This entry was posted onby Anna Cooper
What is Spodding/ Spombing?
Spodding/Spombing has revolutionised our ability to accurately feed our chosen fishing spot with even the smallest lightest food items at extreme range. This is all done with maximum efficiency, ensuring minimal bait is wasted, and keeping your bait from landing where you don’t want it. It also means that pulling your hair out because seagulls are eating every freebie you fire out on your spot via a catapult or throwing stick is now a thing of the past. This awesome method of feeding can be used for everything from carp to bream and even pike.
Spods VS Spombs
Before the launch of Spombs, the Spod was all that was used to deliver bait in this way. Spods still have their uses but they can be prone to spilling bait out from the back. Regardless of which bait you want to Spod, if you use a Spomb instead you can be sure you aren’t going to spill any during the delivery. If you are using liquids, then a solid Spomb definitely comes into its own.
View Angling Direct's variety of Spods
There are few ways of feeding over your rigs that are as effective as spodding. Whether you’re laying down a bed of particles for Mr Carp or establishing a carpet of groundbait for Mr Bream, spodding is the most effective (dare I say essential?) method to get the job done. Here are a few key tips to help you get the best from this approach:
1) The Best Fishing Gear to Use for Spodding Methods
As you are going to be launching something that can weigh up to 10ozs when full, you need to make sure your gear is 100% up to the job, and that when you come to cast you can hit it as hard as you can with ultimate faith in your tackle. Let's face it, who wants to be cracking off a £12 spod or spomb into the lake, never to be seen again? A fully-loaded Spod or Spomb can weigh up to 6oz, depending on the bait or liquids you use so keep these heavy Spods in mind when choosing what rod you need for your spod/spombing session.
The Rod: A designated Spod or marker rod is recommended. When fishing at extreme ranges, for example over 100 yards, then look at ‘distance’ spod rods. Spod rods have a high test curve, e.g. 5.5lb, which means they have the ability to cope with the force of the cast and help to accurately propel your spomb to its chosen mark. You can, however, use a carp rod with smaller spods and spombs as they weigh less and are perfect for baiting up at shorter ranges with standard carp rods.
The Reel: Using a Spod reel (most are marked as spod reels by their respective manufacturers), is a must especially when working at 70-100 yards+. Using a spod reel with the rod will also help because they feature high-ratio retrieve rates – for every turn of the reel, you’re able to pick up more line than conventional fishing reels. This minimises strain on your wrist over the course of a busy spodding session.
The Line: Your mainline for spodding can be either a dedicated floating spod braid or in more recent times a lighter mono such as 10lb which can be easier to work with for some anglers with less chance of wind knots and braided line tangles. Using a fine 20lb Spod braid coupled with a 50lb braided shock leader will give you the perfect set-up for safe spodding. Always use a shock leader when casting a spod or spomb, again to help reduce the chance of a crack off. ALSO don’t forget to use a finger stall because braid can slip, and it cuts fingers very easily.
Extra Top Tip: Use the line clip on your Spod reel to make sure you bait accurately. There’s nothing worse than spending hard-earned money on bait which gets spread all over your swim, scattering feeding fish over a large area and making it even harder to catch them. Also, pick a skyline marker such as a tree and aim at it with each cast to make sure you’re on the same line. Let the line clip take care of accurate distances.
2) What Bait to use as a Spod Mix
What bait you put in your spod/spomb is obviously important, not only from an attraction perspective but also for considering an aerodynamic cast. What you choose to use is limited only by your imagination; just ensure it suits the range you're fishing, your choice of spod/spomb, and the species you are targeting. Just remember:
- Lighter particles such as maggots can impact the castability of your spod/spomb, while overly loose or wet mixes can spill out the back of a spod, meaning that you may need to plug the top of your spod with groundbait.
- You can fill your spomb with simple corn, hemp, boilie, chopped boilie and pellet approach for both carp, tench and bream all year round. Most anglers tend to soak the mix in liquids, which help create a slick, and indicate when fish are feeding on my spot. This is ideal so that if you can always add groundbait to stodge up the mix and ensure it doesn’t spill in flight.
3) The Importance of the Drop for Spodding
The 'Drop' refers to the length of the line from your Spod or Spomb to the tip of your rod. You should make sure that prior to casting the drop is the same length to where the spigot is on your rod, which is usually around 6ft in length. This offers both optimum distance and accuracy and reduces the chance of crack offs. Other considerations prior to casting are that you have a finger stall to avoid injury from the line and that you have your line free and not wrapped around the tip ring.
4) Choosing the Correct Fishing Spot
Spodding/Spombing is all about fishing a spot or location at your chosen venue. This can be a clear area in amongst weed, in which case you need to be extremely accurate, using the line clip and casting to a far bank marker repeatedly to form a tight area on which you can present your rig.
Alternatively, an awesome tactic on cleaner lake beds such as silt is to spomb in a horizontal line at the same range, using the clip, and cast three rods at either end and the middle of this line. This allows the fish to move around your swim which often helps not only in them treating the area with less caution, but is something they are not used to seeing as much as a concentrated ultra-accurate area of baiting.
TOP TiP: Consider the depth of your spot, by altering your spod range to 1ft shorter for every 3ft of water on the spot you are fishing. This can be adjusted via distance sticks andwill ensure you're baiting accurately to where your rigs are landing.
5) Get the Perfect Timing for Launching a Spomb
Think about when you are choosing to put bait out, and how much. You could start the session with 7 spombs/spods of bait on a spot and then top up with 3 spombs every fish. Avoidspombing during bite times. Timing can vary on each lake and with the time of year, but you should constantly watch the water for signs that you still have bait out there. For example; if the birds dive on your bait in the morning, then you know there's still bait there, or, if you see fizzing or bubbling over your fishing spot or a fish crash near it, avoid spod/spomb, especially in shallow water.
There are no shortcuts for learning how to perfectly spod or spomb, practice makes perfect. Start by spodding at relatively close range, perhaps 40 yards or whatever is comfortable, and as you become more accurate you’ll need to extend this distance over the course of a season. The secret is to work hard at improving your accuracy. The more the practice you put in, the better you’ll get, until you are casting to a dinner plate-sized spot at 150 yards!