September is here, and with it comes a noticeable cooling down of the water – so how does this affect our fishing?
Well, carp and F1s will still have an appetite, so we’re not looking at cutting back the feed and going into winter mode yet.
I get asked a lot about when to use a bomb instead of a feeder. I think the bomb can have the edge on very shallow lakes when fished alongside loosefed pellets, as there’s less chance of the loosefeed bringing the fish off bottom, especially when using big 10mm hard pellets. If the water is deep, though, we’re talking out-and-out feeder tactics to keep the fish pinned to the bottom.
The range you’re fishing at will also dictate which tactic to use. If I’m loosefeeding on the bomb, it won’t work if I’m casting 60m where I can’t fire bait out to. The feeder is the only choice here.
Always a Hybrid
A Hybrid gives the feed some protection on the cast due to the walls on the side of the frame, and is dead easy to load up and cast. Sizes 24g or 28g will do for most venues, elasticated if fishery rules allow.
When to bomb
On a shallow lake at up to 30m range a square lead is fine, but if you want to add a little attraction to each cast, try a Guru Impact Bomb. This has a small recess in each side into which you can cram dampened micros.
Perfect pellets
Don’t rush preparing your micro pellets. I soak mine for 90 seconds, drain off the excess water, leave them to stand for 15 minutes, then turn them over by hand. Let them stand for another 20 minutes and they’re ready.
Winning hookbaits
When putting pellets around a Hybrid feeder, or firing them out on the bomb, an 8mm hard pellet is fine, but I will go to a 10mm for big carp, as I’ll be loosefeeding this size of pellet to get distance and accuracy.
