i reckon if there was any chub about the bleak wont have been there!!!!!!only certain holes have chub in them

I think Millie is probably correct but feed 4mm or 6mm plumrose on a 16 or waggler a worm can work . Not sure about hemp but add meat . You can catapult worm if you cut it the right size and use water to keep the pouch from sticking . Maybe switch to pellets 😮 😮 😮

Sometimes blitzing it works to feed off the bleak. I once scrounged 10 pints of caster after a big weekend match then fished a midweek evening match on the Dorset Stour at a time when the minnows were murderous. I fed the lot in three hours and had 6 chub for 12lb and a win. Second had an 8lb barbel on meat and everyone else couldn’t get through the minnows.

You had the good fortune to have a go at that . The huge cost implication of doing that these days asks the question is it worth it . 30 yrs ago a gallon of maggots was normal on most river matches . A 8£ a gallon it was deemed worth it and if you didn’t use them they fridged up till the next match . Wages haven’t trebled and our matches had top prizes worth winning not given back to anyone who weighs in and a please come back letter ! 😀

@Mark Wintle wrote:

Sometimes blitzing it works to feed off the bleak. I once scrounged 10 pints of caster after a big weekend match then fished a midweek evening match on the Dorset Stour at a time when the minnows were murderous. I fed the lot in three hours and had 6 chub for 12lb and a win. Second had an 8lb barbel on meat and everyone else couldn’t get through the minnows.

thanks – thats well worth remembering next time we have a super-cup draw there. 🙂
Recall that some minnows were bigger than some of the bleak!

All the rivers Thames Severn Wye Trent this year have been solid with small dace tiny chub and bleak . Getting bait through them was a big problem . The anglers who got away with it easiest was those using Hemp andTares . Tony Mashall taking loads of coin and Sam Merry both qualifying for Riverfest .Also excelling in the Burton on Trent and Thames Festivals . Hempseed and Tares caught loads this summer probably due to the continuos hot weather . Chub seem to be getting more rare . The Warwickshire Avon 30 yrs ago was heaving with minnows , The White House bend at Hampton Ferry no exception !! I once fed one gallon of maggots in a match and caught only minnows from start to finish . 😮 😮 Nowadays those that fish there would welcome them . :rolleyes:

Gareth you have fished multiple world championships, why possibly would you want advice from us mere mortals 😉

He is very clever .! He knows only too well that you should never stop learning in this game .! The very top matchmen nearly always go back to the headquarters after . Not to get the Ale in but to get snippets of info from mere mortals . Little ideas that they may have missed . The men that have won coin usually spill some beans in their excitement . No one in angling achieves greatness without a leg up . IMO . 😉 😉 😉

Couple of other examples as grist to the mill. Medley match July 90, making a dog’s dinner of it, getting ‘bitted’ out by tiny chub and bleak, feeding too light and fishing 5 no. 8 down line on waggler, occasionally getting a roach, with Keith Arthur upstream, Mick Burrell downstream doing much better with roach off a good draw. After 2 hours tried a little feederlink and had a roach a throw – so they’re there! But lead is too slow. Finally penny dropped with 90 minutes to go. I had only 3 pints of maggots to start but started feeding two pouchfuls a cast, moved 6 no. 4 to top of hook link and immediately started baggin on roach. I ended with 11lb, Keith had 10lb and couldn’t believe I’d caught him after being 8lb behind but Mick had 14lb for 2nd and revealed he’d fed 8 pints. I could keep up the feeding for 90 minutes but had just about run out by the end so if just a short time to end of match you can feed say a pint in 20 minutes or two pints in an hour even if you didn’t bring a gallon.

In days before pellets had a match on little club lake stacked with 2oz carp but also 2lbers. Only one match a year so practised and couldn’t get through tiddlers until dug out 2 pints of old maggots and fed very heavy then caught the better samples. Local pleasure angler said meat was answer; I replied “we’ll see”. Turned up with a gallon and fed heavily, with that same pleasure angler next to me. No one else cottoned on and I walked the match with the pleasure angler blanking. Maggots were cheap then though.

I think Tim D said that with his tongue firmly stuck in his cheek! 2 good replies though.

Yes. Could picture that at Meddley . on Paul Glenfieds festival around that area in September either castor , worm or hemp and Tares was best . Loose feeding was no good , the small fish hammered you every cast . Potted balls of groundbait was the key . However no one really went with rod and line much , firing loads of bait in . Bait being so expensive .! Also you cannot practise this feeding a gallon by yourself cause every tiddler for miles down river homes in on the free stuff . And they do in matches because not many anglers feed with catapults like the old days . So again you may be the only one loose feeding .! Tares held the key perhaps .? Maybe waggler with grounbait and castor , and bulk shot down would produce . The Trent was fished like that many years ago . Pete Palmer was good . Ivan not bad .!!!! 🙂

haha