Carp Problems and Solutions

Q: The carp in my local waters seem to be very wary of the floating baits that I like to use. Any ideas?

A: Carp soon wise up to surface-fished baits. Going lighter in line, or perhaps using fluorocarbon, which is very strong for its diameter, can sometimes help. Fluorocarbon is also good because it sinks beneath the surface and is partly disguised. However, don’t go too light or you will be in trouble. Often, carp learn to suss out the bait with a hook attached to it because there are lots of free offerings to compare it with. Sometimes, therefore, it’s a good idea just to cast out a single bait on a hook. Too many baits also make carp fussy and overfed. If there’s just one bait, they are likely to be hungry and competitive. Also, try one-large, single bait like a piece of floating crust. Carp, will see it and, being large, it will hide the hook very well.

Think about where you fish your floater. Out into a strong ripple is good as the distorted water surface breaks up the profile of the line. Or fish close in to reeds and lily beds. Sometimes, reeds tied onto the last 50cm (12″) or so of line can disguise its shape. Best of all, get the fish feeding right in the margins and you can dangle a piece of floater vertically under your rod tip with no line on the surface at all. And how exciting is that! (more…)

Get your bait as right as you possibly can and you’re halfway to catching that fish. Let’s take something as humble as lunchmeat. Most people use pieces the size of a thumbnail. But fish soon realize that spells danger. Instead, use a tiny piece of meat, just enough to cover the small hook. Or let’s say the water is really cloudy. Use a huge piece, perhaps even a quarter to a third of a tin. Try, also, pulling the meat to bits with your fingers so there are lots of loose edges. This way tiny bits disappear off into the water and spread the smell. Most people cut meat with a knife so it’s uniform: the fish get to recognize the neat shape as well.

Pre-Baiting
What I mean by PreBaiting is putting free offerings of bait into the water to get the fish used to it before you actually begin to fish. You can pre-bait for weeks. Sometime pre-baiting the day before you fish can work. On other occasions you can put bait into the swim at 9am and return at 10 or 11pm and find the fish totally switched on to it One of the skills is pre-baiting exactly the right amount. You don’t want to fill the fish up before you arrive but equally you’ve got to bait up enough to get them eagerly looking for what you are offering.

Bread
So let’s look at types of bait in detail. Baits from the kitchen have proved some of the most popular for centuries. You can’t beat bread. It can be used in crust, flake or paste forms. Fish all over the world recognize and like the taste of bread. And, being white, it is easily seen both in flooding water and at night. The great thing about bread is that it is so adaptable. You can use big or small pieces. You can use floating crust on the surface or tether bits of crust to the bottom. If the fish are wary of flake, you can wet the bread and mould it into a paste. And you can flavour the paste, too. Perhaps add some cheese or custard powder. (more…)

Across Europe and much of the rest of the world, the carp is quite definitely the first and foremost bait-caught quarry. They are big, they fight hard, they’re generally good to look at and they are plentiful – the ideal quarry.

Personally, I think it’s wrong to begin your fishing career with carp – certainly with the specialized techniques that carp fishing involves. In my opinion, you learn to float fish, to leger and to catch all types of species before yon devote yourself to the long-stay sessions that a lot of carp fishing involves.

Whatever you decide to do, you will find that a lot of carp fishing is very technical and demands specialized gear. You can, of course, catch carp with all the simple, traditional techniques but carp fishermen have taken the sport to a new level of science. If you are really going to take carp fishing seriously, buy specialized books and magazines and to go to a specialized carp fishing shop. This isn’t a cop out! It’s just that the world of carp fishing is extremely complex – far more complex than I can get over here in a few hundred words. However, here are just a few pointers.

Your Quarry
Whatever fishing you are going to do, it’s wise to study your quarry. Carp are one of the most cunning fish out there and they learn quickly from their mistakes. They can also grow to a great age – over 60 years – and they have long memories. You have, therefore, to take the carp itself very seriously. One of the nice things about carp fishing is that carp are frequently very visible, which in itself is exciting, look for them on the surface in warm, still weather. You’ll also see them amongst lilies and reed beds.

In the wild, carp tend to feed heavily on small invertebrates – bloodworm, daphnia, shrimp, beetles and tiny snails. The whole lake is a larder and so they rarely need anglers’ baits unless the fish are heavily stocked in a relatively barren commercial fishery.

Carp have very acute eyesight, especially when close up to terminal rigs. They also have a great sense of smell, a discriminating sense of taste and very sensitive mouths. Their hearing is good and they can pick up the sound of a lead hitting the water from many, many metres away. Carp can detect any flaw in your bait or presentation and they’re very clever, testing baits before swallowing or rejecting them.

Preparation
Prepare very carefully for any carp fishing session. Choose your location meticulously. You will be spending a lot of time there and almost certainly putting in a lot of bait to attract the carp and keep them feeding in your area, so you need to be sure that you are correctly positioned. Boilies, various seeds and maybe even sweetcorn would probably make a suitable mix. You can get your mix to the required part of your swim by catapult, by throwing stick or by spod. If you have a boat, you can row to the area and bucket the mix over the side with complete accuracy. (more…)

Often it’s important that your bait keeps moving and, on the river, that’s why you’ll frequently use a float. However, on both stillwater and rivers, it can be vital to put the bait hard on the bottom where the fish are often feeding. A bait suspended in mid-water simply won’t be looked at. To do this, you either use a straight leger weight, or lead, or employ the use of a swim feeder.

Of course, without a float, you’ve got to see the bite develop. There are several ways of registering this. Sometimes you’ll need to use a sensitive rod tip – generally a quiver tip – which shows up exactly what is happening on your bait. Sometimes you will use a But indicator. You clip this on the line between your reel and the bottom ring. When the Fish bites, the butt indicator moves towards the rod. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Well, there are a few complications.

Entering the water
When your feeder enters the water, you don’1 want it to go in with a big splash, especially in shallow, clear water. You can ‘feather’ it down as it approaches the water, leathering really means dabbing your linger on the reel spool as the line comes off it. This lends to slow the feeder down in flight and make the entry less splashy. (more…)

Fishing Tactics – Skills of Baiting

Start by getting your bait as right as you possibly can and you’re halfway home to catching that fish. Take something as simple as lunch meat. Most people use pieces the size of a thumbnail. But the fish soon realize that spells danger. Instead, use a tiny piece of meat, just enough to cover the small hook. Or let’s say the water is really cloudy. Use a huge piece, perhaps even a quarter to a third of a tin. Try, also, pulling the meat to bits with your fingers so there are lots of loose edges. This way tiny bits disappear off into the water & spread the smell. Many people cut meat with a knife so it’s uniform: the fish start to recognize this uniform shape also.

Pre-baiting
Pre-baiting means putting free offerings of bait into the water to get the fish used to it before you actually begin to fish. You can pre-bait for weeks. Sometime pre-baiting the day before you fish can work. On other occasions you can put bait into the swim at 9am and return at 10 or 11pm and find the fish totally switched into it. One of the skills is pre-baiting exactly the right amount. You won’t want to fill the fish up before you arrive but equally you’ve got to bait up enough to get them eagerly looking for what you are offering.

Bread
So let’s look at types of bait in detail. Bait from the kitchen have proved some of the most popular for centuries. You can’t beat bread. It can be used in crust, flake or paste forms. Fish the world over recognize and like the taste of bread. And, being white, it is easily seen both in flooding water and at night. The best thing about bread is that it is so adaptable.

You can use large or small pieces. You can use floating crust on the surface or tether bits of crust to the bottom. If the fish are wary of flakes, you can wet the bread and mould it into a paste. And you can flavour the paste, too. Perhaps add some cheese or custard powder.

Cheese
Cheese as bait has always been a winner. You can use it on its own or made into a bread paste. Soft or hard cheese, cream cheese and processed cheese can all work incredibly well. (more…)