Sweet

It had been on my mind for a while.

I had found a good bit of river, not

overfished, good access, safe parking

and it also has some cracking fish .

Only problem, with a bit of extra water

the swims are hard to fish on the float.

So with this in mind I had thought of

fishing the feeder! I'm not one for sitting

for hours waiting for that one fish. So my

idea was to approach it more like I would

with the stick, a roving method. Some bits

of river would still be waded with me

feeding, as normal from mid river. I was

so confident this would work I have even

been looking for the ideal rod. Not a heavy

Barbel rod but a feeder rod, it has to be

powerful enough for the big fish but also

delicate enough for Chub, Roach, and Dace.

Phil got a Fox specialist which is a lovely

bit of kit and if they still did that model

"0.75tc" it would be top of the list.

So after picking up a few rods and

having a read I have now made my mind

up. What confirmed it was going out with

my old rod and giving it a go.

Jeff rang and after a quick chat we decided

to have a late afternoon /evening on the

piece of water I described I told him of my

thoughts and he quite fancied it although

he was happy to settle on his chair after a few

beers the previous night.

I set up 11ft feeder rod 3oz tip 8lb mainline

6lb Froghair hook length 14's Drennan

specialist hook. Nothing complicated a

running open end feeder two beads to

buffer the knot, which was tied loop to

loop, this acts as a mini boom helping

keep the hook length away from the

feeder. Caster was the bait mixed into

a fish meal based feed.

The first swim is easier to approach off

the bank, in fact its impossible in good

water "bloody dangerous" .

I made one cast, and with the normal

approach in mind, after the short time I

thought it would take the feeder to

empty, I re cast. This would feed the

swim and with an uneven bottom would

always give me a chance that the feeder

was in the best place on occasions.

Not long to wait the tip banged round

and I was into a good fish. Jeff was amazed

at the quick result. I was chuffed it's a

sweet feeling when you think about

something and it works so well.

Moments later a Barbel of just

over 8lb was at the net, prime

condition, I expected more and

soon after I did get one around

a pound. The swim only produced

a few more trout. Jeff sat waiting

and I had a wander only an hour or

so, it gave me chance to try the

"wading feeder" two more Barbel

only small biggest may have pushed

3lb but it was working!!

Just a few adjustments and I think this

will bring me some good days.