My Top Tips For Carp Fishing
Lewis goes through his top tips when it comes to keeping it simple on the bank, as well as an insight into his trips lately.
I first started fishing about 5 years ago when my Grandad took me to a half acre pond in the middle of a housing estate in Shropshire. It was the perfect way to get started as we caught loads of small silvers fishing the float on a small whip.
Fast forward a couple of years when lockdown came along and I first got into carp fishing. What attracted me first was watching a few episodes of Monster Carp and seeing all the challenges they'd set themselves and then wanting to give it a go myself.What I have come to realise is that it isn't the size or amount of fish you catch, it is being with your family, friends, or even by yourself, and just enjoying yourself.
Location is key!
You will hear a lot of anglers talking about this, but I believe it is one of the most important factors to consider when fishing. When I arrive at the venue I'm fishing, I will always have a walk around to see if I can see any signs of fish or any good spots that I may think fish may be hiding in. A few things in particular I like to look for are good margin spots (e.g. with reeds etc.), overhanging branches or trees, and islands. This is because I've found that these are the favourite places for fish to be hidingt. I always like to have a pair of polarised glasses to hand, as they play a big part in being able to see fish clearly if they are in a shallow bit of water or near the surface.
Rigs-
Once I have located the fish, I will bait up a couple of spots with the Monster Particles Monster Mix and I will usually put either a PVA bag filled with a mixture of 2mm pellets, or a pellet feeder filled with a mixture of particles aswell as the pellets to build the swim up and try and bring as many fish into the area as possible. On the hook I usually like to fish a hair rig with half a wafter topped with a piece of corn. The wafters I like to use are the Cranberry Orange Pastel Barrel Wafters from Mainline, and the Sticky Manilla Active Wafters. These wafters seem to present themselves quite well in the water with the corn. When fishing two rods, I will usually cast one out to a far margin or island and the other to a margin closer in. This is because the venues I fish are usually busy local club waters which are fished by many anglers on a daily basis. I've found that the fish seem to be pushed out or in towards the margins as there is quite a bit of angling pressure.
Bait -
I have spoken already about the hookbaits I like to use, but I thought I'd go more into detail with the other baits I use. FirstlyI like to use the Sticky Bloodworm 2mm pellets as well as one of my all time favourites, the Robin Red pellets. Both of these give off loads of leakage and attraction and the fish seem to like them, which can never be a bad thing. If I'm ever fishing the float for Carp, both bread and maggots do the trick for me. With maggots I've found that after a few casts and a few fish, there seems to be a trend in what the fish are taking (the colour of the maggot). Bread and hemp may seem more ‘old school’ baits but work just as well, if not better than any other bait. Bread is fairly cheap to buy and for me it seems to catch fish wherever I go. When using bread I like to pre bait with hemp and pellets as I feel it builds a good bed of bait for the fish to get into. When looking for new bait, one attractant I look for is garlic, as it seems to do a great job at attracting fish. It provides a great scent and you can get in many different forms e.g. glugs, hookbaits etc. A glug I am using at the moment is the Sticky Cloudy Manilla Liquid, I use this to soak and dip hookbaits in, and dipping my PVA Bags in as it is PVA friendly.
Equipment -
I use a 12ft 2 3/4lb test curve carp rod and a 10ft Guru N-Gauge feeder od coupled with a vintage Abu 503 reel. It may not seem like a carp reel but it does very well handling carp up to 15lb and is my favourite to use as it is lightweight and fairly small, so is easy to transport. When it comes to terminal tackle, I am a big fan of the Avid Carp, Guru, Korum and Korda equipment. I also use the FOX Rapide Load PVA Bag System.
A Recap of Some Recent Sessions of Mine -
Over the past week I have mainly been focusing on a club water targeting a Ghostie that is an amazing fish. I have managed around 10 or so fish in 8 to 10 hours of fishing but the Ghostie is yet to grace my net.
The reason why I like this particular venue is due to the looks of the fish in the pool. They are dark old warriors that are each individually different with their own battle scars. The pool is in fact a balancing lake so has two separate pools, but I focus more on the bottom pool.vourite too use and it is lightweight and fairly small, so is easy transport. When it comes to terminal tackle, I am a big fan of the Avid Carp, Guru, Korum and Korda equipment. I use the FOX Rapide Load PVA Bag System.
