Method Feeder V PVA Bags - Which is BEST? 

Good idea for a test but it was testing a presentation for two different techniques. The method feeder is designed to be used with the method technique where the fish are fed each cast on the same spot when the feeder enters the water. The way the method feeder is designed to work is to cast to the spot and wait no longer than a few minutes then retrieve, reload and recast. Leaving the method feeder out more than a few minutes when you know there are fish about, as in the situation you were testing, meant that the feed was washed off the feeder and the bait so was less likely to result in a bite and should have been retrieved and recast. You had already laid out bait to attract the fish with the spod so either presentation would work on the area maybe one more than the other on the day, but in a match you would catch more on the method feeder because it would be faster. Just to add a further point to address the point made that the method feeder may not have hit the bottom with the bait and feed presented properly as applies to any cast with any method it’s important to soften the impact on the waters surface by slowing its approach just as it gets over the spot. If the method feeder is loaded properly and the bait is buried deep under the feed it will be presented properly and will result in a bite. To check reel back in directly to feeder has hit bottom and you should still have some feed in the feeder. A PVA bag would overcome this problem but would be slower in a match unless you had a sufficient preprepared bags available. If it’s purely presentation that you are considering I would say that the PVA bag is better purely because the choices of bait and feed are far greater.

Why not use both?? I sometimes add a bag of small boilies to my exposed feeder hook on a short hook length.. Pellets on the feeder...10mm boilies in a mesh bag. Caught me quite a few decent carp. Ok for short/medium casts. Best of both worlds :)

Also you used different baits! Love your whole setup from the rods to the filming, nice one

Bro this was the best explication so far and made my decisions easier for my next cast. I am going pva rig next time. Thank you

Great insight into bags over feeder to be honest when you started the clip i thought the feeder would win out but I tried the same experiment with PVA mesh v feeder I found F1s took the feeder with the odd common or mirror over the mesh I'm just converting to bags and looking forward to seeing if I get more joy over mesh or feeder

Being a match only angler you’ve certainly given me food for thought. Thanks for sharing! 👍😃

Interesting. However, There are some things to consider here I believe. One is the speed and simplicity of using a methodfeeder compared to PVAbags. Re-casting takes literally seconds. If you fail a cast with a bag it is a lot more punishing. The Methodfeeder is usually meant to be re-cast quite often. PVA bag fishing for me is cast and forget when your'e fishing for a bite where it's hard to present a normal rig. Another downside with PVA is shown in the video. Rain. Fishing PVA bags in rain obviously render them useless. Rain is not always predictable as we can see. I think PVA bags all things considered has the ability to make a better presentation on the bottom than feeders but feeders has a lot of other things going for them.

I used to fish method feeder all the time but was never 100% sure that it had not come off on entry into the water or before it reached the lake bed! That's were i think the pva bags have a huge advantage i am now happy (in my mind anyway) that the hook bait will be sat in pile of pellets/bait on the bottom!

I watched something not long ago with Rob Hughes I think it was and when the method feeder hits the water 9 times out of 10 it explodes on impact, resulting in spread everywhere. That's why I think pva bag gets to the bottom an presents the best.

As always a pleasure to watch. 😎🎣🐟

I think the method will be quicker for a few reasons there is going to be the waiting time for bag to disolve a bag can hold more bait so less chance of taking hook bait Bigger food foot print when bag explodes And method pellets softened and carp prefer softer baits in my experience...

Maybe on the method bait comes off and disburses as it sinks. Another great video.

i get the pva but i would only use pva in deep water my locals are around 5ft deepest points... i used pva bags for several years had and had 2 unused feeders until rain stopped me being able to... and for the liquid if you mix dround bait/pellets add flavour to that water or i have seen haze added to feeder before cast

Great video. Does a hard pellet give off more attractions to a pre soaked pellet?

great video as usual! No way am I an expert carp angler, but I always try different techniques, say PVA bag, dynamite stick, method feeder, maybe switching all rods to one method if it is clearly the most effective, but I found day to day the best method varied somewhat unpredictably so there was no clear overall winner

Yes I enjoyed it, must give the bag a go i fish there from time to time on a cage feeder and it's made me think again, would love to no when you were going to be there i would of gone out of my way to come meet you two, coz your getting a bit good at making video's, very good shots and filming, Brilliant, would love to get some filming tip's of you, coz your like me when you make video's you have to keep moving around a bit, Thank you two,👍👍❤

Try the new leads by OMC, they are designed for groundbait. Just set up a normal lead clip system and try those maybe?

Hey mate, can you please tell me what rods you are using there ?

Excellent video BUT how are your rod rests standing up without falling over?

Would sticky method pellets work better at holding onto the feeder than standard soaked ones

Solid bag!

I wonder if the fish are more likely to spook off a method feeder (especially if they have been caught on one numerous times) whereas a lead is less conspicuous and more like a pebble or something more natural (and they are less likely to touch it while feeding on the pellets)?

do you use shock leader with method feeder

So I fish two rods, one what I call my sleeper rod, and that might be a pva mesh/bag setup or along those lines, my other rod is a method rig using small pellets and fake pop up corn, I rod about with the method, to try and find the fish sort of keeps me active so to speak. Generally I catch more on the method, some decent carp too, but I can also use this setup as a recce for the pva bag setup and then put that into the right place, so the method rig is my sort of fish finder if that makes sense. It makes my day a bit more interesting too, and seems like I,m more active than the folk with 3 rods out who are getting zero bites, yes they may be after monsters but I catch many fish and some decent ones too.

When my hook and lead is wet , my bags break before I finished to prepare a bag ....but I am new into fishing , mabe its just me.

I personally think the bag is a better way to fish because you can get so much more attraction in a bag than a feeder, for example liquids; I always put as much liquid as I can into my bags.

Gotta love fishing a solid at swp mega runs water

Che canna usi in questo spot

What is the braid u are using please?

I only ever carp fish with a method feeder. I've had my pb of over 50lb on it, had multiple 300lb hits of big carp on it, plenty of times they've taken the bait within seconds of it landing an had a 30lber on the drop. You're recasting more often, therefore you're more likely to recast. It's hard work when on the fish as it's so effective. I do live in France though.

Method feeder 👍

I reckon the method mix was just getting wafted away by the fish, whereas the heavier pellets stayed a little more static. Or, it may just be that the pellets were more attractive and/or available for the fish...

What’s the leader material

cant see how this is a fair test when, the method feed is used in the same way as a bag, this isnt the case for most fishermen. Method is ment to be cast out a lot more not left there like the bag. That said my lad and i did fish today and he got 7 on bags and i got 5 on method but i had the bigger fish which i though the bag would have.

It all comes down to how confident you are whatever method you fish i laugh with all these carp guys barrows full of stuff it's laughable especially when i turn up just carrying a fly rod a landing net and a small bag containing small terminal tackle items .Then catching carp after carp with ease on nothing more than chum mixers and a fly which is tied using deer hair imitates a chum mixer perfectly.I can't tell you how many times i crack these carp guys up they simply cant handle it but i love it it's absolutely hilarious cracking these guys up .

Mesh bag at distance, method, close in 🎉

Try using pva bags in the rain.

method

It was 7 5

Hitting the clip hard on a heavy carp rod and line is going to strip the bait off a match method..no doubt. Maybe use one of the classic large 360 ball method feeders would be a better test.

Depends what type of fishing you are doing, method feeder in my opinion shouldnt be used like this, its for busy fishing where youu would be revasting every 5 minutes or so

I’m putting my money on Method feeder.

Method

Unfair test... 10-15 spods is what caught them fish... Do the same test again without baiting an area and you'll have your correct results

pva seems more accurate feeding to me

Your loading the method feeder up wrong, the hook bait goes in last so it sits in the bottom of the feeder, your hook bait will be falling away from the method, no wonder the pva is catching more!!

Pva will win. Holding more bait

Maybe the method may have been more productive if you were recasting it every 10 mins regardless of a bite or not.

It is dangerous to draw conclusions from limited data

Method Feeder = On season PVA Bag = Off-Season

If you fished the method with exactly same pellet that the pva uses and casted the method more like your ment to fish with it

PVA residue, no thanks.