F1 lake

[Jadstar70]

Right Chaps- Broadening my horizons a bit this year away from the sloppy stuff am going to try different things.

I have a match next Sunday on a water which is dominated by F1's. It is a canalised "U" shape where you fish "outside in" if you get my drift. roughly 16m to far bank and very shallow over sloping off to 4-5 feet in the track, no margins to speak of. In Summer they do well fishing shallow 3/4 of the way accross and I have had coin there fishing paste (surprise surprise!)

Average stamp is around 10 ounces with some 2lbers. Target weight is 50lb

What I would like off my esteemed peers, is, what would your -


Plan of attack be?
Feed?
Rigs?
Set up.
I have an idea of what I will do, but would love to see how you people would do it?

My attack will probably go something like-
I will have 3 lines, one at 10 and one at 2 ocklock, at the base of the far shelf on the deck (around 13m) feeding micros with 4mm expanders on the hook. As light a rig as conditions allow (possibly hook in loop)
Another line tight accross where I will fish shallow with a hard banded 4mm pellet (save time rebaiting after missed bites?) and maybe feed with a catty and pot a bit of atomic cloud red in perhaps to kick start it off?

[pellethead76]

hi ye matey bread punch 6mm over micros has been a very good bait this year f1s like to settle on feed this time of year with it being so wide 16ms i would plumb up botttom of shelf across (13ms)then find the bottom of the shelf infront of the next peg or pegs probally 5ms off the pallet if u have an empty one either side this will give u another 2 lines to fish aswell as 2 lines halfway up the shelf (3ft of water)and 2 or 3 across in the shallows 16ms hope this helps u jay ps f1s like a semi dry groundbait in shallow water 2ft ish

[welshmagic]

Personally- I would fish it something like as follows:

Start off at 13-14.5m on the base of the slope, fruitshooting in a tiny amount of micro at the start and fish a 4mm expander. I would plumb 3 or 4 different swims along the slope but only feed one until it dies and then move along to the next. I would also plumb along the far bank in 3 or 4 different spots, again not feeding until you are fishing it. Try and leave the far lines for as long as possible before feeding and fishing as the fish will often retreat to where it's quiet and unfed. I will often plumb up 6 or 7 spots at this time of year, but only feed one before switching. I generally find once you stop catching on a swim it is best to discard it and move on to the next. Rigs would be 0.12/0.10 to a 20 Gama Pellet or B911. 4x12 Chimp on the slope and a 4x10 chianti at 16m. The 16m rig would probably have a Micro F1 pellet band on a hair for fishing 4mm hard pellet. I would also set up a rig for fishing at half depth- again with a Micro Band on a hair. Elastic's would be a doubled 5 or equivalent. Feeding would be very light with a pinch of micro's after every fish. If it's mild I would aim to fish shallow or tight over in the shallowest water, possibly pinging the odd 4mm pellet across and gauging the response. If there are bigger fish 2lb+ I would consider feeding a line at the base of the slope at 16m left or right with around 30 grains of corn at the start before completely leaving it for 2/3 hours. This is a throwaway line and I would only try this if the other lines were struggling. I think the basic rules with F1's at this time of year are generally:
-Fish light
-Be frugal with the feeding (I will often feed just 4 micro pellets at the start)
-Find up to 6 or 7 swims with the same depth but don't feed them at the start
- Constantly lift and drop your bait

This is all IMO of course......

[Pikey]

Pump some 4mm expanders - Feed them to the ducks and stick a big blob of paste on the hook !

[Billy-No-Fish]

Jase i am assuming you have put that post up with the permission of the Pastehead Society?....

[Jadstar70]

Col, I'm rebelling!!

Thanks WM and Jay, somethings for me to think about ta.

[Jadstar70]

Back up for the afternoon dwellers:D

[duffman]

I'd go along with a lot of what welshmagic says.

I'd maybe try a short paste line to start,having fed a sprinkle of 4mm pellets on a long line first.If the paste line lasts a while,I might think about re-feeding the longer line.I wouldn't feed the paste line at all and I would be a bit patient with the paste,give it a chance, and not be in a rush to go long.When I did go longer I would hope to get signs straight away,but I wouldn't worry if I had to sack it and start again somewhere else.Sometimes a move of just 2 or 3 yards can make a difference.Strange fish,the F1.

I'd fish expander, or hard banded pellet if bits are a pain.I'd feed a few expanders too,if I was using them on the hook.

I reckon the water might still be a bit clear to catch in less than 18" of water,but you never know !

[Jadstar70]

Cheers Duffman-

Would anyone bother trying shallow for them at this time of year- I know a couple of years back one of the numpties in this club won in winter flaoting his pole?

[duffman]

Jads,I fished an F1 lake last weekend.Following 2 foul-hookers on the trot,I tried shallow (3' in 5' of water) and didn't get a touch.My butty, a few pegs down, had a few 4 inches off the deck,so that was maybe the answer.

That day was a good example of welshmagic's point about switching lines.Myself,I don't plumb up loads of spots before hand.I just get a general idea of the area at the start and give the plummet plenty of outings during the day.

[Pebs]

Jase, how did you get on??

[Jadstar70]

There are three lakes at this place, one Horseshoe (which i was told we would be on) On oval and one rectangle with a bit of an island at one end.

Firstly we were on the rectangle (All my rigs and plans were to fish the horseshoe!)

Secondly it was blowing a reet hoolie- I Got drawn one off the end of the island and the wind just channeled through, impossible to hold a pole let alone my .2 and .3 hook in loop and banded 4mm hard pellet rigs! Needed to be a feeder jobbie- ooops- didn't bring one as I would never have used it on the Horseshoe lake!! Crowy.......

Borrowed Crowys' feeder set up and a few bits, had some dead reds for the hook anyway and a pint of reds which I had sprinkled with Atomic red the day before- JESUS- now they were REALLY red!
Set up a small maggot feeder to the Island, but the wind was a real pain in the arse and to get it where I wanted it meant casting up to the left a bit, which felt quite unnatural (for a paste angler anyway) I caught a few early on, but next peg had a much better chuck to the island and he was bringing back fish 2-3 to my 1. No one else was really catching, then Crowy snapped his no. 5 section. It started raining, he was pegged facing into it and was not a happy bunny.
The wind got worse and the weather deteriorated, I was quite a way behind next peg and his fish were getting bigger, so I joined my companion back at the van ready to go home for a hot Sunday roast!

As an aside, Crowy had some of the Atomic maggs, and he was on the short bank of the rectangle with one other, they were both fishing similar at similar distances, Crowy caught far more and had more bites feeding and fishing the atomic reds than matey next peg who had normal maggs.

Makes you think don't it...........

[Pebs]

Mate, did you read my blog on it, Im totally convinced now. Talked to Trev last night whos adding it to everything, pellets, the lot now. May have a play this w/e

[Jadstar70]

I did read it mate, thats what inspired me to do it, as on the shoe lake, all pegs are virtually identical, and I wanted an edge.
Even on the feeder, I caught more than others who had the whole Island. matey next to me had the end of the Island and an areator 1m off the island, and was putting his feeder inbetween- obvious they were holed up there. But I am sure I wouldnt have got what I did on normal maggs.

[Pebs]

Glad to see it working for you too, mate. The maggot feeder with Atomic in has been taking most of the coin at Alders over the winter