No matter what type of fishing you’re doing, achieving the very best presentation of your rig and hook bait in the conditions you’re faced with is a huge advantage to putting more fish in your net.
During the winter and spring, we’re exposed to some massively changeable conditions which can catch out even the most experienced anglers, we’ve all had it, one minute you’re fishing the long pole putting a run of fish together and ten minutes later the wind kicks up rendering that approach impossible!
Over the last few years with the boom in feeder only matches, I’ve began to realise that on some occasions a feeder fished at even the shortest range and over your pole lines can be an extremely effective approach.
Let’s look at it – you’ve got a static, very accurate and aggressive rig which, when you’re fishing for carp, f1s and skimmers on commercial venues represents the full package in terms of presentation, not counting those days when it’s extremely windy and the lake is towing hard.
The feeder is not only a weapon for countering harsh conditions though, if you regularly fish a commercial water where foul hooking fish in shallow water is a big problem then the feeder can be your best friend.
In this feature I’m going to talk about a new feeder that MAP launched this spring and it’s one that I and many others believe to be the ultimate feeder that guarantees presentation every time!
The Theory
Having fished with hybrid style feeders over many years one thing that seemed to make the biggest amount of difference to the amount of bites you got, how quickly you got the bite and the quality of the hook holds was ensuring that your hook bait was placed within the feeder itself for as long as possible.
The nature of the feeder means that the bait is mainly held within the ‘dish’ and any feeding fish needs to feed directly out of the feeder essentially meaning that if your hook bait is included in that, it’s going in their mouth and the rest is history.
Where the method feeder differs is that you’re moulding the bait around the frame, with the bait breaking down and spreading over a wider area which makes having the hook bait included so precisely in the ball less important as the fish can feed all around the feeder from any angle.
So, it’s important to remember that the two styles are completely different in terms of the presentation required for that feeder to be at its most effective.
Embed!
MAP’s new range of Embed feeders is built around providing the ultimate in hook bait presentation, how often do we all sit on our boxes 10 or 15 minutes into a cast wondering if all is well at the other end?
Those nagging seeds of doubt can really drain your confidence, but with the Embed feeder what you see above the water is exactly how it remains under the water for the full duration of the cast, and to me, that confidence is absolutely everything.
As I’ve already touched on, having your hook bait placed within the bait on an Embed style feeder is the single most important aspect of the set up, and never before has achieving this been so easy.
In the past, I’ve tried everything I can to achieve the presentation that the Embed provides by trapping my hook length underneath a layer of bait and folding my hook bait back thus shortening the hook length by around half – this alone gave some good results but there was always going to be a better way of achieving the best hook bait presentation for success.
The Game Changer!
The biggest feature of MAP’s new Embed feeders is the line grip which is integrated into the feeder body, this feature alone really does change the game in my opinion when it comes to commercial feeder fishing.
Never before have you been able to guarantee the presentation you need and it’s going to remain that way until you either get a bite or wind the feeder in.
On most venues a 4-inch hook length has to be used – the nature of most hook length materials is that most of the time your hook bait is being pulled off of the dinner plate or displaced on the cast or by the fish feeding near the feeder, by using the line grip it’s entirely possible to manipulate the hook angle and where the hook bait is placed within the feeder every time, without fail.
Of course, with the hook length being held in place, the bites you get using the Embed feeders with the hook length nipped into the soft rubber line grip are incredible, but once the fish shakes its head, the hook length is released and the feeder is completely free running making the system completely fish safe.
The design hasn’t just been focussed around the clip either – MAP have included a slightly rounded base to the feeders, which means there is less water displacement on entry meaning achieving that satisfying ‘plop’ is easier than ever before, this also aids protecting the bait on impact ensuring your presentation is as good as it can possibly be once the feeder hits the bottom.
Vents situated on the base of the feeders have been cleverly designed angled the opposite way to how the feeder enters the water, meaning that bait protection inside the feeder has once again been placed as a priority for the greatest presentation.
Being versatile is something that is all important in modern match fishing, with changeable conditions and changes in how the fish feed throughout a match means that the interchangeable stem system makes swapping between different size and weights of feeder easy and quick by sliding the feeder off the stem, and replacing it with a different feeder without breaking down the rig.
Theory Into Practise!
To give the new feeders a work out we headed to Cedar Lake at Decoy Lakes on what has to be the windiest day of the year so far! Setting up was quite an event, and if something wasn’t nailed down – it was soon blown across the lake! However, as I mentioned at the beginning of this feature, this is the kind of day where a feeder approach fishing over pole lines can be absolutely deadly and gives you the ultimate presentation when presenting any other method would be impossible.
The bait choice was simple, a mix of 2mm Dynamite Baits F1 Sweet pellets and standard 2mm XL Carp Pellets to put in the feeder and a selection of different wafters – with 5mm and 3mm Dynamite Wowsers and Washters in different colours being my choice on the day.
A super-soft 10ft Parabolix Black Edition Feeder rod teamed with a 3500x Parabolix reel loaded up with 6lb Optimum main line had the hardware covered and at the business end a small 24g Embed feeder running down to the supplied connector bead that comes with the feeder.
A 4 inch hook length of 0.19mm Optimum Power attached with a size 14 hook and a bayonet fixed in a tiny loop on the hair, to allow maximum movement of the hook bait, and most importantly so the bait can sit upright naturally, as it is meant to.
The Session
With everything sorted it was time to see what the day would bring, after a harsh cold snap and quite a bit of snow in the days previous I wasn’t expecting to bag up by any means but Decoy is an excellent venue that produces right through the colder months.
Loading the Embed feeders couldn’t be simpler, first I like to clip the hook length into the clip before I add any bait into the feeder, this just makes the whole process easier. With the line in the grip, I half fill the feeder with pellets and really force these in as hard as I can, this bait must remain in the feeder until I wind in to ensure I always have something within the dish.
Then it’s simply a case of placing the hookbait where you want it to sit within the feeder, by pulling the line through the grip. When using the smaller feeders, I like to have the hookbait towards the top of the feeder, but on the medium and large feeders placing it in the middle of the feeder is optimal.
To finish, add a few more pellets onto the top, but it’s important not to overfill the feeder, the feeders have been designed to hold more bait within the dinner plate, so overloading isn’t necessary.
A good starting line on a venue like this is to start short, just how you would if you were fishing the pole, a little under arm lob to 6m would be my starting option, purely to see what kind of day it is going to be.
If I don’t get an early fish on that line in the first 10 minutes, I’ll start to try and locate where the fish are, which is the beauty of using small feeders – you’re not spreading masses of bait and a single cast in a new spot isn’t ruining anything at all.
With no bites forthcoming, I changed to a 5mm Yellow Wowser hook bait as the water was quite coloured and I felt visibility could be an issue and repositioned the feeder on the 13m line, this had an instant response as I landed my first fish of the day, a big f1 of around 4lb!
Dropping back in on that line, I was getting plenty of signs of fish in the area, so I just sat tight and kept patient and eventually the rod would get wrenched round.
As is typical with winter commercial venues, after an initial run of bites, I had to start moving around looking for another group of fish, on this particular day the fish seemed to be most confident right down the middle so moving left and right of my initial spot worked well to keep a few bites coming.
Once the fish had wised up a bit to the bright yellow hook bait, a change to a 5mm pellet coloured Washter tricked a few more and it just goes to show that continually keeping on the move and swapping hook baits can be so important to your end result.
Had it been warmer, fishing down the edge or chucking tight to the far bank would have been effective which just goes to show how fishing in this way is quite literally ‘one rod does all!’ and the beauty of it is, that every bite you get is hooked in the mouth and the fish generally ends up in the net.
With the wind showing no signs of dropping and some rain on the way we decided to call it a day after a few hours fishing.
With a nice selection of quality f1s, carp and even a couple of bonus barbel in the net which were caught short late in the session, it had proved to me once again that fishing the feeder over the pole line on commercial venues can offer the ultimate in presentation especially in the extremely challenging conditions that we’ve had today!
During the winter and spring, we’re exposed to some massively changeable conditions which can catch out even the most experienced anglers, we’ve all had it, one minute you’re fishing the long pole putting a run of fish together and ten minutes later the wind kicks up rendering that approach impossible!
Over the last few years with the boom in feeder only matches, I’ve began to realise that on some occasions a feeder fished at even the shortest range and over your pole lines can be an extremely effective approach.
Let’s look at it – you’ve got a static, very accurate and aggressive rig which, when you’re fishing for carp, f1s and skimmers on commercial venues represents the full package in terms of presentation, not counting those days when it’s extremely windy and the lake is towing hard.
The feeder is not only a weapon for countering harsh conditions though, if you regularly fish a commercial water where foul hooking fish in shallow water is a big problem then the feeder can be your best friend.In this feature I’m going to talk about a new feeder that MAP launched this spring and it’s one that I and many others believe to be the ultimate feeder that guarantees presentation every time!
The Theory
Having fished with hybrid style feeders over many years one thing that seemed to make the biggest amount of difference to the amount of bites you got, how quickly you got the bite and the quality of the hook holds was ensuring that your hook bait was placed within the feeder itself for as long as possible.
The nature of the feeder means that the bait is mainly held within the ‘dish’ and any feeding fish needs to feed directly out of the feeder essentially meaning that if your hook bait is included in that, it’s going in their mouth and the rest is history.
Where the method feeder differs is that you’re moulding the bait around the frame, with the bait breaking down and spreading over a wider area which makes having the hook bait included so precisely in the ball less important as the fish can feed all around the feeder from any angle.
So, it’s important to remember that the two styles are completely different in terms of the presentation required for that feeder to be at its most effective.
Embed!
MAP’s new range of Embed feeders is built around providing the ultimate in hook bait presentation, how often do we all sit on our boxes 10 or 15 minutes into a cast wondering if all is well at the other end?
Those nagging seeds of doubt can really drain your confidence, but with the Embed feeder what you see above the water is exactly how it remains under the water for the full duration of the cast, and to me, that confidence is absolutely everything.
As I’ve already touched on, having your hook bait placed within the bait on an Embed style feeder is the single most important aspect of the set up, and never before has achieving this been so easy.
In the past, I’ve tried everything I can to achieve the presentation that the Embed provides by trapping my hook length underneath a layer of bait and folding my hook bait back thus shortening the hook length by around half – this alone gave some good results but there was always going to be a better way of achieving the best hook bait presentation for success.
The Game Changer!
The biggest feature of MAP’s new Embed feeders is the line grip which is integrated into the feeder body, this feature alone really does change the game in my opinion when it comes to commercial feeder fishing.
Never before have you been able to guarantee the presentation you need and it’s going to remain that way until you either get a bite or wind the feeder in.
On most venues a 4-inch hook length has to be used – the nature of most hook length materials is that most of the time your hook bait is being pulled off of the dinner plate or displaced on the cast or by the fish feeding near the feeder, by using the line grip it’s entirely possible to manipulate the hook angle and where the hook bait is placed within the feeder every time, without fail.
Of course, with the hook length being held in place, the bites you get using the Embed feeders with the hook length nipped into the soft rubber line grip are incredible, but once the fish shakes its head, the hook length is released and the feeder is completely free running making the system completely fish safe.
The design hasn’t just been focussed around the clip either – MAP have included a slightly rounded base to the feeders, which means there is less water displacement on entry meaning achieving that satisfying ‘plop’ is easier than ever before, this also aids protecting the bait on impact ensuring your presentation is as good as it can possibly be once the feeder hits the bottom.
Vents situated on the base of the feeders have been cleverly designed angled the opposite way to how the feeder enters the water, meaning that bait protection inside the feeder has once again been placed as a priority for the greatest presentation.
Being versatile is something that is all important in modern match fishing, with changeable conditions and changes in how the fish feed throughout a match means that the interchangeable stem system makes swapping between different size and weights of feeder easy and quick by sliding the feeder off the stem, and replacing it with a different feeder without breaking down the rig.
Theory Into Practise!
To give the new feeders a work out we headed to Cedar Lake at Decoy Lakes on what has to be the windiest day of the year so far! Setting up was quite an event, and if something wasn’t nailed down – it was soon blown across the lake! However, as I mentioned at the beginning of this feature, this is the kind of day where a feeder approach fishing over pole lines can be absolutely deadly and gives you the ultimate presentation when presenting any other method would be impossible.
The bait choice was simple, a mix of 2mm Dynamite Baits F1 Sweet pellets and standard 2mm XL Carp Pellets to put in the feeder and a selection of different wafters – with 5mm and 3mm Dynamite Wowsers and Washters in different colours being my choice on the day.
A super-soft 10ft Parabolix Black Edition Feeder rod teamed with a 3500x Parabolix reel loaded up with 6lb Optimum main line had the hardware covered and at the business end a small 24g Embed feeder running down to the supplied connector bead that comes with the feeder.
A 4 inch hook length of 0.19mm Optimum Power attached with a size 14 hook and a bayonet fixed in a tiny loop on the hair, to allow maximum movement of the hook bait, and most importantly so the bait can sit upright naturally, as it is meant to.
The Session
With everything sorted it was time to see what the day would bring, after a harsh cold snap and quite a bit of snow in the days previous I wasn’t expecting to bag up by any means but Decoy is an excellent venue that produces right through the colder months.
Loading the Embed feeders couldn’t be simpler, first I like to clip the hook length into the clip before I add any bait into the feeder, this just makes the whole process easier. With the line in the grip, I half fill the feeder with pellets and really force these in as hard as I can, this bait must remain in the feeder until I wind in to ensure I always have something within the dish.
Then it’s simply a case of placing the hookbait where you want it to sit within the feeder, by pulling the line through the grip. When using the smaller feeders, I like to have the hookbait towards the top of the feeder, but on the medium and large feeders placing it in the middle of the feeder is optimal.
To finish, add a few more pellets onto the top, but it’s important not to overfill the feeder, the feeders have been designed to hold more bait within the dinner plate, so overloading isn’t necessary.
A good starting line on a venue like this is to start short, just how you would if you were fishing the pole, a little under arm lob to 6m would be my starting option, purely to see what kind of day it is going to be.
If I don’t get an early fish on that line in the first 10 minutes, I’ll start to try and locate where the fish are, which is the beauty of using small feeders – you’re not spreading masses of bait and a single cast in a new spot isn’t ruining anything at all.
With no bites forthcoming, I changed to a 5mm Yellow Wowser hook bait as the water was quite coloured and I felt visibility could be an issue and repositioned the feeder on the 13m line, this had an instant response as I landed my first fish of the day, a big f1 of around 4lb!
Dropping back in on that line, I was getting plenty of signs of fish in the area, so I just sat tight and kept patient and eventually the rod would get wrenched round.
As is typical with winter commercial venues, after an initial run of bites, I had to start moving around looking for another group of fish, on this particular day the fish seemed to be most confident right down the middle so moving left and right of my initial spot worked well to keep a few bites coming.
Once the fish had wised up a bit to the bright yellow hook bait, a change to a 5mm pellet coloured Washter tricked a few more and it just goes to show that continually keeping on the move and swapping hook baits can be so important to your end result.
Had it been warmer, fishing down the edge or chucking tight to the far bank would have been effective which just goes to show how fishing in this way is quite literally ‘one rod does all!’ and the beauty of it is, that every bite you get is hooked in the mouth and the fish generally ends up in the net.
With the wind showing no signs of dropping and some rain on the way we decided to call it a day after a few hours fishing.
With a nice selection of quality f1s, carp and even a couple of bonus barbel in the net which were caught short late in the session, it had proved to me once again that fishing the feeder over the pole line on commercial venues can offer the ultimate in presentation especially in the extremely challenging conditions that we’ve had today!
