We’re just into autumn now and that means a little window of opportunity for meat to begin working on commercials. During summer, this bait takes a back seat to pellets, but when temperatures fall, there’s no better bait for carp, F1s, bream and skimmers.
Whether you fish rod and line or the pole, meat works on them all, but there’s one particular part of a swim where fishing meat really gets results and that’s on the short pole line. Here are six tips on how to get the most from this deadly bait…
HOOK MEAT CORRECTLY
Bury as much of the hook as possible, but leave a bit of hookpoint showing. My hook for meat fishing is the Drennan Wide Gape Carp in a size 14.
GET YOUR TIMING RIGHT
The final few hours are the time to fish meat short. Generally from around 1.30pm to 2pm is when I’d begin to concentrate fishing here.
WORK THE RIG
Working the rig always pays off with meat. To do this, I simply lift the float 6ins out of the water and lower it back in every minute or so.
CUBE SIZES
Using a meat cutter will save you lots of time and also ensure that each cube is of a uniform size. For a mixed bag, 6mm cubes are best.
WHEN COLOURS WORK
I normally use plain-coloured meat, but coloured baits can have their day. Bream and skimmers love yellow baits and red can also get results.
FIND THE RIGHT LINE
The 6m line equates to around five sections of pole, but the actual distance is dependent on the depth. I’m looking for between 4ft and 6ft of water.
