FEATURE LIQUID FEEDING

D I LIQU ! t a e and m DIET

ANGLER PROFILE
Name: Ant Rogers Age: 27 Sponsor: Preston Innovations/ sonubaits.com Lives: Staffordshire

How many of you feed liquids to catch sh on the bottom? Ant Rogers a massive lump of th wi m the s ine mb co he en wh d an , does a sh-catching recipe. meat on the hook he has one hell of

What Is It?
A few pellets, a handful of corn, a big glug of liquid and a sizeable lump of red meat on the hook sounds like an unusual concoction, doesnt it? Well, Ant Rogers has been feeding this way for some time now and believes he has hit on the perfect recipe for success. If his recent form at Woodland View is anything to go by then who are we to argue? Three days before shooting this feature, Ant recorded a 152lb framing weight of hard-ghting carp in poor weather conditions after several days of cold rain. In fact, Ant reckons the weather was so bad that he only caught properly for the rst three hours. One can safely predict that once the water warms up properly, so too will the action. Ant has been perfecting this technique for a few years now and, to date, his best weight is 197lb in a 3hr evening match. Watching him in action you soon realise it wont be long before that 200lb barrier gets blown away, so well let Ant take you through his method

VENUE PROFILE
Fishery: Woodland View Location: Droitwich, Worcestershire Contact: 01905 620872 www.woodlandviewshery.co.uk

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The Method
Fishing big cubes of red-coloured meat is synonymous with Woodland View Fishery, where I am today. I suppose a guy called Kevin Slade started it all off when he took this water apart with his aggressive feeding strategy. He would ll it in with big pots of bait, sh a massive chunk of meat over the top and haul the carp out on relatively crude gear. Back then, the sh often dragged the elastic out on the take but the sh seem to have wised up a lot more now. A friend of mine called Ian Lockley was the rst person to show me a more rened approach. He used smaller cubes of meat and a more cautious feeding policy and, for a season or two, was almost unbeatable. I learnt a lot from Ian before perfecting my own take on the method, which has seen me chalk up plenty of results at this time of year. This tactic normally involves shing no more than eight metres out and presenting a large cube of very soft meat over the top of a bed of corn, pellets and the all-important liquid. You are not allowed to feed meat at this venue so I use it purely as a hook bait. The size of the meat varies but usually the bigger it is, the better. The meat stands out as a large target bait among the feed and the bigger carp home in on it readily. Dont let the size put you off, because even small sh will suck it in. You dont really want these nuisance sh, however its the big carp that I target. In a typical, ve-hour match I aim for 20 or more carp to reach my 100lb target weight, which equates to just four sh an hour. Combine that with a few sh late on down the margins and you can quickly amass a big weight.
If a sh takes this its probably a big one!

The thick liquid clings to the corn and sinks to the bottom.

Liquid Diet
Liquids are the next frontier in match shing, as far as I am concerned, and Woodland View seems to be where they have taken off the most. Before realising the effectiveness of liquids I would often nd myself needing to feed up to a whole 250ml pot of corn after every single sh. This may seem a bit drastic but it was often necessary with this attacking, big-bait method. The sh in this venue are very active and seem to sit off the bottom searching for food. A pot of feed helped force them down long enough to catch one before you had to repeat the process. When the sh were feeding well, you could easily get through the sherys 10-tin limit of corn, and this is when I stumbled across the importance of feeding liquids. On one match I ran out of bait with 90 minutes to go. All I had left was a handful of corn, a few casters and a bottle of liquid avouring. In order to make my feed last to the end I experimented with feeding a big glug of liquid with a pinch of bait every time I cupped in. I couldnt believe how well the sh responded to it, and from that day on liquids have been a crucial part of my feeding strategy. A column of liquid avouring in the swim is a massive sh attractor in its own right and really helps to bulk out your feed. Nowadays I still bring my limit of corn but the liquid makes it last so much longer. I know some anglers who are just feeding liquids now, with no solid feed other than the hook bait! I like to sh this method on the bottom, in anything from three to eight feet of water. For that reason you need a liquid that is denser than water so it will sink quickly to the oor. After much experimentation I have settled on corn steep liquor (CSL). This is a major by-product of cornstarch processing and is a natural source of betaine. More importantly, sh love the stuff! I like to use neat CSL that has not been watered down and the sonubaits.com version is perfect. To give it an added kick I add a squirt of sonubaits.com Strawberry and Tutti Frutti avourings before starting. Two small CSL bottles should be more than enough to last me a session. Some anglers use diluted liquids that disperse immediately, for catching shallow. This is when coloured dyes, particularly red and black, also score well. I have had success with red dye when bottom shing, but it can drift out of the peg on a windy day so I tend to stick to just CSL these days.

The Hook Bait

Soft meat is vital it is taken more condently, is easier to strike through and fools bigger sh. I use cheap Ye Olde Oak ham and start to prepare it several days in advance of a match, using this method: Slice up a tin of meat with a knife and place the cubes in a polythene bag with plenty of air inside. Shake the bag vigorously for at least ve minutes until the corners of the meat have gone and it is coated white with the fat. Add 150ml of CSL, a capful of sonubaits.com Strawberry avouring, and a good squirt of the same brand of red dye. Shake it all up again, bag it up and freeze it. Next day, defrost it fully before refreezing it, and do this every day until the weekend. The more the meat is frozen and thawed the softer it gets. I tend to take three sizes of cubes with me which range from 1cm offerings to 1in gobstoppers. Any meat that is unused gets refrozen.

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FEATURE LIQUID FEEDING

ANTS FEED RECIPE

Feeding
I always start off with a handful of the sherys new sonubaits.com Commercial Feed Pellets topped off with enough corn to half ll a 250ml pot. I then add a big gloop of juice before potting it in. I tend to make a bit of noise with the cup to attract the shs interests at the start. Further top-ups are generally done with a quarter of a pot after every sh or every couple of missed bites. How I top up depends on whats going on under the surface. If there are few signs of activity I keep making a bit of noise when I top up. If there are lots of silly bites and liners I tend to sneak the bait in a bit quieter.

Ant rarely adds sections once a sh is hooked.

01

A smattering of sonubaits.com Commercial Feed Pellets

You might not always catch on it all day but it can give you a massive head start in a match.
This is an instant method, and I expect to catch a carp straight after feeding. You might not always catch on it all day but it can give you a massive head start in a match. Remember, you often only need a few big sh every hour to stay in contention.

02

plus a handful of washed corn

The red-meat hook bait stands out like a beacon among a bed of corn.

Presentation
03
before the all-important CSL liquid is added.

A big chunk of meat is the target bait.

Meat is a heavy hook bait and doesnt need any help to get down to the bottom Two slim 4x14 and stay there. The oat Duraoat 7s acts merely as an indicator cover so I use a slim 4x14 everything. Duraoat 7, regardless of depth. This is shotted with a bulk of four No8 and one No11 Stotz. I sh at dead depth with the shot taking the oat to the base of the bristle and the meat acting as the last dropper. The bulk is essential as it helps you to read the oat and distinguish the true bites from the liners. I start with it 12 inches from the hook but will move it closer if I am suffering from liners, or further away if it is hard. I have tried hair rigging but found it leads to foul-hooked sh. Instead, I bury a large, size 12 PR21 hook inside. This straight pattern keeps its point better than a curved one. Line is 0.17mm PowerLine to size 15h Hollo elastic and a Pulla Kit. I will step up to 17h Hollo in the evenings or if I am really bagging. I set up two identical rigs, but one has three inches of line above the oat for good conditions while the other has six inches for rougher weather. I tend to sh about seven or eight metres out during the day, and a section closer in for an evening match. This is close enough to keep the sh settled without spooking them by playing hooked sh right over their heads.

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Strike!
Most carp methods require little more than a gentle lift to set the hook but this method is a bit different. The sh take the bait so fast that you will miss too many bites with a slow lift. Quite often a carp will swim down, take your hook bait and swim straight back up again. A positive strike will often see you connect with the sh several feet off the bottom. You could be led into thinking you have foul hooked a sh, but the hook is normally in the shs mouth unless you strike swiftly youll never know! The ricochet caused after striking fast with a short pole is a recipe for breakages, so thats why Preston has developed Striker sections. These are super-strong sections that t all of the companys Genis poles and are perfect for this method. I tend to use two or three Striker sections, a short No4 and my top kit. I very rarely add sections to chase a hooked sh. Anything that charges off and doesnt get turned by my 15h Hollo elastic is normally foul hooked and will probably come off whether I follow it out or not. You will miss bites with this method but perseverance is the key. Learning to read what is a bite and what is a liner is half the battle.

The Session
Bites came after just 20 seconds, and my rst seven sh were lean two-pounders before I nally connected with a proper 6lb meat sh. The carp werent as big as Id hoped, but that often happens when you have the lake to yourself. In match conditions the sh would be more evenly spread, leaving me to concentrate on the bigger specimens. Topping up with a small amount of corn and a squeeze of liquid after every sh improved things as the session went on, and I managed more than my 20-carp target, along with a smattering of smaller F1s and tench. Catching on big lumps of meat is one of the most exciting methods there is, and if you havent already tried feeding liquids with your bait then what are you waiting for? You could be missing out on some redhot action this summer just dont tell everyone about it!

Now is the perfect time to get on the red meat and CSL if you want a net like this!

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