Dynamite Baits

29 September, 2014 | Match & Coarse | Tips | Articles

22 Comments

This week I would like to talk about how I approach a river on the pole. The river I am going to talk about has a steady flow, my local river in this instance is the Yare in Norfolk. Hopefully these tips will help you catch more from your peg when fishing the pole. The Yare is a tidal river but these tips will work on any flowing water.

polly faceThe groundbait mix groundbait mix I use is simple and one I use for most of my silverfish work. First I mix up these dry quantities;

One part Frenzied Hemp Match Black
One part Silver-X Roach Original
One part Dynamite Brown crumb

Once you have mixed them together dry add water to get a damp mix, I then leave the mix to stand for ten minutes. I then loosen up the mix up and sieve it through a maggot riddle. By pushing through a bit at a time you will be left with a lot of Hemp Husk on top of the riddle. Do not throw this away simply tip it into your sieved mix.

Once I have put all of the mix through the riddle I would now add any particles such as Casters, Pinkies, and Hemp. The quantities of particles you should add all depends on the size and amount of fish you are targeting. If you use a pole pot or even better a small set of measures you can keep a track of how much you are feeding and make adjustments accordingly not just in your session but for future trips.

frenziedhempgbThe most important part of feeding groundbait whether you are balling in or feeding by cupping is that the ball’s are going into the same place every time. I always feed them just below the line I would be running my float through so if you drew a line straight out from the bank in front of you they need to hit the bottom no more than a meter below you and try to keep them half a meter back from your pole tip never past it.

Then during the match or pleasure session you can top up every 10-15 minutes with a tangerine sized ball. The initial balling in the groundbait balls would be with orange sized balls, these fit just inside a standard 250ml pole cup.

The final part of fishing and feeding on flowing rivers is a very important part of any pole fishing be it a River, Canal or Commercial water and that is how to lay your rig in. I have talked about your groundbait mix, what to put in it and how to feed it. With all that info you now need to have your rig set up correctly.

rsz 2nickroachDepending on the depth you would be looking at floats between 1-3grm and these would be shotted with an Olivette and three or four no ten droppers. As a rule in depths of 7 feet and above my Olivette would be no more than two feet away from my hook. This is so when you run your rig through your swim your hook bait will go over your groundbait area.

This now leads me on to how you lower your rig in. First of all you need to swing your rig pendulum style up stream lowering your pole tip down holding your float above the water away from your groundbait. Then as the Olivette has straightened down with your droppers in a straight line below it lower your float into the water and your hookbait will now pass over your groundbait on the bottom of the river.

This is the ultimate way of catching over your groundbait because if you lower your rig in below you, your float will weight up past your baited area. Give it a try it will work every time.

Mark Pollard

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