Carper’s Web – Carp Fishing News

Prebaiting a water undoubtedly helps you to put more fish on the bank.

Like most people, my time on the bank is severely restricted by work and other hobbies. I’ve found that by prebaiting a swim and then maximizing my time by fishing early morning or late evening I can boost my catch rate considerably.

Identifying your aim in prebaiting plays a major role in deciding how to go about your campaign. Other variables to be considered include the type of water, the stocking density, the different species present, the angling pressure on the water and, of course, the species of fish you’re targeting.

The main aim of prebaiting is to get the fish feeding confidently enough to take your hookbait. There are many ways to do this e.g. by feeding your chosen bait on a regular basis or by feeding a certain swim with bait in order to encourage the fish to return to the same spot time and time again.
I try to develop a combination of feeding a small number of spots using both the bait I intend to use as a hookbait and some other background feed.

The main reason for using a background feed is to help keep the cost of prebaiting down. Background feeds include groundbait, trout pellets, hemp, groats, carp/hemp/CSL pellets etc.

My prebaiting campaigns can be split into two categories, short-term and long-term. Most of my short-term prebaiting has been for the more general coarse fish such as tench and bream. My longer-term prebaiting has been for carp. In the season when I kept up a steady supply of bait, it proved an absolute success from my very first session.

Another factor that needs considering is that the prebaiting that I detail in this article was concerned with fishing close in on spots that were easy to bait by hand or catapult, even with light particle baits. I’m sure that the principles can be applied to longer range fishing especially where you are prebaiting with boilies or have the use of a boat, good spod rod or bait boat.

There are some pitfalls that need to be considered before you decide to undertake a course of prebaiting. Most anglers don’t take too kindly to others throwing in large amounts of bait when they’re not fishing. It pays to be discreet as this normally keeps the locals happy and prevents them from taking advantage of your hard work! A good trick is to bait up heavily over the spot you’re fishing just before you pack up. Another problem is that it is often difficult to get to prebait the spot you want as i s being fished. Often, you need to be the first or last person on a water so that you can introduce bait into your desired spots.

SHORT-TERM PREBAITING

I would class my short-term prebaiting as anything from two weeks before I commence fishing to just a few hours before I fish. If I’m starting to fish with a new boilie, or starting on a new water or one I haven’t fished for a while, then I like to introduce a few samples of my intended hookbait in likely looking spots just to give the fish a taster. This is a tactic I adopt frequently when using particles. I like to introduce a pound of particles three times in the week prior to fishing. I feel that the fish will then be familiar with the situation when they then come across my bed of particles and will therefore feed more confidently.

I have had particular success using this method with black-eyed beans for both carp and tench.

When I was younger, I used to bait up two swims in a morning on my local water after I had finished my paper round. After two weeks, I fished one of the swims capturing eight tench in a morning session – a comparative success in contrast to my usual results.

If I intend to fish a few sessions in winter, then I always like to introduce a small amount of boilies over a couple of weeks just to get the carp looking for food.

Most of my prebaiting has been done for carp, but when I’ve applied the short-term prebaiting principle to other coarse fish I’ve also had some success. When fishing on the Lancaster Canal I raked a weedy swim and baited it with a 1kg bag of groundbait and a pint of squatts. When I fished it the following morning, within 10 minutes of fishing I landed an old looking bream of 4lb-plus from a stretch that rarely produced bream.

The groundbaiting had obviously drawn the fish in, and they’d cleared the bait but had stayed in the area looking for more food. The same thing applies to fishing for tench. Raking the swim and baiting it the day before fishing draws fish in and you will often find that the fish have mopped up all the bait but stay in the area looking for more.

The number one bait to use has got to be hemp. If you prebait the swim with hemp, then the fish will keep coming back to the spot time and time again until every single grain of the tiny seed has been eaten. Hemp effectively draws in most types of coarse fish. When I’ve baited heavily with hemp I’ve noticed that the true impact only occurs two or three days later.

I was fishing one particular spot on a gravel bar close to some rushes. I was only fishing for 24hrs, but I introduced half a bucket of hemp. I had two dropped runs during the night and several line bites. Despite my lack of success, the owner, who had been present when I introduced the hemp, reported that the spot produced some fantastic captures of all species in the following week. So if you prebait with hemp, it’s worth considering fishing the spot a few days later (or for a few days if you can sit and wait). If you’re fishing sooner you must be careful about the amount of hemp you introduce to prevent total preoccupation. It often pays to lace your bucket of hemp liberally with your intended hookbait. Hemp is also quite cheap, especially if you buy it in bulk, an important consideration for lengthy baiting campaigns.

A tactic that can be applied equally well to rivers and lakes is to bait up several swims on your arrival at the water. This is a good method where you don’t have the time or money to properly prebait. What I normally do is fill a bait bucket with two-thirds trout pellets and one-third hemp. I then add a small amount of pre-soaked black-eyed beans. They’re a very visual bait, especially against the dark pellets and hemp, and they also rest on top of any silt deposits. I then walk around the lake and put four or five large handfuls of bait in likely looking spots.

When you come to fish the swim a few hours later the fish often betray themselves by sending up bubbles as they feed on the bait.

In fact, I like to use this method to fish spots that I’ve always fancied trying but have never bothered with. Often you look at small spots under bushes or you fancy small corners that are never fished, but you never get round to fishing them as you always plump for the ‘banker’ swims.

I started on one lake by introducing bait into four small areas around the lake and then fished each one in rotation. By fishing each swim for a couple of hours, by the time I’d reached the third swim, a small corner which had never been fished, there appeared to be no signs of fish. However, within the next half hour I landed three carp all around 8lb in weight. The fish had obviously had time to feed on the bait without being disturbed or have line hanging over their heads. That day I float fished close in using hair-rigged luncheon meat, a bait that seems to be picked up confidently over my prebaited area as long as it not been ‘hammered’. (Where ‘old favourites’ like meat, sweetcorn and bread are being overlooked it often pays to use these highly effective baits).

This method of introducing bait into a swim and then fishing it a few hours later led to my catching my biggest fish from the lake in question. This method can be applied successfully to rivers where you can walk several miles baiting fishy looking areas and then work you way back home, giving each spot a go until you return to your starting place with hopefully a few fish under your belt.

One of the simplest ways of prebaiting is to purchase a large bag of groundbait and simply introduce this into a swim for several weeks. It can be improved by the addition of a small amount of your intended hookbait. If you can discretely introduce groundbait into a swim that won’t be fished or only lightly

Fished, then the fish will become accustomed to visiting the area for the regular supply of ‘safe’ food.

LONG-TERM PREBAITING

If you’re about to embark on a long-term baiting campaign, then you need to be committed to your task. To ensure that my baiting goes to plan and I don’t waiver too much from the task in hand, I have a wall planner on which I write down when I’ve baited up so I can see if I’ve started slacking!

I’m lucky in that the water I often prebait is just five minutes from home. If you’re to make the prebaiting work, you need to have good access to the water. To make things easier, it would be better to bait a water close to your home or one on a route that you take regularly, e.g. a water that you pass on the way to work. Or failing that, just fish the water all the time; at least then you’ll be there to introduce bait regularly! Once you’ve got into a baiting routine the quick trip to the water becomes part of your day/week, and it also gives you the chance to keep in touch with what’s going on or do some fish spotting.

Getting up just 15 minutes earlier could give you enough time to bait up and dramatically improve your catch rate.

All my long-term prebaiting has been in pursuit of carp. I like to start in January when the water is only lightly fished. I make it my New Year’s resolution to keep up with my prebaiting and then catch the lake’s biggest fish. I generally succeed with the first part of the resolution, but fail miserably with the second!

I bait up the known fish holding areas. Despite the weather being cold and the fish feeding less, I always feel confident that my bait will be eaten. I always start with a smaller amount of bait and then build up. As there is less bait going into the water during winter, I feel that my bait has a good chance of being eaten. You can start prebaiting at anytime of the year, but I feel that the longer it is before you start fishing the spot the better your results will be.

This is another reason for starting prebaiting in winter. Not only will I not fish the swim (it’s too cold to venture out!), but others probably won’t fish it either.

The best times to introduce bait are at dusk and dawn, especially where wildfowl are a problem. If you bait up in the half-light you can often avoid the birds diving and devouring all the boilies before the fish discover them. Getting to a water early can mean you avoid the first anglers of the day and can prepare your spots in secret. However, I was unaware that whilst on one of my prebaiting trips I was spied on by some guy in camo gear! When I started fishing the water seriously a few months later the guy came round and introduced himself and told me he had spotted what I was up to.

Introducing bait into several spots will mean the fish will become accustomed to finding bait all over the water. I like to bait a combination of known fish holding areas, so fish will definitely be finding the bait, and areas that are quiet and unfished. Prebaiting an unfished area takes some confidence. These areas are often ignored because they don’t produce fish! To bait an area that is believed by others to be devoid of fish takes willpower but can provide good rewards.

The advantages of baiting quiet unfished areas (if they exist on your water) are that the fish can learn to feed confidently on the bait without disturbance or fearing capture, and you can often bait these areas more discretely or without upsetting other anglers. And the more confident the fish are feeding, the more likely you are to catch them. It also means that you can nearly always get onto your chosen prebaited swim when you want to. You know when you’ve finally cracked it when people start fishing your chosen swim because your results have become too much for them to ignore any longer. Unfortunately, it then means you have to start all over again and develop a new area.

If you stick at baiting an area that normally doesn’t produce, you may find that you’ll end up producing an artificial hotspot. On my local water, I chose an unfancied swim and baited it once a week with around 50 boilies from January until March. When I started fishing, I continued to introduce bait. The fish had obviously discovered the food source, and I found that they’d started to visit the area looking for their free meal. I caught consistently from the unfancied swim. I no longer introduce bait into that area, so has the artificial hot spot died?How much bait should be introduced? If you’re part of a baiting team, sponsored, or cost is not a problem then introduce as much as possible. However, please make sure that all your bait is being eaten and not causing detriment to the water. I only fish for a small number of carp in a relatively small water, so I don’t need as much bait as would be required on a large water or one with a number of large carp. Also, don’t forget that other species will be eating your bait. If the water has a big head of tench or bream, they could be eating the majority of your bait. However, I feel that a regular supply, no matter how small, has its benefits. If you’re restricted to only a small amount of bait, then concentrate on a small part of your water so that the fish get used to feeding on a regular supply of your chosen bait and keep visiting your specific area.

In Julian Cundiff’s book ‘Practical Carp Fishing’ he recommends as a general guide:

For 50 carp in a lake 4lb of bait three time a week, for 100 carp 6lb of bait and 10lb of bait for 200 carp.

That is a very expensive outlay, but cost and effort equal results. However, I’m still prepared to say that even a small amount of bait will help improve your results. If you use the levels recommended above, then as long as you’re using a good bait, your results should reflect your efforts. If nobody else is introducing large amounts of bait, you should be able to take the water apart.If you are undertaking a long-term baiting campaign, then you must use a good quality bait. Don’t start using a bait you’re unsure about. Use the well-proven mixes such as Nash S-Mix, Nutrabaits Big Fish Mix or one of the highly successful Mainline baits. You’ll find that the long-term success of a bait can be improved by using low-level flavours. The bait should become a food source for the fish and so initial attraction via high flavour levels are unnecessary.

Anyone who is a keen carp angler would know that Wellington Country park is the UK mecca for catching very large carp.

The opportunities to fish at Welli are as rare as winning the National Lottery! So when Trevor (Affectionately known as TT) offered me a 36 hour session with him I jumped at the chance.
For those of you who do not know about the venue it’s about 20 acres in size situated in lovely quiet countryside about 4 miles outside Reading. The average depth is around 4.5 feet with the water being very clear which promotes prolific weed growth. This water is home to many very large carp to 47Lb. Many top name anglers fish Wellington and its not uncommon to meet then when you are there.

A nice pair of Welli whackers! Welli was featured in one of the most recent Korda DVD’s and is always in magazines without being directly named. Most days you can spot an angling celebrity fishing there.

TT and I arranged to meet at 7.00am on Saturday morning at the main gates, for me 7.00am could not come quickly enough after a sleepless night. After what seemed like an eternity TT eventually arrived and after the usual meet and greet we unlocked the gates and drove to the angler’s car park.

With just four cars in the car park we knew that the best swims would possibly be taken. Both of us loaded up the barrows and headed off to the lake with much anticipation but sure enough the better swims on the lake were already taken. TT made the decision to set up on the grassy bank area so we turned our barrows around and set about the long walk to the grass bank area of the lake.

The spot we chose gave us good coverage of the water. With three rods out each we could ambush the carp as they swam from one end of the lake to the other

The tactics Due to the abundance of weed it was 12.30pm before I got my last rod into the water. Confident in the spots I had chosen I set about baiting up.

The left hand rod was positioned at about 60 meters out and 20 meters of the bank to my left hand side. This made baiting a simple matter of walking around the lake and catapulting boilies onto the spot.

1Kg of Dynamite boilies were catapulted onto the spot My second rod was placed at 90 meters straight out in front, too far to reach with the catapult so out came the trusty Grey’s spod rod. 20 or more casts later I had deposited another kilo of Dynamite tiger nut boilies over my hook bait.

The third rod was a roving rod and used the same rigs and bait but was set up with PVA ground bait sticks and was cast to showing fish.

Special G ground bait and crushed tiger nuts mixed with tiger nut oil made up my stick mix ingredients

Rigs were very simple – Korda side-clip systems were used to eject the leads quickly due to the weed problems. Safe zone leaders helped the side clip systems work well and pinned everything down on the lake bed.

Size 6 Kamasan Maxx Barbel hooks were tied to Suffix Camo Skin 15lb braided hook lengths. The rigs were made up deliberately very long 13” to help bait presentation allowing the bait to settle as naturally as possible on the weedy lake bed. A long hair was used with a small Korda micro ring giving a claw rig set up.

A long length of heat shrink tube was used to give a simple kicker at the eye of the Maxx Carp hooks The going bait on Welli is Dynamite Monster tiger nut boilies in 10mm, 15mm, 18mm and 20mm sizes both shelf life and freezer baits. To complement this I had some Dynamite 15mm pop ups and tiger nut liquid. The fishing For the first 24 hours the rods and bobbins sat in perfect symmetry only moving when either a weed bed drifted into the line or a coot thought it was a carp and picked up my bait. Don’t you just love coots?!

No carp yet no runs yet but we were looking good

TT was getting bored so he decided to do some swim clearance. The floating weed was a real nightmare. TT managed to create a weed mountain nearly 3 foot high and six foot long.

We were surrounded by the most beautiful country side and with the carp on a go slow we were able to fully enjoy these exquisite surroundings. The lake had been very quiet for the preceding weeks and our session followed that slow trend. However a few carp gave us a demonstration of jumping and crashing out of the water more akin to dolphins than carp.

All too soon it was our last morning our rods had remained upon there rests and no carp had bothered us. As we lazily sat in the warming autumn sun, without warning TT left hand rod burst into life as the clutch on his Shimano Technums went into overdrive as a fit carp tried to escape.

TT jumped into action grabbing the rod as he lifted into a powerful carp, his Free Spirit rod took on a full and healthy curve Our expectations were very high could this be a 30 or maybe one of the lakes many 40′s. The fish was skillfully played into the margins.

Due to the very shallow margins TT decided to net the fish himself

The carp was soon being looked after on TT’s very old but strangely hardly used unhooking mat TT manged to hold the lovely common up for the cameras before letting him back to his watery home.

TT assures me that this is his happy look!

This superb miniature common will grow to one of Wellington country parks much larger residents in years to come With just a couple of hours left to go before we had to start packing up our tackle it was my turn to get a screaming take from the left hand rod. I lifted the rod from the Delkim and felt a heavy fish but immediately the line went slack; I had managed to drop the fish. When I eventually reeled in the rig, the pop up bait had managed to get impaled upon the hook point, preventing the hook from catching the carp properly. Oh well maybe next time.

The session went very well. Only one fish caught but the setting, atmosphere and the company had made this for me an excellent weekend session that will remain in my thoughts for many years to come. TT learnt a whole raft of new rigs ideas and concepts and I am sure if he keeps practising he will become a very confident angler. Thanks TT for a great weekend.

Tight lines! Ian Gemson is a PAA Qualified Professional Angling Coach offering training courses and one-to-one sessions for new and Experienced anglers alike. For more information regarding his services, please visit his website at SmartCarping.com

The lead clip system is possibly one of the most popular lead systems and is used by the vast majority of carp anglers today. They are designed to eject the lead should it become tethered whilst playing the fish so using a side-clip in your rig is critical to fish welfare.

It’s easy to put this system together incorrectly so the leads will not eject and the fish will become permanently connected to the snag. In this article I will show you how to correctly assemble a side-clip system to ensure complete fish safety.

Side clips can be put together using leaders or by using rig tubing. In this article I will show you how to use a leader.

What you need

– Safe zone leaders
– Size 8 ring swivels
– Lead clips
– Tail rubbers
– Silicon tube
– Swivel lead
– Heavy latch needle

IMPORTANT NOTE:
It is vital that you use a single manufacturer’s products to build your side-clip system. Different manufactures components are not always compatible with one another.

Method Step 1

Thread the side clip onto the heavy latch needle

Step 2

With the side clip on the heavy latch needle insert the loop of the leader into the latch and slide the side clip onto the leader.

Step 3

Thread the tail rubbers onto the heavy latch needle. Now with the tail rubber on the heavy latch needle insert the loop of the leader into the latch and slide the tail rubber onto the leader and slide the clip and tail up the leader.

Step 4

Now pull the swivel into the lead clip, the swivel should be a tight fit and you should hear and feel the swivel pass over a ridge in the lead clip housing. It is very important that the swivel is a tight fit in the lead clip if yours is not tight then you can use a small piece of fishing line slipped down along the side if the swivel as it is drawn in to tighten the fit.

Step 5

Select the swivel lead you require and place a small amount of silicone sleeve over the bottom of the swivel to help minimize tangles.

Step 6

With the lead in place wet the ridged section of the clip and slide the tail rubber over the ridges. It is very important that you do not force the tail rubber completely over the ridges as this will stop the lead from ejecting if the lead becomes tethered.

Only push the tail on 3 or 4 ridges at most the tail rubber is shown about four ridges in.

Your rig is now complete!

All that’s left is to tie the leader to your mainline (a grinner knot is good for this) then add a quick link to the ring swivel, attach your hook length and bait and you are ready to cast out and start fishing.

Tight lines!

Ian Gemson is a PAA Qualified Professional Angling Coach offering training courses and one-to-one sessions for new and Experienced anglers alike. For more information regarding his services, please visit his website at SmartCarping.com

Spodding is a bait delivery system which allows accurate baiting of a very wide variety of baits. There is no quicker way of delivering bait than a spod (besides a bait boat which I’ll talk about in a future article). If done correctly, spodding can produce large bags of fish.

Rods and reels
When filled with bait a large spod can weigh as much as 6-7oz, far to much for the average carp rod to cast, so a dedicated spod rod with a test curve of 4lb or more is required. Most manufacturers now offer a bespoke spod rod in their range.

I use a Greys Marker spod rod which is a 12’ rod with a 4lb test curve

A large spooled reel is essential to take the strain out of spodding. These big reels will make casting and retrieving the spods a lot easier.

I use a Shimano GTX 8000 reel filled with low diameter non stretch floating braid (Whiplash Pro) in 30lb breaking strain. Even at 30lb breaking strain the braid has the same diameter as 5lb mono.

The spool of braid should always be wetted before you start casting to minimize wind knots. The floating braid makes gathering the line after the cast really easy and assists in lifting the spod onto the plane during the retrieve of the spod.

It is important to note that the spool must not be filled to the lip of the spool as you would with mono as you will suffer from wind knots during the cast

When using braid you must always use a leather finger stool or a golfing or dedicated casting glove to protect you casting finger from the braid.

Leaders
When casting a heavy bait filled spod you need a leader that will take the stress of the cast. Many manufacturers make very good leader material in both mono and braid.
This leader not only protects against snapping the line during the initial stages of casting but also helps to protect your fingers against line cuts.

I have been using Korda Arma-Kord in the 50lb breaking strain

The leader is connected to the mainline with a double grinner knot

Spods
A spod is like a large groundbait feeder blocked off at one end, often as large as a coke can. Unlike a groundbait feeder the spod has a buoyant nose cone which when filled with bait and cast into the lake causes the spod to tip and therefore self-empty.

A wide range of spods are available to suit most baiting needs

Accuracy
When we know where we want to place our bait and our marker float is sat in the required position in our swim its time to range the spod to the marker float. We do this by replacing the spod with a heavy lead and casting at the marker float until we land the lead next to the spod with our rod held vertically, cushioning the cast.

With the lead still out in the lake, place the line in the line clip and mark the line. It is now trapped behind the line clip so it is essential to feather the casts with the spod by holding the rod vertically. This prevents the spod from stopping too abruptly and bouncing back towards you and therefore potentially causing line-breaks and damage to the line clip on the spool.

Set the range to spod to using a marker float

Tying a marker knot with pole elastic

Pole elastic marker knot now in position which slides freely through the eyes

Knot lays neatly onto the spool and does not impair the cast

Placing the line in the line clip ensures the spod lands at the same range on every cast

Filling
Spods can be used to delivery a wide rand and variety of baits. To get the best accuracy when we are spodding it is critical we do not overfill the spod.

Overfilled spods do not fly straight and will want to tumble during flight

Loose baits like pellets, maggots and small boilies (particles) will if not trapped in place fall out the back of the spod during casting (known as spod-spill). To stop this you can use a little plug of ground bait or a couple of large PVA nuggets in the back of the spod.

Cap the spod with a groundbait plug to prevent spod-spill during casting

Casting
Cast out your spod towards your marker-float, overhead style. During the cast it is important that you cast with enough power to just get past the marker float. After releasing the line on the cast pull the rod back to the vertical position. As you feel the line tighten quickly drop the rod forward to the horizontal to allow you to cushion the cast and ensure better accuracy and prevent line snapping and breaking the line clip off the reel spool. When the spod hits the water it should hit with a slap on a tight line, this takes a lot of practice but ensure the minimum amount of disturbance to the swim. Cast out your spod towards your marker-float, overhead style

Allow the spod time to settle and the feed chance to escape the spod

Give the rod a couple of short sharp pulls to agitate the spod and assist the feed to exit the spod

A nice tight bed of maggots and ground bait, right ontop of your marker

When the spod is empty, lift you rod and reel fast and smooth to retrieve the spod. Always try to get the spod to come up onto the surface of the water as quickly as possible. This will it easier to retrieve and make the process less tiring.

Have fun with your new spodding skills and remember – you can always add bait to your swim but you can’t remove it.

Tight lines!

Ian Gemson is a PAA Qualified Professional Angling Coach offering training courses and one-to-one sessions for new and Experienced anglers alike. For more information regarding his services, please visit his website at SmartCarping.com

No two lakes are the same, indeed no two swims are the same. When we look at the lake we are intending to fish, all we can see is a flat sheet of water. Without knowing what we are about to cast into how can we understand what rig will be most effective for the conditions we are placing our rigs into? The best method of feature finding is with a marker float, braid and a dedicated rod that has been specially designed for the task.

Rods The marker rod should be able to cast as far as your normal carp rods can cast. There is no point in skimping on this as you will not be able to feature find at your full casting range.

I use a Greys Marker rod which is a 12′ rod with a 2.75lb test curve. This rod is designed specifically for use as a marker rod and has 6″ and 12″ marked graduations above the reel seat to allow accurate depth measurement.

Greys 12′ Marker rod, specially designed for the task

Graduations of 6″ and 12″ allows accurate depth measurement

Reels A large spooled Shimano Bigpit reel is filled with low diameter non-stretch, floating braid (Whiplash Pro) in 30lb breaking strain. At 30lb breaking strain the braid has the same diameter as 5lb mono which makes it easy to cast.

The braid having no stretch will allow you to feel the nature of the lake bottom, be that the “rattle” of a pebbles or the smooth drag of silt, the braid will transmit everything through to the tip of your rod.

Shimano Bigpit reel filled with low diameter non-stretch, floating braid

The spool must not be filled to the lip (as you would with mono) and should always be wetted before casting to minimize wind knots

Leads There are leads available on the market that are specifically designed for the purpose of feature finding. However, as long as the lead is heavy enough to cast to the range you are fishing to most leads will work.

Grubber lead from Wychwood – specially designed for feature finding Floats
A whole range of floats are available to cover most eventualities:
– Close up work
– Extreme range
– Weed
- Difficult light conditions

The float needs to be buoyant enough to pull the braid through the rig ring and rise to the surface, whilst not being too big so that it impairs the cast

The Setup The lead is attached to a 12″ stand off boom which comprises a quick connector at one end which the lead connects to a large eye ring at the other.

We have a stand-off boom to prevent weed from blocking the running eye. The eye allows the line to pass freely through and connect to the marker float.

How do you use a marker float? Once you have set up your marker-float its time to explore your swim. If you’re searching for a known feature then choose a point of reference on the far side of your swim or horizon, like a tree, pylon or church spire. If you don’t have any prior knowledge of your swim then fan out your casts in an arc to eventually cover the whole swim, making note of a point of reference for each cast.

Cast out your marker-float, overhead style, beyond where you think the underwater feature is by aiming for your chosen point of reference Once the lead hits the surface of the water quickly flick over the bail-arm and wind up any slack so that you’re in direct contact with the lead and marker-float. Keeping the rod tip high, let the rod gently lower as the lead pulls the tip down. Feel the lead and marker-float dropping through the water, this is where a braid shock-leader and main-line is advisable.

What can you feel?
When the lead touches down on the lake bed you’ll feel the vibrations traveling up the braid and down the rod to your hand. Mono has too much stretch which suppresses the vibrations. Touch-down The feel of the touch-down depends on what the lake bed consists of in that place. For example, if you feel a ‘knock’ then you’ve probably found gravel. If you feel a firm ‘thud’ then you’ve found clay. If you feel a soft ‘thud’ then you’ve found silt. If you feel the lead gently coming to rest on the lake bed without a ‘thud’ then you’ve found weed. Lead retrieval Once the lead has touched down you then turn side-on to the water, pointing the rod at 90 degrees to the marker-float and tightening up.

By using the rod only, pull the lead and marker-float along the lake bed about 3 yards at a time The feelings/vibrations that come up from the lead will give you an indication of what the lakebed consists of. For example, if you feel a constant knock, knock, knock, then you’re pulling the lead across gravel and the rod tip will bounce quite violently. If it feels like the lead is ‘sticking and skipping’ across the lakebed, then you’re pulling the lead across clay. If it feels like the lead is being pulled through ‘porridge’, then you’re pulling the lead through silt.

If the lead starts to snag up and gets harder and harder to pull along, then you’re in weed; you can actually feel the strands of weed snapping as you do this. When you’ve found say gravel, you can then explore how long or wide it is by casting past it or either side of it using your points of reference on the far bank or horizon and by using a marker on your line.

When you have found a feature you like the feel of, stop winding. Holding the rod at 90 degrees to the marker-float, loosen the clutch and pull line from the spool 12” at a time whilst watching for the float to surface.

When you see the float, make a note of the depth Continue this process until you have a good idea of the underwater features you have in front of you. Log these features and depths in a book so that you can quickly fish to these features in future sessions. Marking the range

Tieing a marker knot with pole elastic

Pole elastic marker knot now in position, slides freely through the eyes

Knot lays neatly onto the spool and does not impair the cast Master these simple techniques to ensure you get the best from your swim. With this knowledge you can ensure your rig is right for the type of lake bed and your bait is placed in the optimum position to ambush those hungry carp.

Tight lines! Ian Gemson is a PAA Qualified Professional Angling Coach offering training courses and one-to-one sessions for new and Experienced anglers alike. For more information regarding his services, please visit his website at SmartCarping.com

So you’re thinking of starting carp fishing right? well, you’ve just come to the right place, this guide is packed with information and explanations about everything someone new to carp fishing should need to know so they don’t get ripped off too much in tackle shops.

A basic list of what you are likely to need

• Carp Rods
• Reels
• Rod support or pod
• Bite alarms
• Bite indicators
• Landing net & unhooking mat
• End tackle i.e. hooks, weights, line etc
• Luggage and tackle box(s)
• Bait

Carp Rods

There are a baffling array of rods out there on the market today with prices ranging from £25 to £300+ but a rod’s a rod right?….

Wrong, it’s all about quality (and sometimes though you’re paying out for a brand name). A reasonably good quality carp rod can be got for around £60-£100 each, now one term that crops up regularly is Test Curve or TC as it’s commonly stated, the test curve of a rod is a guide to it’s action and power.

It is usually meant as the weight required at the tip to bend the tip through 90 degrees from the butt. The ‘action’ of a rod can really fall into three categories which define how the rod bends under load. Firstly there are Through Action rods ‘slow taper’ which are softer meaning that the rod will bend throughout it’s length right through to the butt which is ideal for close-up work but will make it harder to control a fish at distance and not very suitable for casting larger leads over any real distance.

Secondly there are Medium action ‘medium taper’ rods that are slightly more rigid towards the butt meaning that they have more power to play fish and control a fish at some distance, are capable of casting medium size leads at reasonable distance but are still supple enough to control a fish under the rod tip (most people opt for this type of rod as a good all-rounder).

Finally there are Fast Action ‘fast taper’ rods tend to have more power in the butt and mid-section of the rod making them ideal for distance casting as the rod compresses less under weight, they tend to have a higher TC than slow or medium taper rods, overall this means the rod is a lot stiffer and as such can make controlling a fish at close range a lot more difficult. With that said, spend time in the shop with rods fully assembled and fitted with your choice of reel to get a feel for the rod and check that the rod doesnt have a ‘sloppy’ action.

Reels

Shimano revolutionised carp fishing with the ‘baitrunner’ system which allows a separate drag to be switched in effectively allowing the reel to free-spool and in turn allowing a fish to take line with a closed bail arm. This has made things much simpler for carp anglers and nowadays most carp reels have this facility incorporated usually under a different name.

There are several good reels out there such as the Shimano Baitrunner and Fox Stratos but there are plenty of cheaper alternatives which are pretty comparable in performance from brands such as Okuma and Zebco.

Big Pit reels are designed with huge line capacity in mind for fishing extreme distance but from personal experience i’ve found that many of these big pit reels dont feel well balanced when fitted to certain rods so it’s worth trying one fitted to the rod before considering purchasing.

Rod Support & Rod Pods

Now, when it comes to rod support you have two choices really here, go for a rod pod or banksticks and buzzer bars. Now assuming you’re coming to carp fishing from a general coarse fishing background then you’ll already be familiar with banksticks but probably less familiar with rod pods.

A rod pod is a effectively a framework with banksticks that normally offers considerably more support than banksticks and can be used on rigid surfaces such as concrete without needing to be pushed into the ground like a bankstick does, the downside is that they can be a real pain to set up on steep banks where banksticks would be much simpler.

If you decide to take the bankstick route then try to get the screw-in type as they are much easier to get into dry mud banks that normal push-in types are and the much greater ease of use far outweights the small additional cost.

If you decide to go for a pod then there are several good pods out there made by a variety of manufacturers such as Solar, Fox, Nash and many others but be sure to check that everything is pretty solid and be sure to see it assembled in the shop due to the fact that although there are plenty of good quality pods out there there’s also plenty of rubbish ones too.

Bite Alarms

These days bite alarms are an invaluable tool in carp fishing providing an audible and often visual indication of bites. There are many brands and designs out there with varying features. Most typical designs (typically used by Nash, Fox, Wychwood) work on the roller wheel principle which has been in use for many years and often internally the alarms have a segmented disc attached to the wheel and this operates a beam-break sensor, the only downside being that due to having a segmented disc a certain degree of movement is required before the alarm actually provides an indication of the line movement.

Then there is typically one other design that is currently in use (used by Delkim) which works by sensing line vibration, this requires no moving parts such as a roller wheel. Features to look for are Adjustable Volume and Tone, this way the volume can be adusted down to be less annoying to other anglers during daylight hours. The tone adjustment can be handy as you can adjust the tone in case other anglers are using similar sounding alarms.

Try to get alarms that allow provision for attaching an external sounder box, there are mainly 2 ways to achieve this

1) through a wired connection plugging in to a socket on the alarm

2) wireless via a radio transmitter either built into the alarm or as an additional module that can be purchased separately.

If option 2 appeals to you then its best advised to check the price difference between the external transmitters versus the alarms with them built in.

For example Delkim TXi alarms cost around £120 incorporating the transmitter but to purchase a Delkim EV alarm is £60 but the transmitter module costs around £55 making a total cost around £115 so for an additional £5 you could have the alarms with them incorporated which makes the units more compact.

Bite Indicators

Bite indicators are really a necessity although this is mixed opinion but can make registering a bit a lot more positive and can give good indication of what a fish is actually doing with your bait. For example a rising indicator would indicate that the fish is moving away from you where a dropping indicator would indicate what is known as a drop back which means the fish has picked up the bait and is moving towards you with it, without an indicator this type of bite would be hard to register and may not even cause the alarm to sound as there would be nothing applying tension to the line the reel side of the alarm.

There are many designs of indicator and none are really technically superior or better than any other, the most popular seems to be the Fox or Solar swinger designs but conventional bobbin designs are just as good, be sure to look out for designs that allow you to incorporate a starlight or isotope to help you out when night fishing, recently more designs are being introduced that can be connected to your bite alarms allowing the indicator to be electrically illuminated for night fishing, normally you would have to use an indicator that is compatible with the type of alarm you have and is worth discussing with your tackle shop.

Landing Nets & Unhooking Mats

A good quality landing net is essential, not just for making things easier for you but more importantly for the welfare of the fish you’re landing and handling. Large coarse mesh will damage the fish, lift scales and abrade the body scraping off the protective mucus. Using a fine mesh good quality net will help to reduce this and this is often a rule imposed by many angling clubs and day ticket venues.

For this reason a good quality unhooking mat is also an essential, again it is often a requirement of most venues, there are many types but all are essentially the same, just the quality changes with price. It is possible to get combined unhooking mat and weigh slings which make handling larger carp a lot easier as there is no need to transfer the fish from the unhooking mat to the weigh sling and the same sling is often contored to support the fish for carrying back to the bank for release, although these are a little more pricey it’s worth the extra money for the peace of mind that the carp is not being exposed to any additional stress from excess handling.

Carp End Tackle

Well, there’s no point having shiny new rods, reels and everything else without anything to put on the end of them

First main consideration here is your main line, there are a bewildering array of lines to choose from, a line that has proved very popular for many years is Daiwa Sensor and so is Berkley Trilene but it is quite common nowadays to use braid in place of conventional line which offers many advantages, firstly braid is less likely to get damaged by underwater snags and mussels and the and has very little memory meaning that it doesn’t retain its coiling effect and has very little stretch but in many places braided main line is banned.

If you prefer to use a traditional monofilament line then you may want to consider using a flourocarbon line as this appears transparent in water and is less likely to be obvious to fish (typical examples are X-Line).

Be careful to follow the manufacturers instructions on loading your spools as you dont want to introduce any line-twist as this is the biggest cause of tangles ‘birds-nests’ on reels, normally the procesure is to lay the spool on the floor with the label side up and thread up through the butt section of the rod and fit the reel then fill it that way.

Weights, carry a wide variety of leads to suit various distances and conditions, I tent to prefer to go as light as possible for the distance as in my honest opinion (many will probably disagree) there is no need for heavy leads for distance casting if you’re using a PVA bag as the contents of the bag add enough additional casting weight.

Hooks are another important matter and again are mainly a matter of preference as to size and shape but the latter is really dependant on the design of the rig you’re using, for more information on rigs check out our rigs section which has tutorials showing rig designs.

PVA products come in very handy for baiting at distance as you can ensure that the loose feed is being delivered very close to your hookbait but we’ll discuss that elsewhere in further detail.

Hooklink material is an important choice, you can use flourocarbon but in my opinion this is a bit to stiff for a normal hair rig although it’s often used very successfully however I prefer to use a braided hooklength material such as Fox Coretex or Suffix Snakeskin which is a coated hooklength material.

Dont forget to get a pack of hair stops and a baiting needle too as these are essential for making and putting bait onto a hair rig.

Well, that’s pretty much the minimum of what you’ll need to get you started in carp fishing, obviously you can go with higher/lower quality items to fit your budget but please try to go for decent rods and reels otherwise you’ll only regret it later on and end up having to spend more in the long run.

This invaluable information should help you on your way to catching your first carp.

Pete Castle looks in detail at mass baiting and carp bait campaigns to catch carp in the summer months.

Mass baiting is a strategy best described as arriving at the lake with the aim of putting out something like three-to-five kilos of boilies and a good sized bucket of mixed particles or pellets to fish over for the coming session. Some people seem to like to fish over lots more bait than others and anglers that regularly fish over a lot of bait are generally more confident in this approach than when they are fishing light, as they see their tactic as the best way to stimulate the fish into confident feeding.

Heavily baited spots are something that I really like fishing over every now and again and this technique has produced some fantastic results for me in the past. There are definitely certain lakes that fish well when you put out loads of bait, but even on those lakes you have to make sure that you mass bait only in the right circumstances. There is no point filling in any water if the fish are off the feed. However, if conditions are right and the fish look like they’re having it, then have a go at mass baiting because this baiting strategy can not only catch out the odd fish, but it also regularly produces multiple captures.

Bait Campaigns

A bait campaign is often the chosen baiting strategy for many of the leading carp anglers. With this technique the aim is to establish your bait as a main food source so that the carp are literally hungrily looking for the chosen bait. It can sometimes take weeks to establish, but when the fish start to see the bait regularly then your hard work will start to take effect and you will begin to enjoy the benefits with hopefully outstanding results.

Key Tips for catching Carp:-

1 I like to put in a variety of bait when I’m mass baiting.

2 A huge framed fish caught by regularly baiting the same spot.

3 Choose a high quality food source bait if you’re going to start a long-term bait campaign.

4 Try using large quantities of maggots as alternative baiting strategy.

I’ve had three successful bait campaigns over recent years – one of these was done on my own and the other two took place with a little help from a few carp fishing friends. The most recent of these bait campaigns was on a relatively difficult water where there was only around thirty-to-thirty five fish in over forty acres of water and a bait campaign seemed the best way forward.

Everyone in the bait team agreed to get as much boiled bait into the lake as they could during the spring months to see if we could establish the bait as food source in this lake, which was also producing a lot of natural food items. It didn’t take long for us to notice that it was only the anglers that were on that specific bait that where getting the results. It was still very difficult, as you can imagine with such a low stocking level, but when fish were being caught it was usually on the bait that we had been putting in.

I had blanked for first few weeks, but I was confident that if I could get on fish with the bait that I would eventually catch. On one evening I managed to move onto a few fish and as I had full confidences in the baiting strategy we had been using, I thought that it was only a matter of time before I got a run. I actually managed four runs that night and banked not only a cracking upper-twenty, but also a mid-thirty and a pretty double. I also lost another fish after it tore off and stuffed me in a large weed bed – it felt like it might have been a bit of a chunk. The established bait played a big part in the capture of those sparse carp and it was only good teamwork and a belief in the bait that helped everyone that took part in the campaign to reap the benefits from establishing a bait as a food source.

Some Recent Success

I recently went on a trip to a local lake where a heavy baiting strategy proved to be very successful. I turned up to fish a three night session and put out about 15 kilos of crushed and whole boilies, pellets and particles to sit over for the next three nights ahead. The first night proved to be very slow and I only managed a lost fish early the following morning – I started to think that I had maybe made a mistake with the amount of bait I’d spodded out. However, things started to look up when just as I reeled in to go for a walk, a few fish started to move into the area.

By the second morning I’d caught a several good fish, but then things went very quite again by mid-morning as though the fish had cleaned me out of any remaining bait and had moved on into other areas. I spodded some more of the mix on the spots ready for the evening. The main lines were all already marked and in the clips and I spent most of the day spodding three buckets of mix to the chosen spots. I was confident that I was going to have some further success and things went really well throughout the third night and I wasn’t let down as I caught some more fantastic fish from the heavily baited areas. It took a little time to get swim working with the mass baiting technique, but as soon as the spot started to produce the odd fish it was just a case of topping it up to get even more runs.

Summary

It sometimes pays off to put out masses of bait into a swim and in other situations you’re probably better off fishing with single hook baits. Heavily baited areas can stop fish as they’re moving through, but if they’re off their feed then a lightly baited area might be more suitable, so try to choose your baiting strategy wisely. The best way to get the carp to pick up your chosen bait is to establish it as a food source. Most carp anglers (myself included) rarely take advantage of the idea of starting a bait campaign, but it is one of the fundamental tactics favoured by many of the leading carp anglers.

Personally my angling style is more eclectic, as I’m usually fishing different waters every week – this often makes a formal bait campaign unfeasible for me to do on a regular basis. Nevertheless, if you’ve joined a syndicate or club that you will fish regularly and you have a few trusted friends that will put the bait in on a regular basis, then I would seriously consider trying to establish your bait as a food source.

Many of the leading bait companies produce excellent mixes that will offer a quality food source to the carp. It might take a little time for you to notice the results, but if you strategically put in enough of the stuff then the carp can soon become so dependent that they end up being caught on little else.

Good Luck, Pete Castle.

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.

Handling carp

In the following article, I am going to give some advice on the handling of carp, from the moment they enter the landing net, to their safe return to the water. It is very important that the novice carp angler, and even some more experienced angler, learn the basic rules to follow, in order to preserve the well being of the fish. After all, if the fish suffer, then so does our angling.

There are a few basic pieces of equipment that you will need, and in fact they are compulsory on many of our waters. They are a landing net of a reasonable size, an unhooking mat, a weigh sling and scales if you intend to weigh your quarry, which most of us do. I will talk about each piece of equipment in turn: -

Landing Nets

Nets are largely a matter of personal preference and budget. Size will be governed by the size of your quarry. It should be large enough to safely net a carp of whatever size you may catch in your water. A minimum 36″ net is required on most waters, and some fisheries insist on this or even larger. The mesh used in its construction does tend to vary a lot and the finer meshes are better for carp, especially mirror carp, as they are less likely to catch on their scales and damage them. Some nets have a larger mesh near the frame and a finer mesh in the base of the net. Try to aim for a fairly small soft mesh. Net frames vary in construction and the better nets will collapse fairly quickly if needed when landing a carp. This enables the fish to be lifted by the net frame, using both hands. This is a much safer method than trying to lift a net full of carp by a long handle, which is bending and looking like it might snap at any moment. If the frame doesn’t easily dismantle, then support it with one hand to take the weight. Handles again come in many shapes, sizes and materials, from aluminium one and two-piece telescopic varieties to carbon fibre models of one two and even three sections. Whilst the latter are much lighter to transport and use, some cheaper models will not stand the weight of a good carp and may snap just at the wrong moment with disastrous consequences. If in doubt, seek the advice of a good dealer and try to get a good balance between weight and strength to suit the net you are using.

Unhooking Mats

This is an essential piece of kit whatever size of carp you are fishing for. I have seen so many anglers laying their carp on the grass while they unhook them, which may in some instances not do any harm. Suppose however there is a sharp stick or discarded bivvy peg under that grass, or even a piece of glass, what then. Suppose the carp flaps about and moves off of the grass onto gravel. An unhooking mat need not be an expensive item of kit, and can save a carp from untold damage to its fins and scales.
Some better models have raised edges to stop the carp from being able to flip themselves off, and some have flaps and covers, some even have Velcro covers to enable them to double as weigh slings, but be careful, as a heavy carp will slide about and pull Velcro apart easily. Whatever type you choose, it will better than laying a carp on the ground.

Weigh slings

Most weigh slings on the market will serve their purpose reasonably well, from the lower cost soft net varieties to the more advanced Velcro and zip up material versions, and again budget will largely determine your choice. Do make sure that whatever type you choose, it is kept in good condition and is not likely to rip as you lift a carp above the ground. Give them a rinse after fishing and hang them up at home to dry. I left a wet smelly net I my bag once only to find it being used as a mouse nest the next time I needed it. As mentioned above, some unhooking mats double as weigh slings, and this saves having to move a fish from mat to sling before it can be weighed. If you decide on this type, make sure that the fastening method used will support the weight of the carp and it can’t slide out during weighing and fall to the ground. Do not be tempted as I have seen some do to use a carrier bag. They split, usually at the most inopportune moment and are not safe. It will also not hold a large carp and you may not be able to weigh the fish of your dreams

Scales

From the small spring balances to the top of the range models, weighing scales come in all types. Basically you get what you pay for, and if you want to measure a possible record fish you need the accuracy of a good set. If you just want a rough idea of the weight, then a spring balance will give you that, but they do tend to rust after a while and give inaccurate readings. Buy as good as you can. A good set will last you for many years.

Preperation

So that gives a brief rundown on the equipment you will need, now a bit on how to use it. There is no point having all of the best equipment and then misusing it. First I am going to mention preparation. This is important as the best equipment in no use at all if it is not ready when you get that run you have waited hours for. Many fisheries today insist on dipping nets and weigh slings before you start to fish. If yours does, then do it. I know how annoying it is when you have just unpacked the car, walked all of your gear to the swim and realise you haven’t dipped your nets, but this ruling is for your own good. If you help to spread an infection from one water to another, then it is your own fishing you are risking. Try to get in the habit of dipping them as you arrive at the water. I carry an old nylon tent carry bag and as soon as I have dipped the nets I place them in that to carry them to my swim.

When you first arrive at your swim and start setting up, make sure that you lay out your unhooking mat and set up your landing net before you cast a rod. I have often seen a rod cast out and a run occur straight away while the angler is still trying to screw his landing net handle on. Scales and weight sling should be put nearby so that everything is in reach as soon as a fish is landed. You don’t want to be rummaging through tackle bags while a fish is gasping in the net. I always keep my unhooking mat damp as well, so that it is less likely to damage a fish.

Ok, so you have your run. The carp is on and with any luck is approaching the landing net. If you are fishing with a friend the next few minutes is made a lot easier, but if not, you will need your landing net to hand. As the fish comes nearer to the net, sink the net in the front of the swim and then guide the carp over it. Thrusting a net at a carp as it approaches will spook it and send it shooting off for cover just as you about to land it, which often results in a lost fish. As the carp draws over the net, gently lift the net until it is above the water’s surface.

Weighing

Now comes the bit where you need three hands. If possible, put your rod down where it cannot be trodden on, and release the bail arm on the reel or the baitrunner so that line can be pulled from it. Then, supporting the net’s frame lift the carp carefully from the water, trying to ensure that no fins or scales are caught in the net, and that the carp cannot be damaged by leads, floats, loops of line or other rig items. Walk the carp back to your unhooking mat and place it down carefully on it still in the net. Now remove the hook watching for any line that is wrapped around the fish to ensure that no scale or fin damage can occur. Move the rig away from the mat preferably near to your rods.

Next the fun bit. The carp needs to be transferred from the unhooking mat to the weigh sling. This is easiest achieved with two people if possible, at least until you are used to it. First make sure that the sling is wet and that your scales have been correctly set to zero with just the weight of the wet sling attached. I find it easiest to slide the weigh sling under the fish rather than lift the fish from one place to another. If you are wearing a watch or other jewellery, remove it first again to avoid damaging the fish.

Once in the sling, attach the scales to the links provided and then lift the carp clear of the ground holding the scales by the support ring above them. Try to keep the carp above the mat in case of disaster and not too high from the ground.

Once weighed, you can photograph your catch. This is the most dangerous moment for the carp, as they do tend to move about a bit. You need to offer as much support to the fish as possible whilst keeping your arms clear of the front to get the best picture. Always kneel down whilst holding it and keep it over the unhooking mat. When the picture has been taken, place the fish back on the mat or sling and return it quickly to the water. This is best done in the sling or on the mat if it doubles up as both. Never pick up a fish and walk it to the water. This is asking for trouble. Place the carp back in the water carefully, supporting it in an upright position until it is ready to swim away. If you have followed all of my advice, then this is one of the most pleasing moments, seeing the fish swim off to fight another day.

Just one last thing. Do return the carp straight to the water. Do not be tempted to place it in a keep net. These are designed for match anglers catching small fish. They are not designed for carp and will almost certainly cause them damage or worse.

And that’s about it. It may seem like an awful lot to remember to the novice angler, but it is mostly common sense and all designed to protect our fish. Without them there is no fishing. And one damaged fish can spread disease to others very easily. Most of the rules at any good fishery are there for good reasons. If you stick to them then you can go on enjoying your fishing for years to come, and those small carp you start off catching may become your fish of a lifetime in the future.

Particle baits, which include practically every seed, bean, pea or nut, can be every bit as successful a carp catcher as the most expensive boilie. What is more, with the vast majority of them, success is much more instant.

Some of the most widely used particles are;

• Tiger nuts – Preperation – Soak for 24 hrs & boil for 30 mins.
• Peanuts – Preperation – Soak for 12 hrs & boil for 30 mins.
• Sweetcorn – Preperation – Straight from tin or bag, keep in own juice.
• Maize – Preperation – Soak for 24 hours & boil for 30 min.
• Chic peas – Preperation – Soak for 12 hours & boil for 30 mins.
• Black-eyed beans – Preperation – Soak for 12 hours & boil for 30 mins.
• Hemp – Preperation – Soak for 12 hours & boil until split.
• Tares – Preperation – Soak for 12 hours & boil for 30 mins.
• Dari – Preperation – Soak for 12 hours & boil for 30 mins.
• Broad beans – Preperation – Soak for 12 hours & boil for 30 mins.
• Almonds – Not sure about this one – Anyone?
• Hazel nuts – Preperation – Soak for 24 hours & boil for 30 minutes
• Maples peas – Preperation – Soak for 12 hours & boil for 30 mins.
• Partiblend – Preperation – Boil for 1 minute.

For those that still remain cautious of preparing their own particles they can be purchased ready to use from the likes of Hinders or you can buy Dynamite prepared particles from most good fishing stores.

All of these particle baits have, and still do, catch lots of carp.

There are drawbacks to particles in that none, with the possible exception of tiger nuts, are selective. The more that go in a water, the more other species get turned on to them. In fact other species need only have tuned on to one or two particle baits before they go for any new ones right from the start.

With the first ones used however, it is often carp which are the first onto them.

Maple peas, chic peas, black-eyed beans and peanuts are probably the most widely used and overall, successful, of the particle baits. There are few waters where they will not succeed in the first instance.

Tiger nuts are an exceptional carp catching bait. These nuts are very selective because of their hardness – other species find them difficult to digest. You’ll still catch the odd bream and tench but not as often as with most of the other particles. They are very hard to break down, and the chances are any thrown in will stay where they are until they are picked up by carp. A lake may respond to them for several seasons, on a kind of on/off basis.

On most waters they are not as instant as say sweetcorn, maize, chic peas, black-eyed beans or peanuts, but once fish are on to them, you can expect great sport. In the past tigers have received ‘bad press’ because there may come a time when, after heavy feeding on these nuts, a lake will go completely dead for weeks on end, when it seems practically impossible to catch on any bait. I’ve never experienced this myself so I’m not sure how true it is.

Smaller dark seeds, particularly hemp, can be very effective when fished along side other baits. That is to say, they get carp feeding, but catching them can be a devil of a job, even when you fish hemp hook baits. At other times, hemp will provide a feeding response when carp are quite willing to pick up other baits fished over the hemp. Tares and dari seeds are both likely to give similar responses. Consider allowing them to germinate before you cook them. Germination can usually be achieved by first leaving them out in sunlight in a shallow tray, the seeds being covered in water, for a full day. Then bring them slowly to the boil. Twenty minutes simmering and they are ready to use.

Less widely used, but still effective are broad beans, sweet lupins, almonds and hazel nuts. With nuts it can be very hit and miss. Ones that have been in stock a long time will very likely float, so make sure the ones you buy are fresh. Sweet lupins are not commonly used in the UK but vast numbers of carp have been caught on them, particularly on the continent, where some anglers regard them as the particle supreme.

The most used and universally regarded particle bait would have to be sweetcorn, but there are plenty of others found in tins on the supermarket shelf which can score heavily. Baked beans and red kidney beans to mention a couple.

Always buy good quality particles from a reputable supplier. Some particles, notably peanuts, can be potentially lethal to the fish in certain states. Look for ‘human grade’ particles and you’ll be OK.

Preparation

On the whole, it can be said that the vast majority of these baits will work to one degree or another, merely soaked and not cooked. It must be said though that cooking produces a better bait, as it releases the full flavour. Cooking breaks down the outer skin allowing the natural oils to escape. Even if you don’t cook the particles it is ESSENTIAL you soak them first, it is however important that all particles are boiled to kill any dangerous organisms they may hold and also to prevent germination so just soaking particles before use without boiling in not recommended.

Some particles can swell up alarmingly as they take in water and may bloat to twice their original size. If the carp eats them un-soaked this swelling could take place inside the fish leading to death. In general soak for at least 24 hours but longer in the case of tigers and un-prepared maize, where 48 hours is better. This is the time to add any flavours or additives.

Cooking

For small particles like hemp & dari just bring to the boil and then allow them to cool off in the same water, bicarbonate of soda can be added to hemp to make it turn black and help it to split. Harder particles like tiger nuts & peanuts must be soaked for 24 hours and then boiled for 30 minutes, again allowing them to cool off in the same water. I always try to store the particles with as much of the cooking water as possible – it contains a lot of attractive oils. If I’m using a groundbait with the particles, I’ll use the water to mix with the groundbait.

If you’re not using the particles straight away they can be frozen at this stage. However, with tigers I like to leave them for 2 to 3 days until they start to ferment. The time depends on air temperature but you’ll know when they’ve ‘turned’ because the water will go sticky, like syrup.

I find them to be at their most effective at this stage.

Additional Flavours

With beans, you generally find the paler the colour, the less the flavour. For this reason, black eyed, soya, haricot and lima beans are generally more successful when flavoured. Soaking them overnight in flavour rather than just cooking them produces better baits. For the most part the darker baits i.e. maples, tares, tiger nuts and hemp have enough natural flavour, so adding flavours is not necessary. I’ve used flavours with particles but I can’t say I’ve found it dramatically increases their effectiveness. However, if they’ve been used un-flavoured extensively on a water it might just add the difference that brings results……. some good particle additives/flavourings worthy of a mention are salt, chilly powder, aniseed, CSL and molasses, all of these can enhance the effectiveness of your particles so they’re well worth a try.

You should add flavourings at the soaking stage so that they are drawn into the bait, after that boil the particles up in the same water they they have been soaking in…. a tea spoon or two of salt per kilo is good, 20mils of CSL or/and molasses per kilo is also good, you will need to play with the amounts of other flavorings for yourself but the amounts added when making boilies is a good starting place.

Application

As with boilies pick the right particle for the job. On a hard bottom almost any can be used, but when fishing over silt, either use a very buoyant one or one with large flat sides such as broad beans, lima (butter) beans, red kidney beans or almonds.

I regard boilie and particle fishing the same – I use the same methods and rigs for both. Particles, just like boilies, are particularly effective as a hook bait when popped off the bottom. To do this you can use a buoyancy aid such as a cork or rig foam, tied just above the particle on a hair, or the centre of the particle itself can be ground out and plugged with one of the said buoyant substances.

Apart from the lack of selectivity, the only other drawback is the lack of distance such baits can be catapulted.

Some of the best baiting methods for particles are bait boats, particle spod’s, pva bags or strings and don’t forget that great carp sport can be had in the margins right under your feet at times!

A particularly inventive approach is to make up a standard hook link with bait, then drop this into an ice-lolly former. The rest of the cone is then filled with particles and flavour and the whole lot frozen. The frozen cones can be cast as far as most boilies!

Particles are tremendous baits, and can be fished in most situations, when you put your mind to it.

Also see this very useful article – “The Tigernut” By Dirk Wise

Credit and Thanks to Carp-Uk.Net for this excellent article…

Keep up the Good Work Lads

The basic equipment:

1. Rod: What distance do you fish to mainly, do you often fish at long distance (80yards+) then you’ll need to use a rod with a bit of oomph (technical term) for the marking up, however you don’t need to buy purpose made marker rods for marking, I use the same rod for marking that I use for fishing, namely a 2 3/4 test curve Long Distance model (Daiwa Power mesh X).

2. Reel: as for number 1 if you are marking up at distance you will need a larger spool reel to help with the cast, so once you’ve decided you need perhaps a large spool reel, you again don’t need to buy an emblem 5000s just for marking, I bought myself a Shakespeare sea reel, lots of line and winds in quite quickly, only cost me £30! ( I also use one for me spodding but that’s another article). NOTE, you will need one with a line clip, very important!

3. Line: For line I use cheap 15lb mono, you can use purpose made braids, Fox and ESP among others market braid designed for this, if you decide to use braid then are both good and bad points to remember (pros: very good feature detection, cons: need to wear a glove or finger protector, also expensive) also you may need to buy some sort of protection for your finger. again its a personal preference thing, I have used braid and didn’t get along with it, but I know people who do use it, and love it!

4. Leads: O.K. leads you can use 2.5 (minimum weight) up to 4oz leads, dumpy pears are better than most, the best ones are the Fox feature finding leads, they have no coating (increased feel) and four knobs at the “corners” again increased feel, they come in a pack of two, one normal lead with a swivel directly attached and one with a 2 inch wire extension to the swivel to help in weedy situations, again its up to you but I do love these leads for feature finding.

5. Floats: Entirely up to you this section I prefer the fox one again (I don’t work for Fox!!!) but there are loads out there, all the big names are making them, however I will mention the ESP sonar one with the three interchangeable vanes, the thread that these vanes screw on to snapped off on the cast, this has also happened to a much more experienced angler that me, that doesn’t mean that everyone will do the same just something to bear in mind

6. Rigby bits: Ok you will need 2 small rubber beads(4mm) and 1 larger one (6mm) between the sliding lead and the float, if you are using a normal lead with a boom section you’ll need the boom section to be longer than the float and 15lb break or more, you will also need a large run ring for the boom section.

Setting up the rig:

If this sounds like being taught to suck eggs, forgive me, right thread line through rod rings!! now thread on the lead, passing the line through the run ring, now thread on two small beads and then the large one, now tie on the marker float using a secure knot of course ( I recommend the 5 turn grinner )

Using the Marker setup:

1. Now you are ready to mark it up baby! ok well never mind that, cast out to the edge of the area you can sensibly fish, once the lead has hit the floor, tighten the line to the lead with the rod pointing at the lead, now standing sideways on slowly pull the rod from pointing to the lead to pointing away from your body (I.e. a 90o Turn) watch the tip and feel the twitches/bumps.

2. From pulling the rod you will get one of 3 types of indications, type 1 bumps, this is gravel! result! gravel is good type 2 smooth pull back, this is silt/clay and means the bottoms clean Type 3 sharp pulls and maybe even locked up, the dreaded weed! ok you now know what’s on the lake floor, but where abouts is it exactly!!!

3. tighten to the lead again, now mark off a foot on the rod itself from the reel bale arm to a foot long on the rod, either using backwind or loose clutch ( a baitrunner reel makes this job so easy!) peel off the line in 1 ft lengths counting as you go, remember one the float has surfaced, you now have a rough guide to depth and a visual indicator as to where the feature is, try and line up this feature with a permanent horizon marker, and also remember to mark where you are standing and make that permanent too, I.e. I line up with the end of my pod/bank sticks.

4. Continue steps 1-3 to mark out the make up of the lake bed in front of you, for a short session I would recommend only casting to one feature if at all with the marker float, for longer sessions (24hrs+) take your time you could find something real good to fish to!

5. If you are only fishing to this feature then clip up the line, pass the line under the spool clip but only when the line is tight to the lead. now whilst the marker is out there in the swim, cast your rigs to the marker float, this is where the depth is important, depending on how deep it is you will need to cast beyond the marker float to make the lead fall to the bottom near the lead marker.

I.e. if its 6 foot deep you will need to cast approx 6ft beyond the marker, hold the line tight on the cast so that the weight swings back to the marker. therefore making a very accurate cast to that feature.

6. remember the horizon marker you used, you can now with a tight line to the lead clip up your mainline and then mark the line with a small piece of white tape doubled over, or line marker braid (courtesy again of fox, sorry I don’t love em!) so that you can cast and recast at night time accurately and confidently

Summary:

Ok i dont profess to having the best system to use but i find it easy and simple to use, to help with the marking up of a feature and casting accurately to it, remember marking up isnt needed if you know the lake intimately but ultimately it can be a great weapon in the battle.

For those of you used to the warm weather Winter Carping can come as a real shock to the system, now is bad enough but the really cold stuff late December on ,can really choke the pig.

Tackled correctly though you can enjoy yourselves in relative comfort, with a much wider swim choice than hitherto, even on busy fisheries.Mainly because the competition chooses to go to fishing only during the day. Arrive at your lake and look round towards 3 pm and see people drift away faster than the crowd at a dull football match.

Before you think about swim choice lets do the gear thing. Bivvying out in cold conditions needs care and attention as well as different gear to summer. Skimping on the winter stuff can be everything from mildly inconvenient to potentially lethal! So here are a few basic suggestions:-

1) Don’t skimp on the bivvy bit. Site it if possible with the back into the wind, not the door, or shelter it by positioning it with shelter from trees and bushes. If this gives you a view of the lake from inside your bivvy well and good, but if not you can always use the body of the tent to keep the wind off you when you are sat outside.

2) Bedchair comfort. Winter nights are long so don’t skimp on this either. Take a piece of foam rubber to put on even the best padded bedchair, this can add 10 degrees to the temperature in your sleeping bag, as well as some important comfort.Carry it folded up inside the bedchair.

3) Always try to put a groundsheet down It can get very cold and damp without in summer. In winter life can be miserable in a cold wet muddy bivvy. I have a sewn in groundsheet, but put an extra one down anyway on top, as, in time, all groundsheets perforate and let in the wet. Some folk even go to the extent of putting down a square of carpet sample in front of their bedchair to provide that little extra comfort and insulation.

4) Gas
Remember gas does not vaporize as freely in cold weather, just when you need a warming brew or a hot meal the most. So try to find a stove that does work in low temperatures. Petrol, Coleman Fuel, or Meths stoves such as the Trangia type, seem to be the most recommended. I know of one bloke who even takes a small solid fuel “emergency” stove as a back up. But don’t use stoves inside your bivvy, and not just because they throw out volumes of deadly fumes. You can end up with no floor, when they get going! Or if you are as clumsy as me, no bivvy, no eyebrows, and no drink as well!

5) Sleeping bags. You don’t always need a super 5 Season bag, but you WILL need at least two thinner ones, one inside the other. You can always leave one unzipped, but if you aint got it, even fully dressed inside, you will regret it. Don’t get too tight a bag either, its the trapping of air around you that keeps you warm. So make sure you have some moving about room inside both bags.

6) Clothing Wear loose fitting gear,( not jeans as cotton is very cold in winter). Start with thermal underwear, a good dry warm layer next to the skin is a real winner. Then wear several layers of clothing, shirts thinner pullovers and then fleeces. Many layers are preferred to one thick one, as you can mix and match to keep comfortable. With one thick layer you are at your ideal comfort level just once, the rest of the time you are tolerating conditions. Keep spare clothing in a plastic bag or bin liner in your rucksack, not on the bivvy floor. There’s not a lot worse than putting on cold wet clothing after you have gone out in the middle of a cold wet night to reel in a Bream, tripped and fallen in.

7) Boots I should perhaps have included this under clothing but socks play a vital role in keeping you warm and comfortable. Do not put too many pairs on in the belief that you will be warmer. They cramp your toes and cut off blood circulation, unless your boots are big enough to allow for the extra layers and the air circulation as well. If you can afford it get some of the insulated boots, with a built in thermal insole, and fleecy inner “sock”. Mine are “Mukluks” over 10 years old now and still going strong. Ok I’ve had to replace the inner sock layer quite a few times but they are still warm and comfortable. Skeetex and Boom boots are also ok.

Food Take plenty and make it easy to cook stuff. Plenty of carbohydrates, a winter night outdoors is not the place for a low calorie diet. Get used to drinking lots of tea or coffee or drinking chocolate, or Horliks, whatever’s your own thing,but keep the alcohol to a minimum. It gives a false sense of warmth and in the wrong time and place this can kill.

9) Information and communication Sounds odd, but make sure you tell someone responsible, where you are going, what lake, and when you are due back. In winter this can mean the difference between getting home ok and spending the night on a frozen bankside with a broken ankle from a slip.

If you have one take a FULLY CHARGED mobile with you, and not for nonsense calls to while away the time. Take a book for that, leave the phone for real emergencies.

Take care with your gear and your gear should take care of you!