Go Shorter With Your Open-End Feeders...

Reduce hooklengths for bream.

THERE are times when it will be near-impossible to get bites from hungry fish on a Method feeder.

On waters where the shoals have seen every trick in the book, they’ll refuse to take bait directly off the frame of the feeder, instead feasting on scraps that drift off into a ‘safe zone’.

Bream are notorious for feeding in this cagey way and many anglers will switch to a groundbait feeder with a long hooklength to try to combat the problem. But while the choice of tactic is correct, the way that it is fished short-changes the angler. Brown’s Angling and Preston Innovations-backed rod Graham West often finds himself fishing an almost identical rig to everyone around him, but his set-up has one subtle yet vital difference.

“When the Method doesn’t work, people use a groundbait feeder and a long hooklength of maybe 3ft but this is an error,” explained Graham.