darren cox

Garbolino Mosella Silver Fish Festival

Darren Cox In Depth

The finer points of feeding for stillwater roach and
skimmers come under Coxys scrutiny this month.
When bites are iffy its customary to back off on
the feed, but thats not always the answer!

ve recently returned from the Garbolino

Mosella Silver Fish Festival at White
Acres, in Cornwall. Everyone says its
the best event of the season, and when you
look at the results theyre probably right!
We had gale-force winds, frost and
torrential rain through the week but the
fishing was still awesome! This festival
never fails to amaze with how well it fishes,
whatever the weather, and another good
thing about it is that the fishing is always
different. This is partly to do with the
weather, but also because fishery manager
Clint Elliott switches it around different
lakes every year. This is good as we never
really know what species well be targeting
and how we are likely to best catch them.
The methods we used this year were
very different to those in the last few years
and it is these I want to write about, as it
opened my eyes to how to attack swims for
silvers elsewhere up and down the country.

past where your feed is landing. This can

keep you catching all through the match
by switching between fishing right on
top of the feed when its solid, to just past
the feed when they go iffy, you can pretty
much keep the roach coming all the time
once they come shallow.
However, that was a problem this year.
The fish didnt appear to be comfortable
feeding shallow all the time. There were
still some some big weights shallow,
though, and Callum Dicks had an
impressive 44lb 3oz of roach fishing up
in the water on Day One. After this big
weight we all expected it to be a shallowroach fest and even more rigs were tied in
readiness for Day Two.
My team-mate Simon Fry had been on
Trelawney on Day One and had found out
something that shaped my week. He won
the section with 23lb of roach and during
the after-match postmortem back in the

Why didnt the fish come shallow? It was

certainly something that stuck in my mind.
On the last few festivals weve been
catching some big weights of roach
relatively shallow by fishing with light
floats set between 12 inches and three
feet deep. I normally opt for a Garbolino
DC15, which has a short wire stem and
a relatively short, hollow bristle. These
floats fish well shallow as they cock almost
instantly and dont seem to tangle.
Over the last few years weve found
that by using a thicker main line such as
0.12mm or even 0.14mm Garbo Line it
helps keep a tight line between pole and
float tip, making the bites virtually selfhooking with the help of a small lift. Rob
Middleton was even using candle wax to
stiffen the line above his float and I must
say this is very effective! This way you
can have a slightly longer line of 50 to 60
centimetres between pole tip and float,
which means that you can flick the rig out

54 matchfishing February 09

lodge I expected him to tell me how he

had fished the perfect shallow match.
Instead, he said hed tried it several times
throughout the match and struggled. He
caught well at the start on the bottom
but found that the best depth was about
three-quarter depth, which worked out
at one foot off bottom. This got my brain
working; why didnt they come shallow?
It was certainly something that stuck in my
mind for the next day
I had been on Pollawyn the first day and
managed a lake and section win with 30lb
of skimmers, so I hadnt tried fishing for
roach until Day Two on Jennys Peg 8. This
is a peg Ive drawn twice before in previous
festivals and Si has also had it twice. Its a
good peg if you need roach to win, so I was
quite happy.
My match was a strange one, where I
caught roach well on the bottom at the start

of
A perfect example
ct at
what you can expe
u get
yo
if
s
re
White Ac
the feeding right!

Unlike in previous seasons,

Darren discovered that deep rigs
were often the most productive.

February 09 matchfishing 55

darren cox
for the first 90 minutes, then they came up
shallow and I had a great hour fishing for
them 12 inches deep. Then, they vanished
as quickly as they arrived! I went straight
onto Sis rig, which Id set up specially and
caught really well for a spell before it went
on me again!
This is unusual for the roach here, as
once you get them lined up they normally
stay with you until the end of the match
if you maintain a sensible feeding regime.
Id tried feeding several different ways, but
whatever I did my peg was going away
from me. I felt that the water was probably
a little bit too clear, and every time you
caught several fish in a row the others
would unsettle and move in the swim.
I still had a good match, as I managed to
keep in contact with the fish for most of the
match, except for one 45-minute spell in the
middle, and won the section with 32lb, 4lb
clear of Clint who was second. I went away
scratching my head as to why I had the
blank spell, though.
Day Three was a bad match for me
in terms of results as I came third in the
section, but it was still my best learning
day. I spent 90 minutes watching Steve
Hemingray and Clint bag up while I
waited patiently for the odd bite. (The same
happened to Will Raison on this peg the
day after and we could only surmise that
its the way the sun falls on the water; as it
moves, the fish also move along the lake
with it.)
I bagged in the last two hours, though,
and ended up with 25lb of roach. It was
what I found out about the feeding that
I was most excited about. The fish were
lifting off the bottom to intercept the feed
and again I caught some on the 12-inchesoff-the-bottom rig but they wouldnt
stay at that depth for very long again. I
was feeding 10 to 15 casters every putin, which is normally about the right
amount whatever the depth the fish are
at, but I found that by feeding much more
positively every put-in I could nail the fish
to the bottom. I started feeding 40 casters
every drop-in on my main line, which was

Depth Rig

0.4g to 0.6g
DS6

56 matchfishing February 09

Shallow
Rig

0.2g DC15

0.05g DC15

0.12mm

0.12mm or
0.14mm

12in to 3ft

Spread or
bulked No10s
0.12mm or
0.14mm

Evenly spread
No10s

0.09mm hooklength
Size 18 Drennan
Silverfish Match

Bulk of No8s

No10 droppers
Festival sponsors Vic Bush (Mosella)
and Darren Cox (Garbolino) flank the
top three: (from left) runner-up Steve
Hemingray, winner Callum Dicks and
third-placed Clive Carter.

Ill be tying a few of these up for the rest

of the season now that I have 100 per cent
confidence in them. Its not often I change
my hook patterns, but I have now!
The bites werent sail-aways by any
means, as wed found that the roach didnt
move far with the bait all week. They were
simply tiny indications initially, which then
alerted you to be ready for the proper bite.
Strike at the first one and youd be sure
to bump or miss the fish; be patient and
youd come back with a roach! The floats
had to be dotted to the merest pimple; in
fact we all overshotted and greased them to
sit just in the waters film. This was really
important and meant that the roach would
hold on to the bait rather than drop it after
the first indication.

The difference was amazing I stopped

missing silly bites and my catch rate improved.
at six pole sections. The difference was
amazing I stopped missing silly bites,
stopped bumping fish and my catch rate
improved dramatically!
My rig was very simple; a 0.4g DS6 set
at dead depth, which was five feet, a small
bulk 35 centimetres from the hook with
three No10 droppers evenly spaced below
it. The hooklength was Garbo Line tied to
one of the new Drennan Barbless Silverfish
Match size 18 hooks, which are fantastic.

12in-OffThe-Bottom
Rig

Most of the time my new-found feeding

pattern was perfect, but there were still
times when I felt myself easing off because
I thought I was overdoing it. Thats when
my peg would go wrong, and highlighted
that I should maintain that feed rate as the
minimum. On the last day, when I had
total confidence in my heavy feeding, I
was actually upping it to 50 or 60 casters
when I felt it was going wrong rather than
reducing the feed, to keep the fish on the

0.09mm hooklength

0.09mm hooklength
Size 18 Drennan
Silverfish Match

Size 18 Drennan
Silverfish Match

bottom. I think what was happening was

that the roach were starting to drift up off
bottom as they became more confident in
feeding and it became more competitive
in the swim, and that extra feed took
them back onto the bottom. It was a case
of making sure there was always enough
feed sitting on the bottom for them to graze
over, rather than getting them too excited
looking for bait falling through the water.
I guess, when you think about it, that
this is something we do regularly with
bloodworm and joker, groundbait and
even hemp for roach. We ball it in at the
start or even regularly feed a ball or two to
keep them on the bottom. When there are
enough fish feeding, why shouldnt it work
with casters?
I tried to get the roach to come over these
regular small balls of groundbait a couple
of times through the week but this just
didnt work. They still wanted the loose
feed, and the noise of those casters raining
down appeared to be the most effective
form of attraction, but catching them on or
very near to the bottom was the key that
week. Another vital point as always with
roach fishing was that it was so important
to lift and drop the bait. On several
occasions I had fish grab the bait as I lifted
the rig up!
For the skimmers it was a totally
different ball game, however, and was
similar to how we have caught them over
the last few years. This involves two basic

rigs; the first is my positive skimmer rig,

which I highlighted back in April 2008 on
a feature at Packington Somers fishery.
This is a modified DS6 float that has a
carbon bristle with a small, hollow bristle
glued onto the end of it. This is my popup double-bulk rig which is ideal for
skimmers when theyre having a go. The
bottom, smaller bulk is lifted when a fish
takes the bait and a positive lift on the float
results, meaning that its much easier to
identify true bites among the many liners
you get when skimmers are milling around
in the swim. I always tell people: With
skimmers and bream, if in doubt, wait to be
100 per cent sure that its a true bite. Better
to miss a bite than bump the fish!
The other rig is the same float but with
the normal tip still in it. This works best
when its a difficult day. The bulk is also
placed higher to produce a slower fall. On
days like this youre generally looking for
the float to sink rather than lift. On this rig
I will fix the bulk 60 to 70 centimetres from
the hook with three strung-out droppers
below, whereas the double-bulk rigs main
bulk usually sits 40 to 50 centimetres from
the hook with the small, second bulk of two
No8s or two No10s sitting 15 centimetres
from the hook.
The key for the skimmers was again to
keep putting small balls of groundbait in
regularly, usually after every fish. The balls
had to be laced with casters and this year
the best hook bait by far was a single caster.

Last year it was redworm, but worms

appeared to be much less effective this time
around. I guess this was again to do with
the clarity and coldness of the water.
Callum Dicks was a worthy winner
by the end of the week, and Steve
Hemingray was hot on his heels. My
last-day section win next door to Steve
cost him dearly, as did his being beaten
by 1oz for the section on Day One. He
took points off me through the week
and that also cost me, though! Thats
how tight things get when you have
Steve Sanders, Sean Ashby, Steve
Hemingray, Clint Elliott, Dan Varney,
Stewart Lister, Simon Gould, Roger
Baker and last years winner Andy
Dare in your section! (Perhaps not
Gouldy, though, looking at the overall
result he finished last! Ed) If you
dont learn while fishing in company
like that then its time to pack it in!
Third place went to local ace Clive
Carter and the ever-consistent Will
Raison came fourth, easing me into
fifth with 134lb of silvers in five days!
Roll on next year, I say!
The lessons I learnt regarding
feeding for roach were extremely
valuable, and Im certain will help
me catch more fish up and down
the country when I experience similar
problems with fish not staying in one
place. All I need now is a swim full
enough of fish to try it!

12in

A sectionwinning catch
for Clive
Carter.

February09 matchfishing 57