The recent warm spell has given us a glimpse of what’s going to be stretching out before us in a few weeks – sunshine, T-shirt weather (hopefully) and evenings to go fishing, all of which means shallow fishing starting to come to the fore on our commercial fisheries.
Warming water and more daylight keeps fish, especially carp, hunting for food for longer and they’ll happily come higher up in the water to do this.
The pole is a great way of catching them, but until we really hit late spring and early summer, these fish may be reluctant to move close to the bank.
The solution to this is the pellet waggler. These oversized floats can easily cast to where the fish are, presenting a hookbait just inches deep. It also makes for a very busy and exciting way of fishing with regular casting and feeding, waiting for that domed top of the float to bury and a big carp to be on the other end!
Pick a pattern
Foam and balsa models are all I need. Foam wagglers are more delicate when fish are just under the surface. I use balsa in tricky winds.
Choose your weight
Float size is decided by how far you need to cast. Use as light a float as you can, and play about with its loading until you can hit the mark.
Search your swim
Changing depth regularly is the key to catching well. In 8ft of water, begin at 3ft or 4ft and then inch the depth up until you find the fish.
Feed little & often
I’ll feed two to four 8mm pellets each time, using the same on the hook. A pellet wafter is also a good choice as an alternative hookbait.
