BONUS FISH

[joffmiester]

How much time do you give yourself to catch a bonus fish in a five hour competition .After the sensas challenge it was quite easily noted that good anglers managed to catch a bonus fish .whether its a Big billy Perch, Tench, bream or Chub the top lads all seemed to catch one . Since fishing individually rather than Team fishing this part of my fishing has improved if i'm catching well with roach and it looks like a weight is on the cards i will spend less time for a bonus . Although if the peg goes quiet at any point i don't hesitate to pick up a bonus fish rig and give it a couple of runs down the peg . With the amount of predators in our rivers and canals it's not just pike that will come into the peg big Perch are often the course of this lull . Tench must unsettle roach from time to time so it's always worth two or three minutes with a big rig on the same line . You soon know when they have pasted through as normally your bites come back . this winter on our canal series has been a real eye opener watching your section for anyone catching a bonus fish . Whether to carry on with small fish or top up your small fish ?? with a bonus fish it can and will change your position from not winning to putting you in with a shout or section win . Give your bonus line too much time and the reverse happens and you fall too far behind . It's such a fine line but with creaming off some of the info and theories off other anglers you can build a picture in your head or a plan of attack for that particular competition . Bonus fish do feed at certain times as long as the peg is primed up and i'm pretty sure its not the amount of bait you put in its more the way you put your rig in 9 out 0f 10 times if there is a bonus fish in your peg you will catch it in the first couple of minutes of laying your rig in the water . some of my biggest Perch have come a foot off the bottom which indicates to me its sight in the case of perch rather than loads of feed . I've never caught a perch  full of chopped worm in its mouth or coughing it up like other fish . Changing hook baits also has helped this year head of a lobworm is my favourite bait yet the other week couldn't get a bite on it yet two redworms did the damage that day . another day lobby tail or white casters tipped with a red maggot all have had there day . I feel its all about timing  but how much time do you give yourself 

Darran Bickerton found a rare bonus on day one of the sensas challenge      

[Dodge]

Its a big part of canal matchfishing now joff but at the end of the day it depends on the venue what approach you take , not all canals have plenty of bonus fish to target , some are still predominately small fish venues . One thing you can get away with whilst targeting bonus fish on canals is fairly heavy line , if they are in your peg they will have it no problem especially big Perch ,Chub and Carp