So you’d like to spend the weekend fishing on a local lake. Before you begin, follow these freshwater fishing tips so that you can be prepared for a relaxing, fun time. There’s nothing more frustrating than a weekend spent in the emergency room or on the shore because you hurt yourself or didn’t bring proper supplies. Below, we are going to give you some fishing tips.

First of all, treat your fishing equipment with the respect it deserves. Fishing hooks and other pieces of fly fishing equipment are sharp. Never load a hook in a hurry or do anything else that will put you in danger of stabbing yourself with it. Fishing hooks are similar to kitchen knives in their ability to harm you, and you should follow the same safety rules when using them. It’s especially important not to move too quickly when using the hook.

You also need to pay special attention to the weather. Common sense says not to go fishing if bad weather is expected. But even if the sky is perfectly clear, a storm can come up out of nowhere. So it is important to notice things like clouds forming or winds getting stronger.

If it seems like a storm is approaching, you should pack up and get back to shore. Never keep fishing in a lightning or other rain storm, and always wear a protective life vest in case winds ever knock your boat over.

Hopefully, there are no storms, and instead your weather is sunny and hot. You will need to wear sunscreen so that you don’t risk sunburn or damage to your skin. You should also make sure to pack plenty of drinking water so that you don’t become dehydrated.

Bring extra supplies when going on a fishing expedition. You will need extra hooks and fishing equipment, small tools such as a flashlight or a screwdriver, and of course plenty of bait. If you should run low on bait, try cutting some worms in half. The fish won’t really care how small the bait is; they are just interested in a free meal.

Freshwater fishing is an enjoyable, relaxing sport–so much so that it is one of the most popular sports in the United States. Make sure you follow freshwater fishing tips like the ones in this article so that you have the best chance of enjoying your fishing trip and catching the biggest fish.

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Feeder Fishing

There is no style of fishing i love more than the feeder. Whilst you don’t get the sensitivity of a float, i believe in many cases (not all) the feeder is the best way to tackle a water. There is almost no place you can’t cast to, no better way of getting loose feed into your swim, and above all no better feeling than seeing the rod tip rip around when you get a bite

There are a range of different feeders and weights ect for different situations you are likely to encounter whilst course fishing. I shall give you an over view of the feeders i carry in my tackle box and when i would use them.

Drennan Blockend Swimfeeders
These are great for rivers, both slow and fast paced water. I would use a 2-3oz weight on a more pacey larger river with a normal water level, such as the Middle Severn and 1-2oz on a smaller river such as the Teme. In floods its best to add another oz or two to what you normally would use. An easy way is to simply add a strip of extra lead that moulds around your feeder.

Kamasan Black Cap Feeders
These are available in a few different sizes and are generally much lighter than the Drennans. I typically use these with maggots or casters, even hemp when fishing a small pool, or short to medium range casting on a lake or gravel pit. If commercials are your thing i would definitely recommend buying a couple of these. I tend to use the medium ones in the summer and the smaller ones in the winter when less feed is needed.

Cage Feeders
Cage feeders come in all sizes and weights from huge 5oz flood water jobs to small half ounce maybe even less for still water fishing. The idea is to mix some groundbait up to a damp consistency, adding lots of freebies such as pellets, dead maggots, casters, corn, meat ect (tend not to use hemp, it dries the mix out too much). You then mould this into your feeder and as it hits the surface, water is able to attack it all over, so you end up with a big cloud of groundbait which attracts the fish in to your swim. You are left with your hook bait with loads of freebies for the fish to gorge on. Cage feeders are particularly popular with Bream anglers who need to deliver a lot of bait to keep the huge shoals feeding for long periods of time. In the winter if I’m carp fishing, ill mix a pure white crumb with no freebies at all, and fish with bread flake on the hook. The idea is the fish are drawn in but aren’t fed. I would recommend the plastic ones on a soft bottom, and metal ones on a hard rocky bottom.
As for weights to use, the same applies as with the Drennans. If you’re fishing a still water, half ounce for medium range, ounce for further. If your fishing a flooded river i’d opt for an openend feeder instead as I’ll explain later.

Openend Feeders
Open end feeders again, range of sizes and weights. To use these you need firstly to mix up some plain brown crumb, or whatever groundbait you wish, to a damp mix which you can easily form a ball with, but just as easily rub back to a crumb. This is used to plug each end of the feeder. To start with plug the bottom of your swim feeder with some of your groundbait. Next put some freebies in the feeder, anything you like really but personally I try and put two different freebies in so the fish don’t know what they are getting caught on. It also means I can alternate my hook bait. Next simply plug the other end so you have a kind of bait sandwich. This acts in the same way as the cage feeder, although the process is a minute or so longer, as it is not being attacked so viciously. When your fishing a moving water, the groundbait will be washed downstream, drawing fish into your swim. Same weights as with cage feeders. I’d use these over a cage feeder on a flooded river as they will get your bait to the river bed whereas a cage feeder may not.

Method Feeder
Now slight difference here, whereas I’ve told you to mix only damp groundbait before now im going to stay mix a really sticky hard mix. You can even mould soft pellets insted. To Start of mould your soft pellets or ground bait around the feeder. Use only a short hooklink with either a large pellet or bollie as a bait and place this over the first layer of ground bait. Next add another layer covering the hook bait up. The idea with this one is the fish attack the ball and your hoobait is very close to all that loose feed.
There are generally two types of method feeder. Flat bottoms and round ones. The flat bottom ones are generally better for smaller casts and on flowing waters, whereas the rounded ones take more feed and are best suited to long range carp fishing.
Never buy the elasticated ones, they should be banned. If a fish gets snagged with one of those they aren’t getting out eaysily.

When im feeder fishing (except with method feeders) i tend to use size 10-18 hooks. Mainly 12′s to be honest. You don’t need massive hooks to catch big fish. Believe me lighter tackle gets more bites. For hooklinks I use 1-2lb less than the main line. Lenght wise, 30 cm on a pool seems to work fine and 90cm on a river where the baits being washed away a little. It’s not esential but it helps to use a swivel between your mainline and hooklink.
I ONLY EVER USE A RUNNING RIG! Unless your going to use safety rigs, which to be honest unless your carp fishing I wouldn’t bother, just use a running rig. If you get your mainline snapped on a snag or whatever, you won’t leave a poor fish carrying a feeder around with it. Also the fish feel less resistance, and again lighter presentations yeild more fish

Rod wise you want to try and get one with a range of tips. Lighter ones for delicate bites at short ranges, heavyier ones for longer range casting. 11ft ish is ample on a commercial water or small river, 12ft avon style for large rivers or 13ft quivers.

On rivers you want the tip of your rod nice are high. This way you tend to get less false bites from the current. On a pool or lake you want the tip nice and low to cut out problems from wind. Position the rod at a 45 degree angle so you can see bites most clearly. You want a slight bend in your rod so your tight to the feeder and see all the little taps and bites.

I hope someone finds this thread helpful. if theres anything I’ve missed out, which I am sure there is, please don’t hesitate to ask

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POLE FISHING FOR BEGINNERS
I have been pole fishing for a few years now and although i don’t know everything about pole fishing like match fishing for example,i still think i know enough to try and pass on a little information that might just help anyone that is taking up pole fishing for the first time.

Pole fishing is not as difficult has it might look and the first thing that might put you off is the main thing,the pole,what is the right pole for you the beginner well i have heard it said so many times now that it is the money,what you can afford that counts that i have become brain washed in believing that is the truth when in fact it is not,yes you have to keep with in your own budget that is only common sense but if you have say £500 to spend on a pole would you spend all of that on one just because it looks the part well if so that would be foolish,you have to start with the right pole and one that is over 11 meters is not ideal for beginners why,well lets take a few things into account here ,the weight of the pole is vital for you to fish comfortably with and anything over this length will weigh heavy to a beginner,not a very good start.

One thing you must do is ask your self,how often will i use ALL my pole length well just ask any match angler how often they use all there 16/17 meters of pole that may have cost has much as £2000 or more,answer not that often in fact it is more than likely that no more than around 11 meters is used at the most,yes there are exceptions to this like venue you are fishing when you need to find the deep water that so often is in the middle of the pool/lake or that all important island feacher that is just that little to far for the 11 meters i state but over all a 11 meter pole is a happy medium and one i would always suggest for a beginner to use first,now i will contradict myself a little here by saying that the ideal starter pole should not be more than 8 meters and that means a margin pole,these are heavier but they are the best starting point in pole fishing because it gives you better understanding of the pole,weight and stability is so important but so too is strength and no pole is stronger than the margin pole because it is built for just that purpose.

So understanding the weight of a pole is very important and in my next section i will go into some detail on the weight of poles at there maximum length now it will only be i guide line and all weights are in metric weights and what i will also add in to the coming section is elastic ratings and shot converting as well as pole floats but may i just point out that all this is only a guide and not a must do.

Here i will give you table of pole lengths and weights but before i do it is important to remember that poles fall into four categories,Match,All round,Carp and margin these are the areas they fall in to and although they may be the same length they do vary a lot in weight because of the thickness of carbon used in the make of the pole and that means strength not just to catch bigger fish,no dont be fooled into thinking that,but more so for the Elastic that the pole can take but we will go into that a little later.

Here is my table of pole weights but remember these may vary from manufacturers makes but over all this table is not far out…..

MATCH POLE——-11mt/650g
13mt/850g
14.5mt/1050g
16mt/1300g
ALL ROUND POLE—-11mt/800g
13m/1000g
14.5mt/1200g
16mt/1500g
CARP POLE——-11mt/900g
13mt/1100g
14.5/1300g
16mt/1800g
MARGIN POLE——7mt/600g
8mt/700g
9mt/850g
10mt/1000g
you can see by this table that the weights go up as the pole gets shorter and fall in to other areas of fishing like the 9mt margin pole is the same weight as the 13mt match pole that being 850g but the main thing is that the shorter margin pole will be better than than the longer match pole simple because it is shorter and easier to use for the beginner,you have to take in to account the balance of the pole as well,now this is down to preference because what feels good to your friend might not be to you so when buying a pole try and sit on a seat box and feel the pole at full length if possible then and only then you can judge how you feel with it but i have to say you can not do this in all tackle shops.

There is other factors that have to be taken in to account as well as weight and balance when using a long pole and that is weather conditions,no one can say what the good old English weather is going to do and if you are new to pole fishing then you will find one thing out very quickly and that is how the wind can play havoc with you when fishing at distance and that is another reason why you should not buy a pole over 8/11mt when starting pole fishing,learn to handle a short pole first and when you feel confident enough to go up to a longer pole you will reap the rewards for the time taken.

In my next section i will deal with the pole elastics and main line used to elastic ratings,these are again in metric and once more only a guide line.

Pole elastics come in mainly four groups solid,latex,hydro and hollow and you could add duel core to this list but mainly the last three i mentioned are in the same category and have very similar ratings so lets start with solid elastic,this is by far the most common used in pole fishing and it is the best used as well because it will cover nearly 90% of your pole fishing needs but one question is asked far more than any other and that is how far does it stretch well as rule of thumb it will stretch to about five times it’s length before it bottoms out (hits it’s limits).
Latex is pure elastic that has not been coloured and is more stretchier than solid and it is no great surprise that many match men prefer this to solid because of the extra stretch it has but it is not so durable than solid so it has it’s down side.
Hollow elastic is by far the most stretchier of them all simply because it is hollow but variations of this have come on to the market in resent years those being Duel core and Hydro with the later being the most popular of them,Hydro elastic is a hollow elastic that has a fluid in it, this helps with the strength and helps the elastic recover after stretching,it is by far the most stretch elastic you can buy and can stretch as far as 10 times it length but it is also the most expensive,you do have to watch how you use this make of elastic because of it’s stretch it will allow fish to go much further than solid so snags are always at the back of your mind with this make however the stronger grades are more useful and thicker than solid elastics so you need to use these with your power top two kit and not your match,you will need a much bigger stonfo connector as well.

One mistake that many new to pole fishing make is to use the wrong line to elastic being used remember that your elastic has a breaking point and if your line is much greater than the elastic then it is the elastic that breaks and not the line,now this means not only will you have to re elasticate your pole but you have also lost your rig as well and more importantly than this the fish you hooked is now carrying a line,float,stonfo and elastic around with it and it will get snagged up and die as a result so it is so important to get your line breaking strain right to the elastic you are using,now elastics start at a very low rating as low as a number 1-3 now these should never be used unless you are bit fishing on canals because they are so light and the line you have to use is very fine and has a thickness of no more than 0.06mm that is around 8oz break (now that’s thin) but as you go up the grades in elastics so the line thickness goes up as well until you reach the heavy 20 plus elastics and these can take 8lb main line with ease although i would not go any higher than a 10lb main line and that would be with the big stuff elastic for carp over twenty pounds.
Knowing the venue and the species in it is very important because this will decide what elastic you should use,if the venue only has silver fish in it and go to 3lb max then maybe a 6-8 rated elastic would be fine but if very few go to that weight then go down to a more forgiving elastic like a 4-6,now F1 carp are all the rage these days and as such these can grow to 5/6lb in weight on some venues and give a good fight so it would be better to use a number 10 maybe again it is preference but common sense rules the day.
Here is a table of elastics and line and hook length strength all are in metric and are only a guide there are varyations to these but these are the common used……
ELASTIC————-MAIN LINE————HOOK LINK
solid mm mm
1-2- 0.07–0.08 0.05–0.07
3- 0.08–0.10 0.07–0.09
4 -0.10–0.12 0.08–0.11
5- 0.12 0.10–0.11
6- 0.12–0.14 0.10–0.13
8- 0.14 0.12–0.13
10- 0.14–0.16 0.13–0.15
12- 0.16 0.14–0.15
14- 0.16–0.18 0.15–0.17
16- 0.18 0.16–0.17
18- 0.20–0.22 0.18–0.21
20+- 0.22–0.25 0.20–0.24

HOLLOW

6- 0.10–0.14 0.08–0.13
8 -0.12–0.16 0,10–0.15
10- 0.12–0.18 0.10–0.15
12- 0.14–0.20 0.12–0.17
14- 0.16–0.20 0.14–0,19
16- 0.18–0.22 0.16–0.21
18- 0.20–0.24 0.18–0.23
20- 0.20–0.26 0.18–0.24

You will notice that the hook length is weaker than the main this is the safety element involved in the set up so if you get snagged it is the hook length that breaks off and not the whole rig set up.

What i have tried to do in this section is to try and make it clear how vital it is to have the right elastic and line set up in your pole fishing,next it will be the shots that you use on your line,this is another area that confuses many so i will try and keep it simple…..

Weights for pole fishing comes in different sizes and names from the standard shots to stotz to styls all are different and vary slightly in weight,most if not all floats these days are weighted in grams and knowing what your shot weighs is important so you can get the best possible presentation so here i will put a table with the common size shots,styls and stotz in the hope it will help you to understand the shotting patterns and weights…..
SHOT SIZE
SSG—1.8g
AAA—0.8g
BB—0.4g
1 —0.24g
4 —0.17g
6 —0.10g
STOTZ
8—0.063g
9—0.049g
10—0.034g
11—0.26g
12—0.020g
13—0.012g
STYL
12—0.064g
11—0.048g
10—0.038g
9—-0.025g
8—-0.017g
7—-0.010g

These tables are guides only and there are slight differences from makes of shot but over all these are not far off the mark.

I hope you find this helpful in you quest to get used to pole fishing….yes there is so many other things that you need to know and have but getting off to the right start is so very important and the right place to start is with the right pole and set up…..tight lines.

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