The Glebe, 11th July 2014 with Andy Kinder

After enjoying great days tuition with Bob Nudd and Andy May I fancied another day with an Angling star.

Andy Kinder started to offer tuition days and having met Andy on a number of matches with the Match Fishing Scene lads I decided a day with him would be a good day out!  So a quick call to Andy and we organised a session at Roy Marlow's Glebe fishery in Leicester.

Andy's angling achievements are vast:
  • Andy has fished for the Barnsley blacks for 23 years,which included various winter leagues, semi finals and finals. 
  • Fished the world club champs. 
  • Fished 5 times at England junior level, won team gold with the first ever England under 19's world champs. 
  • Coached Sheffield juniors for 5 years and in that time they won the junior nationals twice and had the individual winner. 
  • Andy has been Maver sponsored for 20 years and sponsored by Marukyu since the very start of Marukyu Brand in the UK
What did I want to achieve on the day?  Well I was after honing my feeder fishing skills and Andy also suggested we look at the 5 metre line.

I invited my long time suffering mate Mark so that we could have a bit of a competition on the day and both gain some of Andy's vast knowledge.

The Set-Up
Any had selected Pool 5 at the Glebe and when we arrived we had the lake all to ourselves.  Deciding on Pegs 77 and 78.  I fished on Peg 77 and Mark on Peg 78.

Set up was simple:
  • 10 foot bomb rod with a drennan cage feeder
  • 5 metre pole line
With these tuition days it is the small things that top flight anglers do and demonstrate that makes all the difference, so I'll go through the set up in a bit more detail.

The Feeder Rig - Set-Up
Being allowed to fish with fixed rigs at the Glebe this rig could not be simpler!

Tying a link swivel via a blood knot to the main line and then attaching the feeder in the link and also the hook length in the link.  How easy is that?

So what tiny tweeks where there?

At the Glebe there is a 20 inch hooklength rule.  Andy's hooklengths are tied using 0.18 line direct to a size 14 Guru X-Strong spade end hook.

The end of the hooklength is twisted for about 3-4 inches with a knot forming the loop to the link swivel and another knot to further down the line.  

Why?  The twisted line kicks away from the feeder making the rig virtually tangle free, it also gives the hooklength an opportunity to stretch helping reduce hook pulls from fighting fish and finally provides some protection of the hooklength when the fish is in the keepnet.

The 5 Metre Line - Set-Up
My idea of the 5 metre line is normally the point at which the near shelf  meets the bottom of the lake in front of me... which can be as short as top two or up to 10 metres away, so the term "5 metre line" does not reflect the actual distance you fish away from your box.

Andy explained that we would be fishing up the near shelf and not at the bottom of it.  The reason why?
  • The bottom of the shelf tends to accumulate silt, so not such a clean area to fish from
  • Fishing up the shelf makes it easier for the fish to actually feed without the need to move their bodies too much... lazy fish in other words
  • The bottom of the near shelf could be water that is quite deep, generally where the fish may not be
  • Look for an area that is reasonably flat in profile, aka "the dinner plate".  There may also be an area that is slightly deeper where the fish have fed before and have hollowed it out a bit more
The 5 metre line rig - Andy gave Mark and I a normal rugby shaped wire stem float, 0.3grams (from memory) that was on 0.18 line straight through to a size 14  Guru X-Strong spade end hook, it took a normal shotting pattern of a bulk and a dropper with one shot directly under the float as a depth marker.

It was attached to the pole via the dacron connector.  The distance between the float and the pole tip was a lot shorter than I normally fish, around 4 inches.  Andy explained that this was such that he was able to lift and drop the bait and remain constantly "in touch" with any small indications on the float.

Plumbing up we found a comfortable area around top two kit in depth and top two and two sections out from the bank.

The Bait List
Andy supplied the bait for day which consisted of Marukyu groundbait a mix of EFG131 and EFG151, Marukyu's new 3mm Skrill Pellets, casters and dead maggots.

Both Mark and I brought along some sweetcorn and hemp.

Casters, Hemp and some Skrill Pellets were mixed together which would go through the feeder.  The EFG131 and 151 was used to plug the feeder.

Andy advised keeping the corn and the hemp in separate bait tubs which allows you to control the amount of corn or hemp you introduce.  If you have mixed it already (like I normally do) then you cannot introduce more hemp than corn!  Again, simplicity in action and makes perfect sense.

The dead maggots were put in a small tub of water to keep them as fresh as possible during the day.  The maggots would be the hookbait on the feeder and the corn would be hookbait on the 5 metre line.

The Session
Both Mark and I started on the feeder.  We had clipped up so that we would be attacking the boards on the far bank. So the first lesson was the casting and how the feeder enters the water.  Hitting the clip and reaching the target area was also critical but we wanted the feeder to "plop" in the water rather than crash into it.  This is the dinner bell ringing for the fish!

Andy also mentioned that we should not be afraid of hitting or snagging on the far bank.  We should snag up a couple of times during the day otherwise we weren't trying hard enough ;-)  I would test Andy on this later in the day... just check out the photographs further down the page!

Casting frequency.  This really surprised me.  We were aiming for a bite within the first minute, if not sooner, of the feeder hitting the water.  If nothing by minute 2 or 3, straight out and back in again.  Andy was teacher like with both Mark and I.... "back in again lads" he would call and like good pupils, obey his instructions.

I had a fish with the second cast, a good mirror of around 7lb.  In fact, I stayed on the feeder for about 4 hours in total.  All the time building the swim and I had gone through a tin of hemp, 2 pints of casters and a pint of 3mm pellets all through the feeder!  This demonstrates the amount of time I was casting.

Mark's feeder swim wasn't producing fish at the frequency mine was, so after an hour Andy sat with Mark and set him up on the "5 metre" line.  This changed his day as he started to catch regularly from then on.

The "5 Metre" Line
I switched to the 5 metre line as a change from the feeder even though the far bank feeder swim was black with fish, with fish swirling when the feeder hit the water.

So, what did I learn on the 5 metre line?  In a word, feeding!

How many times are we told and we read in the fishing magazines that feeding is key?  So what made it different today?  Here is my summary...

While on the feeder we were priming the 5 metre line with corn and hemp ready to go over that line every 7-8 minutes, not huge amounts of bait, but enough to keep the fish interested.

When I finally started to fish the 5 metre line the feed rate was upped.  A couple of handfuls of corn followed by dropping the rig over the area and working the bait.  With a lift on the smallest dink on the float.  Feeding again when a fish was hooked to keep the other fish in the area.  The aim being to feed enough to keep the fish competing while playing and landing the current fish.  Again, simple advice but putting it into practice requires a bit of discipline.

Roy Marlow came down to see us and sat with Mark for about an hour, his advice was also valuable.  He asked us the question, why do we feed?  Our answers were to make the noise of bait going into the water to bring the fish in, again ringing the dinner bell and also to ensure that some bait is in the area that we are going to fish, i.e. the bottom of the lake.

Roy explain that in commercial fisheries and particularly the Glebe, ringing the dinner bell may not be necessary as there are thousands of fish in the lake and more than likely a hundred fish in front of us at one time.  When we feed, we must feed enough such that bait will reach the area we are fishing as most of the bait that we throw in is likely to be intercepted by fish in mid water and that only a few kernels of corn will actually reach the bottom, so our hookbait will be one of the last bits of bait on the bottom.

The key here is that we want the fish to rush in and take the bait without inspecting it too much... getting them competing... too much bait and the fish can be lazy, too little bait and it may not reach the bottom, leaving only your hookbait.  The balance is a very hard thing to achieve and it is one that comes with experience.

Fish were coming and a regular basis for both Mark and myself.  Mark having been on the line for a lot longer than me.  Having extra confidence in the rig being 0.18 straight through saw me playing and landing the fish a lot quicker than I normally do.

The skimmers also appeared on this line, which was an indication that not a lot of bait had reached the bottom, the carp had moved off allowing the skimmers to feed.  Still, the skimmers at the Glebe are cracking fish, but today they didn't count!

We packed up around 5pm after a fabulous day!

The Result
Andy approximated our weights and the result was 210lb of carp for me and 180lb of carp for Mark.  So that gives me the point to bring the scores tied in our mini competition.

Conclusion
What a day!  We bagged up all day long.  A day with Andy Kinder is well worth the investment, its the small things that make the biggest difference.  His knowledge and the way he explains his thinking is excellent.  I really cannot recommend him enough... you should check him out at http://www.andykinder.co.uk/

The bonus for the day was having Roy Marlow, ex England international coming down and sitting with us for quite some time.

I did miss having Sarah, Andy's partner there.  I'd even done my hair especially ;-)  So Sarah, if you are reading this, you were missed sweetheart, hope everything is well with Mum and Dad x

Thanks Andy!

More Pictures...


Pool 5, Peg 77 for me

Pool 5, Peg 78 for Mark

Getting some action....

And in the net!

Andy retreiving my rig... it happened a few times.. It was black with fish!

Skimmers dont count, but they are great quality at the Glebe

Getting his feeding right? Or caught with his hand in the corn?

Getting the feeding spot on!

And the result soon in the net!

A good bag of fish!

Carp, Carp and more carp!

Oops, I've just wet myself! ;-)



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