REVIEW
Scottish angler Joe Whyte goes on the hunt with Sharnbrook Tackle’s Surf Feeders during a frantic session from the shores of Wigtown Bay
They say that the simplest ideas are often the best and this is one of those occasions. The carp and coarse guys have been using feeder systems for decades. Boat anglers have been using chum methods for as long as boats have put to sea and it seems a little leap of logic to suggest that a similar method wouldn’t work for anglers fishing the shores of our little island.
David Watts, of Sharnbrook Tackle in Leicestershire, has been selling Surf Feeders for nigh on 25 years, although they were a new product on me. It’s a fairly simple premise: a rigid plastic capsule with a series of holes around its circumference which slots into a Gemini weight (I tried out the 150g and 180g grip leads) which you stuff with mashed up bait. This then releases a scent trail into the water and attracts fish to your baited hook. Simple, eh?
I set these up for a trial run with companion Rehman Malik, a local angler who often accompanies me on some of my more hair-brained expeditions. I stuffed one with frozen cart wing and the other with mashed squid and mussel and stuck them back in the freezer. It’s a fairly messy procedure but once you’ve mastered reapplying the bottom part (which also comprises the weight loop that locks the whole thing in place) you are good to go. The 150g feeder was a luminous body which would probably be useful in the dark depths of Loch Etive or for night fishing.
Our first attempt was in a mark on the west side of Wigtown Bay, a regular spot for me in the summer months. It can be hit or miss but on a good day it will produce bags of smoothhound, bass and the other typical species.
TACTICAL SET-UP
We set up with two rods each, one with and one without a surf feeder. We were using similar baits in fresh and frozen peeler crab, ragworm and lugworm. We later experimented with squid and mackerel baits. We also both fished long and short and across two tides. The weather was typically Scottish – rain, sun, high winds and calm conditions, often within an hour of each other.
I was using two Century rods: a Kompressor Sport and a Mark 2 Tip Tornado with a pair of PENN Surfblaster reels loaded with 18lb line and a standard shockleader. Rehman was using two continental rods and PENN reels. Our end tackle was a series of pulley rigs, varying snood lengths and often Pennell circle hooks. I generally don’t go over a 1/0 or a 2/0 hook size at this particular mark.
Within minutes of setting up, my first rod arched over and I landed a fairly standard (for the area) sized 4lb hound and we thought that we were in for a bonanza. As is often the case, the fishing died off for a couple of h
