The first time I saw a method feeder rig set up specifically for trout, my instinct was that it wouldn’t work – it’s a technique built around carp and bream conditioning to pellet feed, not a species I associate with feeder tactics at all. I was wrong, and the reason why turned out to be fairly obvious once I thought about it properly.
This isn’t relevant to premium fly-only reservoirs, and I want to be clear about that upfront – it applies specifically to the smaller day-ticket stillwaters that stock trout heavily for a broad range of angling methods. On those waters, stocked trout have often spent time in stock ponds being fed pellet before release, and that conditioning carries over.
A small method feeder, matched with a soft groundbait or pellet mix and a pellet or paste hookbait, exploits exactly that prior conditioning in the same way it works for commercial carp fishing. Match the hookbait to whatever the specific fishery actually feeds its trout where that information is available – it consistently outproduces a generic approach.
Tackle-wise, nothing heavy is needed – a light 10-11ft feeder rod with a soft quivertip and a 2500-3000 reel is plenty, since stocked trout on these waters don’t demand the heavier feeder gear used for barbel or carp.
It’s a minority technique, and I understand why – it doesn’t fit the romantic image most anglers have of trout fishing. But on the specific waters where it applies, I’ve had some of my most consistent trout sessions using exactly this approach, and I think it deserves to be taken seriously rather than dismissed as unconventional.
Sarah Marsh came to fly fishing through her father, who kept a rod on a small syndicate water in Devon. She spent her teens fishing stocked reservoirs and gradually worked her way toward wild fish on moving water – first on rain-fed freestone rivers in Wales, then on the Hampshire chalk streams she now considers home water.
She holds a level 2 APGAI fly casting qualification and guides informally on the River Test and, from June to September, on a private beat on the River Tay for Atlantic salmon. Her personal best brown trout came from the Itchen at 4lb 1oz; she’d sooner not talk about the salmon that came off at the net last August.
At The River Bend, Sarah writes the game fish species guides, fly fishing technique articles, and the legal content covering trout and salmon regulations.
Covers: Brown trout, rainbow trout, sea trout, Atlantic salmon, fly fishing, chalk streams, Scottish rivers, close season and regulation articles