Regular readers of the Sonu Baits blogs will know by now all about the awesome pulling power of the company’s F1 Groundbait.

And I have been having some tremendous successes, using it as a slop, and potting it in when fishing shallow at venues such as Lindholme Lakes near Doncaster.
It is a really versatile groundbait which hangs well in the water, sending F1s into a feeding frenzy.
Initially, I start off simply feeding a few pellets around the float by catapult. This helps to drag F1s into the peg, looking for food, and you can usually start to motor and catch a few fish.
However, F1s are cute and quickly wise up to what is going on. It then comes down to watercraft and a bit of guile to trick them.
And one of my tricks is to start potting in the F1 groundbait. I mix it wet, but it is firm enough to be formed in to a nugget and put in the pot, rather than poured.
When you pot it from a height it explodes and hangs in the water.
But again, after a while the F1s start wising up and another trick I employ is to then introduce a few 4mm feed pellets into the groundbait that is potted in.
The rig is fairly simple but it provides three splashes, or ‘dinner bells’ as I like to call them. The float is a Preston Black dibber in a 4 x 10 size.
I use a 15cm hook-length of 0.11 Preston Powerline, with a 0.13mm Power Line main line. I position three Number 10 Stotz just above the hooklength and I tie a Preston PR36 size 18 hook, knotless knotted, with a short hair and a mini pellet band attached, for a 6mm Fin Perfect Feed pellet as my hook bait. Elastic is generally a Preston 9H Hollo.
The pellet represents one splash, the bulk of shot a second splash and the float is the third splash which attracts F1s into the peg.
To trick these fish I will feed twice then not feed, instead slapping the rig on the surface. Often the first thing you know is when the elastic rips out of the pole tip.
F1 fishing takes a bit of patience, some pole handling skills and a lot of thought to find ways to outwit this clever species.
But one thing I do know with certainty is that, with Sonu F1 Groundbait in your bag, you will be guaranteeing yourself a few extra fish.