Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance ... - Maver Match

BREAM THAT BREAKTHE RULES CONTINUEDJamie Massontime of year because they are comingin close preparing to spawn.”The other rule Jamie likes to followis to fish into the wind.As well as providing a ripple, whichkeeps light levels down and the breamfeeding confidently, any natural foodwill be blown in your direction.COMMERCIAL BAITSJamie is acknowledged as a top-flightpellet angler, and today’s bait choicemade use of this skill.Bream in commercial pools areused to eating fishmeal so it stands toTHREETYPESJamieused threedifferentpellet typeson the dayADDITIVESThe additionof MarukyuSanagi gaveJamie'sbaits auniqueflavoursignatureBALLSJamie usedfour balls tokick off theswim (below)CUPPEDPole cuppingensuredaccuratebaiting in theswim (aboveright)reason that this is the best bait to offerthem. In addition to a little groundbait,Jamie was using three types of pelletson the day.The first were Marukyu 6mm hardpellets to bait-band below the hook,along with a mixture of 4mm and 6mmsoftened expander pellets.The reason for the two consistencies– hard and soft – is that most days thefish will show a preference for one orthe other.“Some days they want a hard pellet,other days you just catch lots ofskimmers using soft baits, so this is“Bream in commercials areused to eating fishmeal so itstands to reason that this isthe best bait to offer them”where the softened pellets come in.”The final pellet choice were his feedpellets. These were Hallcroft’s own.As well as using a range of differentpellets, Jamie prepares his baits witha flavour boost of Marukyu SFA 430Sanagi (silkworm)liquid.This allows him to make his feedpellets and the rest of his baits standout from the crowd.The first job is the pump theexpanders in a solution of water and acapful of SFA 430 liquid. This solutionis then used to prepare the feed pellets,a pint being wholly submergedfor around 10 minutes before beingdrained off.The 10-minute rule is dependent onthe type of pellets you use, though. Forsome brands, this will be too long andthey turn to mush, but for Hallcroft’spellets, it is just about right. They wantto be quite soft on the outer layer, witha small, hard inner core.The pellet-soaking water thatisn’t absorbed should be retained formixing up the groundbait. This makesthe liquid additive go much furtheras well as giving all of the baits – bothfeed and hook – the same consistentbait signature.The final bait, Jamie’s groundbait,is Marukyu EFG 131. This fishmealoffering is a potent mix that is aimedat a mixture of species rather thantargeting just one type.TACKLE FOR THE JOBFishing his pole at five metres, Jamiehad fitted a Maver Dual Core 6-9elastic fishing it with a top three,which incorporated a puller kit.With the elastic being quite soft,ideal for the skimmers and bream hewas catching, the puller kit meant thathe would still be able to land any carpthat might turn up.The rig itself was a mainlineof 0.18mm (7lb) to a nine-inch0.16mm (5lb 6oz) hooklink.The length of the hooklinkis dictated by where youDifferentsizesIt's worth tryingdifferent sizedpellets onthe hookwant to place the finaldropper shot. In thiscase, Jamie has it set at 10 inches offbottom, hence the nine-inch hooklink.Jamie reckons that on commercialwaters that are quite coloured thereis no need to go too light because ifyou do hook a carp you might as wellgive yourself a chance of landing it. Itis always better to rig up for the sizeof bonus fish you are likely to catch,not for what you are catching at onemoment in time, he says.The float is a Maver Series 7 Elite4x14 with a very simple shottingpattern, a small bulk of slightly strungout No.9s 30 inches from the hookwith two No.10 droppers below.Having the bulk slightly spread outavoids putting any kind of kink in theline so that it falls through the watervery naturally.However, there are a couple of littleedges Jamie will employ when hemakes up his rig. The float features awire stem for stability and, as well as asmall No.10 back shot above the floatfor stability, he will place a No.10 justbelow the float stem as a depth marker.The rig is completed with a size18 MT4 hook hair-rigged with a baitband. This enables Jamie to fish thesame rig with either a hard or a softpellet without having to change hishooklink every time he wants tochange his bait.28 • IYCF Issue 246 IYCF May 18 – June 15, 2011 • 29SLABSBig slabswere theorder ofthe day,regardlessof the brightconditionsON THEHAIRHair-riggingpellets (left)allowedJamie tovary hishookbaits onthe day

GETTING INTO ACTIONTaking his time to extensively plumbthe swim to find the base of the innershelf, Jamie’s opening gambit wasthree cricket-sized balls of Marukyu131 groundbait laced with morepowdered Sanagi.If he was carp fishing he would feedhalf a dozen pellets then fish a pelletover it, but bream prefer a bed of bait.After this he will then feed six toeight pellets into the swim but onlyafter he has had a fish.“This allows the bream to settle inthe area without feed pouring overtheir heads while they are feeding,”Jamie said.“The groundbait also puts a two-footsquare hotspot in the swim while the“Tradition should beregarded as guide,not a jailer”pellets scatter out slightly further,helping to draw fish in regularly.”It was a course of action which wasclearly working, and working well.Unlike classic bream fishing, wherea shedload of bait is piled in as far asyou can cast, a tactic that may or maynot work, Jamie’s more measuredapproach was delivering.After four hours in the middle of ablazing hot day, the Rotherham rodhad managed a very fine bag of breamweighing in excess of 50lb while othersfishing the same pool had struggled totake a fish between them in the sametime period.The moral of the story is that justbecause you are looking to catch acertain species, bream in this instance,following the ‘rules’ is always an optionand may work, but blind obediencedoes not always lead tosuccess.WHAT A DAYA 50lb bagof breamwas Jamie'scommercialrewardJamie MassonPOLE BREAMCatching commercialbream at pole lengthsure makes a differenceto hurling a feeder 50yards to make contactwith slabs30 • IYCF Issue 246