Do big carp have character traits?

When you are targeting an individual fish, how much do you look at the individual fish’s character when it comes to watercraft?

This is a very good question and one that is very relevant to my recent angling exploits. Big carp definitely seem to have character traits that, if tapped into correctly, can help us to target that one particular fish over all the others. Actually, that maybe a bit of a sweeping statement so let’s say studying the characteristics and behavioural history of a specific fish can increase the chances of a capture and reduce time spent in futile pursuit.

On some lakes it will be a matter of adapting your approach to avoid the bulk of the rest of the stock rather than specifically targeting the one big ‘un and by doing this you are upping your percentage chances of catching the one you want. I have fished lakes where margin fishing with particles will almost guarantee action but nearly always the smaller commons; the bigger mirrors preferring a decent meal of boilies or are not being willing to mix it up in the edge with the commons.

At Conningbrook there was a situation similar to this. Two-Tone, the current British record, had a set of rules that he seemed to feed by and they included never eat bait in the margins and seldom get involved with the rest of the pack. As far as I know he stuck to this until he died and the best way to target this elusive beast was a single bright one thumped out into oblivion, not ideal, but effective.

The problem is, the more you think you know and the more pieces you put into place in your own mental picture of how and where a carp will be caught, then the more you come to rely on that knowledge and take it as gospel truth. The reality though, is that a carp is a living creature and has free will, it can change its mind, it can act out of character and, sometimes, all your accumulated knowledge can act as a double-edged sword.

A new wind on a big pit. Who cares if it’s called ‘No Carp Bay’, sometimes you just have to follow your gut feelings

For example, if a known big fish gets caught only once or twice a year then where do you draw the line with following your information over your instinct? Let’s say it’s a new easterly in the middle of summer, one of my favourite winds, but that particular fish has never been caught along the west bank of the lake, do you fish in the perfect conditions or do you sit on the back of the wind and tell yourself you are targeting that one fish alone and, therefore, angling better than everyone else? If it’s the latter, what happens if it gets caught that very night from the margins of the west bank, right in the spot you really wanted to angle, how do you feel then?

Way back in time when I was fishing my first real ‘big fish’ venue at Harefield in the Colne Valley, I almost fell into the trap but my gut feeling overrode local folklore, luckily. The top bank of the lake was seldom fished, in fact it was grown over along most of its length and the reason, apparently, was that it produced mainly the smaller fish and the half-a-dozen biggies (mid-thirties) that the lake held always came from the known swims, the busiest ones! I was chasing my second ever thirty, having caught my first from the popular ‘Point’ swim the previous year.

One particular morning I woke up and looked out of the bivvy at a new and brisk wind, pushing straight up into the ‘small fish’ bank at the top end. Unable to resist my own natural urges I packed up and moved, flattening the long grass of the top bank as I made a spot for the brolly. I cast out and straightaway had a bite, as I knew I would, but rather than a lively double or a scraper twenty, it was a new personal best thirty-four-pound mirror that graced the net, one of the biggest in the lake.

Two-Tone at 54lb – not a great lover of the margins

The more you know, the more blinkered you become in your approach and, as I mentioned a while ago, I have been suffering from this syndrome all winter this year. The only big fish left in Monks that I haven’t caught has a habit of tripping up at the shallow end of the lake; most of the others come from the deeps during winter. As a result I have been catching well in the deep water and then upping sticks and doing fruitless twenty-four-hour sessions at the other end, based solely upon one carp’s folklore.

I always maintain that knowledge is power but if you don’t balance it with faith in your own judgment, then it can also become a ball and chain.