Joe Carass gets on the bank with Daiwa’s latest carbon marvel.
To kick off this review I will take you back 13 years. I was a 16-year old match angler who was eager to ‘make it’. I knew that to compete I needed the best pole that I could lay my hands on.
David Haynes takes Middy’s margin-busting Shock Stikk for a spin.
I think it’s fair to say I have never used, or even seen, anything quite like the Middy Shock Stikk, and I think I should admit I probably had the same preconceived ideas about it as many others may have. I imagined it would be a pure hauling tool for getting big fish to the net as quickly as possible with little consideration for their wellbeing.
Well, it’s not.
Well, look what we have here! Yet another fantastic prize for Match Fishing readers to get their hands on. . . *
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Commercial master Frankie Gianoncelli fixes your frustrations of foul-hooked fish and missed bites, with a single-rod attack that can transform your swim!
Pellet Prep…
I had one of the most frustrating three hours’ fishing of my life a few years ago, during the fourth day of a White Acres festival. Sitting on the renowned High Bank of the venue’s main Match Lake, my long-pole swim was bubbling and fizzing like a jacuzzi with fish activity, but I had nothing in my net!
I was suffering from missed bites and false indications every drop in. I did manage to catch a carp and a handful of skimmers, but had foul hooked and lost far more. Despite trying several different ways of feeding, I sat sulking with a peg full of fish that I couldn’t catch!
The new Preston Inter Change Dura system allows you to swap between a bomb, banjo and Method feeder in seconds.
All-round master Simon Willsmore lifts the lid on his against-the-grain feeder tactics for big-water success.
If I had to say what had given me the biggest edge in match fishing over the last 10 years, it would be using my initiative to think outside the box.
I was lucky enough to live in Italy for seven years, where some very good, but also eccentric Italian anglers influenced my fishing. I also fished some very peculiar venues, and I still carry a lot of the ideas and thinking from those days with me now.
All-round master Simon Willsmore lifts the lid on his against-the-grain feeder tactics for big-water success.
If I had to say what had given me the biggest edge in match fishing over the last 10 years, it would be using my initiative to think outside the box.
I was lucky enough to live in Italy for seven years, where some very good, but also eccentric Italian anglers influenced my fishing. I also fished some very peculiar venues, and I still carry a lot of the ideas and thinking from those days with me now.
Well, look what we have here! Yet another fantastic prize for Match Fishing readers to get their hands on. . . *
*If you're having problems with the form above please click the image below*
.
England international Callum Dicks explains how less-selective baits start to rule after fish get sick of the same old pellets!
Now that we are well into English summertime and our commercial fisheries have been bombarded with pellets for the past few months, it is inevitable that the fish having to eat them will be wising up to our tactics.
It is about now that a switch back to more natural baits, such as worms, casters and maggots can give you an edge over those around you and it has certainly stood me in good stead these past few weeks!
The Venue
Packington Somers Fishery is a simply stunning venue hidden away within the Stonebridge Golf Centre in Meriden, near Coventry. The venue is home to 13 well-stocked lakes as well as a stretch of the River Blythe, totalling approximately 20 acres of idyllic water.
As well as the abundance of fish-filled lakes the site is also well equipped with an on-site cafeteria, tackle shop and toilet facilities, so, simply put, Packington Somers is set up to cater for your every need!
From the available lakes I have decided to bring you to the wonderful Molands, a 61-peg water offering superb fishing with a huge range of match-winning methods possible.
Five-time world champion Alan Scotthorne visits the mighty River Trent to demonstrate how to target river roach on the feeder.
Roach can be difficult fish to catch from stillwaters on a feeder and trying to tempt these clever fish on a river can be even more taxing. Add a tide to the equation and it becomes an even greater challenge!
This is what I am facing today on the tidal River Trent at Laughterton, in Lincolnshire. This is a river I started my angling career fishing and it has a large stock of quality roach among other species.
Steve Barraclough explains how planning where you fish and when is the key to big mixed bags.
Among the most crucial questions that anglers ask themselves before a session is what lines should they fish, and where should they fish them in order to catch the maximum amount in the quickest time possible
As crazy as it might sound, the better and more prolific the venue, the more difficult it is to get this right, because if you aren’t catching the best stamp of fish that are feeding at the shortest distance possible, you can bet your bottom dollar that someone, somewhere on the match will be!
To make mattes even more difficult, it is impossible to know for sure exactly how the fish will feed until you start fishing. So the smart way to go is to plan your attack around giving yourself options, so even if you don’t get it right straightaway, you can quickly adapt to the conditions that you are faced with and get the best from your peg.
Big Fish, Little Fish?
I like to think of myself as a very positive angler – and for me that means fishing for the biggest fish possible straightaway.
