16 February, 2023 | Match & Coarse | Angler Blogs | Tips | Articles

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Alex Dockerty: Catch More Silverfish in Winter

Drennan and Dynamite matchman Alex Dockerty shares his in-session tips for catching more silverfish in the winter months…

 

Alex says…

At this time of year and as temperatures plummet, you can still have a fantastic day’s sport by fishing for some of the neglected species that live in commercial fisheries such as the Lindholme’s Loco Lake that I’m sat on today.

There is a misconception that you need mountains of bait to fish in this manner but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Just a couple of pints of maggots and a bit of groundbait and you’re well on your way to getting plenty of bites at this time of year.

In terms of the mix today I’ve opted for the Swim Stim Silver-Fish Dark with a touch of Amino Milled Expander to add a slight pellet element to the mix, seeing as these fish see pellets every week of the year.

If the conditions continue as they are I might opt for a less powerful mix along the lines of Black Swim Stim just on its own to tone the mix down should the temperatures drop.

In terms of the rigs, I’ve kept things very simple with Drennan SF2 floats on both lines. With the short rig being a 0.8g float and a 1g version for longer.

The reason being the longer line I’m hopefully going to catch a few of the lakes better fish so a static more stable rig is beneficial whereas the short line I will be looking to loose feed maggots to keep some bait falling through the water to attract fish into the swim throughout the day.

This means I can fish in two ways – either on the drop or on the bottom and I can alter the way I lay the rig in to achieve this. Mainline I’ve opted for 0.15 to an 0.10 hook length and a size 18 Drennan Acolyte silverfish hook.

In terms of the session I’ve kicked off the long line with a pot of ground bait with the options of either topping up with little nuggets as the day progresses or introducing loose feed through the catapult if needs be.

On the short line I’ve opted to simply loose feed maggots and see how that progresses.

I’ve kicked off long and had a couple of fish but it wasn’t really progressing as fast as id like so I’ve topped it up and dropped short. The difference has been incredible.

I can only put it down to being in the correct depth and also with the wind it was a lot easier to loose feed accurately.

To be honest, its been a fantastic session with roach and perch coming frequently with even a few large perch putting in an appearance!

It just goes to show that even though conditions are freezing there are still plenty of fish that can be targeted to have a fantastic day watching the float go under.

Rather then staring at a tip or sitting there in less then ideal conditions for an odd bite from a carp you can fill your net up with silvers and keep busy as the weather worsens.

Its certainly opened my eyes as to what weight of them you can catch and will be something I bear in mind for a lot of my own match fishing going forward!

– Alex