m line
with some c
racking roa
ch
and big per
ch, while th
e
14m line ga
ve a numbe
r of
small skimm
ers late on.
The
pole was by
far the mos
t
productive
method.
SIMON’S TIP BITE TACTIC
When you’re feeder fishing you’re looking for steady, consistent
movements on the tip. Whether that’s a pull or a drop back, if it’s
steady then it’s going to be a fish on the bait. Dings and sharp
knocks will be liners or fish nicking the feeder.
caster on the hook and a pinch of casters
flicked in by hand reveals that his thinking is
correct and a plump fish is soon in the net.
Simon’s rig for this swim uses a strung-out
shotting pattern to deliver a slower hook-bait
descent through the swim. A few more putins though and it’s clear the fish are on the
bottom, leading Simon to swap to a bulk rig
and get the bait down to them.
With roach bites sometimes being little
more than gentle sighs on the hook, Simon
wants his bite indication to be as sensitive
as possible. To achieve this he uses a slightly
overshotted 0.4g slim-bodied float and then
greases the tip. This sees just a pimple left on
the surface, which dips at the merest touch.
The silvers are cagey today, meaning Simon
doubled-up No4 elastic doing its job well.
“I’ve been experimenting with doubled-up
elastic and found the power delivery is much
smoother. It’s soft on the strike but the more
that comes out, the more power you get,”
smiles Simon as he nets the skimmer.
Much like the roach swim, Simon has a
couple of other fish from the 14m line before
it goes quiet. However, a pinch of pellets
potted in soon has them moving again.
“It