In March and April, when the water is still cool but beginning to warm up, the Method feeder can be very effective, but getting the mix right, using Sonubaits Fin Perfect Mix 1 groundbait, is of paramount importance.

Too many anglers, from what I have seen on my travels, try to simply ‘make do’ with their Method mix, whichever way it turns out. Often that means anglers using a stodgy mix with the consistency of Christmas pudding, which is not the way to make the most of this angling style.
However, if you try to use specific measures of groundbait and water, you will not get it wrong.

Follow these steps and success with your mix is virtually guaranteed.

Step 1 - Measure out 500ml of water - the amount you get in a small bottle of drinking water.

Step 2 - Tip a complete bag of Fin Perfect Mix 1 into a bowl, add the water a little at a  time, and give the groundbait a thorough mix.

Step 3 - Now leave the groundbait to absorb all the water fully, overnight.

Step 4 - The next day, once at the peg, go to work on the ground bait and add maybe a little more water.

Step 5 - Before you are ready to fish, push the mix through a maggot riddle twice.

You will be left with the perfect Method mix.

I want the mix to be damp, but not too damp, so that I can compress it on to a Method feeder, to fill the rails, I  then add a second skin, which will include the buried hook bait. This second skin needs to be pressed on firmly to withstand the impact of hitting the water and dropping down through depths of 10 to 12 feet.

That is the scenario I face when I fish venues such as Larford, where, on the specimen lake, the depth can be 10 to 12 feet and I am casting 60 turns of the reel.

The outer skin on the Method feeder has to remain intact for at least a  couple of minutes, after you have cast, because the bites don’t necessarily come straight away.

Give my controlled mixing method a go - you will achieve the perfect mix and you will catch more fish.