p08-13 AP 12 Liquid Lunch

7/27/2019 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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The constant cupping o the

worm-and-caster mix pulls

more fsh into the swim, and

brings them shallower.

??


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.


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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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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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.


p08-13 AP 12 Liquid Lunch

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