Visit a popular ‘commercial’ carp water, and several methods are likely to be in use. There are the pole anglers, anglers legering with method feeders or bolt rigs, and yet others are float fishing with good old fashioned rods and reels. So where do you start? All of these approaches will work, but which one is best suited to a novice, and why?
Mark fishing the short pole
At last we’re going fishing with a pole! Pole fishing is a simple method, and so that’s exactly what I’m going to do, Keep It Simple, Stupid! Or KISS for short.
Having sorted out a pole with elastic, something to sit on, and all the assorted bits and pieces, it’s time to get down by a water. Whether it’s a true ‘commercial’ or a club water, it is vital to select an easy venue for your first ventures with a pole. It’s essential the water contains plenty of small fish. They don’t have to be carp; roach, rudd, perch, small bream are all OK. If there are carp present then it’s best that they are small ones of less than a couple of pounds. This is all about learning to walk before you try to run.
Having found such a water then you need a swim with a level area to sit with a depth of four to six feet within about five yards of the bank and, most important, the fish to be within that range. This is where getting some expert local advice, perhaps from the fishery bailiff, is going to save a lot of time. To make things easier you need a dry day between April and October that is on the warm side (preferably not scorching hot) with no more than a slight breeze.
You’ll need some bait. I suggest you get a pint of maggots for this initial attempt. Again, listen to advice from those that know the water, but remember you’re just trying to catch a few fish, not catch the biggest or most – that’ll come later! It’s just that some sweetcorn or a pot of pellets with a bag of feed pellets may be a much better option. This is because maggots are indiscriminate as a bait and you can find that all you get are miniscule tiddlers whereas say sweetcorn will catch better fish.
Make sure your tackle and bait are to hand
You’ve found your ideal pitch. There are no trees overhead, no power lines within 30 metres. Set your box down gently on the ground about a foot from the front edge of the bank or platform. If you have legs built into your box then it is vital to get the box level so that your feet are flat on the ground with your thighs horizontal. Next, set up your landing net and place it handily to your left, assuming you’re right handed. There’s no need yet for a pole roller until we move on to fishing at longer lengths. On this first trip it’s worth thinking about how you get organised so that everything is to hand. Once you get into this habit, pole fishing becomes a smooth organised exercise.
With the landing net done and out of the way so you don’t tread on it, it’s time to start setting up the pole. A couple of articles back I went into setting up the pole tips with elastic, and you should have a tip set up with no. 5 elastic that has a Stonfo, and is tensioned so that the elastic goes back inside the pole when you release it after pulling on it. It should have a drop or two of lubricant at the bush. Provided the local advice is that on the water you are fishing the fish you will be catching with maggots are small, mostly under a pound, then this set-up should be adequate, if not then you’ll have to step up to the no. 8 elastic. Set up the pole with just the top three sections. This should give you about four metres of pole, if not add another section. Put the next two sections safely to one side where you won’t tread on them or drop them in the lake.
Full depth rig
Assuming at this point that you have no ready made pole rigs then it’s time to make one on the bank. With the no. 5 elastic rigged top, take your spool of 0.12mm line (if using the no. 8 elastic substitute 0.14mm line) and start by tying a small loop in the end using an overhand knot. Make the loop small at about 1cm/half inch. Attach the loop to the Stonfo by pulling back the collar and hooking on the loop then sliding back the collar. It should now be securely attached to the Stonfo. Run line off the spool in line with the pole until the length of line is about a foot short of the end of the pole.
You should now have a length of line that is about 3.5 metres/12 feet. Select a float taking about 0.40/0.50 grams and thread the end of the line through the wire eye on the side of the float, then through a couple of pieces of pole float rubber. Until you get more experienced work on the basis of a float taking 0.10 grams for every foot of depth. Push the float five feet up the line and then, after wetting the stem of the float, carefully slide on the float rubbers with one immediately under the body of the float and the other at the extreme end of the stem. Now tie another small loop in the end of the line below the float so the length of line is about two feet less than that of the pole. Again keep the loop to about 1cm/half an inch.
You now need a hook link of line that is the next diameter down from your main line, so if that is 0.12 then use 0.10, or if 0.14 then use 0.12. And to the hooklink you need to tie a suitable hook. If you’re going to be using maggots then a 20 or 18 is about right; if you’re going to be using a hookable pellet then a 14 and the same for sweetcorn. These hook sizes are starting points, and as you get more experienced you can experiment to get a better idea. With fishing there is no magic answer, and what works one day may fail another so being prepared to experiment and understand that changing conditions and the mood of the fish themselves dictate that we change our tactics. The hooklink needs to be about a foot long. Many serious pole anglers use even shorter hooklinks, down to six inches, the idea being that no shot are placed on the actual hooklink. But at this stage in learning to pole fish there’s no need to be so precise.
The plummet
Before shotting up the float it is a good idea to plumb the depth of the swim. This will give you a mental picture of the underwater contours of the swim and prevent you getting a nasty surprise after carefully shotting the float when you find out the rig is totally unsuitable for a swim that is actually much deeper or shallower than expected.
Attach a plummet to the hook. To plumb the depth carefully lower the plummet into the water until you feel it hit bottom and then the line should slacken. At this point the float may still be above the water, in which case you’ve got the float set too deep, or it has disappeared underwater where it is set too shallow. Estimate how much it is wrong and adjust the float, taking care not to damage the line (if necessary remove the float rubbers to move the float).
How to plumb the swim
Having got the exact depth directly under the pole tip try a little further out, and a little closer in. does the depth change? Or is it fairly constant? What about to the left or right? Build a picture in your mind of whether it’s level on the bottom or whether there is a slope, or even a slope that levels off. If it is a slope that levels off then make a note of where this is as it will be a potential hot spot. Provided there haven’t been any nasty surprises in plumbing the depth, ie, it’s not over ten feet deep or less than three feet then set the float to close to the exact depth. Consider moving if that is the case to somewhere with a depth around 4-6 feet, easily checked now you are set up.
Next job is to shot the float. The easiest starting point is a bulk that is the main load of shotting plus a couple of tiny dropper shot. These will be no. 10 shot. Place one about eight inches from the hook and another eight inches above that. Then, using no. 6 or 8 shot create a bulk about eight inches above that. You will need to test the float so that when it has settled, half an inch of bristle is showing. As you get more experienced you can fine tune this, and in some circumstances this may be dotted right down. You may need to add no. 8 or no. 10 shot to the bulk to get this absolutely right.
Fish on and the elastic is stretched
You are now ready to fish. Or are you? Looking at how you are now rigged up, you have about six feet/two metres of line between the pole tip and the float. Isn’t pole fishing all about keeping this length of line to a manageable minimum? Yes, and no. In this case, we have two choices; keep it as it is, realising that it’s far from perfect but it does give us the versatility to fish a bit further out, or consider whether we could remove a joint and shorten the rig at the pole end so that there is four feet less line between the tip and float but still leaving at least two feet there. As the pole has been shortened this would reduce our effective fishing range so that we would have to add joints which is what I am going to describe in detail next week.
So, despite its disadvantages, we’ll stick to this simple rig as it is. It may be worth keeping a couple of spare joints handy behind you ready to put on in case you hook a big fish. As ever take care to place them where they won’t slide into the lake and where no-one can tread on them!
It’s time to start fishing. Bait the hook and with a gentle underhand swing drop the tackle into the water in the spot that you plumbed. It is vital to persevere with this spot, not try here there and everywhere. The aim is to build up a feeding hotspot in the swim, and you won’t do that by casting here, there and everywhere. More importantly, you won’t do that by feeding here, there and everywhere.
Feeding is VITAL
Assuming that you have either a pint of maggots or a bag of 3mm pellets to feed, that represents something in the order of 3000 individual particles. In five hours fishing you should be aiming, until such time that you are really experienced, on trying to feed at least once a minute. My arithmetic makes that 300 times in five hours so if you feed about 8-10 maggots or pellets once a minute you will have least fed very regularly, and probably 295 times more than the average pleasure angler.
Into the net
This regularity is mastered by all top match anglers who get to understand through how the fish are responding, huge amounts of practice, much experience and experimentation, and constantly learning from each other, just how much and how often to feed. I cannot reiterate enough how important this skill is, and it is only through practice and experimentation that you will get much better. It is also going to take a little persevering with the feeding so that the fish have time to respond, and once they do then keep up that regularity of feeding. Keep the feed to a tightly defined area. You are only fishing about four metres from the bank, and this can be done by hand. Feed the same spot every time and try to bunch the feed to an area of about two feet in diameter.
A ‘commercial’ carp and a happy angler
If all goes to plan you should start to get some bites. Don’t be too impatient. It will take a while for your regular feeding to take effect. Position the pole tip in a way that there is not too much slack line so that when you strike it is easy to hit the bites. Again this will take practice. When we get on to the short line – long pole technique this part will get easier even if the playing of the fish is trickier. In striking the bites the aim is to strike hard enough to just lift the float out of the water, and no more. With a bit of luck after a while you will start to hook fish. Having done so let the elastic do the work. It should quickly tire the fish out and by slowly raising the pole allow the fish to either be swung in if it’s small, say under two or three ounces (about seven inches), or into netting range. Keep the net still and sunk below the surface, and when it’s fully over the net promptly raise it. You may find it practical to unhook the fish in the net and simply sink the net back in the water to allow it to swim away.
You’re now fishing a pole. There’s plenty more to learn, and as the session progresses you may want to experiment a little. Try a little deeper or shallower. Try moving the dropper shots up or down. After each change, try to assess the effect on the swim, and what you are catching. One thing that may happen, especially on a well stocked commercial is that the constant feeding of maggots (or pellets) will initially attract small roach and rudd, but attracted by the feeding action other bigger fish will turn up. In this case, consider making up a new rig with another top and stronger elastic and line. If the session has been a success then try to have a few more sessions using similar tactics to gain confidence in the method. Don’t forget the importance of balancing the tackle to the target fish. And whatever you do keep the steady stream of feed going in.
Next week, we’re going to move onto more conventional pole fishing with a short line and long pole. Before then have a think about how well you had your gear to hand when fishing. Was the landing net in reach? The bait? The spare pole joints? Your disgorger?
