Stuart Dennis, an experienced angler of some 26 years has, until recently, concentrated mainly on catching tench, his favourite species. In the last two years, however, he has been suffering from carp fever and has realised that carp fishing is far removed from what he has been used to. In spite of his long experience and success with general coarse fishing, where carp are concerned he classes himself as a total novice.
Stuart says, “There are no doubt hundreds of questions we novice carp anglers would like to ask the experts, but unfortunately, for various reasons, we sometimes feel awkward doing so.
Rik and Stuart
“So what I’m going to do is get under the skin of one of our most experienced carp anglers, Big Rik, or Carp Angler, as he’s known on the forum, and shoot all those questions at him that you always wanted to ask, which will, as we go along, be turned into a series of features covering various carp fishing topics.
“As these articles run their course no doubt many questions will arise. So If you’re just getting started, or are an improving carp angler (or an experienced carp angler even, who just wants another opinion) and want to get under the skin of the expert, email me with your carp fishing questions at stuartdennis@msn.com and I’ll go banging on his door without a care in the world and post the results on here!”
PART 4 – ALL ABOUT BAITS
A topic very dear to my heart. With thousands and thousands of baits on the shelves of our tackle dealers and many more being pushed through the market everyday, I think it’s fair to say there is possibly far too much choice. Red ones, green ones and some the size of your auntie Beryl’s nose! So what do you choose and when do you use them?
In this article I’m going to try to get Big Rik to cut through the marketing crap associated with many of the baits available today and focus on confidence and the right tools for the right job. My own experiences have taught me that if everyone uses one particular bait on a venue, then turn the whole process upside down and try something completely different. I believe that if we can continuously steer away from the norm, then in fact we should bag up more often.
As you know we’ve just all not long returned from the Charity Carp Compo and at the event I overheard Big Rik giving out some really sound advice which I’ll try and document here, but more importantly, think deeply about the actual message:
The regulars said particles, but…….
We were fishing a venue that was said to produce brilliantly on particles, now if everyone was given the same advice, then surely most will be baiting up with particles using particles as a hookbait. And……if everyone is using particles and only a few fish are coming out then are particles the right bait for the job?
Answer – not necessarily!
This is where you may hear that a bait has blown (no longer producing) and this is where I for one would certainly be looking at trying something different. If I went to every lake and asked what baits are commonly used, then you can guarantee that the same advice has been given to everyone, which in turn would probably mean that loads of that bait had been thrown in.
A simple question you should ask yourself is this: ‘If you had an Indian Takeaway, let’s say once every three months, then this could be deemed an exciting meal. But if you ate Indian for Breakfast, lunch and dinner every day for let’s say six months, it would be fair to say you would be completely bored with it – agreed? Therefore try something different, you might enjoy the results. In my eyes it’s all about achieving the edge; many anglers will throw in large quantities of the so called ‘in bait’, but you don’t want to be one of the many, you want to be the one with the most fish on the bank!
We are going to start this article with a couple of tough questions for Big Rik. To get the ball rolling we would like to know under what circumstances would you use particles or would you use boilies?
I have to re-iterate what you suggested in your opening about the ‘going bait’ on a water. To use the example of Hunts Corner, the reported method to use was popped up maize over spodded particles. Now it would be foolish to totally ignore local advice, but it must be used sensibly. If 20 people on a lake are using this method, then it is bound to catch fish, obviously, and these fish will be reported and the methods supposed success will continue. But because the fish have seen it so often, then it probably won’t be the best method to employ.
Someone will then start to catch using a different tactic that the fish don’t see on a daily basis and the news of the success of this different method will then start to spread. More people will start to use it, and it’s perceived success will spiral upwards. It’s actual success rate will, in reality, be in decline, but because more people are using it, then it’s hit rate will appear to increase.
And so the cycle of baits and tactics turns.
You need to be the angler who starts the new trend and enjoys the best success on a new method.
Now to the first question. As opposed to answering your question directly, I will tell you how I apply my baiting strategy. What I try to do is create a situation that the carp is happy to feed in. The difficult part is assessing which is the best at any given time and at all the different waters. Not the answer that most people are looking for, but carping isn’t black and white.
It isn’t “do this, and you will catch this.”
I use a lot of particles because I believe that they create a feeding situation as close to the natural condition as is possible. Small food items are what the carp find in it’s natural larder and so will be less likely to be on edge when feeding. Boilies have their place and any patch baited with particles is likely to have some crumbed, broken or whole boilies on it, so that the carp are able to enjoy them without the hook.
If the only boilie out there has your hook in it then you are creating problems for yourself in future. If I’m fishing a venue on a regular basis, then I will not introduce too many boilies whilst I’m actually fishing, but will bait up as I leave.
When using boilies, what real difference does colouring and flavouring really make?
My feed baits tend to be naturally coloured, ie, I don’t add any other colour. Previously, I have coloured baits either black or green to try and combat waterfowl, but I don’t think it really makes that much difference. There was a train of thought that suggested light baits over a dark lake bed or dark baits over sand or gravel would spook fish as they stand out and may signal danger as they appear too obvious to the carp. Have you seen the success of flouro pop-ups? You cannot get a more obvious bait, so it certainly knocks that theory over.
I’ve used boilies in many different sizes, from 8mm to 22mm. When should we use different sizes and under what circumstances will size help increase our catch rate? This is obviously a question that arises often based on my partners fixation on ‘Size really does matter’!
Small boilies or donkey chokers?
I tend to use as small a bait as is available as this sits nicely with my particle/pellet approach, but currently I’m using 18mm baits as this is the size available to me. I have good faith in the bait, so it’s not really an issue. If big beds of bait have not been seen too much on your water, then larger baits of 20 to 25mm will sort out the carp and will hopefully keep the tench and bream at bay.
What about shape? Many anglers tend to use round boilies. Although this is a benefit when catapulting or using a throwing stick to put out loose baits, what are the benefits of different shaped boilies and under what circumstances would you use different shapes?
Boilies don’t have to be round
I’ve previously written an article in FM on baits and their shape (‘The Carp Column’).
If I’m making my own bait, then I very, very rarely make them round and even if I’m buying baits and just making my hookbaits, then I’ll make them into certain shapes. But watch out for a separate article I’m writing on hookbait shape, as I haven’t the room here and it’s easier to show with some pictures.
Round baits spin through the air and fly true, so making baiting up easier. This also means that they will eject easier from a carp’s mouth when it attempts to expel the bait.
As I initially thought, there are so many questions to answer when it comes to the use of the right bait for the right scenario. To try and cover them all in one article would be futile. As this series of articles continues to take shape we will continue to pose questions to Mr. Carp Angler regarding baits, etc. I’m sure you have many questions that relate to your venue and style of fishing, so fire off your bespoke questions relating to bait directly to me at stuartdennis@msn.com and I’ll get them answered here week in, week out.
