Carper’s Web - Carp Fishing News

How to select a swim

OK ,so you have chosen your carp fishing venue. You arrive there early in the morning, everything looks perfect, a mist hangs lazily over the water, there is little breeze and the day is beginning to warm up. You gaze out across the water itching to get started. Where should you start fishing? The swim right by the car park so that you don’t have to walk far? The other side of the lake so that you are not disturbed by other anglers arriving? The quiet bay where you can shelter from any wind later on or not get burned by the sun? The big grass bank where you can spread all of your gear out and not have to worry about being tidy?

Walk around the lake before fishing

Assuming that the water is not already packed with anglers, and that you don’t have to race for a swim before someone else nicks it, then don’t fish anywhere yet. Leave the stuff in the car with the exception of a pair of good sunglasses and maybe a pair of binoculars if you have them. Then have a look around the water. I always like to walk the circumference of the lake before deciding, investigating each swim, even on waters I know. Why? To decide where the carp will want to be. You have to almost become the carp yourself. Think “where would I want to be now if I was a carp”.

It doesn’t matter where you will be most comfortable fishing. Well it does to a certain extent, but you want to be where you will catch fish, that is after all what you came for.

So start looking around for signs of any fish movement. If you see any, think “Can I present a bait there?”. Look out for those tell tale signs like bubbles, fish stirring up mud in the shallows, bumping against reeds or lilies, you may even see carp swimming in the shallows if you approach swims quietly. Sometimes they can be seen swimming along the surface and jumping out of the water.

Wind Direction

Weather can also play an important part in fish location. Fishing into an oncoming wind may be a little uncomfortable for you, but it will be blowing all of the floating debris and food on the surface straight into your swim. This can bring good results when floater fishing. Carp will also often seek out the part of the water which receives the first morning sun and the last evening sun.

These can result in good results at the right time of day.

So remember, don’t just chuck your gear down in the first swim you see. Give it a little thought. Take your time, walk around, talk to others (but don’t disturb their fishing) A little forethought and time invested can often produce a much better days fishing.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, July 5th, 2008 at 5:46 am and is filed under Tactics & Strategies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.