Watching chub and barbel feeding can be extremely rewarding and this week I was lucky enough to find a swim that allowed just that. With chub going mad I dropped a barbel rig in between with a 13mm hard pellet on and was gob smacked at how they totally ignored it whilst taking every small pellet that drifted downstream. Eventually one did slip up but was lost after just pricking it. Changing the rig to a small link ledger and by banding two small pellets to the hook I was instantly in after just a couple of seconds. Another one followed but as these fish were only small around two-pounds so I took the rig downstream and extracted two good fish, including a five plusser. I also learnt just how fish in our rivers have switched on to pellets as after feeding maggots, hemp and pellets into a swim and catching nothing after an hour on maggot dropped again a link ledger with two small banded pellets and caught two chub straight away.

Feeding pellets at range can be a problem for some as by their very nature most are small and light and may be slightly irregular in shape which will limit both distance and accuracy.

The first tip would be to NOT mix different sizes together. By all means feed different sized baits as this will keep the fish guessing and will result in more bites, but try and introduce each size, one at a time. You will notice that by mixing different size baits and then using a catapult you will end up with baits all over the place.

Continuing this theme, when spodding you will find that your accuracy and distance will increase if you load your chosen spod with just one size at a time. This allows  the weight to be evenly distributed within the spod  and therefore increases the spod’s stability in flight, giving greater range and improved accuracy.

The last tip with  spodding is to plug the end of the spod with a groundbait mix, before you cast it out to your chosen mark. This prevents any spillage and means less wasted bait and equally important, less wasted effort, as the whole content of each spod will reach your target.

The best mix I have found for this is a 50/50 blend of the Hemp and Hali Crush together with the Fishmeal Feeder. Mix it so that you have a fluffy texture that just binds and holds it’s shape when compressed. This will plug the spod perfectly whilst in flight but will quickly fall out once it has landed.

The Snowman rig was created by carp anglers to catch wary carp. The rig comprises of a standard boilie, which then has a smaller pop up mounted on the same hair.

The pop up lifts the bait of the bottom leaving the hook under the bait. To get the perfect Snowman you need to keep picking bits of the pop up until the bait and hook sink very slowly to the bottom.

The movement created by the pop up is also thought to attract the attention of a fish. Although this rig is mainly associated with carp it can be modified in order to catch other species and is extremely effective for tench and rudd. All you need to do is scale your terminal tackle and bait size down.