Match Fishing In Session With… Allan Thornby

This entry was posted on 12th June, 2014

In Session With… Allan Thornby

Venue Two Acre Club Water

Features Three long islands, average depth of 3-5ft, very silty bottom. Hardware & Terminal Tackle Set Up One -  Running Feeder Rig Greys G-Tec 11ft feeder Rod Shimano Stradic 4000 GTM-RB Reel Matrix Sinking Feeder Mono 5lb Matrix Open Ended Feeder Matrix Quick Change Bead Drennan Grippa Stop Matrix Pro Micron 0.135 Mono Matrix Carp Bagger Size 16 Hook

Set Up Two – Method Feeder Rig Greys G-Tec 12ft feeder Rod Shimano Stradic 4000 GTM-RB Reel Matrix Sinking Feeder Mono 6lb Matrix Inline Hooped Method Feeder 30g Matrix Quick Change Bead Drennan Grippa Stop Matrix Pro Micron 0.2 Mono Matrix Carp Rigger Size 12 Hook Matrix Quick Stop





Baits Marukyu EFG130 Groundbait Marukyu J Pelletz 2mm Marukyu JPZ Nori 8mm Marukyu EFA430 additive Sonu Stiki Pellet Maggots



The Prep For 1/2kg of pellets, take 1.5pints of water and mix in around 100ml of Marukyu EFA430. Use this to cover 1/2kg of your 2mm pellets and then leave to soak for 3 or 4 minutes. Drain off the liquid through a riddle, making sure you save it in another bait box, as this water now has the added attraction of the EFA430, plus the colour and flavour from your pellets. Put the pellets to one side.

Use the liquid that drained off your pellets to gradually mix into the Marukyu EFG130 groundbait. Once it’s all mixed, put it through a riddle to take out any large lumps.

Take your pellets and sprinkle on some Stiki Pellet and slowly mix them until they hold together when squeezed. Note: It will need to be fairly sticky to work properly on the method feeder!



The Story The lake I chose to fish contained lots of Skimmers and Silver fish, but also a decent head of Carp, fish from 2lb to 16lb, with an average size of 6-8lb.

My idea was to start with my 11ft set up and standard feeder rig, with maggot on the hook and groundbait in the feeder, to try and tempt some small Silver fish into the area first. Hopefully then the slightly bigger, better, Bream and Skimmers would move in and then finally the Carp, if all went to plan I’d then change to my 12ft set up and method feeder.

I started off by fishing just off the front edge of one of the islands, it was a comfortable thirty yard cast, I clipped up carefully before the session to ensure I’d hit the same spot every time. I then walked the second rod out along the bank and clipped this up to exactly the same distance.



Before I added a hooklength to my rig I made six quick chucks with just the groundbait feeder, as this enabled me to get some free offerings into the swim in ultra quick time. I let the swim settle for a minute or so before I baited up, a couple of red maggots were the chosen hookbait.

I didn’t have to wait long before the signals of feeding fish were transmitted through my rod tip, one thing I’ve found with the EFG130 is that it seems to draw fish into the swim very quickly, as liners and fake bites came instantly; sitting on my hands I was waiting for the tip to properly fly round!

After a couple of chucks and a missed bite I eventually connected with my first fish, a slow pull round and a lethargic fight, signaled Bream, or so I thought! After plodding away under the rod tip I eventually netted my first fish of the session and realized my suspicions had been incorrect as c a chunky Carp of around 3lb was the culprit!



A couple of chucks later and I hooked into another fish, once again a slow motion fight signaled Bream, but once again I was wrong, as a Carp of around 8-10lb broke surface, before unfortunately the hook pulled!

This was enough of a sign that Carp were obviously in the swim, so I changed my approach slightly and started to introduce some pellets through my open ended feeder, by plugging them in a sandwich with my groundbait.

On the next couple of casts I landed a couple of small Carp and this was enough for me to change tackle completely and to introduce set up number two; the method feeder!

I baited the hair rig with an 8mm Nori JPZ Pellet and then used the Matrix Method Mould to create an appetizing ball of feed, using a mixture of the groundbait and pellet, with the hookbait imbedded into the top.



First cast on the method… and you guessed it… a Skimmer of around 1lb!

Despite landing Carp on Bream tackle and Bream on Carp tackle I decided to stick it out of the method, as I was hopeful, that eventually the Carp would respond and sure enough they did! As throughout the short three hour session a further ten Carp graced my net, probably around 40lb in match terms, so not a bad result at all and a very enjoyable session.



Key Points

More positive bites were produced when burying the hookbait into the feed. I think this was due to the fish attacking the feeder so hard, that they were hooking themselves.

I mixed the hookbaits up a little to keep the fish guessing, sometimes using both the hair rigged pellet and a couple of Maggots on the hook.

I kept re-casting every few minutes if I hadn’t had a bite, this firstly kept free offerings going in the swim, but secondly meant the hookbait was always still there.

Most of the time the tip would pull round fairly quickly, as the fish hammered the feeder, but it seemed that I’d get two fish quickly and then have to wait longer for the next. This suggested to me that the fish were swimming around in small groups.

The baits I were using were definitely very attractive to the Carp, as normally I wouldn’t have been able to use maggot without catching small silvers. The pellet seemed to keep the fish there and provided something more for them to feed on.