FREE! CUT OUT & KEEP
Essential set-ups that every angler needs in their armoury! PART 1 FEEDER RIGS: CAGE FEEDER / MAGGOT FEEDER / RIVER FEEDER / METHOD FEEDER
12 T O C O L L E C T
WIN
Daiwa N’ZON feeder fishing kit WORTH £800
Secrets to catching big roach Star angler reveals how you can pick out the biggest fish in a shoal
Ways to maximise your big-carp bites
The bait that never falls off
Give this confidence boosting offering a try when chasing chub
ISSUE 387 March 8 – April 5, 2022 £4.30
Use these and watch your catch rate soar!
PLUS LEARN HOW TO TIE A LEGER RIG FOR PERCH
FISHERY FOCUS THE UK’S MOST IN-FORM LAKE!
This month... Issue 387 March 8 – April 5, 2022
Fishery Focus 8
Earlswood Lakes
14
Raker Lakes
24
West Midlands
North Yorkshire 8
Tactics 24
30
35 40
Jamie Hughes
Blast in casters for big stillwater roach
Steve Parry
Bag up from the neglected areas on snake lakes
Tom Knight
Spinning for canal perch
Damian Green
Hair-rigging maggots on the bomb 44 47
52
58 4 IYCF | Issue 387
56
Quick fix
How to prepare micro pellets
58
Kristian Jones
Hook, feed and repeat with maggots for F1s
62
Darren Clarke
The chub bait that never falls off
66
Darren Massey
Trigger the tastebuds of canal perch
Fish Better with Des Shipp
Elasticated or inline feeders?
Rig school
Tie a running leger rig for perch in six steps
Adam Wakelin
10 steps to hitting more bites crom big carp
70
Q&A
Your questions answered
78
47
Carp tactics 92 52
Julian Cundiff
Avoid being a March mad hatter
Rig of the month 96
Long shank blow-back rig
98
Carp Q&A
Sticky’s experts solve your problems
92
Your IYCF 20 82
78
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Support local
Tackle shop guide
84
Your letters
86
Daiwa Mission
90
Puzzle break
102
Bob Roberts Diary
Tackle 74
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Have your say
Your catch shots
Win a Korum groundbait and riddle set
Find out what our top all-rounder has been up to
98
Live test
Daiwa Matchman 10ft feeder
New gear
The latest tackle releases 74
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www.greatmagazines.co.uk | IYCF 5
FISHERY FOCUS An in-depth guide to the best stillwaters, rivers, and canals that you can fish for the price of a day ticket
8 IYCF | Issue 387
Earlswood Lakes, Solihull
Legendary fishery is back on the map Neil McKinnon heads to one of the original commercial venues to see how a major revamp has given it a new lease of life Words & Photography Tony Grigorjevs
W
HEN Earlswood Lakes’ Engine Pool was stocked with thousands of carp in the late 1990s, it sent shockwaves through the angling community. Covering more than 25 acres, the West Midlands reservoir was one of the first of its kind to be geared towards commercial fishery enthusiasts. At the time, however, anglers were divided about the move. One camp argued that the minimally managed waters should be left to flourish naturally while the opposing argument believed it would create a breathtaking rejuvenation at a time when carp were all the rage. It didn’t take long for the fanbase to grow, with big weights of small mirrors and commons coming to anglers of all abilities from swims throughout the venue. It further cemented its place in the history books later
down the line in 2000 when matchman Steve Gregory hauled out a mind-boggling 414lb to smash what was then the five-hour UK match record. The plaudits continued to roll in for years but in 2017 it all ended abruptly. With essential works required and the Environment Agency demanding that non-native catfish be removed, Engine Pool was drained, the carp were removed and they were never returned. Anglers soon found new haunts and Earlswood appeared destined to be nothing more than a fond memory and never fished again. They say you should never write off a true legend, though. There is little doubt that this fishery has now bounced back. The water has been pumped back in, tens of thousands of fish have been stocked and the next chapter of Engine Pool has started with a bang.
www.greatmagazines.co.uk | IYCF 9
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TACTICS: POLE SPECIES: ROACH DIFFICULTY:
Get busy with casters to bag big stillwater roach When Jamie Hughes dishes out words of wisdom, it’s wise to listen! This month he reveals his secrets to catching quality redfins Words & Photography Tony Grigorjevs
24 IYCF | Issue 387
TACTICS
A
QUICK online search will give you details of what baits are best for each species within minutes. Make roach the focus of your research and you won’t have to scroll far down the first page to come across plenty of suggestions that casters are a delicacy they simply can’t resist. As with everything in fishing though, it’s the fine details embodied in the bigger picture that will dictate whether your bait is utilised to its maximum potential. If anyone has all the answers when it comes to catching big roach on casters, it is Jamie Hughes.
Widely known for winning Fish O’Mania three times and being among the best carp and F1 anglers in the land, he’s certainly no slouch on the silverfish front either. He’s spent most of the winter targeting them, winning dozens of matches along the way. “Roach swim around in shoals that are made up of fish of all sizes. There is no doubt that you can be more selective and tempt the better stamp into taking your hookbait,” Jamie told IYCF. “You simply can’t beat casters when it comes to bait choice as they have a knack of tempting the fish that you want to stick in the net.”
www.greatmagazines.co.uk | IYCF 25
Bag up from untouched spots Steve Parry explains why fishing the ignored areas of a typical snake lake peg can lead to plenty of bites from carp and F1s Words & Photography Tony Grigorjevs
NEAR MARGIN
TACTICS: POLE SPECIES: CARP/F1s DIFFICULTY:
30 IYCF | Issue 387
TACTICS
S
NAKE lakes may look like simple venues to get to grips with but there’s more to them than first meets the eye. A swim that is less than 15m wide could be packed with options. Hooking on a plummet and doing a little investigative work will soon reveal massive depth variation. This style of water is often built with a ledge on either side which slopes down to the central channel where the deepest area lies. Visit any snake lake and you’ll notice that almost every angler is targeting the same spots. While fishing close to the far bank, down the margins and the middle seems to cover every angle, there are parts of your peg that go untapped.
Top commercial angler Steve Parry spends time on snake lakes each week and has worked out the true value of exploring every inch of your swim. “The fish get used to being caught from certain areas of the lake and when they want to avoid any hassle, they push into zones that barely ever see a rig,” explained Steve. “This may only be a couple of metres away from where you’ve tried without getting a bite but at this time of year you have to put your hookbait right in front of them as they simply refuse to move. “Each peg has several areas that don’t get the attention they deserve and, more often than not, these are home to the biggest shoals.”
Carp can often be found in the lesser ta rget areas of your sw ed im
FAR MARGIN
CENTRAL TRACK
TARGE
Fish 5ft T ZONES -10 bank on ft from either an angl e
www.greatmagazines.co.uk | IYCF 31
INCREASE YOUR SPRING CATCHES
HIT MORE BITES BY HAIR-RIGGING Damian Green shows why a change of presentation and feeding patterns will fool more carp and F1s as the temperatures creep up Words & Photography Tony Grigorjevs
A
CCURATE feeding and presentation have been part and parcel of commercial fishing during the winter months – but now it’s time for a change. Fish of all species have wised up to the neat piles of bait that they’ve regularly come across, with the effectiveness of tactics such as the Method, maggot feeder and PVA bags starting to wane. Reaching for the catapult and spreading
TACTICS: BOMB SPECIES: CARP/F1s DIFFICULTY:
40 IYCF | Issue 387
loosefeed around a little is the way forward, with a switch in hookbait presentation equally important to gaining a positive result. Commercial fishery expert Damian Green has spent a lot of time at Peterborough’s Decoy Lakes in recent weeks and has noticed a major change in the way the fish are behaving. “The complex has held a lot of big matches
of late and the amount of pressure the fish have come under has led to the tactics that were scoring really well becoming less prolific,” explained Damian. “In order to catch more than those around me, I put the feeder to one side and started to use the bomb with maggots as a hookbait. “There’s no doubt that the fish respond more confidently to it and that it will score well on any commercial this month.”
TACTICS
www.greatmagazines.co.uk | IYCF 41
BIG CANAL PERCH
Trigger their tastebuds
Heading to a canal with just one plan of attack may fail but Darren Massey has a trio of feeding options that can make every session a success Words & Photography Tony Grigorjevs
S
ET your sights on catching big perch from your local canal and you know from the outset that the number of fish in front of you will be limited. Even a renowned hotspot may only house a couple of dozen predators worth catching. This of course presents something of a challenge. When targeting species such as roach or bream that congregate in large shoals, slightly haphazard tactics will still lead to a few bites. When the quantity of fish is low, however, it is crucial that you provide a meal Quality perch like this brace will refuse to feed unless you give them exactly what they fancy
that is impossible for them to resist. To complicate things further, the mood of any species can change quickly. What they couldn’t get enough of one day could prove less appealing the next. Put simply, you need an array of options to make sure you serve up something that those handful of big perch will definitely fancy. Darren Massey reckons working with three baits will put you in box seat. One of the most skilled canal anglers in the land, he has caught more than his fair share of large stripeys over the years. “If you know a peg has produced big perch recently then there’s a high probability that they’ll still be there because they are very territorial and tend to remain in the same spots all winter,” explained Darren. “That’s not a guaranteed recipe for success though. I find that feeding three lines in a completely different manner and working out which is best is the way to get a response.”
ASTERS WORM AND C chopped Feed 10 finely ll handful ma worms and a s t the start a of casters
TACTICS
MAGGOT AND CAS TER Use a catapult to spra y in 20 freebies every now and then
WOR Fish only this line on MS fish otop up aft an angle er yo r a bo u cat and at com es thr ch a ough TACTICS: POLE SPECIES: PERCH DIFFICULTY:
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YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY EXPERTS... How heavy should my terminal tackle be when trying to catch carp on the Method feeder at this time of year?
A
You’re unlikely to get a bite every chuck from big carp at this time of year so when the tip does pull round, you need to be in a solid position to land it. That involves using strong terminal tackle that won’t let you down when a fish surges off moments after the hook has hit home.
IAIN DOYLE, EMAIL
HOOKBAIT
FEEDER
A mouthful is still enough to satisfy a big carp, so a small, 30g Method feeder will often suffice. Coat it with dampened micro pellets and aim to recast every 20 minutes
MAINLINE
If you are fishing at a range of less than 40 yards, 8lb mainline is best. For longer casts, scale down to 6lb as this will offer less resistance because of the lower diameter and aid a bigger chuck
70 IYCF | Issue 387
You want your hookbait to stand out from the crowd so that it is the first thing that a carp spots – a bright yellow, orange or pink wafter will certainly do that
ASK US A QUESTION... Email: IYCF@bauermedia.co.uk Write to: IYCF Magazine, Bauer Media, Media House, Lynchwood, Peterborough, PE2 6EA www.facebook.com/iycfmag @iycfmagazine
Q
Several anglers catch quality roach on the drop at my local club lake but when I try to replicate their style with a strung-out shotting pattern, I only catch a fraction of what they do. How can I improve my catches? BEN THACKERAY, EMAIL
A
Roach are incredibly intelligent and if a hookbait doesn’t fall at the same pace as any loosefeed, they’ll simply ignore it. Stringing your shot down the line works well but the size of shot you use is crucial. It is better to spread a dozen No.10s or 11s down a rig than half that quantity of No.8s. Less weight is concentrated in one spot, slowing the fall. Also, lay in your rig and feed over the top a split second later.
Q
I’ve tried using expander pellets on a few occasions but within an hour of preparing them, they’ve gone quite mushy and don’t stay on the hook. How can I stop this happening? MIKE HUMPHRIES, EMAIL
A
Getting things right during the preparation stage is key to getting the perfect expander pellets. They should be quite soft but not to the point where they disintegrate as the hook is going into them. Follow our simple process and your problems will soon disappear.
HOW TO PREPARE EXPANDER PELLETS
Grab your ingredients – three bags of expander pellets, a pellet pump and a tub of water
Prepare batches of brown 4mm and 6mm, plus green 4mm for change hookbaits
Place the pellets in the pellet pump and then fill it with water
Put the plunger on top and pump several times until all the pellets have sunk
Tip all of the water and pellets into a bait tub before draining off most of the water
You now have perfect expander pellets that you can hook and will keep you catching
HOOKLENGTH
This will come under immense pressure during the fight and a 4in length of 0.19mm line will be able to absorb that brute force. Pair this with a size 12 hook to put you in the driving seat. This may seem big but it will improve the odds of getting a solid hookhold
6
www.greatmagazines.co.uk | IYCF 71
LIVE TEST
“This rod will sell like hot cakes” Tony Grigorjevs gets to grips with a budget rod that punches well above its weight in the performance rankings
DAIWA MATCHMAN 10ft FEEDER ROD RRP: £49.99
I
F THERE is one category of fishing tackle that has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, it is rods at the lower end of the price spectrum. If you were to spend less than £50 on a rod a decade ago, there was every chance you’d be adding an unbalanced, heavy, and ultimately incapable item to your armoury. Drastic technological developments have been a game changer, with rods in that price bracket now a very different proposition to what they used to be. Such progress hasn’t just been limited to the odd manufacturer. All of the big players in the industry are now making much better rods that fall into the budget category. Daiwa has now taken an almighty dive into the arena, with the brand new
The Matchman range consists of waggler and feeder rods
Matchman range comprising four feeder rods and four waggler rods. As soon as I was given the invitation to have a go with one of them, I was pretty excited to say the least. I’ve personally owned plenty of Daiwa kit over the years and each item has always had something in common – excellent value for money. Buy a Daiwa item in any price range and it’s obvious the company has made sure you can’t get your hands on anything better for that amount of cash. I was confident the Matchman range would continue that ethos. Of course, you can never take these things for granted, so a session was soon pencilled in on Snake Lake at Warwickshire’s Makins Fishery to wet a line with the 10ft Method Feeder rod.
TACKLE
www.greatmagazines.co.uk | IYCF 75
CARP Q&A
IN ASSOCIATION WITH STICKY
WHAT RIG SHOULD I USE WHEN FISHING OVER CLAY SPOTS?
Q
I’ve been told that the lake I’ll be fishing this year produces a lot of bites from clay patches. I’ve never fished over clay before. Is there anything to take into consideration in terms of the rigs and baits I use?
ASK US A QUESTION...
Email: IYCF@bauermedia.co.uk Write to: IYCF Magazine, Bauer Media, Media House, Lynchwood, Peterborough, PE2 6EA www.facebook.com/iycfmag @iycfmagazine
A lovely common taken near some clay
Max Turner, email LANCE BARTON: Clay is a fantastic substrate
to target. It is very attractive to fish in its own right! The fish will use the clay to rub across their flanks, their equivalent to a back scratcher that helps them remove any unwanted parasites from their skin.
Clay is a great substrate
The area surrounding the clay will become clean because of this and it makes the area much more presentable for bottom bait and wafter presentations. The actual clay itself is probably not the best place to fish because it can be very tacky, which could play havoc with your rig presentation. The best area is often just on the edge of the spot where it will still be clean, but
Q
Coming from a general coarse fishing background, I was taught to feed little and often. This approach rarely seems to be used in specimen carp fishing with anglers either putting out big beds of bait in one go or casting out small PVA bags and then not introducing anything else? Why is this?
Jack Gilmore, email
JIM WILSON: This is a bit of a broad statement, as on venues where there’s a high stock of carp, no matter how big they are, regular baiting will still bring the best results. The key in this is stock density, as the majority of specimen carp venues have a lower stock of fish but are equally, if not more, pressured. This creates a scenario where the act of feeding can be detrimental to your angling. The noise of a spod landing travels underwater, as does the plop of a boilie. On venues with sparse stocking this tends to push the fish away and they might not return for hours, or even days! This is where the bait and wait approach comes from and why it works well on specimen venues. Consider what baiting approach will best suit the stocking levels
98 IYCF | Issue 387
not sticky. If you have a lead around the area first you will soon find the edge judging by the drop on the lead and clay residue left behind. For rig and baits it’s best to use something close to the deck, either a bottom bait rig or a wafter. Any pop-ups will be far too blatant to passing fish. Bait is more of a free choice, anything and everything will work around clay spots.
Q
YOUR CARP QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY STICKY’S EXPERT ANGLERS
Balanced baits are a key part of Scott’s armoury
Tipping baits with maggots is more foolproof
I often hear anglers talking about using ‘balanced’ baits. What are these? Jess Wilson, email SCOTT LLOYD: A balanced bait can be anything you choose it to be. I am not skirting around the question here, it’s true. The definition of a balanced bait would be a bait that sinks slowly before resting on the lakebed. This can be done with both popups and wafters, or you can make your own using cork plugs in bottom baits. The principle is that the bait is so light that it will fly up into the fish’s mouth with virtually no effort. This ensures a higher chance of hooking the carp, and ever since I first used a balanced bait, I have never looked back. Whether it’s a wafter that sinks with the weight of the hook and rig, or a pop-up that sinks slowly with the perfect amount of rig putty, I have caught plenty on both!
When it all comes good
Q
Could I use worms to tip a pop-up instead of maggots? Or are they more likely to tangle or affect the pop-up’s buoyancy?
Ash Coleman, email TOM MAKER: Worms are obviously a lot heavier than maggots. As such, a couple on a pop-up, combined with the weight of a hook, would probably sink it. If you want your pop-up to float, then a few maggots are certainly the best option, but if you are happy for it to sit more like a wafter then adding worms is also an option. Recast regularly if there are any small fish present. They will pick away at the worms and your bait could end up floating up off the bottom.
HOW TO Tip a hookbait with maggots
1 Choose a 12mm pop-up such as a Manilla Yellow One
Q
My lake has a shallow bay which I think the carp will start to visit more frequently as the weather warms up. What is the best way to fish an area like this? Harry Green, email
3 Next, cut your pop-up in half with a pair of scissors
2 Thread a length of bait floss through the micro ring swivel
4 Take a sewing needle ready to mount your maggots
It’s worth checking out shallow bays but it’s best no t to fish in them to avoid spooki ng the fish
OZ HOLNESS: I have found that fish don’t like being too pressured
in shallow bays. It’s very much an opportunist angling situation, so unless the bay in question is large, I would avoid setting up camp inside it and set out your stall in the entrance area. Then, throughout the day use your time to bait some spots and see if you can get the fish feeding. You can then capitalise on the small windows of opportunity inside the bay and when the fish move out due to the added disturbance, you are in prime position at the entrance to the bay as well. By far the best method would be to bait some spots and wait until you see activity. Once the fish are there and confident you stand a better chance of building captures rather than catching just one or two fish.
5 Pierce the maggots through the heads so they don’t burst
7 Thread the cluster of maggots on to the floss
6 Around 8 maggots is a good number to balance the rig
8 Secure with a few overhand knots and the rig is ready