Is there a benefit to method feeders?

sagalout · Sep 22, 2012

Yesterday I was fishing an inline cage feeder with a three inch hook link in about5 feet of water and having a reasonable day so I switched to a similar size method feeder and the same hook link to see if it made a difference. It didn't the catch rate remained the same.

Do you think it makes any difference what feeder you use?

peter crabtree · Sep 22, 2012

I think any deeper than 5ft of water, a lot, if not all groundbait etc will wash off a method feeder before it hits the deck. I am now beginning to favour the Teabag with a straight lead or cage feeder in deeper water.
As for benefits of a method feeder, you can cast one a bit further than a cage or bag, and on some waters it will outfish other methods.
Don't know why but it does....

sagalout · Sep 22, 2012

I have never used pva because of the cost, I don't like the idea of spending money every time I cast, I do accept I am a mean and miserable old git (probably why the grand kids call me grumps instead of gramps).

I do like the look of a small bag tho, but is a teabag any better than a pellet cone?

See I got lot's of questions.

bennygesserit · Sep 22, 2012

surely the advantage , under some conditions , is to have the bait lying on a bed of free food , whether the fish agree with this I have no idea.

sagalout · Sep 22, 2012

I thought that as well, benny but the fish hadn't read the feeder makers hand book yesterday hence my starting to question everything I thought I knew.

If you're in catapult range, is it better to fish a straight lead and fire pellets little and often as opposed to any feeder?

bennygesserit · Sep 22, 2012

sagalout said:
I thought that as well, benny but the fish hadn't read the feeder makers hand book yesterday hence my starting to question everything I thought I knew.

If you're in catapult range, is it better to fish a straight lead and fire pellets little and often as opposed to any feeder?

Certainly the catapult / straight lead method has been recommended to me several times by the baliffs at Coppice Lane fishery , depends how good you are with a catty , but for a novice angler the idea of having your bait siting right in the middle of a heap of bait seemed like the holy grail to me, now , like you , I am not so sure.

agamemnon · Sep 23, 2012

ive fished loads of lakes with a method on 1 rod and cage feeder on the 2nd and truth be known i think the cage feeder has a better catch rate than the methed feeder

dezza · Sep 23, 2012

I have used the method feeder on and off for close on 40 years. It seems to work best with carp, tench and bream. In fact it seems to work incredibly well with bream.

I have also used the cage feeder a fair bit. This seems to work better for stillwater roach.

But I'l be damn if I am dogmatic about both methods. Both methods seem to have their day.

nicky · Sep 23, 2012

I find the method feeder is a trap although it does pay to work at it building up a swim.

Cage feeder is a method that needs to be fished and striking is necessary although carp and other larger fish can hook themselves and it can be used to catch anything from 2 ounce roach and perch right up to specimen depending on line used.

The way i fish the method feeder i do sit with it on my lap sometimes but i can also just put it on a bite alarm and under normal conditions will usually get a hooked fish within 15mins, if allot of bream about thats what will usually take it first and the fish are usually 2lb and over.

But i dont think the two methods works the same at all

sagalout · Sep 23, 2012

nicky said:
striking is necessary

Not sure about that, Nicky. Surely any rig that presents a short hook link and enough weight is a bolt rig? Well that's how I fish it, I don't strike I just wake up when the alarm sounds and reel it in.

bennygesserit · Sep 23, 2012

Didn't a team win an international feeder championship recently by wrapping the hooklink around the feeder to make it shorter ? Doesn't that suggest in those conditions the method was better ? Or just a feeder with a shorter hooklink ?

dangermouse · Sep 23, 2012

sagalout said:
Not sure about that, Nicky. Surely any rig that presents a short hook link and enough weight is a bolt rig?

I tend to agree, plus there have been times where when fishing the method I`ve had to strike because bites were not developing into wraparounds.

nicky · Sep 23, 2012

Ok yea you are right fished like that it is a bolt rig, and if the fish is large enough will probably hook itself.
If same rig was fished with maggots and small hooks bet you'd get alot of fast snatchy bites of small fish that wouldnt always hook themselves.

I suppose the cage feeder can be adapted allot and one rig would work completely different to another.

sagalout · Sep 23, 2012

bennygesserit said:
wrapping the hooklink around the feeder to make it shorter

I wonder if that was because the rules dictated a minimum hook link length. Sneaky solution if it was.

I think you're right about small fish Nicky, I am sheeit at ledgering for for small stuff, always go to the float for that.

bennygesserit · Sep 23, 2012

sagalout said:
I wonder if that was because the rules dictated a minimum hook link length. Sneaky solution if it was.

I think you're right about small fish Nicky, I am sheeit at ledgering for for small stuff, always go to the float for that.

I believe the rules dictated a longer hooklength but controversially the team fished the required hooklink but effectively made it shorter ! Its just occured to me there is no reason why you shouldn't fish a feeder with the shorter hooklink especially in still waters its just that I never do.

Sean Meeghan · Sep 24, 2012

If the groundbait comes off the method feeder before it hits bottom then you're not really fishing "the method". One problem I've found is that, as Peter says, many method groundbaits are designed for relatively shallow commercial fisheries and aren't sticky enough to stay on the feeder in deeper water. If the groundbait doesn't stick to your hands when you're mixing it then it won't stick to the feeder in deeper water.

Older method mixes were very sticky and fish had to attack the ball to break it up. Modern mixes appear to be designed to break down faster so that the fish feed on a mound of bait. One solution if you're fishing deeper water is to use some PV1 binder to your usual mix.

peter crabtree · Sep 24, 2012

Sean is right with the binder idea. If you can't find binders anymore, try river groundbaits such as River Ace or Black Turbo (if you can find it)
Before you start, load up a method feeder and throw it down sharply in the margin, or if it's too deep, a bait box with water in it.
See how quickly or slowly it breaks down....

Titus · Sep 24, 2012

When using the method feeder I use short hook links. I also use two groundbait mixes, the first one is a stiff one containing ground Vitalin and I use liquidised sweetcorn as a wetting agent and binder, this is squeezed as hard as I can get it round the frame to form a ball, I than place the hookbait on the ball and add a second layer of softer bait around the ball. this one also contains Vitalin but is mixed with water. The only food item in the bait ball is the hookbait which is often a bit of rubber corn or perhaps a pellet.
When fishing the Method feeder I also feed balls of the softer groundbait to keep the fish interested.
This works best on well stocked fisheries Though I have had some success with it on the lower Severn when targeting the bream shoals.

chub_on_the_block · Sep 24, 2012

This is informative stuff. I have only used "the method" over this summer and found it effective for fishing at a range that i could not throw balls of groundbait. In the past, i would have used a cage feeder or open end feeder instead. Once i got hold of a whopper dropper catapult though, and could bait accurately with that instead, i was getting just as much success (for tench and bream) fishing either a swim feeder or straight lead over the baited area, but with the advantage i could use lighter rod/line.

Is the method more appropriate for targeting individual fish rather than holding a shoal?.

I think a thing to bear in mind is accuracy of casting - if you can be as accurate with a catapult as the method then i think balls of groundbait catapulted into a small area with either a maggot feeder or lead over the top can be just as effective.

laguna · Sep 25, 2012

bennygesserit said:
I believe the rules dictated a longer hooklength but controversially the team fished the required hooklink but effectively made it shorter ! Its just occured to me there is no reason why you shouldn't fish a feeder with the shorter hooklink especially in still waters its just that I never do.

A short hooklink is perfectly acceptable so long as its an inline (free running) feeder, this will create a safe zone around the carp from getting bashed about with the lead.

As for cage feeders, I always imagine my hook being fouled up on those, same with the ones with ribs on sticking out.

Is there a benefit to method feeders?

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