Technique library
Learn a new way to fish
From your first waggler to advanced commercial, canal and river methods. One page per method — tagged, not duplicated.
Featured journeys
Something you have not tried
Learn method feeder
Method feeder
A small frame of groundbait or damp pellet with a short hooklength and a bait sitting in the mix. The most reliable commercial catcher of the last twenty years.
Master the waggler
Traditional waggler
The classic stillwater and canal float: a peacock or plastic body, locked on the line, fished at depth with maggot, corn or caster falling through the water.
Try pole fishing
Pole fishing
A carbon pole to 11–16m with elastic, a light rig, and the bait put exactly where you fed. The most accurate tool on a commercial and a canal.
Learn to trot a river
Trotting a river
Running a bait down a river at the pace you choose. Stick, Avon or bolo — the skill is the same. After 16 June on rivers in England and Wales.
Catch on bread punch
Bread punch
A tiny disc of bread on a small hook, liquidised bread as feed, and a canal far-shelf. The winter stamp-roach method that still sorts fish when maggots only catch tiddlers.
Master the margins
Margin fishing
The last hour, the edge, and a big bait. Carp and F1s that have spent the day in open water often feed at your feet — if you haven't crashed about there since breakfast.
Try something different
Paste fishing
A lump of soft paste around the hook, usually mixed from the fishery's own pellet, fished on the deck. F1s and carp on commercials, especially in the edge and on a short pole line.
Full coaching journeys
53 in the library
Feeder
Method feeder
A small frame of groundbait or damp pellet with a short hooklength and a bait sitting in the mix. The most reliable commercial catcher of the last twenty years.
Feeder
Cage / open-end feeder
A mesh or plastic cage of groundbait that empties on the bottom. The natural-water way to hold bream, tench, roach and river fish over a bed.
Feeder
Maggot feeder
A blockend feeder packed with maggots that trickle out on the bottom. Winter F1s, river roach, perch and barbel all understand it.
Leger
Bomb / leger
A straight lead, no cage, no frame. When the splash of a feeder is too much, or you want a PVA bag and a single bait on the spot.
Float
Pellet waggler
A short, dumpy float fished up in the water with regular pellets going in. The summer commercial method for carp and F1s that are off the deck.
Float
Traditional waggler
The classic stillwater and canal float: a peacock or plastic body, locked on the line, fished at depth with maggot, corn or caster falling through the water.
Float
Stick float
A river float designed to run a bait down a crease at the pace you choose. Maggot, hemp and a mended line — after 16 June.
Pole
Pole fishing
A carbon pole to 11–16m with elastic, a light rig, and the bait put exactly where you fed. The most accurate tool on a commercial and a canal.
Pole
Whip fishing
A short, stiff pole fished to hand: no elastic, or very light elastic, and fish swung in. Speed fishing for silvers on canals and commercials.
Margin
Margin fishing
The last hour, the edge, and a big bait. Carp and F1s that have spent the day in open water often feed at your feet — if you haven't crashed about there since breakfast.
Surface
Surface / controller
A floating bait and a controller or a controller-style float. Summer carp on mixers, bread and the odd pop-up — with heatwave welfare in mind.
Pole
Margin pole
A short section of pole, strong elastic, and a big bait in the edge. The last-hour commercial method when carp and F1s come in to feed at your feet.
Pole
Shallow pole
A pole rig fished up in the water, often with a slap, for carp and F1s that have come off the deck. The commercial summer companion to the pellet waggler.
Feeder
River feeder
A cage or blockend holding bottom in flow, after 16 June. The honest way to fish a crease for barbel, chub, bream and roach when a stick float will not hold.
Float
Trotting a river
Running a bait down a river at the pace you choose. Stick, Avon or bolo — the skill is the same. After 16 June on rivers in England and Wales.
Pole
Bread punch
A tiny disc of bread on a small hook, liquidised bread as feed, and a canal far-shelf. The winter stamp-roach method that still sorts fish when maggots only catch tiddlers.
Pole
Paste fishing
A lump of soft paste around the hook, usually mixed from the fishery's own pellet, fished on the deck. F1s and carp on commercials, especially in the edge and on a short pole line.
Specimen
Tench fishing
Dawn, lilies, bubbles, and a bait on the silt. Tench are a stillwater fish that reward sitting still more than they reward a new feeder every five minutes.
Specimen
Bream fishing
A bed of feed, a cage or method, and patience for a shoal that may take an hour to arrive and ten minutes to empty you. Slabs, skimmers, and a lot of slime.
Specimen
Barbel fishing
A crease, a bait on the gravel, and a fish that pulls harder than its size. Rivers after 16 June. A mat is part of the tackle, not an extra.
Pole
Canal fishing
A towpath, a far shelf, boats, and some of the most thoughtful fishing in the country. Punch, pole, waggler and a bit of chopped worm — not a method feeder flung at the far bank.
More methods
Real entries with when, when not, kit and graph links — awaiting the same depth as the journeys above.
Float · Overview
Insert waggler
A peacock or plastic waggler with a fine insert in the tip, so a shy lift or dip actually shows. The stillwater and canal float for roach, F1s and tench.
Float · Overview
Avon float
A buoyant, thick-topped river float for heavier water than a stick will hold. Chub, barbel on a trot, and a crease with some pace — after 16 June.
Float · Overview
Slider float
A float that slides to a stop-knot so you can fish deeper water than the rod is long. Reservoirs, pits, and a stillwater that has dropped away.
Float · Overview
Lift method
A float dotted right down with a tell-tale shot near the hook. When a tench (or a crucian) lifts that shot, the float comes up. That is the bite.
Float · Overview
Laying on
Fishing overdepth with the bait still on the bottom and the float slightly over-shotted or held. Tench, big roach, and a bait that does not move.
Float · Overview
Fishing on the drop
A bait falling through the water, shot strung out so it looks natural. Roach, rudd, F1s and anyone intercepting feed as it sinks.
Feeder · Overview
Hybrid feeder
A method-style frame with a more open, slower-release mix. Pressured carp and F1s that have seen a thousand flat methods.
Feeder · Overview
Pellet feeder
A window or blockend packed with pellets rather than maggots or groundbait. Commercial carp, F1s and bream on a tight clip.
Leger · Overview
Paternoster
The lead on a tail, the hooklength on a boom above it. A way to hang a bait off the bottom or keep it out of silkweed and rubbish.
Feeder · Overview
Distance feeder
A heavier cage or rocket feeder, a longer rod, and a clip at range. Reservoir bream, big pits, and a plateau you actually found.
Feeder · Overview
Margin feeder
A small method or pellet feeder in the edge, late on. When you would rather a frame at your feet than a pole in the bushes.
Pole · Overview
Pole on the deck
A plumbed pole rig with the bait on the bottom. F1s, carp, silvers and canal fish that want it still, not falling.
Pole · Overview
Long-line pole
More line between pole tip and float than a tight rig, so you can lay it in, hold off, and fish past the pole's shadow. F1s, shy silvers, a far-shelf you would spook at 16m of carbon over their heads.
Pole · Overview
Pole feeder
A tiny feeder or a toss-pot used as a payload on a pole line, so the feed and the hookbait arrive together. F1s and carp on the deck, accurately.
Pole · Overview
Mugging
Lowering a bait in front of a carp or F1 you can actually see cruising. No feed, or almost none. Eyes, polarised glasses, and a short shallow rig.
Pole · Overview
Dobbing
Lowering a bait — often bread — against far-bank cover, into holes in the reeds, or in front of fish tucked against an island. Commercial carp, quietly.
Pole · Overview
Slapping
Slapping a shallow pole rig on the surface to make a noise that draws carp and F1s up. Then you actually fish the shallow line you just advertised.
Pole · Overview
Chopped worm on the pole
A pot of chopped worm over a worm or worm-and-maggot hookbait. Perch, tench, skimmers and bonus fish — especially in a lock mouth or against a feature.
Pole · Overview
Pellet on the pole
Expanders or banded hard pellet on a pole rig, over a pot of micros. The default F1 and carp presentation on a huge number of UK commercials.
Pole · Overview
Maggot on the pole
The universal pole bait. Single or double maggot, a pinch of feed, and a line you plumbed. Silvers, F1s in the cold, canals, and anyone who is not sure.
Leger · Overview
Rolling meat
A cube of luncheon meat trundled through a river crease on a light lead or a baited hook, so it behaves like food in the flow. Barbel and chub after 16 June, where meat is allowed.
Float · Overview
Hemp and tares
A summer river (and sometimes canal) way to sort stamp roach: feed hemp until they graze, then a tare — or a single grain of hemp — on a fine hook. After 16 June on rivers.
Float · Overview
Chub float tactics
A bait run under a bush, into a hole, or down a crease with chub in mind. Bread, maggot, worm, cheese. After 16 June. They melt the float; they also melt into the snag.
Feeder · Overview
Canal feeder
A small cage or blockend on a canal, used sparingly for bream, tench and the odd carp. Not a 40g rocket into the far rushes.
Pole · Overview
Fishing the far shelf
The canal far-bank line: a plumbed bait against the vegetation, often punch or maggot, where stamp roach and bonus fish sit. Boats move them; then they settle again.
Pole · Overview
Fishing the near shelf
The canal line under your feet: the near ledge, often ignored, where fish sit after boats, in the cold, or when the far shelf is a snag. Whip, short pole, punch or maggot.
Specimen · Overview
Perch fishing
A worm, a feature, and a fish with spines. Lock mouths, aerators, fallen trees, a canal cutting. Forceps in the bag. They are not a maggot-session extra if you are actually fishing for them.
Specimen · Overview
Pike fishing
A deadbait or a lure, wire, forceps, a mat, and the honesty to leave them alone in a heatwave. Not a carp hair-rig. Not a maggot session extra.
Specimen · Overview
Zander fishing
A smaller deadbait, often at night or in coloured water, on drains, rivers and a few reservoirs where they are established. Wire is the honest default. They are not small pike.
Specimen · Overview
Specimen carp basics
Fewer, bigger carp: a baited spot, a hair-rigged boilie or a single, and time. Not a method feeder every eight minutes. Fish care scales with the fish.
Specimen · Overview
Crucian fishing
Tiny bites, light floats, and a still bait on the silt. True crucians are shy, often small-water fish. Do not crash a method on them. Do not advertise the lake.
Specimen · Overview
Chub fishing
A bait where they live: under a bush, in a hole, down a crease. Bread, maggot, cheese, worm, a lure on some stretches. After 16 June. First cast counts.