Method feeder in Rivers

[Andy M]

In slow flowing rivers is the method feeder more, less or just as effective as a standard cage feeder rig? I would value your thoughts, and yes I do know it is the closed season for rivers in UK (but not over here in the Netherlands )

 

[chrissh]

I have tried a method feeder on a river the ground bait mix breaks down and drifting away fast even in a slow flowing river. where a cage brakes down slower and gives a trickle of feed

 

[Philip]

I see it as much of muchness...both ensure freebies close to your hookbait. A Cage feeder might let you get away with a slightly drier mix in slower shallower swims but there is not allot in it & both do the same job.

Typically I would use a standard type feeder when I am after smaller silver fish and regular casting and a method when I am after bigger fish like Barbel and Carp and less regular casting. Often I will bury the hookbait in the method ball to help avoid tangles.

In the right swims huge method balls lowered in at your feet and left to break down slowly with your hookbait in tow can be very effective.

 

[108831]

Can't understand Chrissh's post really,if you want to slow your feed coming out of your feeder,a homemade plastic feeder with no holes would be better,with a slightly wetter mix would be best for a slower feed rate,cage feeders are for quick breakdown,method feeders are similar,but remember when method feeders first appeared,you used to mix the groundbait dampish and reel in half of when playing a carp. To the op these days I find pellet and method feeders work best when you want to cast every five or ten minutes,so it all depends on your target species and what time of year,on the Gt.Ouse in Bedford I do not find bait moves because it is slow and deep.

 

[Jim Crosskey 2]

Alan makes a great point here about the consistency of the groundbait, which probably has more bearing than the type of feeder used. If you mix a cement like consistency then you'll get a slow breakdown, whereas light and fluffy and it's off downstream in a flash, regardless of the type of feeder (to a certain extent anyway).

All of that said, whilst I can certainly see that a method feeder would work on a river, i'm not so convinced that you'd produce the same deadly effect that you can achieve on a lake with the hookbait buried in the mix, where competing fish (most likely carp) will lose a sense of caution and hoover up anything.

Also, when fishing any kind of river, I would always want to have some distance between hook and feeder. Not a particularly exact science but something along the lines of - the faster the water, the longer the hook-length. So my standard approach on the thames would probably be something betwee 8 and 15 inches, whereas fishing the wye its probably more between 15 and 36 inches. And I do like to play around with that whilst i'm fishing, trying to find a "sweet spot" in the same way as you might play with float depth or shotting pattern. I realise I could still do that with a method feeder - but ultimately it's still defeating it's one main selling point to me.

(what did Jeff Goldblum say in Jurassic Park - "you spent too long thinking about whether you could, and not enough thinking about whether you should!" )

 

[108831]

Caught decent bags of bream on the pellet feeder with a wafter buried in the feeder,I think you would be surprised Jim.
As for the groundbait consistency,it's about what your bait is made from too,certain mixes are far slower breaking down,also things like molasses make a stickier mix,if you are fishing for barbel feeders are difficult I believe,Jim fishes the Thames so he knows,even in summer when flows are slight,bait seems to trundle away,that's anything,even square shaped boilies,I believe regular feeding is key,smallish amounts,but regular,my most successful method for barbel on the Thames was a small feeder,like you would use for chub with liquidised bread,filled with dampened 2mms pellet and crumbled boilie,cast every 15-20 minutes,not my normal way but just kept a bit going in...another was small pva bags fished similarly.

 

[Jim Crosskey 2]

Actually thinking about it there's been times when I've been on a proper bream shoal on the thames where I think a method feeder might have been the better way to go... So many liners to ignore! I've seen shoals of bream in clear rivers in france which made me realise just how tricky bite indication would be when there's a group of 30 or 40 slabs (or more!) on your baited area... whereas if they take that bait attached to a method feeder you'd know all about it.

Will keep that in the memory bank if needed in the future.

I'm still not sure i'd ever give it a go on the wye. (9 days and counting! )

 

[barbelboi]

Also, when fishing any kind of river, I would always want to have some distance between hook and feeder.

Jim, what I do on some rivers is fish with a straight running lead and use another rod (feeder only - no hook length) some meters upstream (distance depending upon flow) this seems to work well for me...You can cast the feeder as often as is required without having to move your hook bait..

PS Nothing that I use works for Snotties though thankfully............

 

[108831]

Not what I've heard...........

 

[Jim Crosskey 2]

Ah you can knock the bream all you want but for several bits of the thames that I fish on, a decent bag of bream can sometimes be the only realistic proposition unless you want to spend all day catching tiny fish.

I know the words "decent" and "bag of bream" are conflicting for some people, but honestly I've had days when it's all come together and I've probably been putting back 60 or 70 pounds. Bream fishing like that is what most thames match men dream about!