World Feeder Fishing Championship 2014

A report from the World Feeder Fishing Championship in Ireland by Kent Adell - Team Browning Sweden.

It was the biggest World Feeder Championship so far with 25 participant nations.

The World Feeder Fishing Championship was to be held at the big reservoir Inniscarra Lake at Coachford. It was a new area of the lake that was going to be used. To be able to do that a road had to be made alongside the bank - job done!

 Let The Championships Begin!

 A Resume Of The Practice Week

During the practice week we tested different ground bait mixes based on Browning M7, Dutch Danger Wild Black River, Dutch Danger Mad Roach with and without leeam. 

The mix we agreed on worked best was 2kg Wild Black River + 2kg Mad Roach + 0,5 kg M7. The mix was sewed hard to get the biggest particle out of the ground bait. We boasted the mix with one bag of CC Power Additive Toffee Karamell to get a strong smell.
At the end of the week I started to over wet the ground bait while I was fishing and noticed that it worked better for the bream. Hence it didn't explode out of the feeder and attract the roach.

At the same time we started to notice that if you had Jokers in your ground bait you attracted the bream better, so a tactic was formed for the competition days.

 The Competition Days

Day One Saturday: 

Was notified by our captain that I was to sit on peg 22 on C-section. When I arrived to the peg I saw that it was a bit out from the bay and closer to the point. Felt pleased with where I ended up, hence it was shallower in the bay. 

The weather for the day was over clouded with rain mid ways the competition. I started to plumb up and noticed it was much deeper here than in the bay, hence there were a lot of pegs that you couldn't fish too far out at; we said that we should find a spot between 18-25m and 6-10 seconds. I Found a nice smooth and snag free spot at 8 seconds and 22 meters out.

I tackled up 6 rods 2 11ft Champions Choice Stillwater, 2 12ft Champions Choice Super feeder and 2 13ft Black Viper MK 13 S. The choice of the day was the 12ft Super feeder with a 28g flat lead plastic feeder. I taped up the holes on the feeder to avoid ground bait getting out on the way down (I did this so I wouldn't attract to much Roach.)

The hook choice at the start was a size 18 thine wire wide gape black nickel tied to a 0,10 Cenex line of 65cm.

The tactic was to target the Bream in the start and go over to roach if the Bream didn't show. At the 10 minuet groundbating we agreed to take it slow and not over throw with feeders to avoid attracting Roach, so I started with a feeder mixed with Jokers, chopped worm and casters and made sure the feeder was clean from ground bait on the outside. I let the feeder lay for around 2 mins and then slowly emptied the feeder so the ground bait laid still on the bottom. I put out 2 more before the start nice and calm. 

I started with a feeder with the same mix as the ground baiting and a single maggot on the hook. I got a Roach straight away and the next 10 fish was Roach and hybrids. I noticed that I was catching bigger Roach and hybrids then my neighbor due to my heavier ground bait. After around 30 min I noticed a different indication on my tip so I pulled up and changed bait to a small red worm. I put out the feeder again and got a nice pull-around on the tip and hooked my first Bream. I put out the feeder again and got a good pull-around on the tip again; Igot the feeling that the Bream had parked on my peg.

I kept feeding the next feeders with worms and castes and started to notice the bites getting very delicate and just small 2-3mm indication. I did strike a couple of times on these small indication and there were no fish, so I did leave the worms and casters out of the next feeders that I put out and only put in Jokers to see how the fish would react.

After 3 feeders the fish started to respond really well with the best pull-arounds on the tip for the whole day! This would last for around 30 mins, until the rain started and the fish turned back to being shy biters again. This time I had to wait out the bites until I got a good indication on the tip. For the remainder of the competition I had to sit on my hands so I didn't strike to soon, sometimes. I could see indications for several minutes until a good bite came along, I did try different hook lengths and baits to see if I could get a better indication but didn't find the best way of the day; still I manage to catch a total of 49 fish and of those I had 26-30 Breams.

During the competition I felt that I was putting fish regularly in the net compared to my neighbors and that I would be in the top; I did know that peg 24 was netting fish regularly. I was told by some spectators that I had done well on my section and when I heard that the top weight so fare was a bit over 12kg, I got the feeling that I could have more.

At the weigh in the scale stopped at 13.058g and top weight so far, I knew that peg 24 had been catching well. I was informed that he had weighed in 11.777g …. YES!!! It was now clear to me that I had won the section.

 Day Two Sunday:

After day one I felt that the tactic worked very well and that I had a chance for a medal. I was drawn to sit on peg 11 on D-section. It was not in an area that would have been my first Choice, it was just after the point that was on D-section.The weather for the day was over clouded at the start and sun midways in to the competition. I tarted to plumb up and noticed that it was deeper closer in then the day before. I had 8 seconds at 19 meters out and the bottom felt ok, so I decided to fish the same depth as the day before.

Today I only tackled up my 12ft rods and the 11ft rods. I used the same groundbait mix as the day before and did the same ground baiting at the start as well. Similar to day one the Roach and hybrids was first to show and I was catching well compared to my neighbors. After 35-45 min I noticed a change in the bites. The next feeder I put out was with a small red worm. It didn’t take long until I hooked my first Bream, it was a nice fish around 700g.

 From What I could tell I was the second one catching a bream on my section. I felt very good that it worked today as well; I did catch another one just 10 minutes after. Then the bites were gone. What happen was that the sun broke through and the bream moved away. Shit, what do I do know!! Move out further and take a chance that the bream are there or go for the roach and put fish in the net. After a debate with myself I decided to go for the roach and get as low points as possible for the team. It was now around 3 hours left of the match.

To get a good speed on the roach fishing I started to fish 5 turns on the reel further in. I also changed feeder to a plastic with open holes so the ground bait would disperse quicker. I went down to a size 20 black nickel thin wire wide gape hook as well. I starting to catch roach straight away on the new spot, but unfortunate the roach was very small, ranging in the size 30-60g.After a good start the bites were starting to fade so I went back out to my first spot to see if there were any fish there. There was roach here as well and I did catch some quick ones.

So from now on I shifted spots as soon as I noticed the bits starting to fade; in this way I had quicker bites and did put more fish in the net. I noticed that it was very important to put on the maggot the right way. I had to thread the maggot on to the hook but not on to the whole hook. It needed to be thread on like a rubber jig with the hook coming out in the middle of the maggot so the maggot was straight. When I didn’t get the maggot pointing straight I didn’t get quick bites. During my roach fishing I didn’t put down my feeder rod on the feeder support because the bits came very quick and if I didn’t have a bite within 30 secs I moved the feeder 10-15 cm to get a movement on the bait. When I got a bite, I only did a shot strike with my wrist that moved the feeder 30-50 cm so that I could keep fishing if I didn’t hook the fish. In this way I didn’t have to recast without had put a fish in my net every time. My neighbors had to recast every time they didn't hook a fish.

After the finish signal I had manage to catch 129 fish and I wasn't very pleased with it. My felling was that I would end up around 12-13th place on the section. When the weigh-in arrived to me I asked what the highest weight was so far and I was told it was a bit over 7kg; I was surprised that it wasn't more! When they put my fish on to the scale it stooped at 5979g and I was 2nd so far on my section. I knew that the French guy 2 pegs on my right had a very good weight so where would I end up?

Our captain arrived at the end of the weight in and he got the final results from one of the other captains and I finished on 5th place on my section after all. I was very pleased to hear that I ended up on a 5th place on my section.

So I had a total of 6 points over the two days, how far up the result would it take me? I was notified by our captain that I had manage a 9th place overall and our team finished on a 12th place. I was very happy I managed to get a place within the top 10 at a World Feeder Championships!

I would like to thank my Team members for a fantastic week with all that comes with it. Also a big thanks to Zebco for helping me and my team members.

 Kent Adell, Team Browning Sweden.