Mastering 'the' Method

Seeing as I hadn’t been for ages, a quick session was definitely in order! Nothing special, just a short session with a few fish would do, mostly just to keep me sane and to give me a break from revision.

At 9am I loaded my gear into my mum’s car then set off for my local syndicate. Here I was bound to catch. I knew it too well too blank, in fact I have never blanked there, even when the lake was frozen (I managed to avoid a blank with a small Rudd)!

It was pretty average weather, however windier than I had hoped, meaning my original plan of stalking carp on the surface wasn’t going to work, so it was time for a re-think. What method did I know would catch me decent fish?

The method feeder it was, a tactic I knew well and had already caught good carp on. The wind was blowing into the far bank, therefore hopefully taking the fish with it, where I knew of a few underwater snags that would be holding carp.

Baits

Fishing on my syndicate isn’t hard and the fish certainly aren’t fussy, although I have found that certain flavours –and also colours– work well, which is something that if you find on a water can really work to your advantage. The groundbait I used was homemade, a secret recipe! To the mix I added the old faithful corn, hemp and maggots to give the carp a few particles to root around for, however its important not too add too many particles or the mix wont bind well.

Tackle

When fishing the method feeder, it is important to have a feeder rod with a bit of grunt in the butt to allow you to have a decent chance of landing the large carp that often fall to the method. The tip is not so important, but I used a 2oz tip, just about right, allowing me to chuck the heavy feeder to the far bank.

 The Rig

I kept the rig simple, as the method feeder is about getting fish into a feeding frenzy, and definitely not tricking them into taking your bait using fancy camouflaged rigs.

My theory

Almost every angler you ask will say ‘casting to the exact same spot every cast is the key,’ however I slightly disagree. When using method feeders I do clip up, and I do fish in a tight feeding area, however an area of about 2-3m. By not casting into the exact same spot every time the fish are less wary, but my main reason for doing so is that the bigger fish often feed on the edge of the feeding area, which I certainly proved today…

After losing the first fish at the net, I continued re-casting every 15 minutes or so, resulting in the fish starting to feed heavily meaning I was getting a lot of tugs and knocks on the rod tip. This is the hardest bit in my opinion, having to sit on your hands and ignore all these line bites, but wait till the tip pulls right round and keeps going to reap the rewards!

If after a little while if I had not had any line bites, I took the rod off the rests and dragged the feeder along about a foot then put the rod tip in the water and sunk the line as usual then tightened up on the rests. From doing this, it often produces a fish, much like lifting a pole rig. 

Once the feeder has settled and the line is sunk, keep a slight bend in the tip, especially if fishing close to a feature. This way, the fish will not feel too much resistance, but also you will be able to hit drop-back bites.

Pack on groundbait hard so that it does not fly off on the cast. I also fold the line into the groundbait and add another layer of groundbait to keep the hook bait close the feeder, producing more and quicker bites. You’ll also notice that I used one piece of fake buoyant corn, and 2 real pieces. This creates a critically balanced bait and also means there will always be a bait in the hair, even if the real pieces have been pulled off!

 

Final Result

Fishing from roughly 9.30 to 1pm I landed 7 carp, the biggest being 12lb 13oz. Although this is good, it isn’t one of my best days on the method feeder. I urge all of you to go out and try this method, it can be utterly devastating!