Good topic & I’d be interested to know.
I always start leading around. I then clip up but I tie a piece of marker braid on my main line & put that under the clip. I use braided main line 6lb. bs with a mono shock leader.
I use a Team Normark feeder rod (the original 20 years old) with a Daiwa 2503CU.
I use brown crumb with green swimstim 50/50 & add micros,hemp & a few casters.
I always start by casting the feeder 20 times without a hooklength.
I use a link swivel on a free running rig with a swivel to attach the hook length.
I then have a cup of coffee, I think the most important part of the preparation & if I smoked I’d have a fag.
I start with maggot on the hook but always first change is worm & caster. I will use pellets if there have been other anglers, but that said I caught on trout pellet in Ireland & I doubt that the fish had seen them at that time. I rarely use sweetcorn as I have little or no confidence in it.
Regards Peter.

I recently fished The upper Tamar lake, near Bude in Devon. I fished all day as i was on my own and fancied a bit of peace and quiet fishing the tip. The lake is quite prolific, tons of silvers, huge bream, loads of skimmers, giant perch and of course the specimen carp.

Anyway, I only took 3 hookbaits with me, corn, 8mm pellets and worms. I mixed up some groundbait using a commercial fishmeal and lots of brown crumb, once this was ready i added some lightly soaked micros and some corn.

I used my 13′ ABU Suveran feeder rod with a Daiwa Procaster 4000 X reel, basically because that’s all i had with me. I was actually not a bad combination as the reel had a fairly quick retrieve and the rod is probably one of the most versatile rods there are.

I then started off fishing a free running cage feeder, chucked it and chanced it at about 45 turns. I put 8 feeder fulls out to start and then cast regularly over the top, not leaving the rig in for more than 4-5 minutes.

Rig was free running with a buffer bead and swivel to attach the hooklength. I began with a 2′ hooklength and caught from the off.

I tried changing the length of the trace to see if i could catch quicker and about 12″ was best.

I then tried a simple paternoster, but strangely this wasn’t as effective and my catch rate slowed.

I began to experiment with a commercial carp style free running feeder rig, but with a hair rigged PR36 to .19 hooklength!!

I tried 6 and 12 inches and caught on both lengths, in fact my catch rate soared and I had a fish a bung for the rest of the afternoon on all three baits.

Worm accounted for some massive perch around 2lb, I also had decent bream and skimmers.

By about 3pm the quality fish seemed to have moved on and no matter what i did i came back with a 6-8oz hybrid every cast. I wasn’t complaining as they were beautiful fish, eventually though these dissapeared and i couldnt buy a bite, I left a bit confused as to why the quality bream had moved on. I got a feeling they got fed up with the feeder landing on them, Or maybee a couple of big carp had moved in??

I didn’t bother with the method feeder, but i am pretty sure it would have been effective, and like i said the commy carp rig was the most effective!! Just goes to show, its good to experiment, Ha Ha.

Just returned to fishing after a very long break.
Not a novice but very rusty with tactics as I spent the last 8 years doing fisheries management for a local club.
I have started fishing the Chichester Canal in W.Sussex and I am having to use a feeder as I have a back injury and cannot hold a pole and as it is only a narrow footpath you have to ship sideways as the footpath is also a cycle track.
Well thats the senario.
My Missus (Tenchgirl ) will set up and be catching fish minitues after setting up 🙁 but I get myself set up with a light weight feeder and can sit for an hour without getting a knock. What have I forgotten over the years??? :confused:
It is if you have never been there a bacis stillwater canal with very little or no flow, Just the occasional boat trip going through.
Any advice (and don’t say give up 🙂 ) on what I can do to improve my catch rate.
Finnaly does anyone know somebody who makes or where I can buy a backrest for a Fox Match box?
Tight Lines
Smeag

@smeagal wrote:

Just returned to fishing after a very long break.
Not a novice but very rusty with tactics as I spent the last 8 years doing fisheries management for a local club.
I have started fishing the Chichester Canal in W.Sussex and I am having to use a feeder as I have a back injury and cannot hold a pole and as it is only a narrow footpath you have to ship sideways as the footpath is also a cycle track.
Well thats the senario.
My Missus (Tenchgirl ) will set up and be catching fish minitues after setting up 🙁 but I get myself set up with a light weight feeder and can sit for an hour without getting a knock. What have I forgotten over the years??? :confused:
It is if you have never been there a bacis stillwater canal with very little or no flow, Just the occasional boat trip going through.
Any advice (and don’t say give up 🙂 ) on what I can do to improve my catch rate.
Finnaly does anyone know somebody who makes or where I can buy a backrest for a Fox Match box?
Tight Lines
Smeag

can you not get an 11 or 12ft float rod? should be able to catch with a nice little waggler.

Watch the Ian Kitson video fishing in ireland its free on here.

Yes I have a waggler but as the canal is inline with the prevailing wind surface tow is a serious problem and as it is a conserversation area the trees overhang the banks and the towpath is narrow and busy with cyclists. 🙁
We intend to move along to the southern end which is more sheltered and the overhead trees are further out .
Thanks for replying
Tight Lines
Smeag 🙂

@Anthonywaters wrote:

Watch the Ian Kitson video fishing in ireland its free on here.

Thanks found it this afternoon.
Just going to make a cuppa and settle down to go throught the list. 🙂
Many Thanks.
Smeag

never put hemp in with your groundbait. The crumb wil dry the seed up and make it close causing it to float. Dont worry too much about the groundbait as its only a cap to stop the particles falling out on the cast. pack your feeder with as many free offerings as you can maggots, casters, chopped worm, hemp, corn. Braid is always better for bite detection and casting were allowed. Use a mono shockleader with a link swivel on the end. simply attach a two foot hooklenght and a feeder with two foot of line on to the clip of the swivel. this gives you a patternoster that you can quickly change hooklenghts as and when needed. only fish as far as you can accuratley cast. it is an idea to throw a lead around to find any ledges or snags and if its a big ledge fish far enough past it so not to catch it on the way back in.

Thanks for the advice
The canal is dregeded to a flatbottomed v as the boats do day trips everyday.
So the banks are pretty even and so is the depth.
I will let you know how it goes when we have visited.
Thanks Again
Smeag 🙂