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moving swims

S

Steven Whybrow

Guest
Hi ,tryed a new river yesterday in which i stayed in the same swim,after packing up i had a walk up river and theres a few swims i fancy so ive decided next time i go iam going to go mobile,my questions are how long in each swim and say using pva bags of pellets or feeder how much bait would you put in if moving.cheers ste.
 
Is it a small river? If so, I would suggest one PVA bag, one cast, give it 20mins and then move on. You can always drop back into the swim later and it may be good to think of it as rotating swims as much as a mobile approach. I find it is often worth going back to a spot twice or three times over and eventually things fall into place.

I tend to give swims 20-30 mins in the summer and 1-2 hours in the winter.
 
Cannot argue with that - sound advice.

I tend to avoid PVA bags in the summer and feed either by hand or catapult to spread the bait around a bit more and get the fish moving.

I feed no more than 15 pellets into a swim, only introducing more if I get a bite. I do, however, sometimes use a groundbait feeder to increase attraction without increasing food.

If you are going to rove, have a long hard look at your kit - you will not fancy moving if you have to make two or three trips each time so for me things like chairs and brollies stay at home.

Best of luck, Steve
 
try rolling some meat through a few swims.
i tend to do this in the winter, cover lots of water unless you know where the fish are,
and 2, it keeps my feet warm...lol.
 
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Thanks for the replys,the river is small and quite shallow and a fair walk from the car so definately going lighter.Going of what your saying i think i could have over fed as well, i was recasting about every hour with a decent size bag of pellets,if useing groundbait and hemp how much do i put in before i move and am i better of balling it in than keep casting a feeder in shallow water[as you can tell iam new to this]cheers ste.
 
Never worth balling it in on a small river unless it holds an exceptional head of fish + never sees other anglers. I suggest feeding lightly. You're fishing for one bite, maybe two, then you're moving on anyway to your next spot, so why give the fish a free feed? ;) A small walnut sized bag of pellets, plus hookbait (wrapped in a matching paste if possible) is a very good approach for summer on small rivers.

Be stingy with the feed on small rivers. Your bank manager will thank you, so will your fellow anglers, and you'll catch more fish, too. Well that's the theory anyway. Best of luck...
 
Thanks david,so my plan of attack for next time his travel light,move,and dont over feed then hopefully i will catch my first barbel :).cheers ste.
 
I'll second that and reiterate David's point about not overfeeding. Feed less and cast as little as possible and you won't go far wrong.

Steve
 
It might be a good idea on a rarely fished stretch to stick to a big lobworm - if there are fish in the swim with any appetite at all you won`t need to wait long!
 
travel as light as possible, throw in some freebies and wait 20-30 minutes to see if fish appear, if so happy days ,if not move on....

Thats unless its a deeper run,then try it for 30-40 minutes then move on, but I ideally like to see fish first when tackling a smaller meandering style of river...
 
On arriving, it might also be worth putting in a small amount of bait in half a dozen likely looking spots and then having a go in each.
 
Thanks guys,when putting in a bit of feed should i put in nearly all say 4mm pellets or would you chuck in a few 10mm which i use as hook bait as well.cheers ste.
 
I used feed pellets 6mm, and fish with 14mm drilled....

Some will say to mix it up so the fish get comfortable feeding on all sorts, but ideally you want them heads down feeding like mad stirring the bottom (sometimes a good sign if the water is just that bit too deep or coloured) before putting in a baited line....

I sometimes spend more time hunting fish than actually fishing, unless I go straight to a spot I know holds fish.....
 
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