Swim Feeder Rig Advice

[peakoverload]

On Saturday I'm going to be fishing one of my club lakes and want to try one of three lakes at this location.

Bottom Lake is a mixed fishery & contains good Carp, Tench, Roach, Rudd & Specimen Sized Eels. I've never fished this lake because it's always the busiest and usually it's just full of teenage Carp fishermen who just set up their bivvys and are just a bit too loud for my liking which as the swims are quite tightly packed just makes it a bit annoying.

Middle Lake is the one I normally fish and contains Carp of all sizes to 25lb along with Tench & Crucians. I normally just float fish this lake although many others use method feeders with good success but to date I've yet to catch anything on a method feeder there.

Top Lake I've only fished once and blanked, not even a bite! However it does contain lots of Tench and Crucians and when I was there plenty were being caught, just not by me

I'm very tempted to try either Top Lake again or Bottom Lake and the most popular method of fishing on these lakes other than dedicated Carp rigs are traditional feeders filled with groundbait etc on a quivertip i.e. not method feeders. I'd quite like to give this a go but I always seem to have a problem with tangles whenever I use a feeder with the hooklink wrapping itself around the mainline and getting kinked.

Can anyone advise what would be a good feeder rig to use for these two lakes? I want to target the Tench and smaller Carp ideally and one thing I will say is that they can be really difficult to hit with very shy bites. Often when float fishing, the float will just bob slightly and never go under or it will slowly pull under but each time you strike into thin air, I've tried waiting before striking or striking at the first sign of a bite but neither seems to be better than the other. I therefore don't know whether I need an ultra sensitive/self hooking rig or something that will give the fish confidence to pick up the bait and run? Is there something that anyone can recommend that doesnt tangle easily?

One of them is the one, Middle Lake, I fish normally and is packed with Carp from 3lb to 25lb, Tench & Crucians. The other, Top Lake, I've only fished once and blanked but is supposedly full of Tench and Crucians.

When I fish Middle lake I usually float fish with one rod and use a method feeder with the other but I've never yet caught anything on the method feeder, however this time I quite fancy another crack at Top Lake

[dave fish]

ok try this get your self a cage feeder and attach to your main line leave it to free run and tie on a swivel to the end of your main line ,to this add a 5-6inch hooklink size 14-16 hook .for the ground bait use a marine ground bait on the base then some hemp,a layer of castor then a layer of corn and pack it in tight with another layer of groundbait on the hair use a white shelfish boilie 10mm and a piece of corn works for me tight lines

[peakoverload]

Many thanks for the tips, I shall give that a go. Do you think it would be worth adding a ledger stop a few inches above the feeder to act as a kind of bolt rig?

[barbelblanker]

It would be a very bad idea to add a leger stop to act as a bolt rig. What if the line snaps above the stop? A fish could end up tethered to the hooklink and it would only be a matter of time before the feeder got stuck and condemned the fish to a drawn out death. If you are going to use a feeder in a bolt rig then please look up safety rigs that will release the feeder in the event the line breaks and a fish can pick up the bait.

[nodrog48]

i allways use the method feeder now (inline) they are brill

[diamond dragon]

My daughter uses the slidy feeder rig and does it herself,shes 10,it's that easy.

[dave fish]

no point using a ledger stop the swivel will keep the feeder from slding all the way down to the hook