FEEDERS

When fishing wih a feeder
what is the best distance
from feeder to hook,and does this
differ between open and closed
feeders.
Les.

The best distance is somewhere between 2 inches and 6 feet.

It all depends on the bait, the species, river or lake, feeding confidence etc etc etc.

No difinitive answer I'm afraid and it can also differ throughout a session.

What do you fish for and where Les? Rik is right, there are no hard and fast rules, but there are rules of thumb for different conditions. Let us know what you fish for and perhaps some guidelines and scenarios can be put together for you.

I'm very much a beginner really.
I fish the Dagenham Chase at the moment
and all I seem to be able to catch
are small roach.
I was told that carp are caught there
on a feeder,so I was gonna give it a go.
Also,is it right that you should cast
the feeder about every 10 mins??
Les.

Les - Could be they are talking about method feeders or maybe ordinary groundbait feeder. Let's do the latter first as it is a straight forward rig.

Best way to set this up for stillwater is as a paternoster rig. Can you tie a 4 turn water knot? Assuming you can, tie a mono link onto your mainline that is about 4 inches long after tieing and attatch your feeder to this. Leave the mainline below the link, including your hooklength, between 18 inches and 2 feet long. You may need to adjust this as you go along, but it's a good starting point. Extra tip, always use a snap link to attach feeders as then you have the option to switch between groundbait feeder, maggot feeder or straight bomb.

Method feeders are a bit more complicated, but essentially they are a cage that you mould sticky groundbait around for carp fishing. Your hooklength will then be very short with the bait often pushed into the groundbait mix. The carp attack the ball of groundbait on the cage and pick up the hookbait. The cage is usually heavy and fished inline so that it acts as a bolt rig. See the series of method feeder articles that have appeared on the main site by Pete Webber. These will explain in more detail how they work.

Shout if you have more questions.

Sorry, forgot to answer your last question. Yes, especially in the summer months you should recast quite often, every 5 to 10 minutes, to keep the feed going in. But it's very important that the feed all goes in the same place, don't spread it all over the swim. Use the line clip on your reel and cast to a fixed point on the horizon to guarantee line and distance.

Thanks for the info & tips,Dave.
I'm going tomorrow (Tues),so I'll
give it a go and let you know how I got
on.