• You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...

Feeders or PVA bags.

I use both
No hard and fast rules but err more to socks in the warmer months when the fish are feeding hard and that includes all fish as we never really know how much of the bait gets taken by minnows, dace, chublets etc
Pva socks can also be devastating with short hooklinks if you need to cast very close to willow canopies - way less likely to tangle than a lead or feeder
About now I tend to switch to feeders with much reduced food content but a slow release of smell and small pellets/ hemp etc
I had a go at the weekend and the mix was emptying in about 30mins which I was happy with
My initial Mix had too much active mix in and wasn’t emptying at all after this time
Great for floods but the fish were having a peck so needed a bit of bait in to hold them
And supplemented this with a few pellets catapulted in
Worked this time, could be completely different next trip
 
I rarely use either as I absolutely love the mini sized spopper for the initial introduction on my local rivers and a subtle small lead on its own as an anchor. I’m a terrible feeder angler which is ironic considering I can build the things to a decent salable standard but it’s just not a style of fishing that I’ve had much practice with over the years.
That said I did use a feeder (one of mine) on my trip to Collingham and had a couple but that was more because I wanted to catch something on my own feeders rather than let you guys have all the fun 😜
There’s a lot of skill in being a good feeder angler and I know very few people that can use them really really well. I’m not one of them unfortunately.
Pva again I do occasionally use it but not enough to use it as effectively as some anglers.
I think it’s the nature of the rivers I fish. Relatively shallow and not wide with a fairly low population of barbel. So my feed goes in first thing and not a lot to be fair.
Get the disturbance out the way and let that settle a good hour at least before placing a bait in with as little disturbance as possible.
I don’t think I’d get away with a full feeder or pva bag on their heads every 15-30 minutes.
 
From my experience, they are both 2 completely different methods of fishing, I would rarely use a feeder on a small river. If you know that a swim holds fish and are on the feed then a PVA bag is the method, because you are trying to get the fish to feed over your hookbait. If the pva bag method isn't working, then it is obvious that either there are no fish are in my swim or they are backing off. Then I might switch up to a feeder or rolling meat. Using the feeder is a tactic to introduce attractant to flow down stream and encourage the fish to swim upstream in the scent towards your hook bait. For me, you can never predict where the feed will end up in a feeder, with a bag you can control that.
 
I would say Anthony though, that you can with a feeder and a stiff mix swing or bounce it into position on the flow.
You can’t do that with PVA as the bag will of melted by the time you swing it position.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top