punch.

[rayner]

With the state things are at the moment I have a strong feeling I'll be well into the end of the year before I Can wet a line.
If so I'm hoping to take just my whips and bread. That is of course if the black plague as left any roach, the water where I fish is not blessed with too many roach, the EA who own the water removed what they could net for breeding purposes.
I know a few were missed, if the cormorants have not had the rest I may get some.
It's a long time since I fished exclusively with the whip. It will be good to get back to my roots the waggler will have to wait.

 

[Paste paul]

I used to go down to my local pond with my kids ........ ( they are all grown up now)
We used to take some three meter whips and corn/maggots for the hook...... I put some elastic in the ends instead of a flick tip....
Anyhow we used to get some right bagfuls of fish ...... skimmers roach perch the odd bream or tench .....
it was usually just a few hours in the evenings summer time.
Great memories

 

[Philip]

I am no whip or bread punch fisherman by any stretch of the imagination but I do recall there was a guy called Mike Stone who won the Kamasan matchman of the year title years ago using the method & was a whip / punch specialist. I recall as I used to flick through the match section of the mail to see what was coming out of where, it could sometimes give a little indication of places it might be worth trying for Pike and so on. Anyway I noticed this guy was winning allot on the method.

From what I remember one of his “edges” was that as well as a punch for the hookbait he also used punches for his feed. He had these different sized punches that he used to push into liquidized bread that created a plug of feed the same size that he then fed each cast which ensured he was putting in exactly the same amount each time. He had different sized punches depending on the amount of feed he needed on the day. The memories a bit hazy as it was some years ago but it seemed like a good idea to me.

He had it down to an art form. I seem to remember he did particularly well on the canals in winter with the method for Roach.

 

[rayner]

I am no whip or bread punch fisherman by any stretch of the imagination but I do recall there was a guy called Mike Stone who won the Kamasan matchman of the year title years ago using the method & was a whip / punch specialist. I recall as I used to flick through the match section of the mail to see what was coming out of where, it could sometimes give a little indication of places it might be worth trying for Pike and so on. Anyway I noticed this guy was winning allot on the method.

From what I remember one of his “edges” was that as well as a punch for the hookbait he also used punches for his feed. He had these different sized punches that he used to push into liquidized bread that created a plug of feed the same size that he then fed each cast which ensured he was putting in exactly the same amount each time. He had different sized punches depending on the amount of feed he needed on the day. The memories a bit hazy as it was some years ago but it seemed like a good idea to me.

He had it down to an art form. I seem to remember he did particularly well on the canals in winter with the method for Roach.

Speak to any punch angler and nearly all will have a different take on the method. I have several things regarding whip fishing that may as well be rules that I never change.
Feeding is the biggest thing for me to keep bites coming, lots of anglers believe roach just turn off from punch, I go against the grain in that I reckon fish can be caught all day with the method.
If the feed is not fine enough fish can fill up easily, I believe if liquidised bread is fine enough it dissolves in the swim leaving room for another small ball of feed. Liquidised bread gives a quite large crumb, freeze it and blitz again makes it finer. I like it blitzed from frozen a couple of times, the worst thing you could do I think is to force it through a riddle.
Incidentally, for the feed, I use a syringe with the end cut off, push the syringe into the liquidised bread, compress to form a small ball/plug the size of a large pea. Very similar to using different punches like you mentioned Philip.