Ian Giddins shows why a single rig and two pints of bait are all you need to put together giant nets of commercial ide
IT’S BEEN said a thousand times, but keeping things simple really does pay dividends in fishing.
The most basic of rigs and feeding strategies often fare best, easily outscoring over-complicated approaches in almost every situation you can think of.
Visit your local commercial this week and there are bound to be anglers that have set up everything but the kitchen sink. With half-a-dozen top kits, a couple of rods and a side tray packed to the rafters with an array of bait boxes, they’ll think they’re in pole position to catch more than anyone else.
Come across top match angler Ian Giddins, though, when he’s targeting commercial silvers, and you’ll see he’s armed with nothing more than a single rig and a tub of maggots.
The Garbolino and Mainline Match-backed star has proved on countless occasions that plundering one spot with just £5 worth of bait is the recipe for success.
“You need to select an appropriate spot in your peg and feed it correctly throughout to
keep the bites coming all day,” explained Ian.
“It’s a very simple way of fishing, but there are plenty of little intricacies to it that need to be considered, and it’s this fine tuning that could make the difference between a steady 20lb catch and a bulging 60lb netful.”
Pick your spot
Most commercial swims have features that will instantly grab your attention, and these seem like the obvious place to target.
Ian does the complete opposite, though, when chasing ide and other silvers, preferring to keep well away from any cover.
“Margins and islands are a magnet for carp and F1s because of both the cover and shallow water, and when I’m fishing for silvers, I want to try and avoid them.
“They feed aggressively, and silvers are easily spooked by them, giving you very little chance of lining up a bite every chuck.
“Instead, I tend to look for deeper, open-water swims where the disturbance is much more likely to be minimal.”
Shropshire’s Monkhall Fisheries is one of Ian’s favourite commercials, and its Hawk Pool is a true mixed lake.
The central islands 25m from the bank are where a large percentage of the carp and F1s linger, so Ian concentrates his efforts around 13m out.
Working the catapult
Getting a shoal of ide competing is the key to getting bites within seconds of the hookbait touching bottom, and feeding in a certain way will help you to achieve that.
“I never use a cup when feeding for ide, as they respond better to the bait being spread over an area rather than in a tight pile.
“I’ll use the catapult to fire in 10 mag
