7 tips to catch you more off the surface

01 Baiting tools

Feeding and doing so regularly is absolutely essential when it comes to surface fishing. Little and often is key to enticing numbers of fish to competitively fight for the freebies. The more fish you can draw in to the area, the better the chance will be that you will catch one.

I always carry both catapults and Spombs with me, which enable me to fish at a variety of distances. If the fish are long, I can feed them out there and likewise if they are close in.

02 Adding oil

Adding oil to your mixers firstly enhances the flavour of them massively. Generally, I tend to use dog biscuits because they are cheap and cheerful. The fish like them anyway, but by adding a fish oil like the CAP-OIL it gives them a lovely, oily and fishy glaze to them and they smell delicious.

Secondly, the oil flattens the surface of the lake and eliminates any ripple that may cause issues with your presentation. I sometimes just pour a small amount in the margin on the back of the wind and it can actually flatten off the whole lake.

03 Boilie hook baits

There are lots of different options when it comes to hook baits, but I have found one to stand out above the rest. I know people like to band mixers on, but for me, there is not much that can beat a well-trimmed pop-up. I use the Krill for a number of reasons.

Firstly they are extremely durable and will remain on the hair all day if you need to, despite regular casting. Secondly, they are a similar colour to my freebies and remain as buoyant as them too.

04 Spare floats

Make sure you carry plenty of spare controllers with you. There are lots of different shapes and sized floats and some suit some situations better than others. I also like to have some with coloured tops on in case the light levels are poor and I need something a little more visual out there.

05 Carry more than one rod

I carry two rods with me for a number of reasons. Firstly, it means that if something went wrong with one rod and the fish were still feeding, I can get a rods out to the area and not miss an opportunity of a carp.

It also allows me to fish with two rods at any one time should I want too. It can act as a decoy to the fish, especially when they seem to have sussed the float or the rig. The amount of times they suss the float and eat everything around it it when the second rod works well. They go in to a frenzy and don’t think that a second bait is dangerous. Its also something that few people do and at times it can be a great way of catching more carp.

06 Mix it up

I use a variety of sized baits when floater fishing. It causes confusion and the fish can’t suss the hook bait so easily. That’s the key, the keep the fish guessing, which is similar to bottom bait fishing.

You can buy dog biscuits and even cat biscuits straight out the bag, all misshaped and different sizes. You will need to Spomb them though if you want to group them together and keep the fish feeding in the same area.

07 Keep feeding

Once you have foiund the fish, make sure you keep feeding them before you cast out. You want the fish feeding confidently before you start putting controllers in the swim.

The more confident the fish are, the greater the chance of catching multiple carp from the swim. As the number of carp increases, the more competition it creates. I want as many fish feeding as possible and then I will cast the rig out.