p08-13 ap 12 liquid lunch
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TACTICS Using Liquids To Catch Shallow
ADVANCED POLE FISHING08
LunchPrestonInnovations-backedLesThompsonhasbeenplunderingfishandmoneyatWoodlandViewforyears,butjustlatelyhesbeendoingthebusinesswithliquidcolourings
.WeaskedtheDre
nnanNorthWestte
am-man
toshowandtell.
WOODLAND VIEWWOODLAND VIEWLocation: Droitwich, Worcestershire
Contact: 01905 620872
Day tickets: 7
Directions: From the M5, head towards
Droitwich on the A38. Follow this until the
A4133 turning for Ombersley. Take this and
the fishery is signposted on this road
VENUE FACT FILE
In Peg 26 on Woodland Views Front
Deans Pool, a blood-red cloud hangs
in the upper layers o the swim. Carp
and F1s can be seen cruising through it,
attacking the coloured water. At this time
o year, the fsh are usually ploughing
through the top ew inches o water,looking or dying insects, and upon fnding
the cloud they become curious, or even
sometimes downright crazy or it.
You can see how many fsh are
hanging in the colour as soon as you
hook one, points out Les Thompson,
as he tightens into another fsh and the
water erupts as eeding fsh scatter. This
is a method that anglers in the know at
Woodland View have been using or a
number o years now, and Les is one o
those whove been winning with it.
It all came about our years back when
we started cupping in water to try to bulk
out the eed, because o the bait limits
at the venue, he explains. By adding
a resh top-up o eed every couple o
minutes not only would you risk running
out o bait, it was also time consuming to
ship in and out i you didnt have a fsh onevery time. The noise created by cupping
in water would attract the fsh, but ater
a while they learnt that there was no
eed around i we just cupped in water.
It was obvious that we needed to fnd a
way to concentrate the fsh in the swim,
so we started cupping in red liquid ood
colouring to create a hanging cloud.
Cochineal and some o the strawberry
avours were popular because they were
being used on meat all the time, so the
fsh knew exactly what they liked. The
question was, how could we keep one step
ahead and move the method on to the
next level?
The constant noise thats generated by
the liquid hitting the water in this method
still pulls fsh into the peg, but one o the
key aspects is getting the fsh into a tight
area.By putting a small piece o sponge
into a pole pot, Les can soak it in liquid
colouring, add a small amount o eed and
attract fsh without using too much bait.
Its a simple theory, but one that works
brilliantly.
The great thing about these
concentrated dyes, Les explains, is that
once they have soaked into the sponge
you can dip the pole tip into the water
several times and the cloud just keeps
coming Ive managed 12 dips on just one
squirt sometimes!
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ADVANCED POLE FISHING 09
FEED PREPARATION
To start with, put
a good handful of
cleaned worms into
a bait box and get
to work with the
scissors to chop
them up.
Once they are
chopped into a fine
mush, add half a pint
of casters to bulk out
the feed. These willfall through the water,
drawing fish up.
Get the scissors
out again! When
the worms are very
finely chopped, add
a generous squirt of
smelly Monster Crab
liquid.
You can see that
although the Monster
Crab is red, it hasnt
actually coloured the
feed. This is where
the concentrated red
colouring comes in.
Fill up your pole
pot and add a good
helping of red dye
before you dump it
into your swim
mmm, yummy!
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TACTICS Using Liquids To Catch Shallow
The constant cupping o the
worm-and-caster mix pulls
more fsh into the swim, and
brings them shallower.
??
ADVANCED POLE FISHING10
And its not only carp that come
to it by targeting roach, skimmers,
F1s, tench and crucians a raming
weight is almost assured. I look
to catch 60lb o small fsh and 10
carp, which will give me a total close
to 100lb, and there arent many
matches where that wont rame.
A lit o the pole in response to a
very slow bite sees the elastic ying
out it looks like a oul hooker, but
ater playing the fsh or 10 minutes
it pops up next to the landing net,
hooked frmly in the top lip.
That shows that
the fsh was just
sitting in the cloud,
mopping it up. They
are so confdent
when the method is
working.
The incrediblething about what
Les is doing is that the carp just sit
right next to the oat, gulping in
mouthuls o the liquid, and dont
seem to be phased by the lack o
ood. The swim is alive with a huge
mass o bubbles and swirls; there
must be a mass o fsh down there,
happily gill eeding in the crimson
cloud they cant get enough o it!
There are, however, a ew points
that make the dierence between
getting this method right and not
quite. Chopped worms and casters
are the main eed, but the wormshave to be chopped very fne.
Worm soup would be the best
way to describe it, Les points out.
The dye sticks to the worm mush
much better than it would i you
were eeding bigger pieces. Im
looking or a cloud to give some
cover in the upper layers o the
water, as it gives the fsh confdence
and also helps to hide the shadow o
the pole.
On the hook Les preers the
head o a medium dendrabaena.
Sometimes double caster is better
and, i the fsh get a bit iy,sweetcorn can also be deadly. As
long as the bait is highly visible,
thats all that matters.
In a typical session Les will cup
in a big pot o the worm-and-liquid
mix to kick-start his swim. For the
frst hal an hour or so hell try to
catch on the bottom with either hal
a worm or corn or hook bait. As he
does so, a steady trickle o loose-ed
casters over the top will pull the fsh
up in the water to where the cloud is
hanging.
Once he starts to get line bites
little dips on the oat that he
cant hit he knows its time to get
the shallow rigs out. The constant
cupping o a pinch o the worm-
and-caster mix pulls more and more
fsh into the swim, and brings them
shallower.
As the session moves on, plenty o
fsh will be seen swirling in the peg,
quite oten with their backs out o
the water and mouths wide open.
They love it!
It usually just gets better and
better as a match moves on, Les
explains. Dipping hook baits inthe worm soup can also trigger a
response when there is a lull in the
action. This glugged bait is then
dropped through with minimal eed.
The tiny cloud that comes o the
hook bait oten triggers an instant
response.
Les believes that presenting a bait
in this way is a good way to catch
cruising fsh. By dropping a tiny
amount o the worm-and-dye mix in
ront o a passing carp, it will suck
in the bait almost by instinct.
Towards the end o this three-
hour stint, the Preston star ismugging a fsh pretty much as soon
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HOOK BAITS
There are no hard-and-fast rules as to what hook
baits you should be using. However, visibility is the
main factor in fish hooking themselves so its best
to go for a large bait on the hook, such as a piece
of worm, a grain of corn or double caster. These
fish will be actively looking for anything they caneat after all, the liquid provides no food content
whatsoever so as long as you have something on
the hook that they can see in the cloud, youre onto
a winner.
ADVANCED POLE FISHING 11
ACTION STATIONS
Although this method is pretty much foolproof, at times you
do need to just up the ante and give the fish an incentive to
feed. Submerging the pole pot and dumping water in from a
height is a great way to attract fish and make them feed.
The sponge will hold the dye for ages, so just dip the pot
under the water, lift the pole and then drop the coloured
water in. Make sure your hook bait is in the cloud and, more
often than not, youll get a bite instantly as the fish searchfor freebies.
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TACTICS Using Liquids To Catch Shallow
ADVANCED POLE FISHING12
TACKLE TIPS
Preston PB2dibber float
0.15mm straightthrough
Size 16 PR28
If it gets too choppy, I use
a Durafloat 10 float, but my
favourite pattern for this type
of fishing is a PB2 dibber. They
show every little touch and are
pretty stable. The main line is0.15mm PowerLine, tied to a
size 16 PR28 hook. The line is
strong enough to cope with the
carp, but wont deter bites from
the silver fish.
I also think its very
important to use a Pulla Kit.
If you are actually holding the
elastic, you get a feel for what
the fish is doing; its more
like using a rod and line. I use
Preston 13h Hollo elastic, as
its nice and soft for the small
F1s and roach, but pulling the
elastic through the Pulla Kitenables me to land the biggest
carp easily by increasing
the tension.
Four No10s,equally spread
as the bait hits the water and on every
drop-in. Carp, F1s and antail goldfsh are
predominant in this lake, but roach and
crucians get in on the act too.
I cant believe some anglers will just sit
there waiting or a big carp to pull the pole
tip under. In the time it takes to get a bite
and land a 10lb carp, Ive had probably
10 or 12 F1s and perhaps a carp as well.Basically, by the time they land a carp,
theyve allen another 5lb behind and
thats why this approach works so well here
youre bagging anything and everything
in your swim, our man explains.
Its not a start-to-fnish method, though,
as it does take time or the fsh to move up
in the water. However, it can catch or the
majority o a session but Les always also
eeds down the edge or the last hour.Ill fsh the same way in the edge, but
look to catch on the deck. Instead o red
dye, Ill use the black dye or this (Les uses
sonubaits.com dyes). Ive tested all the
liquids in a tank at home and ound that
the black dye sinks to about three inches
below the surace, instead o the two inches
that the red dye settles at, he reveals.
Les is a frm believer in testing all his
baits and gear to satisy himsel that theyare right or the job. Since signing or
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ADVANCED POLE FISHING 13
Preston Innovations, he has had access to
some o the top specimen boys and their
outlook has helped to move orward his
carp fshing in particular.
Ian Welch (one o the main men at
Prestons big-fsh-oriented brand, Korum)
was amazed that match anglers dont taste
their baits. I you taste a bait and dont like
it, why would you expect a fsh to? You haveto experiment, and i that means testing
the bait yoursel then its a no-brainer.
As the clock ticks on, a ull range o
tricks are employed to keep fsh coming
slapping the bait down hard; lowering
the rig in ront o a eeding carp; dipping
the hook bait in the worm soup; changing
rig depth. Not every change worked, but
enough o them brought an extra bite to
make the hard work well worthwhile.As Les himsel says: Its the little things
that will make the dierence at the end o
a session. I you can keep catching when
everyone else is struggling then its job
done.
A smooth perormance rom our man
results in around 50lb o silvers and F1s,
plus eight carp that add another 30lb to
the total. A class 80lb in three hours shows
what is possible i you think laterally andemploy liquids in a dierent way.
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