Should you ever use two markers?

Question

Joe Morgan asked: Do you ever use two markers? Being as my fishing time is so limited, I’m always wary of causing too much disturbance, therefore plumbing is usually kept to a minimum. How intensely do you guys plumb the lakebed? Are there any particular spots you have found in the past that you caught from that you don’t think you would have caught if you hadn’t?

ven if your time wasn’t limited you’d probably still fish the same, Joe. I’ve got more time, but if I’m setting up on fish I’m still very wary of causing too much disturbance. All the marker, spodding and baiting up business is just fine when you’re fishing an area which you don’t expect the carp to turn up in until nightfall. This is the norm at a lot of places, where the carp are held up in the snags and weed in the afternoons, or maybe even in an out-of-bounds area. I like it when it’s like that, when you can take the time to get everything set and ready whilst the carp are somewhere else, oblivious to it all, it’s the ideal situation.

I’ve certainly done well from spots which I’ve only found after extensive plumbing, spots I would have otherwise missed. The spot I caught the Chertsey big ‘un off was one such spot, an area of clay and gravel out in open water which I’d occasionally seen signs over. I’d even caught a couple of commons off it the previous winter, but without realising its significance, just whacking out a single pop-up to showing fish from a completely different swim whilst the lake was quiet. It’s funny how perspectives can change when you plumb up an area from a different swim, but it wasn’t until the following autumn that I properly marked up that area of firm clay, and straight away I knew it was the spot to be fishing. Walking back round the corner to the other swim where I’d cast singles from the winter before, I already knew that the float was going to be bang on where I’d caught that brace of commons. Suddenly it all made perfect sense.

A more recent example would be from a very deep pit which I fished last autumn. There I found depths in excess of 30ft, in fact most of the pit was over 20ft deep, but the spot of all spots turned out to be a 13-14ft deep ledge which I would have had great trouble locating if it wasn’t for the use of an echo sounder.

I’ve had my fill with the lakes for a bit. The rest of the summer’s going to be all about the rivers

On the other hand, I’ve probably caught just as many, if not more, by casting singles out and just feeling for drops, and from areas that if I had properly plumbed them then it’s likely that they would have been seen as too weedy and not good enough for presentation. One start of the season on the Big S I remember not being very happy with my drops, but it was where I’d been baiting so I took a chance and left them be. The following morning I caught two belters, a linear and a fully scaled, one on a Hinge Rig and the other on a bottom bait, yet when I took the boat out for a look, there turned out to be three feet of dense eelgrass weed covering the whole area. How I got a take amongst it I don’t know!