Tips. How to...
Catch Fish in Winter?
While match fishing I enjoyed winter fishing as I always thought that little bit of extra skill factor came in to its own. Obviously feed was a main issue in freezing conditions and even more so on still waters as once you put the bait in you could not take it out so the main thing was having the bottle to ease in the feed over 5 hours rather than to go for it from the off. A typical example was when Daiwa Goldthorpe entered a team in the Barnsley Winter league on Worsborough Res. Bob Beswick, Russ Fowler and Myself won all 6 matches as a team which had never been done or achieved since! and it was down to the feed little and often method . One match Russ was 7 good fish down after the first hour to the next peg but kept his nerve and stuck to the plan and over took the angler in the last hour to win the match with ease. I also remember drawing next to TonyTarff and catching odd fish all way through the match until Tony who had opted for the feeder got neck ache after 4 hours so he got out his waggler rod out and loose fed maggots, but Tony sprayed maggots at his float and still didn't catch but he also killed my swim, so the proof was there just feed 6 or 7 a time through the 5 hours and you will catch more .Some times the fish will have a go but you can sort that out as you have not done any damage to your own swim unlike those next to you when they have filled it in.
Breed Gozzers?
Well go to the butchers on Friday and buy 2 pigs hearts then cut 3 or 4 slices across so the fly can get in to it and lay their eggs, alternatively go to a pigeon loft and ask the fancier if he is due to kill any pigeons and if so get the dead ones off him and freeze them as they are the best meat for Gozzers. Leave the meat covered up in normal temperature while Monday then put them out during darkness as the Gozzer fly is the only fly that lays its eggs in the dark. The next morning cover the blown meat and put it in a tin with the lid on until Wednesday when the maggots should be feeding well. Lay the meat in a bowl with damp bran as the secret to good Gozzers is to keep them damp. Thursday take the maggots off the meat and change the Bran, but keep it damp over the next day or 2. The maggots will work the black feed sac out of them and be pure white and soft. A superb hook bait for skimmers and Slabs and I can guarantee there worth the effort because you will catch more bream on Gozzers than any commercial hook bait .
Colour Maggots?
It is a fact that some days a certain coloured maggot will get you bites better than another so if you breed the gozzer or a commercial maggot you have to dye the meat after the maggot has just hatched so the maggot eats the dyed meat. If you can get hold of a food colouring paste called Annatto and put it on the meat you will get nice yellow coloured bait. If you want the colour red then get a red food colour and put that on the meat and the maggot will eat the colour and turn out a deep Red. The best way was to riddle the maggots off and let them clean themselves in saw dust or maize meal and put a spoonful of crysodine dye on but the draw back of this your hands used to end up the same colour. The best method for a Yellow/Orange colour was to riddle and clean the maggot, then add a curry additive called Turmeric which coloured them yellow and made them sink faster but if you put too much on you would make the maggots hot and sweaty and they would float.
Catch Eels?
This is the method to catch winning weights of Snotsticks! Make no mistake about it, if there is a better one I would like to see it. The most important thing is to have enough hooks tied, size 22 is perfect as the Eel only has a small mouth, then cut an old rod tube to the length of your hook length and put a piece of electricians tape around the bottom. Then tie as many hook lengths as you think you are going to catch Eels and as you tie 1 put the bend of the hook over the top of the tube and put the tape over the loose end of line. Do this with all the hooks you tie and press the tape over each hook length. Next, get to your peg and put 6 inches on the bottom with as much weight as you dare above your hook length. Then feed 10 Casters 10 Maggots until they come NO more NO less and each bite feed 10 of each. Hook bait is single Bronze maggot. When you land the Eel unhook him and get back in quickly, If he has swallowed the hook do not spend time trying to get the hook out as the messing about will cause both you and him problems. Just bite the line off as near to his mouth as you dare and grab another hook length of your tube ,{pulling it straight out of the top and through the tape } and back in within seconds with the perfect depth still intact. One thing more DO NOT feed hempseed.
Stop Snotsticks Balling Up?
Snotsticks is a name Gary Jubb gave to the Eel while we were bagging and its stuck ever since. While I was talking to Keith Hobson, about our National on the R. Nene, I mentioned to him I could have won my section had I not lost 3 or 4 decent Eels due to them balling up and breaking me and he gave me a tip which was to drop the Eel back in the water as soon as it balls up and it will start to swim again, which the next time I did it and never lost an Eel . So remember and you will not have one ball up on you again.
Stop Tangles While Fishing Slider?
The Slider is the best and most enjoyable way of catching fish in deep water, while fishing the Yorkshire Ouse I was fishing the slider when Dennis White came up and showed me the simple way. After finding the depth put your bulk 6 ft above your hook length BUT put it exactly in the middle of the cut in the shot and from heavy weight upwards to the float. Then make sure your loaded float rests on the bulk before casting and have enough weight in the load to keep it there. This is where the that leaded putty came in where I used to mould it around my float rubber and nip bits off until it was perfectly set . Dennis used to tell me not to fish too light.
Collect Lobworms?
This is one job I used to hate! But the best time is on a mild night after or when it is raining and as it is raining, that means the river is going to be up and that is when the lobby comes into his own. Well come on get your wellys and waterproofs on ,grab your torch and bucket and come with me up to the football field. I walk down to the far side where it is darkest but look up to street lights, I bend down and straight away I can tell there are plenty as you can see the slimy buggers against the light and you don't need your torch when the conditions are perfect. Right grab his head and hold tight, keep hold because he will tug but you have won so put him in the bucket and I will see you in an hour when you should have got 60 to 70 Lobbys, If you break any chuck them away as a dead one seems to kill the others off. Back home the wife looks at you in that familiar way especially when you come in and grab the cornflakes box because when you have put them in there tray of soil and leaves sprinkle some on top and cover the tray with damp newspaper and they will live for weeks.
Fish the Lobworm?
When the lobworm comes into his own is when the river is high, chocolate coloured and pulling hard and looks as though no fish could be caught. When I was at Smithies a bakka chewing, grissly looking lad calledJohn Howarthshowed us a method on how to fish the lobby, you have to see to believe but every time there was any water in the Trent, Smithies would win it guaranteed. What you did was this ,have no less than 4lb hook lengths tied to 6lb reel line, on to that we tied 4oz home made lead weights on a link, then threaded a 12 hook through his head pulled the hook the length of his body put a swan shot to stop his head sliding down the line and then thread the tail on to the hook. The swan shot then pinned him to the deck so the fish had to take his tail and when you had a bite they nearly always hooked themselves. Illustration 1. I once was second in a Trent winter league with a stone of 1lb Chub and Roach out of a right washing machine after wasting an hour with the maggot. The next best weight was Steve Clarke's 2 lb maggot caught fish. Even when the river is normal chuck the Lobby out at 10 to 3 if you’re struggling and you could almost guarantee a bite. When we fished Lobbys they were Lobbys! Big furry ones you wrestled with NOT the ones you dig up. What a lovely site when a 3 pounder was sliding over the net with munched up lobby hanging out of his Gob!
Find wasp nests?
The difference between collecting wasp grub and Lobworms is about 40 degrees and dry. Wasps have been known to nest anywhere from house roofs to cavity walls but to get them by numbers and the easiest is to find them by day and collect them by night. During the miners strike I used to get my bait money by selling them to the locals for a couple of quid a piece and really enjoyed finding them. The best time is late August early September and the best places are on the banks of small streams and land drains. While walking, watch against the dark background of the bank and you will see the wasp fly past, once you have seen him stand and watch and you will see others and a pattern will follow so keep following them until you either spot the hole they are flying into or stop flying past you. Then you will know to go back because you have missed the nest. Once you have located the nest put a stick or something you will see easily with a torch as we are coming back when it has gone dark and all the wasps are in the nest. After tea grab a large bait bucket and a spade as well as the Wasp and Fly killer spray or the smoke bomb for greenhouses. When you get to the nest or nests you have marked light the touch paper of the smoke bomb and shove it into the nest then block it up with a grass sod and go to the next nest you found and repeat. If you cannot get any smoke bombs just go up to the nest with the spray and just squirt the wasp killer in and block it up just the same and leave it. After a while, say half n hour or longer the better, go and dig it out. Tip the best way to collect Wasp grub and not get stung is to send some body else! When you get it home you can either freeze it wrapped in newspaper or leave it out to fish the next day but watch for wasps hatching out during the night.
Fish the Grub?
If you would like to find out more on how to fish the grub, phone Johnny Howard as he must have killed more wasps and caught more Chub than anyone. Johnny won the second div national on the Trent with 30 odd pounds of Chub while he was fishing for Bawtry A.C. Johnny later joined us at Daiwa Goldthorpe where I saw him use it to good effect quite a few times, but the bait attracts most fish and quality, in fact most matches ban the bait as its that good but if you fish matches with no bait bans and have the time to collect Wasp grub then collect it and I am sure you will soon get it banned!
See Your Float?
Through all light changes? Well 4 items in your tackle box will ensure you can see your float during 5 hours fishing!
No1. Tungsten putty I keep on about. Whether it be on a waggler, stick, slider or pole float you musthave a little bit on somewhere as if your floats takes in the slightest drop of water then it will sink so all you do is nip off the slightest bit of putty until the float is perfect.
No 2. White Tippex Liquid. If your favourite float which worked last time out in the same conditions but this time you are in a shadow of a bush and cannot see it at all, just wipe it with tippex and it stands out like a sore thumb and it is the easiest thing in the world to get off
No 3. Black Marker Pen. Just reverse the procedure if your favourite float is now in white water instead of the shadow it was in last time.
No 4. Nail Varnish Remover. To remove the black marker pen, a little on a tissue and one wipe and its gone.
Speed Up Your Bread Punch? A brill tip sent by John Ingram
How much time do you waste during a match, messing about with bread baits? You have to get a slice out of the polythene bag, get your baitbox lid to rest on, use your punch, put your lid back, and put the bread back in the bag to stop it drying out. Over a 3 hour match you might only be wasting 5 minutes. But that extra five minutes in the water could mean an extra fish and that fish could well be the match-winner. Well here’s a simple tip to save you those vital minutes. Go through your wife’s CD collection and pick out one of her Boyzone albums. Remove the cover sleeve =, then remove the CD, and then prise out the CD retaining tray. Now throw all these items in the bin (but don’t tell the missus). You should now be left with an empty case. Put this in your tackle box. Having steamed, rolled, de-crusted and packing your bread bait you can transfer a slice to your empty CD case just before the match starts. When you need fresh bait just open the lid, punch, and close the lid. It provides a solid base, keeps the bread fresh, and most importantly saves time.
Throw Balls of Groundbait?
At distance without it breaking up while keeping it soft and not mixed like concrete? This tip is for those of you are not confident enough to use a catapult or just put bigger balls in up to 30 yards well one way is just mix the sieved damp ground bait up as soft as you would like it and leave it for five minutes then add a touch more water until it feels ok then ball it up but before you throw it dip your hands in the water and wipe round the ball with your wet hands and just launch it and it will stay together while it hits the water and then break up straight away. Also try the same when catapulting.
Draw a Good Peg?
Listen to this, If you think some of the organizers draw well regular have a look at the tickets and where they are stapled together to fasten have a look to see if they are bronze staples in some of the tickets and silver staples in the rest and if the good pegs are stapled in bronze either complain or help yourself to a good peg. We sussed this out years ago once and the organizer denied it but just remember to keep an eye out. Another way to draw a good peg is if the draw is one where they draw metal discs, mostly used by the club bus trips, with the numbers painted on well if you want a low draw just rub your finger over the disc and you can feel the single number so if it was a low number you wanted lift it, if you don't want a low number then drop it back in. Simple enough but its on your conscience Remember, Cheats never Beat
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