UK Coarse
Specimen · Technique journey
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.
Beginnerspecimenfloatcanalbeginner
Perch hunt. A worm over a pinch of chop, a waggler against a feature, a pole in a lock mouth, a small lure where it is allowed. You are fishing a place, not a carpet of groundbait.
Unhooking is part of the method: spines, a bony mouth, forceps. Keepnets are a poor idea. Rivers wait until 16 June. Live fish must not be moved between waters.
Features, coloured water, lock mouths, cold canals, commercial aerators, open-season rivers.
A silver-only whip line you do not want to convert. Heatwave shallow weedy bays full of fry if you cannot unhook them properly.
From the graph
A starting point, not a shopping list you have to finish. Match the water in front of you.
Kit that can land the fish you are actually fishing for, and a mat.
On the peg
A small pot of chop, or a few maggots to draw fry, then a worm. Not a bream bed.
Waggler or pole, size 14–16, worm, forceps, a net. Lures where allowed, with a plan for the mouth.
Lock mouths, fallen trees, aerators, the shady side of a cut, a river crease after 16 June.
A worm on the deck or just off it, against the feature. A lure worked slowly if that is the job.
Pick a feature, not a random open-water peg. One small pot of chop, a worm, wait.
Colour and cover help. Bright, clear, featureless water is harder. First and last light on many lakes.
Feature first. A worm over a little chop, or a lure along the brickwork. A rattle — wait for weight. Forceps, wet hands, back they go. If you only catch tiny ones, a bigger worm, less feed, or a better feature.
Starting routine
0–10 min
Get a bait in the water on the line you intend to fish. Do not search the whole venue in ten minutes.
10–30 min
A small pot of chop, or a few maggots to draw fry, then a worm. Not a bream bed.
30–60 min
If nothing, change one thing — depth, bait or spot — not three. Read the troubleshooting on this page.
A rattle, then a proper pull. Do not strike every tick.
Wait for weight, then a firm lift so the hook is in a bony mouth.
Net them. Spines. Forceps. Not a keepnet full of perch in a heatwave.
No forceps. Swinging a 2lb perch. A pint of chop. Treating them as a nuisance on a silver day — or ignoring fish care because they are 'only perch'.
Tiny perch: less chop, bigger bait, better feature. Eels: unhook and return. Pike: if you are in pike country, wire or do not fish a lure they will take.
Beginner setup
A waggler, a worm, a lock mouth or an aerator, forceps, a net.
More advanced
Change depth, bait or feed before you change peg.
Rig
Waggler setup
Locked float, bulk around the base, droppers down the line, fine hooklength. The same skeleton covers traditional waggler and, with a dumpy body, pellet waggler.
Rig
Pole rig
A dotted pole float, bulk and droppers, a short hooklength, elastic in the top kit. Accuracy is the whole point.
Rig
Bomb / running leger
A straight lead on a run ring or inline, a hooklength, and a bait. The quiet alternative to a feeder.
No linked on-the-bank problems for this method yet.
Catches
Nobody has shared a catch using this technique yet. When someone does, it will show up here — we do not invent anglers or photos.