Method fishing for Tench and Bream
By Monty Oates
Fishing the ‘Method’ uses a completely different technique from traditional ledger
methods. With this method the groundbait is applied externally to the feeder and
a very short hook link is used so that the hook bait is very close to the ground
bait. Often the bait is buried in the ball of groundbait so that when the fish attack
the ball of bait the hookbait is exposed with the fish mistaking it for part of the
loose feed in the groundbait.
Method feeders are heavier than normal feeders since the rig used is semi fixed
allowing the fish to hook themselves. Combined with the weight of groundbait
moulded on the feeder necessitates the use of heavier rods and lines than the
ones normally associated with ordinary feeder fishing. Trying this method of
fishing with a light feeder rod will lead to disaster!
The ‘Method’ was originally developed for bream fishing but nowadays it is almost
exclusively used for carp fishing. It has evolved into 2 main branches:-
1. For specimen carp where coconut sized balls of feed are moulded onto
large frame feeders and cast out with beefed up carp rods. The feed used
is made up very stiff in order for it to remain on the lake bed for a long
time.
2. Match fishing for smaller carp on overstocked commercial carp fisheries.
Much smaller feeders and feeds that break down much faster behave been
developed for this variation of the ‘Method’. A heavy feeder or Avon style
rod is suitable for casting the bait out.
Types of suitable method feeder
The types of feeder shown are all in line feeders, i.e. the line passes through the
body of the feeder via the tube fitted. This virtually eliminates any tangles on
casting, particularly when using very short hook lengths.
Flat bed feeders.
Flat bed feeders are the most used, in particular when burying the hookbait in the
feed ball on the feeder. They are designed so that the feed containing the
hookbait is always uppermost allowing the fish to find the hook bait very quickly.
Coil feeders
Quite old fashioned nowadays but cheaper than the flat bed feeders. Only
practicable when not burying the bait in the ball of feed. Still use a very short
hook link
Frame feeders
Frame feeders are still quite useful but not as versatile as the flatbed feeders.
Generally lighter so useful to change to if the heavy splash of the other feeders
are making the fish wary.
In line lead feeders
A very useful feeder I found on Ebay. I use it quite a lot. Hooking fish is good
due to the weight of the lead. You can vary the amount of feed around the
weight and its blends in quite well with the lake bed when the feed goes.
Available from FRANKSLEADS on Ebay
Or contact directly
Email sales@[Link]
MOBILE: 07976 108749
A basic method feeder rig
I use braid hook links almost exclusively for the method feeder. When burying
the bait in the ball of feed you need the bait to remain in the feed and the supple
nature of braid allows this. Monofilament hook lengths are much stiffer,
particularly with the breaking strains used in this method of fishing, and the hook
bait could spring away from the ball of feed as the feed breaks down.
1. Carefully thread the main line through the feeder until several inches
protrude. If the feeder has been used before you may well find the tube
of the feeder clogged with ground bait making threading the line through
difficult. Arm yourself with a length of fine wire for unclogging. (copper
wire from electrical flex is fine for this purpose )
2. Tie the main line to the swivel of the hooklink. The best knot to use for
this is the 4-5 turn grinner knot. The traditional bloodworm knot is
inadequate to the severity of the takes on this method of fishing. Insert
the swivel into the end of the feeder. Most modern method feeders have a
soft plastic insert for this purpose. Earlier feeders (the coil feeder) do not
have this and you will have to place a small piece of silicone tubing the
end for the swivel to fit into.
The rig is now ready for use. This is a semi-fixed rig. If the feeder snags and the
line breaks above the feeder the swivel will pull out allowing freeing the fish from
the feeder.
Strong lines are essential with this type of fishing. For fishing at the Warren I use
a main line of at least 8lb breaking strain and an avon type rod.
hooklengths and knots
Fig.1 (a) A size 16 Kamasan
B980 hook tied to approx. 2
inches of 10lb Fox megasilk
Braid. Megasilk is particularly
useful for tying small hooks.
It is the thinnest of the
hooklength braid and passes
through the eye of the hook
quite easily; it is available in
8lb breaking strain. The
other end of the hooklength is
tied to a swivel. It is
important to make sure the
swivel is of the right size to fit
tightly into the method
feeder/ A size 10 swivel is suitable for most modern feeders.
Fig.1 (b) A size 14 B981 tied with 10lb Fox delude braid.
Fig.1(c) A hair rigged size 14 B981 tied with 10lb Fox reflex braid
Knots
The best knot to use for the hook and swivel is the PALOMAR knot - suitable for
both braid and monofilament.
The Palomar knot
(a)Take a length of braid or monofilament, thread it
through the eye of the hook and then back again to
form a loop. With small hooks it is best to use Fox
megasilk available in 8lb. breaking strain.
(b) Form an overhand knot with the loop and the 2
loose ends of the line.
(c) Pass the hook through the loop end of the
overhand knot.
(d) Carefully pull the loose ends to tighten to loop
(with monofilament use plenty of spit as a
lubricant). The idea is to keep pulling until the loop
slides up to the knot. There is a danger
(particularly with braid) of the knot tightening up
before the loop pulls up to the hook so make sure
the loop slides over the eye of the hook before
pulling the knot tight, pull tight and closely trim the tag to finish the knot.
The Grinner Knot
A. Take the tag end of the line (marked (b)
in the diagram) and pass it twice through
the eye of the hook or swivel. If you have
difficulty doing this with small hooks it can
be passed through only once but you will
lose about 25% of the knot strength.
B. Make a loop with tag end (b) and hold
next to line (a).
C. Pass the tag end (b) through the loop 4-5
times. Very carefully pull tag end (b). This
closes the loop. Make sure the turns are
lined up neatly.
D. Using plenty of spit, pull line (a) so that
the knot slides up to the swivel or hook eye.
Pull tight.
E. Trim off the tag (b) to finish the knot.
Hair rigs using braid
With this type of
fishing involving
frequent casting and
changing of bait, the
knotless knot and the
hair loop can become
very ragged. To
prevent this from
happening put a piece
of shrink tube over
the knot and shrink on
tight by using boiling water or steam. Place a drop or two of super glue on the
hair loop, enough to soak through the loop. When dry this will prevent fibres
from separating when using a hair needle.
The commercially bought boilie stops can be unsuitable when using soft baits
such as soft pellet. They can cut into the soft bait causing it to come off the
hair. Try using a piece of spaghetti instead of a hair stop, you can break it so
that the spaghetti is the same length as the pellet and will soften rapidly in water
so that it doesn’t cut into the bait.
Groundbaits
I don’t use the method feeder
over the Warren until the
water has significantly
warmed up. This is usually
towards the end of May. The
groundbait used at this time
should contain lots of
particles to keep the fish
interested. Photo A shows a
method mix groundbait I use
myself. The mix contains 60-
70% particles I’ve added
myself with the groundbait
binding the particles so that
the ball of bait can be
delivered to the bed of the
lake in one lump. Photo B
shows a close-up of the same mix. You can see the soft micropellets in the mix.
The trick to this groundbait is
getting it to breakdown in
about 5 minutes to form a
nice pile of feed on the lake
bed.
Many commercially bought
groundbaits have far too
many binders in them and
when mixed with water have
the consistency of concrete
and will stay on the feeder for
ages. You need to premix a
tiny amount, squeeze tightly
into a small ball and drop the
ball into a container of
water. If the ball is still there after 5 minutes the feed is too binding. Add some
brown crumb to the dry feed, mix thoroughly and repeat testing. Keep testing
until the desired result is achieved. If the ball breaks up on hitting the surface of
the water when dropped and a cloud is formed there is not enough binders in the
mixture. Good binding agents are white crumb and semolina powder. Semolina
is particularly effective and should be used sparingly. I make up my own dry
method feed mixes and use both white crumb and semolina in the mix. The
desired effect is shown in the pictures below.
In the picture above, m=minced maize, f=flaked maize, v=vitalin, p=pinhead
oatmeal and b=birdseed
C. The tightly squeezed ball
of feed is dropped into a
container of water. There is
little break-up apart from a
few bits of loose feed that
were on the surface of the
ball. A few air bubbles
trapped in the feed are
breaking free, helping to
break up the ball of feed.
D. After 2 minutes the ball
has almost broken (there are
still some small lumps there)
and has spread over the floor
of the container.
E. After 5 minutes the whole
ball of bait has virtually
broken up and has finished
spreading.
Make your groundbait up the night before you go fishing (or earlier and freeze it),
this enables the dry mix to thoroughly absorb the water added and become inert.
If the mix is still absorbing water when you start to use it the consistency may
change and the ball of bait may fizz and bubble on the lake bed causing a cloud
effect and attracting unwanted small fish.
Prepare you own particles in advance of adding to the base mix. Because
commercial method mixes are sold dry any particle bait in them will be dry and
rock hard. Also the amounts of solids in shop bought mixes are totally
inadequate. You are better off buying a general fishmeal groundbait such as
Swimstim green or marine halibut and tailoring your own. At least your mix will
be unique and the fish will be less wary of it.
The preparation of particles for the method mix
1. Flaked maize and Vitalin. Add enough water to the maize or vitalin to
cover and leave for about 20-30 minutes, drain and it’s ready to add. The
particles can be frozen until needed.
2. Birdseed (Marriages sell an aniseed flavoured condition seed at £13.60 for
25Kg or 2.19 for 3Kg). Take the amount required and just cover in boiling
water. If the water is absorbed cover the seed again with more boiling
water. Repeat until the seed remains covered with water. At this stage
you can add the seed to the method mix or freeze for later, however, if
you leave this to ferment it becomes extremely potent. Try leaving this
for at least a week before adding to the method mix. A friend of mine who
uses this mixture with great success over another club lake reckons it
only just starts to mature after leaving for a month and reaches full
potency after 3 months (at this stage it becomes a bit too smelly to
handle). Pigeon mix is an excellent alternative to birdseed and you should
be able to buy this more cheaply at a decent petshop. The method of
preparation is the same as the birdseed.
3. Pinhead Oatmeal. Again available from Marriages. Add water to cover,
leave for 30 minutes, drain, add to method mix or freeze. The particles
swell to give large soft attractive white particles.
4. Hemp. This preparation is for hemp to be used as a particle for big fish, it
differs in the preparation of hemp when fishing for roach.
Take the required quantity of hemp and soak in plenty of water for 24
hours. Simmer the mixture for 20-30 minutes and allow to cool. Leave
to stand in a covered container until a scum starts to develop on the
surface of the water. At this stage the hemp is starting to ferment and is
becoming very smelly and highly attractive to bream and tench. This
process usually takes 3-4 days. Drain off, add to method mix or freeze for
later.
5. Maize. Maize is an excellent bait to use as a hair rigged hookbait or in
minced form as an additive to groundbaits. It is also very cheap to buy
(Marriages sell a 25Kg bag for £6.35). Read most articles on preparing
maize and they will tell you that it is impossible to soften maize by boiling,
however, there is another way of preparing maize if you are prepared to
take the time which leaves the maize grains much softer and suitable for
mincing.
6. Take your maize and soak in plenty of water for up to 2 days. The grains
will swell up to several times their original size as they absorb water but
will still be extremely hard.
7. Simmer the maize for about 2 hours, at this stage you can add any
flavourings you might want to use (I sometimes add some molasses at
this stage) leave to stand for a couple of days (or longer if you want a
smellier bait). Drain off the liquid put the maize in plastic bags and freeze
FOR AT LEAST 2 DAYS. The water absorbed by the carbohydrate cells in
the maize grains will turn to tiny ice crystals. Ice crystals expand when
formed forming a larger volume than the original crystals. This will disrupt
all the cells in the maize grains and on thawing you will find that the maize
minces beautifully if put through an old fashioned mincer forming a highly
attractive pile of tiny soft maize particles. If you like, sort out some of the
better grains for hair rigging before mincing.
Other additives that can be used for your method mix include molasses (useful as
a binder, makes the mix stickier) and corn steep liquor.
These preparations may seem long winded but are given in detail to produce the
optimum results. With the hemp and birdseed perfectly acceptable results will be
obtained by cutting out the time for fermenting.
What it boils down to is you can use any combination of particles you like and in
any quantity, wheat, groats, pearl barley, lentils, dead maggots, casters etc. Just
remember to give the particles a good soaking prior to adding to the base mix. I
like a mixture containing a lot of small particles to make the fish stay and root
around once they arrive.
Take your base mix, it could be a fishmeal groundbait or a commercial method
mix add water a bit at a time, mixing thoroughly until it is quite damp/ Leave to
stand for at least half an hour for the water to be fully absorbed. Add more water
at this stage if necessary. Add your prepared particles and mix thoroughly. At
this stage you should be able to squeeze into a firm ball but the ball will break up
quite easily (try breaking it in half). Test a small ball in water and it should break
down completely in around 5 minutes. Adjust if necessary.