Old School

We all know just how effective the pole is. The rotating of areas is usually essential to get the most out of your peg. But there are almost certain to be periods throughout the day when the fish will either back off or bites will simply dry up, especially on the more mature fisheries where fish have wised up. It is during these quiet spells that matches are often won or lost, as the framers will always be looking to put something in the net.It is with this in mind that I recently set out to have a little pleasure practise on a method rarely seen on commercial fisheries nowadays, the peacock waggler. My theory was that in winter when bites are at a premium the waggler can be an effective way of presenting bait at distance, but still remain sensitive. So why not in during the warmer months? To prove to myself that it could be viable, I set out my stall on peg 2 of the match lake at my local Milmead fisheries. Peg 2 on the match lake is an open water peg away from the major fish holding features that dominate on this lake. It is also a short walk & this was meant to be a pleasure session after all. It has a fairly uniform depth with a slowly tapering bottom & with some careful plumbing up I settled on a comfortable 30m chuck. To plumb the depth I prefer to pinch a swan shot onto the hook as apposed to a plummet, simply because I find the plummet clumsy. I like to spend a good 20-30 minutes casting around my chosen area in order to gather a mental picture of what is going on underneath the water & to ensure that the float is at the correct depth. With very little wind or tow on the water today, I decided to fish just slightly over, in order to present a static bait, but still maintain that sensitivity. Set up for the day would be one of my dependable ABU Suvern 13’ match rods, coupled with a Daiwa Tierra 3000 loaded with 3lb maxima chameleon mainline. Threaded onto this is a small length of silicon tubing, followed by a Drennan Silicone float adapter & a 2 swan Drennan insert peacock waggler. The silicon tubing would be used as a cushion from the 2 swan locking shot. A shirt button style of no.8’s down the mainline towards a 10 inch hook length of 2lb Bayer Perlon tied to a size 16 spade end kamasan B911 completed the set up at the business end. Bait for the day would be corn plus banded 6mm coarse pellets. feed would be the same as well as a few 6mm trout pellets. I always like to add a sprinkling of the trout pellets because their dense nature means they take a lot longer to break down, giving fish coming in & out something to home in on. Choosing a tree as a far bank marker I baited the hook with a single grain of corn & cast out past my swim into about 5.5 feet of water. A few brisk turns of the reel ensured the line sank, pulling the float into position. With all of the cold rain lately I figured a cautious feeding approach would be best, so catapulted out a dozen pellets around the float. I waited as the float settled with just a centimetre of tip showing & after just a minute the tip sank & I got my first bite from a 4oz roach. Continuing, the swim quickly began to come alive with tell tale bubbles from skimmers that had moved in. A switch to banded hard pellet & bites increased quickly as a procession of decent skimmers hit the net.
After about 15 minutes I hit what I thought was my first carp bite which turned out to be a foul hooker. I got it half way in before the hook pulled, but at least it was a good indication that a few carp had arrived. During the next hour or so I began to latch into a few more carp, including some nice commons & some plump mirrors which put up a good account of themselves. As well as plenty more decent skimmers & even some brown goldfish pushing the 1lb mark. However, after a couple of hours I began to get the impression that I was feeding too much too often as bites began to slow. After cutting back on the feed bites slowly resumed again on both corn & pellet, but it was noticeable how selective the corn was. Bites were coming far quicker on the pellet & even though some of the fish were smaller it was defiantly the best bait on the day. After about 3 ½ hours I decided to give it a rest. Could this be a good alternative when bites dry up on the pole? Well to be honest I am still not totally convinced. In a match situation the pellet waggler might have been more productive as fish were showing shallow. After 3.5 hours, which is a lot longer than what I would have stayed on it in a match, I had finished my little session with an estimated 15-20lb of fish. But crucially I estimate that I had about 8lb in the first hour. This 8lb could have made the difference on the day, so the answer is yes, under the right circumstances the peacock waggler could well be a viable method.

A nice chunky common

And its sister to match.