I set up on peg 55 on the match lake, its won the last few matches as the f1s seem to shoal up here, so yes im certainly sitting on a flyer! Thats another nice thing about a practice session, as im not normally lucky enough to draw a flyer, and if I was to try this on say peg 15 on ash grounds, this would simply not work and would leave me without confidence in the method.
My baits for the day, were hard 6 and 8mm pellet, 6mm expanders, corn, bread and various colors of 8 and 10mm boilies. I also has some 2mm micros and 4mm pellets to soak for the cone, and some method feeder groundbait to help bind them. Alot of people use the sticky pellet stuff with their pellets for method and cone work, but I couldnt find any in the shops. I normally just mix up a pint of micros with a third of a pint of 4mms, just to offer something abit different, otherwise the fish can become preoccupied with the 2mms, and then add a handfull of sticky ground bait (today im using a pellet based method ground bait, but I also like to use Special G Green) I never have any problem with this mixture when fishing the method, so didn't see why I would with the cone.
Rig wise I was simply using a 16 kamasan B911 hook, as this would be strong enough if I hooked any propper carp, but also light enough for finesse, I tied this to a 12inch hooklenght with reflo power in 0.11, yet again im confident this line can land me big carp aswell as being fine enough to not deter any f1s or bream that may show.
I started the session by putting 2 10mm punches of bread on a straight lead, this way I could see if there was alot of fish in my swim. I caught 5 fish in 5 chucks, so seemingly there were quite a lot of fish there! If I was in a match situation, i would probably keep on going until the tip didnt go round, but because I am here to learn I decided to chuck out the pellet cone, I was using the prestons small quick cone, and its really easy to use, just hook your bait over, fill it up, compress, cast out. The only issue I had was that I had to use a 1/2oz lead instead of my favored 1/4 or 1/8 ounce lead, this is because you need to cast the lead out without putting to much pressure on the cone, otherwise as I found out the cone fell my my head as I cast out! (maybe this is why people use sticky pellet?) But I had no problem after changing to the heavier lead at all, and with a bit of feathering it didn't make much commotion, which is important at times.
I then had 2 fish in 2 chucks on the pellet cone, notably quicker bites than on the bread, and much more positive pull the rod out of the rest bites! It was obviously solid out there, and in past matches they have been won with 30-50lb fishing a feeder or the bread, because of this I decided to try the banjo feeder, much more positive than the cone, and also quicker to bait up. I had a fish first chuck, but on the 2nd chuck nothing! Another 2 casts later I hadnt had a fish, I instantly felt as though the increase in bait has put the fish off, as although it is mild, its still winter! I went back to bread and lead and found the fish about 5 meters left of where id been fishing. I then caught 5 in 5 chucks again before not getting a bite, I simply had to cast about all around my bait to find the fish again, I followed this patter for the next hour or so as the fish simply didnt want to be on those pellets. I then managed to snag one on top of the area id fished the banjo, hopefully the bait had been polished up by now as it had been a while, I went back onto the cone and it was instant, I caught all day long on this method, it seemed to be the perfect amount as it was more attractive to the fish with a tiny pile of pellets compared to the banjo or just a bit of bread.
The most effective bait on the day was 6mm expanders on a hair rig, I caught on either 1 or 2 expanders, hard pellets didnt compete, nor did corn or boilies. Bread was effective on a straight lead and this would be my starting point on any match anywhere to be honest! Its just so reliable in the winter.
I finished the session with 47 f1s, they are good fish aswell, so I likely averaged 2lb a fish today, just under 100lb on a handfull of pellets. Also much more than the previous match wins on this lake, which gives me greater confidence in the cone!
To sum up, if I was to fish a match and draw this area, I would start on the bread with the idea of moving onto the cone, this way I would be working my way into the match without spooking fish. The catch rate on the cone was just insane, with bites coming as soon as the bait had settled, whereas with the bread you had to wait 5 minutes sometimes, fair enough that's still not a long time, and it shows how full of fish the peg was on the day, but in match fishing its all about making the most of your peg, and if I had fished bread all day today, I could have had 10 or 15 less fish!
One of the biggest tips I can give you when using the preston pellet cone, is to fill it up with your pellets, squish it down so they all go down the half way, then hook your bait on, fill it to the brim and push as hard as you can. If you simply hook your bait on and put the pellets in without putting half in first, then sometimes when you push the cone out it seems to fall to pieces!
I hope these tips help you catch more fish on the pellet cone!
Tight Lines,
Reece Hearn
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