Fishing Baits - the winter shuffle

Actually Catching Something.
Advice for Parents of Young Anglers

Fish Suppers for Sailors
A guide to fishing for yachtsmen.

The shuffle....

Is this groundbaiting or should it be under methods? I'm still not sure, decide for yourself.

At the end of winter, when the river returns to its banks and the dace begin to shoal on the shallows, a very simple way to augment your loosefeed is to wade at the head of your swim and, gently, to scuff the bottom gravel. This disturbs interstitial mud and the animals that live in it. Add a little loosefeed, dropped in by your knees and trot straight down the current.

Perversely control is often the reverse of conventional groundbaiting. A heavy disturbance may move the fish downstream, away from you. Once you have gathered a shoal, standing almost still may bring them within inches of your feet. When you hook a fish swing the rod wide to bring it up out of the shoal. Have a keepnet pegged out behind you, closed end upstream, to keep your catch from spooking the rest of the shoal. The commonest catch will be dace but gudgeon, chub and grayling will often respond as will pike, who are eyeing up the dace shoals in the spring.