Feeder fishing on the non tidal river Trent at Lady Pit Farm

Ever since acquiring this stretch on the non tidal river Trent we had been itching to fish it and even though the river was in torrid flood we had already set our sites on a days fishing.

We talked about the bait and tactics the night before to maximise our chances of catching some fish whilst the river was in this swollen state, we knew that we would be up against it as we had fished the river on another section the week previous and it had rained almost all week so we were half expecting it to be up the bank.

we had decided to take some ground bait, casters, maggots, steak and mince just in case.

The ground bait was to be used in conjunction with the caster in a ground bait feeder with either caster or maggot on the hook, The maggot could also be used straight in a maggot feeder this being a good method when you are feeling your way round a bit and looking for bites and the steak and mince was to be our back up just in case we could not catch anything or had no bites on the other baits that we had chosen.

Me and Keith arrived at the river at around 9.30am, we were quite surprised to find it lower than we had expected we set about finding a couple of pegs to fish and settled  down at the bottom of the stretch in two pegs that looked as though we could chuck out beyond the heavy flow and find some reasonably paced water, we sat together and I explained how to set up the standard Trent mans feeder loop and some of the fundamental things that he should know about feeder fishing on the Trent in general but I explained that today was the exception as the river would have normally be left during such conditions.

How to set up the Trent Feeder Loop (use this link to view graphic example)

Thread the eyes of your rod as usual, take hold of the end of the main line and place an American snap link upon it, form a loop at least three feet long tying with a double overhand knot, form another loop at the hook length end using another double overhand knot about 6 to 8 inches long making sure that the snap link is free running within the larger loop, form this smaller loop into equal loops around 1 inch apart, you should be able to get about five to seven smaller loops at this point using a double overhand knot on each forming the stiff link, this is the rig finished all you have to do now is tie your hook length onto the small loop at the bottom of the rig using either a half blood or loop to loop attachment and place your feeder on the snap link, the hook length should stand off the main line and rig as the smaller loops have stiffened the line between the main line and hook length, you should use this rig for all of your river feeder fishing catching small to medium sized fish but if you are expecting to catch larger fish like Barbel or Carp on a regular basis throughout the session then you will have to use another rig as these fish tend to give little or no indication when they bite often ripping the drag from your reel and breaking your hook length as they gather speed bouncing your feeder against the stop end of the rig.

I set about explaining to Keith about the importance of accuracy and feathering your line when casting and how to feel the feeder down to the bottom of the river and then pay around two rod lengths of line out into the flow ensuring that your feeder stays where you put it giving you a bow in your line for better bite registration and less resistance to the feeding fish, I then explained how important it was to balance your feeder properly before fishing, casting in and waiting until the feeder hit the bottom paying out the line and then waiting to see if your feeder moved by watching the tip of your rod, if the tip drops back more than once then you will have to add a little more lead until this stops happening although it was hard to teach him properly as the river was in torrid flood and he was having to cast a fair way to a slack area well over the other side of the river so I intend to show him once again when the river is at normal level, he was soon casting into his swim with great accuracy feathering his line hard just before the feeder hit the water, given the peg that he was fishing from he was displaying a good technique and showing a very good understanding of the river.

After some time fishing with a ground bait feeder laced with casters and double maggot on the hook Keith was into his first fish playing it well into the flow and landing it with ease, it was a decent Chub that gave a good account of itself, he was soon getting bites and catching Bream ! surprise surprise as he always catches bream even when he doesn't want them as he is a bit of a Bream magnet.

Lost Fish !

After a while Keith had his hook length taken by a bigger fish whilst playing it across river, this happened several times within the next hour and after a little detective work I found that it was due to his five turn half blood knot coming undone, I explained how it was very important when tying this knot to make sure that when you tighten the final knot down you only pull the hook length and not the tag that is left wetting it before you do so, I tied one for him explaining the knot in detail along with the tucked half blood knot just in case it ever happened again when he was fishing on his own.

The Five Turn Half Blood Knot

This knot is very strong and should stand quite a beating when tied correctly, please use this link to view knot.

Five Turn Tucked Half Blood Knot

This is better when big fish are the target or for tying to swivels, Please use this link to view Knot. 

 All in all it was an eventful day with both of us catching fish, I believe that Keith learnt some of the things that he will need in the future, he is a good pupil and takes note when you explain things to him.

I took this opportunity to test two great feeder rods under £55.00, The Shakespere Mach 1 Heavy Feeder and the Garbolino Squad Heavy feeder if you want to view the Tackle Test then use this link.

                  The apprentice with a Chub from the swollen river, He did well from a difficult swim in the trees