I would imagine it is the feeding you will need to get right. Many who go there are nowhere near positive enough, especially if they are feeding to catch on the pole or waggler.
I’ll send you a copy of a PM I sent to someone on another forum yesterday. Only a basic run through the various tactics, but may help you pick up a couple of ideas.

hi steve could you send a copy to me as well please as im getting things ready for the festivals.

cheers paul

I only give out advice to foreigners ~clap

OK, PM sent mate

but i am

Hi Steve could you send me a copy as well please

Not another local who wants access to my hard-earned catalogue of memories! ~shh

Just dug out July 2006 Matchfishing mag. A piece in there I shot/wrote with Adam Wakelin when he fished Pixie’s Point in the meadows.

Couple of little extra bits on feeder fishing:
He said to leave the feeder out for about two minutes and then give it one turn on the handle to twitch it. Similar to how I have said you can ‘wind the skimmers on’.
Every third or fourth cast he said to leave it for five minutes because the bigger skimmers want a bit of time to find the bait.

He also suggested that in Festival season, the skimmers will come and sit about 20 turns out, or wherever everyone is fishing. So talk to the others who have fished there and get that info because the fish will come in to where the feed is going in.

I also did one with Adam where he fished the pole. It was in an issue of Southern Angler but I can’t find it at the minute to tell you which month and year. Think it was while Geeps was still running it, so that may narrow it down a little.

Thanks Steve much appreciated

No worries Barry. Let me know if you need any help with Kia Ora next.~naughty

Steve, post your article/PM on here so other can have a read. Many of us might fish Porth in the future and any info is always useful on venues like Porth.

Porth is not easy, pick your method and stick to it is best if it is fishing,If you start on the pole stay on it, same applies to the feeder.Do not go mad. 4 balls slightly larger than egg size on the pole, jam them with caster ( use binder ).Look to fish 12 to 14.5m out, after cupping start on single red maggot and alternate with redworm.First bite should be within 3 mins, if not start feeding via catty – casters, ball of g/b every 5-10mins.You should be catching steady within 30 mins if not go on feeder.Set up .10 and .08rigs to 1 gm and .75 if possible as light rigs get more bites.It is not bagging!, scale down again if struggling and fish smaller baits if required.12-15lbs is usually ok points.

OK TB, this is the PM:

Assuming it stays dry, the water will be a bit low and you will have three options.
1. The feeder for skimmers or bream. In most areas, clip up about 30 yards out and fish bunches of dead red maggots, bits of worm or corn on the hook. Feed is a fishmeal mix with a few dead reds, bit of dampened micro pellet and a bit of chopped worm in it.
You may have to wind the fish onto the hook by twitching the feeder slowly. Wind the rod forward about a foot and then pull it back to the rod rest and you will feel bites from smaller skimmers.
If you fish in the trees, straight ahead from the car park, or opposite, you will fish the same but could have bigger bream.
2. Long pole, balling in groundbait and feeding heavily with casters over the top. Fish a 0.75g – 1.5g rig depending on depth and wind strength. Bait is red maggot, caster or bits of worm. Use No 4 elastic, 0.08 hooklength and size 18 hook.
3. Waggler and loose fed casters at 20 yards. Similar to the pole line, but expect to catch shallow as well as down. Best to set up two rods, one with a 2AAA insert to fish 3′ with a couple of No10s spread. The other rod with 2 1/2AAA set to fish the depth with a small bulk of 4 or 5 No8s at half depth and a couple of No 10s below that. Hooks and line as the pole.

If there is some heavy rain and the Reservoir is coloured, you can catch well fishing the pole at 4-6m. Feed groundbait in little balls like whip fishing, hookbaits as for the long pole. Expect roach and skimmers, but a good chance of some proper bream, big perch and maybe a tench or two as well. Probably need a 6 elastic and 0.10 hooklength for coloured water. The tench do often come out at 5-7lbs, so take it steady!

and then he asked about specific floats and about the feeder twitching:

The feeder trick has been used there for years. Sometimes difficult to get the right info, and little things like that can easily make the difference between winning a section and coming halfway.
You wouldn’t use it if you were in a big bream area. So worth knowing exactly where the bream have been showing. You can then sit it out for two or three proper pull rounds on hair-rigged corn. Nerve wracking, but that’s how the likes of Geoff Ringer do so well.

Give em some shells…

I can’t post the articles, as they are in magazines and would take too much space up here. Plus you wouldn’t get to see the photos that illustrate them.

Interesting thoughts there from Phil. As in most match fishing, those who pick one method and work it all day are usually the ones who win. But which one will be the method on the day?
A lot will depend on when you draw it and what info you can get from those who have fished it before you. Then it comes down to asking the right questions. That’s the bit where a lot of people go wrong.

Thanks Steve. A really interesting read. Its the one venue i,ve really struggled to get to grips with at W/As.

Ouch Steve that was a below the belt~naughty

Fish a decent match on the pole for roach and you should be consistent, I’ve never finished out of the top 3. Loose feeding is mega with light rigs.

Steve, does Clive Carter still fish? Awesome angler/record in the SWest

Yes Clive still fishes!!

Any good tips on how to avoid the Pike ?~think

@MMA wrote:

Any good tips on how to avoid the Pike ?~think

Dont put in groundbait.

@MMA wrote:

Any good tips on how to avoid the Pike ?~think

Go somewhere else? lol

@Bazza wrote:

below the belt

Sorry Barry, couldn’t resist.

Steve if you pleasure fished the venue which pegs / areas would you recommend and would you change your tactics etc?

MMA p.m sent!!

pike dont eat groundbait lol.seriously though i have had pike trouble every single time i have fished porth.i have even caught them on single maggot on the pole!!wish i knew the answer.

Do the pike count in matches?

If it was me I’d be tempted to fish a feeder very positively with a big bait like hair rigged corn or even double corn because there are some decent skimmers in there and plenty of them and I wouldn’t be afraid of ringing the changes as per the length of the trace and would even go very short. Don’t laugh but if it was allowed I would even try a small method feeder over the top. I would also have a pole line for the tiddlers in case the feeder line needed a rest. I think sometimes people fish it a bit negatively due to its nature.

The pike at porth can be a nightmare. I do think if you ball it on the pole you run a high chance of drawing them in. As a result i always pot everything on the pole now as do a lot of others. To be fair the Pike are no worse now than they were ten years ago, they also seem to hang on certain pegs like 24, 32, 33 for instance. As for not feeding groundbait i wouldnt ever go there without groundbait. Also for me the Roach arent reliable enough to fish for on a regular basis, the skimmers are much more so.
NW cut angler, pike dont count in the festival matches.

Am I right in saying the proper Bream never seem to show much in matches apart from the occasional festival / run of matches? If so any reason?

They seem to show when there is colour in the water, ie after a lot of rain or towards the end of a festival week when some bait has gone in. If you talk to the carp lads who fish it they reckon they catch loads of bream at night so it could be that with the water being so clear they are nocturnal feeders in the main.

@One fish wrote:

Porth is not easy, pick your method and stick to it is best if it is fishing,If you start on the pole stay on it, same applies to the feeder.Do not go mad. 4 balls slightly larger than egg size on the pole, jam them with caster ( use binder ).Look to fish 12 to 14.5m out, after cupping start on single red maggot and alternate with redworm.First bite should be within 3 mins, if not start feeding via catty – casters, ball of g/b every 5-10mins.You should be catching steady within 30 mins if not go on feeder.Set up .10 and .08rigs to 1 gm and .75 if possible as light rigs get more bites.It is not bagging!, scale down again if struggling and fish smaller baits if required.12-15lbs is usually ok points.

That don’t make sense, you contradicted yourself!

I’ll have whatever your on.

steve when are you fishing down there next i might come along for some tips (thanks for the info) have to get my head around porth will be going down there next month

I don’t feed groundbait on the pole line and have never had pike trouble yet, though i’ve only fished porth 3 times. It’s one to consider.

As i said the Pike arent everywhere and some days dont cause a problem. I think in my last 6 visits i have only had pike trouble twice. The other times i havent seen one.

Dont forget your waders and platform as some pegs especially from peg 16 – 37 (2 sections on right) can be good for a platform 1-3 metres out , i believe about peg 36-ish Daren Cox once went out about 10 metres !! Opposite pegs are not really platform stuff as the water drops off quickly from the bank.
Peg 77 is a really comfortable peg on the boards but for me the 80’s and late 70’s are the best , especially when those big bream show (not often)

Take a trolley for right hand side but otherwise the boat picks your gear up.

I suspect Steve R does not see much pike trouble because he is usually there with plenty of other anglers on the bank. If you pleasure fished it, it may be more of a pain.

Personally NWCA, I would fish it exactly the same and enjoy catching loads of fish. Picking the feeder, pole or waggler to suit the conditions.
If it is blowing and towing fish the feeder, if it is flattish with a nice ripple, try the pole.
I would probably fish in the trees, or in the meadow because it is a long old way to get to other places.

I suspect Steve R does not see much pike trouble because he is usually there with plenty of other anglers on the bank. If you pleasure fished it, it may be more of a pain.

i may be wrong im not an expert on the place but i think the clearer it is the more pike trouble u seem to get, i fished it this year on the dynamites an i had 8 on so did mark harper to my left and richie hull had 21 on on peg 32 which is one of the pegs carpmagic mentioned b4 as a noted pike peg. richie said afterwards he had never had so many on in 15 years of fishing the place but there was ppl pleasuring ours pegs the day b4 which has prob made them home in a little coz that where some feed had gone in.

Bough Beech and Porth are similar in my experience in terms of Pike – a large groundbait bombardment does seem to attract them into the peg at times.

Going back a couple of years my team mates and I had some success catching a better stamp of skimmers on the pole feeding plenty of casters in groundbait and cupping big pots of neat choppy over the top periodically.

Excellent Information guys
I will try some of the methods at the Mever, It might improve my position as last time I was last in section.
Les

The place is wick with pike & Cormorants they need to train them cormorants up to attack pike !

as tommy pickering once said “the safest place for the roach and skimmers is in yer net” lol.

I agree with carpmagic – skimmers are most reliable after porth has been fished a bit and some bait has gone in, not the roach.
To avoid hooking pike ship back like mad and don’t look at your pole tip, regardless of how big the fish is. Stop for breath, and something huge will eat it.

Use extra weight on your feeder for accurate casting and to aid self-hooking.

Also, use a pole float with a hollow tip that you can see.

Same anglers do well at Porth, but that’s because they have a few tricks up their sleeves I’m sure.

I’ve only been 5 times, 3 section wins (1 match win, one match 2nd, one match 3rd!)), one second in sec 3rd on lake, and one crap result. But I draw badly…

Final piece of advice, don’t get drunk the night before. Porth is unforgiving if you’re not on top form and ounces can seperate 3 or 4 points.