How to keep the bites coming this summer
It’s mid-summer and that can only mean one thing: the carp in your lake have been hammered on the surface.
The big question
Floater fishing: there are a lot of waters where the carp get hammered on the surface, mainly on dog biscuits and pellets, so how would you approach such waters? Would they use smaller hooks and lighter lines to combat rejection to the hookbait? Do they use alternative hookbaits? What sort of favoured controllers do they use? And when would you favour an over-depth Zig to a traditional controller?
Nick Burrage
“There are many observations and edges I’ve tripped over just by watching the carp in the summertime. First up is natural camouflage, whether it’s on the lakebed or surface, there’s ways of fooling the fish into taking a hookbait which has been positioned in such a way it appears safe. Laying a wafter/pop-up up the side of a weedbed is a tactic I’ve used with great success. The good thing with that method is the soft and supple Zig-Line can be swapped over for something more robust, which of course helps with extracting the carp from the summer weedbeds. Fluorocarbon (Mirage) is a great choice, and as mad as it sounds, the extra weight in the line helps to keep the Zig in place, lying against the weed and out of the carp’s sight!
Natural camouflage… Use it!“Carp have a habit of following a weedbed and this method has outwitted many a surface water pig over the years. Even a simple Zig fished eight-inches under the surface, just a swim or two down on the wind from a surface angler can bring easy runs, all I will say there is: water-logged surface baits hanging a few inches down!”
Calum Kletta
“Floater fishing is probably my favourite style of fishing; being able to watch the situation develop in front of you and making instinctive decisions on what the fish are doing.
“On heavily pressured waters my initial approach would be to just use a single hookbait as then the fish can either take it or leave it without the annoying situation of fish taking two or three baits and never getting confident. The tackle would comprise a size 8 Wide Gape Talon Tip and an 8lb Zig-Link hooklink; I would fine down a bit if I were really struggling but then I would much rather get the fish confident and not lose any I did hook! The hookbait would be a CC Moore Duo-Floater hookbait, which also gives a choice of two colours, and these I always glug in salmon oil to help flatten the surface and give off a scent trail.
“Drawing the bait into the path of any cruising fish or trying to tease it onto the nose of any sat sunbathing should give some interest, but if not then I would introduce some bait. A big mix of dog biscuit, floating pellet and cat biscuit covered in salmon oil means the fish shouldn’t spook off a uniform bait and cause confusion, much the same as bottom bait fishing with a mix of particles.
“My favoured controller is one of the long-range bolt rig style floats as if you ever lose sight of the hookbait and the fish will be hooked for you. I always prefer to use a controller as you can quickly react to where the fish are feeding, but I would use an over-depth Zig in windy conditions as this will cause drag on the line moving the controller and bait in an unnatural manner.”
