A Different Way to Fish with a Feeder Rod: PVA Bags Instead of Feeders

 

Fishing with PVA bags in matches has recently gained popularity and has been producing great results for carp anglers for a long time. Feeder rods are typically designed for use with various types of feeders, including method, cage, and hybrid feeders. This style of fishing is very popular and is my personal favorite. It allows anglers to target all sizes and species of fish, from big carp using a method or hybrid feeder to small roach with a small cage in the winter.

In recent years, fishing for larger carp with feeder rods has become increasingly popular. Anglers have started adopting tactics from specimen carp fishing to target bigger carp. One of these tactics involves using PVA bags, either in mesh or solid form.

 PVA Mesh

Fishing with PVA mesh is quite simple. The rig consists of a basic bomb setup, which can be inline on a small lead clip or on a snap link swivel. Another snap link is tied where the hook link will be attached. I prefer using a robust hook link, typically 0.22 to 0.24 line, with a size 10 hook and a standard hair rig or a rubber band if I intend to fish with a hard pellet.

The PVA bag can be simply hooked onto the hook for shorter casts. For longer casts, I like to thread the hook link through the bag for added security. The snap link swivel is very handy for this purpose, making it easy to change the hook link with the PVA bag. For fast fishing, you can even have several hook links with bags prepared and ready to clip in and cast out.

This method can be very productive, especially in shallow water when fishing for quick bites. The PVA mesh melts very quickly, much faster than pellets or groundbait would break down on a method feeder. As soon as the bait hits the water, it's ready to catch fish. Under the right conditions, fishing with PVA mesh can significantly increase your catch rate.

 PVA Solid Bag

I like to build this rig using an elasticated feeder stem, an inline bomb, and a 3- or 4-inch hook link. The choice of hook and bag size depends on the weather; I use bigger bags if it's warmer and smaller ones if it's cooler, adjusting the amount of bait accordingly.

This method is very versatile as it can be fished at great distances. It's ready to catch fish within a minute of landing in the water, and a major advantage over other similar methods is that solid bags can be injected with liquids for high attraction. This is not possible with other methods and can make the difference between catching fish or not, especially in colder months when fish feed slowly.

The only drawback of this method is that solid bags are a bit time-consuming to tie and prepare. It's also very important to tie them very tight with the lead on the bottom of the bag so they can fly true.

Bait-wise, both methods are quite versatile. In mesh or solid bags, you can add pellets of various sizes as well as boilie crush or soaked baits as long as it is not in water. When fishing at a distance with solid bags, I prefer micro pellets, fine boilie crush, or stick mix as these can be compacted much better than bigger particles, allowing the bag to fly and sink better as most of the air is out of the bag.

 Fishing with PVA

As I normally use PVA when I fish with the heavy gear targeting specimens, I decided to dedicate a session just for match tactics with PVA after seeing some great weights coming out in matches fishing like this. I went to one of my local lakes that can be fished at distances up to 80 meters as I was curious how far and accurately I could fish with PVA mesh since I already know how well the solid bags fly.

When I got to my peg, after plumbing up, I decided on two swims: one at 60 meters and one at 75 meters. I started the session by baiting up 7 Guru bait-up feeders full of corn and pellets at 60 meters to try and draw the fish in, while the other swim I tried to pick up fish and build it up while fishing. My first few casts were on the long swim, waiting for the fish to gather around the bait. Nothing happened, and after around half an hour, I went back to the shorter line. In the first hour, I only managed to get 3 breams up to 1.5lb, maybe smaller.

Considering this, I decided to mainly target the long line and start building up the swim. The first bite came after less than 2 minutes and bites continued to come. Most of the fish were breams around 2lb with a few pushing 5lb. I was very surprised that after around 2 hours, no carp came, as the area is great for catching carp. The sun was up, and I saw plenty of carp cruising on the surface, which might explain the lack of carp bites. Around midday, the carp went round and it seemed that they made their way into my swim. The day continued with plenty of bites, including around 6 carp of which I lost two, and many bream.

Fishing with PVA proved to be very efficient, getting bites very fast after the bait got into the swim. Casting with a mesh bag felt much easier and more accurate than I imagined. It is a bit time-consuming to tie the mesh, especially when you are getting bites so fast. I also learned that making the PVA bags the same size makes it easier to be consistent when casting. Overall, experimenting with PVA bags instead of traditional feeders showed me a different and effective way to approach match fishing, blending tactics from specimen carp fishing with the dynamic nature of match angling. This method not only increased my catch rate but also added a new dimension to my fishing experience.