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YOUR DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO CATCHING MORE
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w le Simp to try no cs tacti ISSUE 340
FIRST LOOK! GURU'S NEW RODS
July 31 –August 28, 2018 £3.80
CONTENTS Issue 340 July 31 – August 28, 2018
24
Ignore the margins and cast long for reservoir tench, says Paul Hardy
GREAT BRITISH FISHING 8
14
Venturing off the beaten track – Sam Merry Introduce a junior to fishing – James Furness
TACTICS 24 Cast long for reservoir tench – Paul Hardy 30 It’s time to get dusting – Chris Cameron 34 Chub on the simplest rig – Martin Barnatt 40 Trent barbel – Phil Taylor 4 • IYCF Issue 340
46 Loosefeed like crazy for silvers – Adam Bowen 50 14 tricks for big rudd 53 Get a bite a chuck all summer – Lee Kerry 58 5 easy steps to become a master of the Method – Mark Cree 62 Why a PVA bag is the perfect summer tactic – Matt Godfrey 68 Fish better with Des Shipp: Setting up correctly 76 Rig school: Barbel combi rig
CARP TACTICS
108 Solid PVA bags made easy – Steven Coe 114 Top tips for to get the best out of zig rigs 116 Hookbait attachment 120 How to catch from canals
TACKLE
86 Guru Aventus rods 88 New Gear
100 ks for all Easy tricv ourite your fa ie spec s 24 TENCH
Simple feeder tactics to try now
8
34 CHUB
A deadly rig for explosive surface action
46 ROACH
Sam Merry finds peace and plenty of fish by venturing to the tranquil swims less fished
30
Chris Cameron reveals his top edge for fooling wary fish with luncheon meat
Feeding tips to catch bigger fish
50 RUDD
The best baits to get more bites
58 F1s
Amazing Method feeder edges revealed
75 PERCH
Hunt them down with worms
76 BARBEL
The carp rig that's fooling big barbel
108 CARP
40
Give your PVA bags a flavour boost
62
Phil Taylor targets a celebrated River Trent stretch for barbel using a simple feeder set-up
PVA bags of loosefeed combine the best of Method and bomb tactics, perfect for summer
92
108
92 Live test: Korum Twin Tip Plus 96 Middy MX Series luggage 98 Buyers’ guide to summer clothing
YOUR IYCF 20 Subscribe and save up to 52 per cent 102 Your letters 104 Mission: your catch shots 124 Crossword 126 Bob Roberts’ diary
Mark Sawyer hails the Korum Twin Tip Plus rod as one of the best at any price point
Steve Coe explains why solid PVA bags can catch you more than big beds of spodded bait
IYCF July 31 – August 28, 2018 • 5
AT BRITISH E R
AT BRITISH RE
HING ● G FIS
n A celebratio r, ive of the best r al n a c lake and t a fishing th s the UK ha to offer
HING ● G FIS
Venturing off the beaten track Shakespeare’s Sam Merry does his homework and reaps the reward by bagging up on wild river fish in splendid isolation Words Tony Grigorjevs Photography Lloyd Rogers
8• IYCF Issue 340
IYCF July 31 – August 28, 2018 • 9
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34• IYCF Issue 340
TACTICS
CHUB ON THE SIMPLEST OF RIGS It’s probably the most exciting, and easiest, way of catching fish. Martin Barnatt explains why you have to catch a chub off the surface this summer Words & Photography Tony Grigorjevs
C
AREFULLY, you drop a floating bait with pinpoint precision next to a snaggy lair that screams big fish before camouflaging yourself among the foliage. Minutes later a giant dark shape ghosts out from beneath the tangled branches and a teasing vortex appears on the surface. You hold your breath and your
heartbeat steps up a notch when a pair of lips engulf your hookbait. The strike is met with ferocious resistance as the fish realises its mistake and surges off, creating an almighty splash in the process. The pressure is piled on and shortly afterwards your prize is safely nestled in the mesh of your net. Your hard work has paid off.
TACTICS: FREELINING SPECIES: CHUB DIFFICULTY:
IYCF January xx, 2016 – February xx, 2016 • 35
ENJOY THE SIMPLE LIFE AND CATCH MORE BARBEL Barbel fishing needn’t be complicated. During a session on the famous River Trent, Phil Taylor proved that all you need is a simple rig, some pellets and a catapult... Words & Photography Jake Benson
B
ARBEL are one of the hardest-fighting coarse fish species. Once one is hooked, it will test both you and your tackle to the limit. Importantly, for those anglers looking to catch their first barbel or up their personal best, you only need a simple rig and some pellets to enjoy fantastic sport... something which Phil Taylor was keen to prove on the River Trent. I had arranged to meet the Lincolnshire specialist at the famous Collingham stretch. Many anglers know this section for pegs 1-10 at the weir which are fully booked for most of the
year. But this stretch actually boasts 300 pegs which are all capable of producing barbel. I was unsure what to expect, having never before visited. After driving down to the end of Carlton Ferry Lane, I stepped out the van to be pleasantly surprised – what wasn’t to like about a flowing river meandering its way through beautiful countryside? What’s more, there were a few fish knocking about, too.
Confidence is key
Phil was set-up in peg 193 and he’d already landed six hard-fighting barbel before the bites
dried up. But, ever the optimist, Phil reassured me that he’d catch another although, after a fruitless hour and with the sun rising higher, action was looking increasingly unlikely. As we sat watching the river we spotted several fish crashing out downstream, prompting Phil to up sticks and move to peg 195. “I could have stayed put, and started to chop and change my rigs by scaling down, but it can only damage your confidence. If the fish have backed off you won’t catch them on any rig. Location is everything and a move was definitely necessary,” he asserted. Shortly after the move, we were met by a bailiff, who informed us that maggots were the way to go in the difficult conditions. But Phil stuck with his simple pellet approach. As he pointed out, he’d already caught six fish, so why risk changing? “A lot of fishing is down to confidence. I used this approach on my first visit here and caught fish into double figures. It worked then and it works now,” he said confidently. “My advice would be to fish with what you’re confident in. This is why I use pellets, not to mention the fact that barbel love them!”
No call for heavy tackle
A simple running feeder rig did the business for Phil on the River Trent
40 • IYCF Issue 340
Many anglers visiting the Trent use stepped-up gear, but you don’t need anything too heavy when the river is low. Phil was easily casting large feeders and beating fish on a 1.75lb test curve rod coupled with a small freespool reel loaded with 10lb mainline. To the line Phil attached a swivel bead and clip, which enabled him to quickly swap between feeder and lead if need be, as well as creating a safe free-running rig. A rubber bead and swivel created a buffer against the 4ft hooklength made from the same monofilament as the mainline. A 14mm pellet, hair-rigged on a size 10 Gardner Talon Tip hook, completed the rig. Before casting, Phil filled his feeder with a mixture of 6mm pellets and liquidised pellet. “It takes a bit of practice to get the mix right, and how much you compress it into the feeder.
TACTICS
TACTICS: FEEDER SPECIES: BARBEL DIFFICULTY:
IYCF July 31 – August 28, 2018 • 41
5
EASY STEPS MASTER OF The Method feeder is an amazingly successful tactic, but Dynamite Baits’ Mark Cree’s tips transform it from a great technique to an incredible one! Words Mark Cree Photography Mark Parker
TACTICS: FEEDER SPECIES: CARP DIFFICULTY:
58 • IYCF Issue 340
TACTICS
S TO BECOME A F THE METHOD I
HAVE always been a huge advocate of the Method. It is so effective at putting fish on the bank that I’d happily use it 365 days a year. Apart from fishing the long pole to the shallow margins of an island, I can’t think of another approach that places the loosefeed and hookbait with such precision. It provides the angler with the best chance of a bite because it always offers a perfect presentation, it never tangles and it covers the feeder and end tackle when the payload breaks down. It is also child’s play to set up and fish. What could be better? When you look at angling, or through the pages of this magazine, there are many different ways to
1
approach a session and all are very good on their day. But I truly think you have to go a long way to beat the Method. It will help you to catch fish from all waters in all conditions with the minimum of fuss. The other thing I love about feeder fishing is its simplicity. There are no complicated shotting patterns to consider and everything is pinned down, so there is little to spook the fish. Of course, there are still a few tips and wheezes you can adopt to turn something great into something incredible. The following five points are things that I have developed over the years and factors that have taken my Method feeder fishing to a new level...
MATCH THE PAYLOAD TO YOUR TARGET SPECIES
Groundbait or pellets? It’s a question as old as the Method itself when it comes to which bait you should load the feeder with and something that causes a lot of confusion. I keep things simple. If I’m specifically targeting silver fish and F1s, I use groundbait. If the target is carp over 6lb, then these big boys need feeding, so I use 100 per cent moistened micro pellets. For every other scenario, it is an 80:20 combination of groundbait and micro pellets. The groundbait creates a cloud in the water which attracts the fish and encourages them to feed with confidence. The pellets then leave them something to eat and holds them in the swim for longer. For today’s session, I’m using a mixture of Dynamite Baits’ Swim Stim F1 Sweet. Don’t let the name fool you, it is a range designed for F1s, but all fish, especially carp and skimmers, love it. It is packed with all the same tastes, flavours and attractors as the rest of the Swim Stim range, but with the addition of a sweet palatant. To increase the flavour, I add a glug of Sweet Tiger CSL Liquid to both the groundbait mixing water Mark fishes an 80:20 mix of as well as the pellets. groundbait and micro pellets
IYCF July 31 – August 28, 2018 • 59
TACTICS: PVA/BOMB SPECIES: CARP/F1s DIFFICULTY:
62 • IYCF Issue 340
TACTICS
Why a PVA bag is the perfect summer tactic Guru’s Matt Godfrey explains how to combine the best of two approaches to boost your catch-rate on commercials Words & Photography Tony Grigorjevs
T
HE Method feeder and bomb will guarantee bites on any commercial fishery but both have shortcomings. There are serious limitations to which baits can be moulded around the Method, with micro pellets and groundbait the only options available. Switch to the bomb and you can use more of your side tray’s contents but all the feeding is done via a catapult. This reduces how tight you can group it and spreads the fish around the peg. Wouldn’t it be brilliant if you could combine the best bits of both? Well, according to Guru’s Matt Godfrey you can. The match ace has the ideal solution to weave the two tactics together. “I love the accuracy of the Method feeder but there are days when other tactics are more effective,” explained Matt.
“When fishing the bomb in a traditional manner the bait is sprayed around a much larger area and on some days it pays to keep it much tighter. The answer is to use PVA bags filled with bait on the bomb,” he revealed.
Much in favour of PVA Micro pellets and groundbait both work extremely well but there are times when alternative baits will produce better results. “A lot of commercials have huge stocks of small silver fish and at this time of year they are very active and can become a nuisance, pecking away at these small baits. They can even eat a large proportion of the bait before the big target fish turn up. “The beauty of a PVA bag is you can put in a wide range of baits. Hard pellets in 6mm or 8mm are ideal as big carp love them and small
IYCF July 31 – August 28, 2018 • 63
LIVE TEST
Tipped for success Big barbel, carp, tench and bream are on the back foot with the arrival of Korum’s specimen all-rounder, the Twin Tip Plus KORUM TWIN TIP PLUS RRP: £74.99
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U CAN TRU O Y
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REVIEW S
ALWAYS look forward to the start of the new season. It means I can finally get my river kit out again and take a closer look at some of the latest rods coming on to the market. Unfortunately, this year’s first live test river outing happened to coincide with the hottest day of the year thus far. With temperatures
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U CAN TRU YO
92 • IYCF Issue 340
REVIEW S
IYCF’s tackle editor Mark Sawyer has been reviewing fishing gear for mor e years tban he cares to remember
soaring into the thirties, bright sunshine and little, if any breeze, the chances of catching much were slim to say the least. The mighty River Trent near Nottingham is normally a good bet early season, even when the levels are low and the water’s gin clear. However, I shook my head in disbelief as I gazed across its unruffled surface. Nothing
TACKLE
IYCFIYCF February July 31 16––August March 28, 15, 2016 2018 • 93
TIPS, TACTICS & RIGS TO CATCH MORE
SOLID PVA BAGS MADE EASY Dynamite Baits’ Steve Coe is a massive fan of solid PVA bags and here’s why... Words Steve Coe Pictures Mark Parker
108 • IYCF Issue 340
CARP
A cracking mirror caught on solid PVA bag tactics
W
HEN it comes to prolific waters such as Linear Fisheries’ Brasenose One, many anglers adopt the same approach. First, they cast around with a marker float and then spod out a bucket or two of bait. I have to confess, I have been guilty of this in the past. But these days I have totally changed my approach – and for the better. There is so much bait that goes into B1 but all my big hits have come on zigs or solid PVA
Steven injects his bags with Citrus Oil for an added edge
bags. I think the carp are beginning to treat big beds of bait with suspicion. A small solid bag is far more subtle and I get bites quicker when using them than I do when I fish over a big bed of spod mix. A lot of anglers steer clear of solid PVA bags, however, simply because they believe they take too much effort to make. But, for me, they are perfect. The fish don’t even realise they are being fished for most of the time because it is a presentation that is
totally different to what 99 per cent of other people are using on waters like this. Plus, with the couple of little edges that I employ, it really stacks the odds in my favour.
Solid PVA bag advantages
Unlike many presentations, a solid PVA bag can be cast over pretty much any lakebed type. The only areas I avoid are extremely deep silt or thick weed. With your rig encased inside the bag there is absolutely no way the hooklink or hair can tangle on the cast so you can be totally confident that you’re fishing effectively once the bag melts. Over the years I’ve caught some of the most pressured fish in the land using solid bags. As long as you prepare, load and tie them correctly, you are able to fish what you want, where you want. What’s not to like? On venues like B1, there are so many anglers on the banks every day, you never know what you are fishing over. So again, a small PVA bag can produce a quick bite, whereas you may be adding to the 10 kilos that the peg’s previous occupant put in if you break out the spod rod. The first thing I do when arriving in a new swim is to cast out three solid bags while I sort out the rest of my gear and it’s not uncommon to have a fish on the bank before the rest of the jobs are done! Another plus point is as long as the payload isn’t wet, or if it is, as long as you dry it thoroughly or add salt, you can use whatever you like in them. IYCF July 31 – August 28, 2018 • 109
I
’VE not fished my favourite tench drain this season because it has been practically pumped dry by farmers irrigating the surrounding fields. Things are getting critical up and down the land and unless it rains soon we could be witnessing tragic events. Low flows and depleted oxygen levels are putting fish stocks at risk and there are reports of some small rivers drying up completely. These are worrying times. Let’s hope we get a mini-monsoon before my diary is published and please, think carefully about where you fish, what species you target and maybe leave that keepnet at home.
Week one... When the fishing is likely to be tough I’ll sometimes force myself to focus and try that little bit harder. Forty years ago when I was in the early stages of what even then appeared to be a steep learning curve, I’d stand knee deep in the River Idle and ask myself: ‘What would Kevin Ashurst do now? Would he be catching? What would he do to make something happen?’ It may sound a bit bonkers but it worked for me because I’d constantly be tweaking my tactics until something worked. And it still helps me, though
126 • IYCF Issue 340
I’ve moved on from looking to icons for inspiration. The River Trent was on its knees, low and stale; little was being caught and I had to choose between staying at home and watching the World Cup or working extra hard on the river for what might be scant reward. Of course, I chose the latter but came up with a challenging twist. I would take on the might of Russia. Yep, they would kick a ball around and I would fish, one barbel would equal one goal, let the best man win. I love listening to football while fishing. It’s something I’ve done since I was in my teens. They just go together. Bacon and eggs. Strawberries and cream. Football and
fishing. While Russia had home advantage playing in St Petersburg I levelled the odds by choosing a favourite swim, one where I had previously never been beaten and only ever suffered one goal-less draw. The scene was set. I baited up with hemp and small pellets using a dropper and waited patiently for 40 minutes before casting out. Usually I catch a few chub first but they were not at home. The tip remained motionless. The first hour dragged by. Nothing. But 30 yards downstream I could see barbel crashing out of the water in what I can only describe as a complete snag pit. I could safely cast eight yards downstream but no further.
ten h opponent bea Another toug ld Cup’ match in my ‘Wor
999 call . On of nine-e of a hat-trick pounder s Another two hours dragged by with no indications and the game was soon due to start. I was hoping to get at least a goal ahead before they kicked off. No chance. Then Russia went a goal up. Desperation time. There was no point in baitdropping again. Nor was the feeder having any effect. So what to do? Catapulting handfuls of pellets or boilies can have a negative impact when the going is tough but I started thinking about pellet waggler fishing. The steady plip-plop of one or two pellets can create a reaction. Not enough to scare the fish but maybe enough to make them inquisitive. Russia go two-up. I’m now introducing
two pellets, pause, two pellets, pause, one boilie. And so on... Russia go three-up! Nooooo.....!!! And then, out of the blue, my tip wraps round and, boy, does this fish not want to be landed. I’ve scaled down to a size 14 hook and the fish is stuck in some streamer weed. Somehow, I manage to free it without pulling the hook. Take your time Bob. With relief I watch it glide into the landing net. She’s probably a scraper double. Three-one! Could the comeback be on? Out goes the feeder again. Bang on the money and it hardly settles before the tip hoops over. The fight is just as hard as the
last. Brutal stuff considering the small hook but I’m safely on my way to three-two with its identical twin. Well the game’s into the second half , just in the nick of time my rod comes alive and I’m in for a third time. The pressure is now on. I’m not just battling a fish, I’m taking on the whole Russian nation. I feel like Harry Kane lining up to take a penalty. Yes...!!!! Get in! Talk about feeling chuffed. What a comeback. A hat-trick of nine-pounders in the space of 45 minutes. And the whistle goes for full time.
IYCF July 31 – August 28, 2018 • 127
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