Originally Published in English
Today I am fishing a peg on the Earth Centre stretch of the river Don on the outskirts of Doncaster. This is a prolific stretch of river, where roach and skimmers make up the bulk of the catches, but hit the right peg on the right day and big weights of bream can also figure.
The Don here is a relatively deep river, often around four metres in the centre, and slow flowing for most of the year. The pole works really well on this stretch, because of the depth, but you can also have a great days fishing on the feeder too, fished three-quarters of the way across the river. Expect plenty of bites, and a busy days fishing, something that I really like.
To start with, I have mixed up a bag of Quick Skimmer and a bag of Black Roach. I want this to stay in the feeder quite well, so I have mixed it very slightly damper than I would if the water were shallower. To this mix, I have added a light scattering of pinkies. Just enough to keep the fish interested and looking for more is what you are looking for.
My rigs are quite simple. I am using a 20gram Big Pit Standard feeder. If the flow was stronger I would step up the weight, but there is no need today. The feeder is attached to a 12cm twisted boom made from the 0.22mm Cenex Feeder Mono main line.
Regular recasting will concentrate the fish in your target zone.
Simple feeder rigs are all you need for this style of fishing.
A lovely quality river Don roach.
The hooklength is around 60cm, made from 0.12mm Cenex Hybrid Power line, finishing in a size 16 Sphere Feeder Ultra Lite hook. This is an incredibly sharp and light hook pattern, that is perfect for catching silverfish. The shape means that once a fish is hooked, very few are lost on the retrieve, which can make a significant difference in a match.
With the line in the reel clip, I can hit the same distance every cast and keep a trickle of bait going in regularly to hopefully attract and encourage the fish to feed. Often it can take a while for the bites to come regularly. I think this is because the fish are spread around the relatively featureless river and so you have to keep introducing a little bit of bait to attract them. Today this has been the case, and although I have picked up fish from the start, they have mainly been small perch. After an hour the fishing starts to pick up and more roach put in an appearance.
This style of fishing is all about getting into a rhythm and with the loaded feeder well balanced to my Sphere medium feeder rod, I can hit the same spot every time, even though there is a bit of a downstream wind gusting about. The soft tip shows the bites really well, and even though the fish are only averaging a couple of ounces each, I am putting plenty of fish in the net and building a decent weight.
At the end of the session I am well pleased with my net of scale-perfect roach, the best around the half a pound mark. It has been a brilliant and really enjoyable morning session.
Chris Greensides (Browning Team Ossett)
"The shoals of roach will be attracted by the groundbait"
I use a simple twisted boom link to attach the feeder.
Use a dark groundbait containing just a small amount of pinkies.
The result of a few hours feeder fishing on the river Don.
Chris’ Tackle
Sphere 12’ Medium Feeder Rod
Black Viper Compact Reel
0.22mm Cenex Feeder Mono
0.12mm Cenex Hybrid Power Mono
Size 16 Sphere Feeder Ultra lite Hooks
20gram Big Pit Std Feeder
Chris’ Bait
Bag of Champion’s Feeder Quick Skimmer
Bag of Champion’s Feeder Black Roach
Pint of pinkies
Pint of maggots
The Sphere Feeder Ultra Lite hooks are brilliant for this type of fishing.