Floater fest!

I love my floater fishing so I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to get out of the office for a day’s surface fishing with our video team. The aim of the day was to shoot some product videos for some upcoming releases – a perfect opportunity to mix work and fishing…

The venue was the well-known Thorpe Lea in Surrey, and Mike Wilson and I were leaving Nash HQ in the early hours so we could be there for 7am when the gates opened before being joined by Oli, Dan and Carl. It wasn’t exactly an ideal morning, the weather had made a turn and the heavens had opened but we unloaded the gear and straight away put floaters out. It’s the number one rule on top: always create a feeding situation, get those carp interested from the off and bring as many as you can to the party. My floater mix is simple: two parts Riser Pellet and one part 11mm Slicker Floaters. The Riser Pellet needs no introduction, it has completely changed my approach to floater fishing dramatically, creating a feeding situation that just can’t be matched by dog biscuits or larger floating pellets and can be the difference between catching one fish or ten fish. If you haven’t tried it you need your head tested, simple as that.

My floater mix: 2 parts Riser Pellet to 1 part 11mm Slicker Floaters. Deadly

Always feed first

After three Spombsof floater mix some carp were showing interest, by the time five Spombs were out the fish were feeding and wanting more. It was still only 7:30am, but the lake was already busy with anglers who had fished the night previous, yet all of them seemed to still be tucked up in their beds whilst we were Spombing floaters.

Getting carp feeding is essential but so is being patient. It’s all too easy to get overexcited the second a fish takes a bait or two, cast a rig at them and spook them off before they have really started feeding confidently. That first hour of baiting and waiting is by far the most important of the day.

Mike was only one swim to my right so we took turns at baiting, covering the same area at around 80yds. Whilst one of us was Spombing, it gave the other time to sort rods out, set up a couple of nets and wait for the fun to begin.

There was around 12ft in front of us so Mike decided on Adjustable Zigs, positioning hookbaits on or just under the surface. I went for a traditional floater rod with one of the new Bolt Machines to fish for what I could see.

By the time five Spombs of Riser mix had gone out the fish were feeding.

Instant action

By an hour in the fish were really having it, despite the rain. It’s important to not always presume that fish only feed off the surface went the sun is out and it’s 25-degrees. When there is a decent stock of fish in the lake, and as long as it isn’t the depths of winter, there is always a chance which is why I have my floater gear with me for the majority of the year.

Within five minutes of the rods being out Mike had his first bite, followed by his second minutes later, both good upper-doubles. Not wanting to miss out on the action, the Bolt Machine went out amongst the feeding frenzy and within seconds I was away too. It was a pretty hectic start! We dealt with all three fish and began feeding some more. Within seconds of the Spomb hitting the water the fish were back and feeding just as confidently as before, in fact it was clear they knew the sound of the Spomb landing was a sign that food was arriving.

Within seconds of the Bolt Machine being out there I was away

Bad wind

After a couple of hours of intense fishing and constant feeding we’d netted around 15 fish between us, mainly doubles up to around 18lb, topped by a nice 20lb mirror for Mike. The swim was well and truly alive by now and whilst other anglers were starting to wake up and emerge from their bivvies we decided to reel in and get a few bits done for the cameras, after all, that was why we were there.

By the time we had shot a few product images conditions had changed, and for the worse. The rain had stopped which was great for filming purposes but the wind had really picked up and was blowing right to left through the swim which is the kiss of death for floater work. As Mike was on Adjustable Zigs he carried on catching with relative ease but for me, fishing on the surface became much more difficult. It was hard to get good line lay to the float which is vital on the top, and the Riser mix was drifting out the swim on the breeze. Usually I would have moved swims and fished with the wind behind me but the lake was busy and moving wasn’t really an option.

You have to respond to what the fish are doing and the conditions when you’re floater fishing, the same presentation and end tackle won’t work all day unless you’re very lucky and the lake is a millpond. Changing from the smaller 30-gram Bolt Machine to the heavier 55-gram option only took a minute but allowed me to combat the crosswind to hold a hookbait in position for a longer period, long enough to get a bite. All the early fish were on the Zig Bug Floater Hookbaits but switching to soft hookable floater on a size 10 meant there was more weight in the hookbait, keeping in place for longer rather than it skidding across the surface unnaturally. The difference in response was immediate.

Not got floaters...

The other simple change that helped was oiling the floaters. I always use the Pure Crustacean Slicker Juice, but any good oil will work – it creates an instant flat spot or slick. It adds massive attraction whatever the conditions but when the breeze is making life hard it helps presentation enormously – just fish in the flat spot! I won’t leave home without it, and you can never have too many bottles with you.

With those changes made, the rest of the afternoon continued like the morning, by 4pm we’d netted around 40 fish between us. A few anglers on the far bank had noticed we were catching consistently, reeled in and came over to see exactly how we were doing it. What did we hear? “I didn’t bring my floater kit with me…”