Cathal Hughes (DAIWA/Bait-Tech) tells us what it takes to become the best in Irish Match Fishing and his preparation for the 2014 World Pairs.
Hook Lengths
With the 3rd World Pairs just around the corner, preparation is going in to overdrive. Due to the size and format of the match, having to prepare for anything up to 20 venues can seem daunting, however it needn’t be.
The beauty about the Pairs is that there are no venues that require specialist tackle or approaches. Past venues (2014 venues yet to be released) have generally responded to a feeder and pole approach and the open match on the Sunday is a good indicator of what method works best and where.
Living in Ireland means that our everyday kit is going to be perfectly suitable for the Pairs week and therefore getting everything sorted is made that bit easier than it is for those travelling from abroad. However, having your partner depending on you, does add that extra bit of pressure to make sure that nothing is left to chance.
The beauty about the Pairs is that there are no venues that require specialist tackle or approaches. Past venues (2014 venues yet to be released) have generally responded to a feeder and pole approach and the open match on the Sunday is a good indicator of what method works best and where.
Living in Ireland means that our everyday kit is going to be perfectly suitable for the Pairs week and therefore getting everything sorted is made that bit easier than it is for those travelling from abroad. However, having your partner depending on you, does add that extra bit of pressure to make sure that nothing is left to chance.
Adapted Feeder
Jacko and I will be bringing two 11’ feeder rods, two 12’/13’ feeder rods, two soft 12’ feeder rods and one 13’ distance rod with us to the festival. To some this may seem excessive, but being prepared for every eventuality is essential when competing against the class of angler the World Pairs attracts. All our rods are set up and stored in ready rod bags ready for use. Even though there’s loads of time to set up, not having to make up a rod from scratch just makes life easier on the morning of the match.
If feeders need adapting, now is the time to do it. Cutting out and gluing up feeders after a day’s fishing is not advised, you’d be better off using any spare time that you might have buying us a pint at the bar. A good tip is to bring as many different sizes and weight of feeder you can, you will lose some and weather conditions can change in minutes! Also get a range of weight forward rocket type feeders as they are brilliant in side winds.
If feeders need adapting, now is the time to do it. Cutting out and gluing up feeders after a day’s fishing is not advised, you’d be better off using any spare time that you might have buying us a pint at the bar. A good tip is to bring as many different sizes and weight of feeder you can, you will lose some and weather conditions can change in minutes! Also get a range of weight forward rocket type feeders as they are brilliant in side winds.
You can never have too many!
One of the most time consuming chores in relation to the feeder is tying hook lengths. My advice is to bring loads for both pole and feeder work. There’s a good chance with all that goes on throughout the week that you won’t get time to replenish the wallets in the evenings, so have spares!
Unfortunately preparation for the pole is not as straight forward as the feeder. All elastics and Dacron connectors will be replaced which is over 30 top kits each, with doubled up Preston Slip 3, 4, 5 and 6’s through top twos. Having spare top 4’s, 5’s and 6’s is important as Irish venues can be deep. Whips and a few whip rigs will be packed, but I don’t think the method has featured in previous years.
Floats from 4 x12 up to 4 gram will all have to be made up so as to cover all swims and weather conditions. This can be very time consuming when you consider the different variations of bristle and stem material. I recommend keeping things as simple as possible, for example, we use a wire stemmed, hollow bristled Garbolino DS 24 in the wind and a fibre bristled DS 23 when conditions are more favourable. I bring 5 identical rigs of every rig I expect to use, this way we know we can use a fresh rig every day! Hooklengths for the pole are tied up on 0.10, 0.12 and 0.14 and you can never tie enough.
Unfortunately preparation for the pole is not as straight forward as the feeder. All elastics and Dacron connectors will be replaced which is over 30 top kits each, with doubled up Preston Slip 3, 4, 5 and 6’s through top twos. Having spare top 4’s, 5’s and 6’s is important as Irish venues can be deep. Whips and a few whip rigs will be packed, but I don’t think the method has featured in previous years.
Floats from 4 x12 up to 4 gram will all have to be made up so as to cover all swims and weather conditions. This can be very time consuming when you consider the different variations of bristle and stem material. I recommend keeping things as simple as possible, for example, we use a wire stemmed, hollow bristled Garbolino DS 24 in the wind and a fibre bristled DS 23 when conditions are more favourable. I bring 5 identical rigs of every rig I expect to use, this way we know we can use a fresh rig every day! Hooklengths for the pole are tied up on 0.10, 0.12 and 0.14 and you can never tie enough.
Even though you can pre-order and purchase groundbait at the draws, we bring ours with us. Our advice is to keep your choices simple.
Our chosen mixes will be as follows:-
Roach and hybrids feeder - Pro Natural Dark and crushed hemp mixed with Hemp oil.
Roach and hybrids feeder with the chance of a few skimmers - Pro Natural Dark, Pro Natural Bream, and crushed hemp mixed with Molasses.
Bream feeder -Pro Natural Bream mixed with Molasses.
Roach and hybrids pole- Pro Natural Dark, Mantra and crushed hemp mixed with Hemp oil.
Other items that you might want to consider bringing:-
A 50cm measuring stick. Festival rules state that you must not wade further than 50cm at the back legs of your seatbox. I have my landing net handle marked.
Two sets of waterproof clothing. Believe it or not, it has been known to rain occasionally in Ireland and getting into damp clothing is not nice!
A spare Keepnet is handy if your net gets ripped on the shore line rocks.
A good platform can be handy. On most sections you will be fishing from a natural bank.
Headache tablets are extremely important and should never be forgotten!
Our chosen mixes will be as follows:-
Roach and hybrids feeder - Pro Natural Dark and crushed hemp mixed with Hemp oil.
Roach and hybrids feeder with the chance of a few skimmers - Pro Natural Dark, Pro Natural Bream, and crushed hemp mixed with Molasses.
Bream feeder -Pro Natural Bream mixed with Molasses.
Roach and hybrids pole- Pro Natural Dark, Mantra and crushed hemp mixed with Hemp oil.
Other items that you might want to consider bringing:-
A 50cm measuring stick. Festival rules state that you must not wade further than 50cm at the back legs of your seatbox. I have my landing net handle marked.
Two sets of waterproof clothing. Believe it or not, it has been known to rain occasionally in Ireland and getting into damp clothing is not nice!
A spare Keepnet is handy if your net gets ripped on the shore line rocks.
A good platform can be handy. On most sections you will be fishing from a natural bank.
Headache tablets are extremely important and should never be forgotten!
A typical Irish set-up