10 QUICKFIRE TIPS
1 PRIME IT PROPERLY
The fish are unlikely to be in the upper layers from the word go and they’ll need an incentive to come up off the bottom.
Regularly loosefeeding the target zone while fishing elsewhere is the key, as it allows the fish to feed without interruption. Try this line too soon and you may catch a couple quickly, before they spook and prove difficult to tempt back. Feed it and leave it for at least an hour-and-a-half to enhance your chances of plundering a settled shoal.
2 TRY A LONGER ‘LASH’
A very short length of line between pole tip and float is often used during the height of summer to help you to connect with lightning-fast bites. But now, with the water still being reasonably clear, you need to keep the pole tip away from your float so that the fish don’t see it and spook. Use a foot of line, pinching a backshot in the middle of it to create a little tension.
3 KEEP TWEAKING THE DEPTH
F1s are renowned for being reluctant to remain at one depth, and will frequently go up and down in the water column. If your hookbait is just a few inches above or below where they’re sat, it’ll be ignored. So if you go more than five minutes at a certain depth without any indications, ship in and adjust it by just 2ins-3ins. Go shallower if you are getting liners, but go deeper if bites or float indications have dried up altogether.
4 GO FOR A BRISTLE
If you aren’t catching fish but line bites are persisting, it’s a sign that there are F1s in your swim, but small changes need to be made to fool them.
Switch to a short and reasonably stumpy float with quite a thin a bristle and you’ll be able to see the proper bites more clearly. On the other hand, if you persist with something like a dibber float, these proper indications are unlikely to register because of how buoyant the tip is on such float patterns, leading to a session that’s full of frustration!
5 BAND YOUR HOOKBAITS
You need to do everything within your power to make sure that you set the hook when an F1 snatches at the hookbait quickly. Banding your hookbaits instead of directly hooking them will help in this respect. All the hook point will be on show, enhancing the chances of it catching hold when it matters.
6 TARGET THE COVER
In warm weather F1s will be well dispersed around the lake and can be caught from numerous areas, but in the cooler conditions of early spring they’ll tend to stick close to spots where they feel most comfortable. That means fishing close to cover, with reed beds, overhanging trees and brambles all helping to keep light levels lower and give the fish feed more confidence to feed.
