darren cox

Darren Cox In Depth

16m two balls
13m two balls

13m four to six balls

Nurture three swims to keep

bream and skimmers settled.

Double Bulking For Bream

Darren Cox has fine-tuned a brilliant rig and feeding technique for those often
hard-to-catch skimmers and bream. Try it and you could hit more bites too!

ver had a day when you felt you

ought to be catching the fish other
than carp in your peg, yet you cannot
tempt them even though you know
they are there? We see it so regularly on
commercials, where skimmers and bream
in particular sit over the feed and give liner
after liner, yet dont appear to get their
heads down to feed properly. We often
dismiss them as nuisance fish that wont
take our heavier gear, but is that really the
situation?
I have spent several years trying to find
out what is happening underwater and
discover a way in which I can maximise
these extra pounds while waiting for the
carp to turn up. Catching that extra 15lb
to 20lb of skimmers can be the difference

32 matchfishing April 08

between framing and being an also-ran

especially at this time of year. Ive by no
means mastered this problem, but have
found a way of catching more of these fish
and would like to share my thoughts with
you to see if they ring any bells in relation
to your own fishing.
The two biggest problems Ive had
in the past are how much to feed and
how to hook these fish in the mouth by
getting a proper bite. I can relate these
problems to a number of fisheries but they
predominantly occur where there is a big
head of skimmers and bream.
One such place is Porth Reservoir, in
Cornwall. I remember sitting in Clint
Elliotts garage, when he still lived in the
Midlands, as he deliberated which float

would be best for these skimmers. He was

one of the first to visit White Acres and
even back then knew the venues extremely
well. Porths massive head of hand-sized
skimmers was giving him problems with
bumped fish the fish would hone in
on the feed like piranhas, making it very
difficult for a fish to actually get the hook
bait in its mouth before giving a big line
bite that would look just like a real bite! I
have experienced these problems myself
first hand at Porth and other venues
Pollawyn Lake at White Acres, The
Glebe Fishery, Hallcroft, Woodland View,
Moorlands Farm and Packington Somers,
where I am today, are all typical venues
where you can experience these feeding
habits and problems.

I have experimented with many types

of floats and rigs to try and combat these
situations and have now gone back to a
simple solution, which, if teamed up with
the correct feeding pattern, appears to
catch me a bigger percentage of fish. Its a
method that Ive used to great effect on the
Garbolino Mosella Silver Fish Festival in
Cornwall over the last three years, and Im
now using regularly all over the country
when necessary.
I believe that if I use a double-bulk rig
and ignore virtually every bite other than
a pop-up it dramatically increases the
number of fish I hook properly, thereby
increasing the number of fish I catch. It
prevents me from lifting into liners and
foul hooking fish; this in turn keeps them
more settled and confident over the feed.
The double-bulk rig is exactly that. It has
a main bulk, which can be an olivette or
group of shot, situated approximately 40 to
50 centimetres from the hook. Below this
is a second, smaller bulk, which is usually
two No9 or No10 shot resting above the

hooklength, 15 centimetres from the hook.

The main bulk needs to be far enough up
the line not to be interfered with as fish sit
over the feed (often off the bottom) before
dipping their heads to pick bait up. The
distance described is usually about right,
but I still like to get the bulk as close as I
can to my smaller bulk (but no nearer than
15 centimetres) so that the rig is working
quicker.
A Garbolino DS6 float is the correct
pattern to promote the lift. The body-down
shape with a slim, tapered shoulder means
that once a fish lifts the small bottom bulk
the float will pop high out of the water. If it
stays like that after two or three seconds a
gentle lift will almost guarantee that I have
hooked a fish fair and square in the mouth!
I have doctored plenty of floats to try and
find out what the best shape and tip are,
but this pattern appears to fish properly in
five to 14 feet of water, as well as giving the
correct amount of lift when a bite occurs.
I do have a few additional floats modified
with carbon/hollow antennas that help in

bad light or when there is a big tow on the

water, but most of the time the standard
DS6 is perfect for the job.
This really is one of the most exciting
ways of catching skimmers and bream and
is extremely effective! Be warned, though,
as you have to be very disciplined not to
strike and not be frustrated as the float dips
and goes under briefly then comes back up.
Obviously, if the float goes under and stays
under for three seconds then I would lift,
expecting it to be a true bite.
I also like to use light elastics, and in
winter/spring will drop down to a No5
(0.9mm) or No6 (1mm) to ensure that I
dont bump any soft-mouthed fish. This
softer elastic also stops the fish bolting and
spooking the rest of the shoal so they can
be quietly played out of the swim without
any fuss.
My preferred hook choice in the colder
months is a Shakespeare ST1 in a size 16
or 18, but when it warms up the Kamasan
B911 rules supreme in sizes 16 and 18.
The fish are not usually hook shy, but line

April 08 matchfishing 33

Darren Cox

Float rises out

of water when
fish dislodges
the second bulk

bigger skimmers then you may have to use

a bigger hook bait.
I will always feed at least two lines if I
can with this method. Skimmers are very
easy to spook, and the best way to do this
is to plunder one line until it dries up!
I find that its better to feed two swims
in the same depth of water, for example
left and right, and also one as far as I can
comfortably fish in the same depth of
water. This long line is often at 14.5 or 16
metres on commercials and is what I call
my safe swim where the fish can back
off and regroup. For this reason Ill try to
nurture this line and leave it for as long as I
can without fishing it. It doesnt usually do
any harm to pick an odd fish off it to give

One key point with skimmers is that they tend

to need regular feed throughout the session.

Main bulk
40cm to 50cm
from hook

Second bulk 15cm

from hook

and worms squeezed into

a mushy ball. This will
drop through the water
quicker as a solid ball,
and is more likely to
keep the fish near the
bottom.
For hook baits, I find
smaller baits are more
effective as they also reduce the
amount of liners and foul-hooked fish. A
piece of worm or two dead maggots tend
to work very well, but my deadliest hook
bait is usually a small wriggly redworm,
which is light but very active and helps the
fish find it quicker. Bait size also depends
on how many small fish are showing. If
you need to be selective and catch the

the other lines a rest, but I try not to fish it

for too long for at least the first three hours.
At the start Ill feed one swim with four
to six balls of expander groundbait with
casters and worms and the other two
swims with only a couple of balls. This
way I can judge how the fish react to the
different amounts of feed.
One key point with skimmers is that they
do tend to need regular feed throughout
the session. I believe that when the
skimmers are feeding well they flit from
one swim to the other and its then a case
of working out how best to keep them
happy. In most circumstances we feed a
swim then move onto the next one to rest
it, but on occasions when there are plenty
of fish feeding this can be a mistake. On

The DS6 float

shape is perfect.
Darren modifies
the bristle for
windy conditions.

Ground expander
pellets, chopped
worms and
casters are
Darrens top feed
items.

several venues Ive noticed that you can

often catch a big skimmer or bream within
minutes of re-feeding. The better fish seem
to hone in on the feed immediately and
then back off. They will even intercept the
hook bait before it hits the bottom as if they
are picking off the safe particles that have
come off the ball, or where particles of feed
have been wafted off the bottom. If you
try and fish for these crafty specimens at a
certain depth it doesnt work, but lowering
the rig in very slowly often results in the
float never settling properly this is how
I catch the bigger chaps! I think this just
helps them to find my hook bait, as it falls
much slower than normal through that last
40cm column of water where the fish are
sitting.
Once the re-feed is in and I have snared
a quick fish Ill then move on and let that
swim settle for a while. On a perfect day
Id just continue this process throughout
the session, but these days are rare and
there are lots of little things that I need to
consider to maximise my catch rate.
Lifting and dropping, and dragging the
rig from side to side is deadly and really
important to increase the catch rate, but
there are also times when the hook bait

just needs to be nailed to the bottom. On

hard days when the fish are not competing
for bait they will graze over the feed and
this is generally where a little patience is
needed. On days like this, and especially
where its windy and towing, then Ill
lay up to 25 centimetres of line on the
bottom. A more conventional rig
with a bulk and strung-out shot is
then better for this.
Today, Molands Lake at
Packington Somers has been the
perfect place to demonstrate my
ideas. Ive had over 40lb of fish
in just four hours, mostly
skimmers plus a bonus
tench and a solitary F1
carp that must have
weighed 4lb! Ive
had to go through
the card in terms
of alterations to
presentation
and changing
feed patterns
to keep the
fish coming
regularly
throughout

The doublebulk rig will

put more fish
in the net!

the session. Thinking about your feeding

and presentation and working at it all the
time will put literally dozens more fish in
your net and add valuable pounds at the
final weigh-in.
For more information about
Packington Somers log onto
www.packingtonestate.net or
call John Burchell on 01676
523833.
Carefully considered rigs and
feeding will produce catches
like this!

LIFT BITES

Dot the
float down

diameter really does appear to make a

difference with skimmers and I believe a
0.08mm or 0.09mm hooklength is much
more effective in the colder months.
In the warmer months when the fish
are less wary then Ill step up to 0.12mm
or 0.14mm to increase my chances of
landing bonus carp. However, I do feel that
skimmers are a species that you need to set
your stall out for; if you use a compromise
rig thats too heavy for skimmers but too
light for carp you could miss out on both!
But its not just about the rig. The feeding
is just as important and needs to be tailored
to how many fish are likely to be feeding.
My double-bulk rig works brilliantly
with a caster-and-worm combination
and, where allowed, I like to feed it in
groundbait. First off I started to use a
fishmeal-based mix, but have now moved
onto a mix that Ive had some great success
with. I have been using ground expander
pellets; this takes on a massive amount of
water and, mixed correctly, is a very inert
mix. This inactivity is important to keep as
much bait as possible on the bottom. With
fine groundbait particles it can waft up off
the bottom, which encourages these fish
to feed everywhere. The ground expander,
when very wet, is quite dense and doesnt
waft up anywhere near as much. This all
adds up to keeping the fish where I want
them rather than having to chase them.
Pellets also work well with this method
but by the nature of how we feed pellets we
try to limit the amount of feed in the swim
to prevent these problems. On the other
hand, if you feel you have overfed, with
too many pellets, then the above principles
will kick in.
If groundbait isnt allowed try this little
trick; use dampened pellets with casters

01

Dot the float down like this

02

and the lift bites are difficult

to miss!

April 08 matchfishing 35