Ian.B

As a general rule once you've plumbed up your chosen swims (for argument lets say three), if you wanted to up your catch rate (assuming you're catching more or less at the same the rate as the best of the rest so you don't want to throw caution to the wind). Would you stick with what you're doing as you are catching anyway by alternating your swims & better fish could move in ? try altering shotting patterns & rig depths or start feeding a extra/new swim ?

As I say, what would be your first general inclination (I know there are a million & one variables in this game... that's why I'm tryinmg to improve on the basics !!)

Brian G

As you appear to be up there with the best of the rest then why change it, I would look to continue rotating the swims, adding additional swims might just split the fish in your catching swims and slow your rate down, in my opinion you are now really looking for the bonus fish or two that will help you to win, on carp dominated waters the bonus fish will more than likely come from the margins or a feature peg, it might be worth attacking one of those type of swims by upping your feed, tell tale signs off a lump moving in are usually the sudden drop in catch rate, a change of bait say from pellet to corn or meat might do the trick, the most important thing is to keep feeding the lines you are not fishing as you want fish there when you do switch to them.

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Ian.B

So, 'if it ain't broke' as they say !

Reason I asked is I was wondering if maybe I was a bit too rigid with my set ups once I've picked my spots & plumbed up. It's not that often my rigs are much different at the end of the match than they were just after plumbing.
Speaking generally again, would you say your rigs (depth/shotting) rarely change through the duration of a match or are they rarely the same at the end of the match to what they were at the beginning ?

stevelockett

So many questions Ian!
Good that you're keen to learn though, many anglers fish through habit and get left behind. They then tend to blame the swim for their basic lack of initiative.

As Brian said, it is often best to play the percentages, especially when you are just trying to sort places out and need to pick up a few envelopes to keep you interested. If you are there or thereabouts, accept that some days you may get a late bonus to push you into the frame, others you will just miss out but at least you will become consistent.

I think you will find that many of the top anglers are rarely happy with their rigs and will make tiny changes to shot and depth in a bid to get bites faster, or pick up a slightly bigger stamp of fish.
As an example, try fishing for roach and leave the rig exactly as you have set it until you get no more bites for five or ten minutes. Obviously, you must keep feeding to keep fish in the swim.
You may think the swim has died, but if you move the float up the line by an inch, I'll lay money that at least 50% of the time you will get a bigger than average roach on your next drop.

I'll call that stage 2 of your match fishing development.

Stage 3 takes you into Dorking territory, setting up a rig in the knowledge that you can dictate where and how the fish will feed and will bag up for five hours. But to learn that only comes to a privileged few, it's just something we should strive for...

Moving back to some questions you put to me on a different thread. I have learned loads over the last three years in particular by working with many of the best anglers in the country. I feel Will is far and away the best match angler in Europe at the minute and filming our DVDs with him really changed the way I approach a match.
Also, the film we shot last year with Neil Machin had a profound effect on my match fishing approach. I would recommend anyone wanting to get to grips with the mechanics of planning a match watch our film, or even better, book a day's tuition with Neil.

Both Will and Neil make up their rigs to fish in a certail way, safe in the knowledge that the fish will respond in that way. They don't have to worry about changing presentation, they already know what will be the ultimate presentation, so they just get their heads down and catch.
Getting the feeding right is a large part of the battle. If you can get fish competing for your feed, you can almost catch them on any old rig.

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Ian.B

Brilliant answer, thanks Steve.
Don't think I'm ready to compete with Will Raison just yet.... maybe around April time though......not !

Just looking to climb the 'small club' ability ladder at the mo. & it ain't for the money. I love banter & the look on some faces on the rare occasions that I place higher than the known favourites.... & I want more of it !
I'll admit in the past me coming higher than some is down to luck & them having a particularly bad peg (still a good feeling though).
I want to increase the odds of me placing higher more often though, by upping my game & improving..... so the questions will keep coming.

Thanks again for the reply.

Oneabung

Having had the privelge to fish with Will on quite a few occassions and got alot of the inside line on rigs and shotting patterns hooks etc I have to say that the battle you want to crack first is the feeding Ian - don't worry too much about the rigs, as long as they are getting you bites then you can improve your catch rates and size of fish by altering your feeding patterns or baits. Sure try moving the depths and try a lighter rig occasionally but you should have a set of rigs that you know and love so you know how they react and can respond to ANYTHING that doesnt look right.

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Ian.B

You know how to cheer a person up
I sort of thought it might be as much about how I feed as the rigs I used, if not more, but didn't want to hear it .... wanted a less complicated option
Still you've got to take the medicine if you want to get better !

Now was it 6 maggots every 15 seconds or 15 maggots every 6 seconds ?.... no wait, it wasn't maggots this match they aren't working... It's 2 casters & 3 bits of hemp every 12 seconds... or was it 3 & half pellets every..........
d'ohh more sleepless nights.

rossi

steve lockett comments are very interesting, unfortuanatly many of us dont have have the benefit that steve has in being able to work with the top anglers, however, i would suggest that you pick a couple of festivals or big matches and sit (if they dont mind) behind a venue expert and watch them from start to finish. you will a lot by watching how they develop a swim and the little changes to rigs and feeding that count. In effect this is was steve does. Having said that, he is very good angler and im sure he aggree we never stop learning.