How To Achieve Winter Success

After hearing about their superb Alders farm winter league victory, UKMA gave Bag'em Matchbaits/Tubertini backed rods, Matt Grant, Mike McMillan, Steve Potter and new recruit for the 2010/2011 winter league, Tubertini/Ringers Bait backed bagging machine, Barry Mason a call to find out exactly how each of them adapted their tactics and feeding through out the series to secure consecutive victories on this prolific venue. Obviously location pays a major part in any angler’s success in winter but if your tactics or feeding approach is wrong even the best of draws during the colder months can be wasted.

This well established group of anglers have all worked hard to perfect the tactics and skills required to produce good section points from even the toughest of sections on the very hardest of days. Their results over the past two years on all lakes at Alders Farm fishery clearly demonstrate that winter fishing is about ability and judgement  and not just about a good draw. So with that in mind, over the next four weeks we will introduce you to the members of team Tubertini/Bag’em Matchbaits and get them to reveal a few of the winter tips and tactics that have made them so successful.

Part Three - Getting The Most From A Bad Peg

I agreed to fish the open water pegs and put Barry on the island pegs, on most days I would start on the method feeder for the first hour. I opted for the Bag’em XP Dark Ground bait and used dead red maggot as my hook bait. This was an intentional ploy to let my pole lines settle after I had fed micro pellets at 14 metres and 6 metres. I then introduced more feed on both lines through a small permanently fixed pot and fished corn or a Bag’em Matchchbaits 4m expander over the top.

The best method of preparing the expander pellet was to pump them the night before and then put them in the fridge until they were needed the following day. On two of the matches I drew pegs on the dam wall; these pegs have a good depth in the margins so I fished maggot or corn over Bag’em XP Dark Ground bait as an alterative approach. As the water was quite clear I chose to fish in around 3ft of water about a metre from the bank as I felt the fish would feed more confidently.

This line I would leave until the last hour of the match which on both days I caught really well, over the 5 match’s in a very tight section I think  it was about getting the feeding right, once the fish came it was a matter of feeding a few micros to every fish. Best bait over the 5 match’s was corn fished at dead depth with a 0.11 hook length to a Tubertini size 18 808 hook, down the edge I fished 0.15 straight through to a Tubertini size 16 175 hook.

ROUND 1

A good draw was essential and I drew peg 34 in the shallow which was far from a disaster. I opted as stated earlier to fish the method feeder with Bag’em Matchbaits XP as my chosen groundbait and dead red maggots on the hook was the story of the day. After 3 hours I switched to my14m pole line, this steadily produced fish for me on 4m expander over micros. By making this change of tactics I amassed a total weight of 130lbs and finished 3rd in my section and gained 8 valuable team points.

ROUND 2

Drawing peg 16 in the corner was not the best of draws and this meant that my options for success were limited to catching down the margin to my left and right. I chose to fish corn over Bag’em XP groundbait and alternated between the 2 lines feeding very little and very often to put together a very reasonable 55lbs and finish 5th in my section 6 points.

ROUND 3

My luck on the draw was become my nemesis, yet another poor draw but I knew if I scratched about I could pick up a few points for the team at best, so perseverance would be the order of the day. After not having a bite for over two hours, the Alders carp decided to grace me with there presents. My 13m pole line switched on producing 59lbs to corn over micro pellet and pulled me up the section ladder to seventh in my section and another hard earned 4 team points.

ROUND 4

Peg 2 was a much better draw but Mother Nature decided to blow a gale from my left to my right making fishing the long pole a virtual impossibility. So I really had no choice but to start on the method which wasn’t a bad thing as this produced a few fish in first hour. I then switched to my 7m pole line and fished 4m expander over micros, finally finishing the match with 60lbs for 6th in my section 5 desperately needed points in the bag.

ROUND 5

The last round and I drew peg 20 which was far better peg than my previous three. I started on the caged feeder and meat gave it 20 min without a single indication of any kind. I then went straight out on the pole at 14m and started to catch on 4m expander over micros. I then upped the anti and started pinging two small 4mm cubes of meat every minute over my feed and came a foot off the bottom and instantly started catching bigger fish. In the last hour I fished down the edge fishing meat over XP groundbait and added 5 proper lumps to finish with 93lbs for a 4th in section and 7 section points.

Foot Note: Steve had to work exceptionally hard to get his section points. As team Captain he lead by example and picked up point when others would have seriously struggled. Steve would like to say a big thank you to my team mates Matt, Mick and Barry who all fished an awesome series and I look forward to fishing with them next winter, can we make it three out of three.

Team Tubertini / Bag'em Baits are sponsored by the below companies.