How to tackle a busy day ticket venue

The big question

It’s April, you’re down for a 48hr session on a busy day ticket venue, such as Linear’s St Johns or Manor: how do you feel you should bait and feed?

Lewis Read

“Assuming there aren’t any bait bans in place, then April = maggots!

“I don’t necessarily want to be up for 48hrs stacking ‘em up like breeze blocks – and I definitely don’t want to spend a hundred quid on five-gallons of the bloody things either, but they make such a difference in the spring that I find it hard to approach a busy day ticket venue without having a little bucket of wrigglers with me!

“Mixing them in with a healthy portion of nice digestible chopped boilie and crumb (either Carp Co. Nut mixed with whites or Ice Reds with red maggots) ensures that the fish are still getting some real balanced nutritional benefit from eating the food I’m giving them. The combination of decent foodbait with the movement and excretion of the maggots comes together to offer an awesome multi-layered base of attraction and feed that definitely works on most venues. Then it’s a simple case of a bit of foam and nine maggots balancing a decent sized Mugga hook and it’s time for a ‘bobbins bonanza!’”

Shaun Harrison

“Feed just one fish at a time”

“I don’t have a set regimental approach as far as bait amounts and type of bait to use but pay much more attention to the prevailing weather conditions, moon phase and atmospheric pressure to judge the amount of bait I will use on a water I know well.

“However, I have never seen or been to St John’s, Manor etc., so would very much err on the side of caution regarding the amount of bait introduced whilst I felt my way in. I very much prefer to fish over bait but would go in with the mindset of feeding just one fish to start with and then build on that. Remember: you can’t take it out again if you get it wrong and light baiting with highly desirable bait is rarely wrong.”

Rob Hughes

“Most definitely Zigs for me”

“I’d be on the Zigs or the bags for sure. Mid-April is prime Zig time and I’d fish a black Zig Aligner on a size 7 hook about 3ft below the surface as my starter. In fact, two would be on that and the other would be on a PVA bag or a single bait that will be “rapid response” i.e. if I see one, I’ll be chucking a bait at it. I fancy the mobile, quick hit approach primarily because, especially on waters like Manor or St Johns, it’s a busy lake and fishing the singles approach means disturbance is minimised and distance maximised.

I may be tempted to pop the odd spod over the top of the Zigs, but it would probably just be flavoured water and a little bit of corn for a visible factor. Literally just a pinch of grains to add a little “something” in the area. The liquid would need to be a soluble like DNA Baits Betastim and that would be me. Cheap, quick and easy.”

Roman Bucynski

“Plenty of sweetcorn”

“It would certainly depend on the conditions and intensity of fly hatches. It’s well known that the clear Oxford venues respond well to Zigs so it could be that you don’t even use any bait and are catching on bits of flip flop! The combos of black and yellow are always good in the size of a Zig Lite or alternatively red can be deadly, especially if the chosen venue has
seen a lot of maggots go in.

“If the fish are responding to bait then ensure you have plenty of corn in the mix. The visual effect and saltiness as well as ease of digestibility make this a great base to any spring spod mix. Supplement this with hemp, boilie and grounbait and you won’t go far wrong. As a back up, some oily bags and a few bright singles should cover all your bases for any cheeky ‘shows’ you chuck to.”

Nigel Williams

“It depends on the weather”

“April can be a funny month weather-wise, so with this in mind, it’s important to study the weather running up to the session. For me this is the biggest factor when it comes to baiting and dictates my approach: decent conditions will see me start with roughly 15-20 spod/Spombs, topping the swim up regularly after getting bites or seeing signs of feeding over my spot. The mix would consist of hemp, corn, boilie and pellet – a proven winner on day ticket waters like Linear. I get the mix together 24hrs before my session with the exception of the pellet which I add just before putting it out. I do add a bit of oil to the pellet in advance so they take it on – the reason being when fish move onto the area to feed, the oil will float up to the surface giving me the sign of feeding activity by causing a flat spot on the surface. In poor conditions I’d drop the spod in favour of solid bags and Zigs. Both fantastic when they aren’t really having it.”

Martin Locke

“Activity won’t put them off”

“Thankfully the nights are getting shorter, the days are getting longer and the fish are happier, hungrier and moving about a lot more. At this time of year, on waters such as St John’s, Manor and other busier day ticket venues, there are multiple catches to be had with the right approach and hard work. There is a large head of fish present in these waters, that are used to lots of angler activity, so they won’t be put off by anglers – quite the opposite in fact, as they relate the ‘plop’ of a Spomb to be the dinner bell! The trick is accurate baiting to get them going, and with accurate casting (rigs as close as possible together) you can drive the fish into a frenzy, with multiple takes probable rather than possible.

“Bait-wise, nothing clever, with the usual hemp, sweetcorn, small pellet, maggots and crumbed boilies doing the trick. I would opt for something like Quench or Top Banana (rather than ‘fishmealy’ at this time of year, as the water is still quite cold), together with the pop-ups to match, but always keep the Dairy Cream pop-ups handy as they are winners.

“Try 15-20 Spombfulls at first and see what occurs, but try to take enough with you that you don’t run out, or have enough to hold the fish (you can always freeze any leftovers, so no waste).

“Zig Rig or bottom fishing, chop and change to see what is working on the day, and remembering that high pressure will often bring them higher in the water. Usual thing: keep an eye on what’s going on around you! Don’t just feed in the day either, nights are very productive for those who can be bothered. Good luck out there – get ready to rumble!”

Calum Kletta

“It's Zig Rigs for me”

“My initial approach on most lakes in spring is Zig Rigs, especially the Linear Fisheries lakes where the fish are suckers for a Zig at any time of year but especially the spring. For this reason I would just be introducing a few spods of really sloppy CC Moore Sweet Nut Cloud every 10 to 15 minutes to create some attraction in the water column. I would give this at least a full day of concerted effort as I am confident Zigs are one of the best approaches in spring.

“If the Zigs didn’t work, then I would switch to fishing bright pop-ups over a scattering of particle mix and boilies. The fish won’t be in full-on feeding mode yet, so a bit of food with a bright pop-up over the top is more than enough to catch their attention!”

Luke Church

“Loads of extra attraction”

“With it being mid-April I would be thinking that the fish are well and truly waking up from their winter slumber and thus meaning they will almost certainly be up for some grub. If I was happy with my swim choice (good number of fish present) and the weather conditions – I would be looking to apply an amount of good quality boilies as my loose feed to the spots I am fishing, somewhere in excess of 1-2kg initially. DNA Baits Switch boilies doused in Betastim Liquid would be my preferred choice, giving me great confidence knowing that my bait has loads of extra attractants than the anglers either side of me. As for my hookbaits, I would use solid bags made up of Crayfish Mini Mix Pellets with a Milky Malts White pop-up: a set-up that I know is incredibly high-attract giving me the utmost confidence.”