Carp for All… Part 1

[John Bailey]

Simon Ratcliffe enjoying the fight from a big carp


For many of us of a certain age, it is very possible to be slightly overawed by the modern carp scene. I’m not talking about the commercials here but club, syndicate and day ticket waters where the bivvied “pro” carper is likely to be found, fishing for carp weighing high teens and upwards.

It is true that there is something slightly forbidding about a lake studded with carp anglers that initially appear an unapproachable lot, a club within a club, if you like. From where you and I stand, they seem to have all the gear and a pretty good idea into the bargain! There is a natural reluctance that you can compete at this level. You have a fraction of their gear. You prefer to fish 9.00am ’till 5.00pm or thereabouts… I know I do, and that’s why my nickname was Dolly (Parton… Fishing Nine ‘Till Five… get it?). You use hardly any bait by comparison and haven’t got a clue what the going bait is anyway. The gobbledegook language of rigs is above your head, as well as mine… Helicopters, Ronnies… what’s going on here?

But a lot of this trepidation is psychological, and I have often talked myself off a water in the past. The truth is that most carp anglers are good guys who’ll help if asked, and even offer a cup of tea on a second meeting. What I think I came to understand is that there is no competition here. What I am going to suggest over the next nine or so pieces is that you are doing something completely different to the boys in their bivvies. You are nibbling at the edges of the normal carp scene, but still finding unexpected titbits.


The Vicar is hardly a long stay man… a carp caught from beneath his feet on a tough water

JB and Robbie Northman with a stunning float-caught 29…

What you have to realise is that in many instances it is more productive to really concentrate for 8 hours than doze on and off for 24 hours. If you are fishing Nine ‘Till Five, you’ll be thinking, experimenting, and making every second count. I’ll be talking about how to watch for carp, how to strategise, how to float fish, freeline, and how to take carp off the top, often at your feet. We’ll look at gear that doesn’t have to include 4lb test curve rods, and baits that are a bit out of the boilie norm.

I’ll be discussing ways of dealing with big carp on the bank, and making sure they go back as pristine as they came out. A thirty pound carp asks more handling questions than a three pound chub, and we want to make sure we are all happy holding the whackers that should come our way!

But above all, I’d like to get across how fishing for carp on even big waters can be fun as well as productive. This mini-series will take us into May, when the waters are really warming up and the carp are on the prowl. Let’s get at them my friends!!!



John Gilman with a super common with his friends… carping can be communal!!
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[John Bailey]

WATCHING THE WATER


Bins are essential kit

It is blindingly obvious that location is step one in any fishing situation, but never more so than now. If you are to sneak onto a serious carp water and catch biggies from under the nose of the bivvy boys, you have to pinpoint where fish are to the square millimetre – or close anyway.

Step one, I’d advise you choose times when the water is quiet, perhaps as early doors as you can make it or on weekdays. Then, leave the gear in the car whilst you watch, so you are not tempted simply to get cracking – probably in the wrong place. Take binoculars and Polaroids if you have them, and wear trainers not boots if it is dry enough. Drab clothing is part of it, though you don’t need to camo up and look like an alder bush. Most important, buy a bucket of patience. Watching cannot be rushed. Time watching is time best spent, and all it takes is a single cast to catch that fish of a season. Matt Busby said it only takes a second to score a goal, and so it is with a thirty.

Carp are big fish but that does NOT mean they are easy to spot. A forty in a foot of water can be impossible to detect I promise you, and every tiny sign merits investigation… hence those bins! The fish themselves? Don’t expect carp to splash out for you or drift around, backs out. Very often all you will catch is the tip of a dorsal or tail lobe. In cloudy water, you might sense a shape a little darker than the surrounding brown, so follow your hunch and get the binoculars focused again. Very often you have to ask yourself again and again if that half-glimpsed sighting is a fish or not, and you stick with it ’till it moves or it doesn’t. Once again, time is immaterial, and a single cast in eight hours can do the business if it is the right one.


Sheet bubbles are great but don’t expect to see them all the time

Bubbles are a giveaway, but don’t expect to see vast foaming sheets of the things. It’s good when you do but most of the time you are looking for single bubbles, or a tiny clutch of them at most. It is easy to dismiss these as escaping gas and sometimes they are… but not always. Silting is another sure sign of carp with their heads down, and I have seen areas half the size of a football pitch coloured when a shoal of carp are going for it, but this is not the norm. A big fish can send up a puff of silt no bigger than a beer mat. You might think small roach but you might well be wrong. ANY disturbance is a tell-tale. A tiny twig rising from the bottom. A leaf suddenly twirling around in a barely visible vortex. A pocket of fry suddenly shearing from the surface. It is good to remember Norfolk legend Bernie Neave at this point. No one could watch a square yard of water like Bernie and understand its dynamics like him. Everything registered. He was like a blinkered horse and the only part of the lake that mattered was that pocket of water burned by his gaze. Whilst the bivvy next to him was snoring, Bernie would be counting his carp, and that was what made him a genius at the watching game.


Watch lily beds for movement

Much of what watching is about is close up and personal. This is why you are quiet and move quietly. You don’t see a heron talking to his mates. Check out areas in amongst bankside trees for a starter. Carp like the shade and overhead protection, and possibly food drops in from the branches at times of the year. But above all, you can’t get a bivvy up in a confined space and carp learn to look out for the quiet areas where they feel safe, at least to a degree. (Remember, 200 carp in a 20 acre water, ringed by 15 anglers, know exactly what our game is, and know exactly how to avoid the lines and the leads of the typical approach. What they are not expecting is an angler tip-toeing around a lake peeping under every bush.) Reeds are a false friend to carp. They might offer them a good deal of food, but a fifteen pound fish cannot waddle through a reed fringe without shaking at least one stalk. You’ll find very big fish in the reeds in a single foot of water: they move dead slow and simply hang there for minutes barely flicking a fin but they are there if you take the time to absorb what the lake is telling you. Believe me, finding fish is part of the fun here, a measure of how well you are doing. When you are identifying big fish from tiny signs, you are doing the job.


This forty fell to a bait in two feet of water

Build up your own repertoire of knowledge and skills… if you arrive at first light and it is still, look for areas coated with spent bubbles. This where carp have been feeding pre-dawn, and there could still be stragglers around. Search out pinch points where banks meet islands, for example, and carp are funnelled in close as they wander the lake. This is a great place to lay an ambush. There’s a ripple on the water, but all of a sudden you identify a large flat area, like a mirror amongst the chop. That’s a carp moving just sub-surface, perhaps taking an emerging alder fly. See what I mean? There are clues everywhere if you take the time to look. Next up is the question of turning these clues into carp on the bank. But find fish and of course, you are half way to being a successful ‘Dolly Carper’.

The post Carp for All… Part 2 first appeared on FishingMagic Magazine.

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[Hugh Bailey]

Years ago, in one of the monthly magazines, (coarse fishing?), there was a series of articles from a guy who’s name escapes me now (Dave something) but was from the south of England. It was titled Carp Fishing from the beginning or something very similar. It was was published before commercials existed (maybe longleat was around as I think this was the first mainly carp fishery). It was really interesting to see how he went from maggots and caster on float rods to boilie on carp rods / alarms etc. It was pretty much the final straw for me for carp - from being an uncatchable mystery in the 60s they went to being like what seemed to be a successful but industrial approach - so far from what I’d read from Jack Hilton and Chris Yates. Have never really been interested since - started going after tench which were treated as a sort of nuisance most places - the most beautiful Of fish. I think I feel a bit like that about Barbel now - I love to catch them but on “Normal” tackle - simple feeder or float rather than bolt rig type stuff. I think maybe it’s less efficient but personally more satisfying approach. Not everyones cup of tea I would imagine?

 

[Steve Arnold]

Years ago, in one of the monthly magazines, (coarse fishing?), there was a series of articles from a guy who’s name escapes me now (Dave something) but was from the south of England. It was titled Carp Fishing from the beginning or something very similar. It was was published before commercials existed (maybe longleat was around as I think this was the first mainly carp fishery). It was really interesting to see how he went from maggots and caster on float rods to boilie on carp rods / alarms etc. It was pretty much the final straw for me for carp - from being an uncatchable mystery in the 60s they went to being like what seemed to be a successful but industrial approach - so far from what I’d read from Jack Hilton and Chris Yates. Have never really been interested since - started going after tench which were treated as a sort of nuisance most places - the most beautiful Of fish. I think I feel a bit like that about Barbel now - I love to catch them but on “Normal” tackle - simple feeder or float rather than bolt rig type stuff. I think maybe it’s less efficient but personally more satisfying approach. Not everyones cup of tea I would imagine?

Before moving to France and the river Lot I had only fished a couple of times for carp. That was at Danskine loch, a few miles south of Edinburgh.

I caught a few, nothing bigger than 4lb, but they were beautiful little fully scaled carp. Tackle was simple float fishing, fished slightly over depth, bait a couple of maggots. It was a bit like I hear crucian carp fishing being described, very delicate bites!

Moving on 40 years, and about 1000 miles south, I have just completed my modern carp "apprenticeship" with a 42lb fully scaled wild fish. I have accepted much of the advice regarding "boilies and bolt-rigs" gratefully, it has been a "relative" short cut to success!

But I will not be doing the multi-night bivvy experience! Totally not the best way on a river. particularly if you live 10 minutes away!

Maybe I can understand anglers that have travelled distances to fish here choosing to establish a "base camp". But then to only fish that small area?

River carp can cover a lot of a stretch in one day, you need to find where they settle for a few hours. Or, take the opportunist approach fishing for something else, just have the carp rod ready for when they show.

I now know three swims where carp can take up residence nearby. The carp usually take up residence on a river bend where access to the shore is difficult, they show occasionally - just to tease the angler, I suspect!

But they make regular forays for food, that's when I catch them. If I see carp splashing near my barbel swim I put out a carp bait as close to their residence as possible. Set the bait runner, make sure the carp rod is secure, then get back to barbel fishing on the feeder rod.

The local carp fishermen all appear to do the textbook modern carp approach. Clones of the multi-rod, matching outfits, bivvied up, carpets of boilies school of carp fishing. Yet to see one of them catch a fish!

 

[108831]

I was hoping this was a thread of recipes for the preperation of carp....

 

[John Bailey]

STRATEGISING


Bradley and Ian, a dad and son team that achieved
common success in under two hours of careful plotting

Many years ago, I was filming on an estate lake for Discovery when a large carp appeared on the surface in front of me and the crew. It looked in excess of thirty, and well engrossed in slurping floating food items. Although I was aiming for tench, I had carp gear with me and fired out a few biscuits. I threw up a rod with controller float when I realised the fish had gone down and was silting in about five feet of water. In manic despair, I took down the top rod and set up with a float and sweetcorn. By that time, the carp was showing again, took down all the biscuits and before I could reassemble a third time, disappeared. What a cock-up. What a complete bungle.

The late Robert Shanks, carp catcher and Norfolk tackle dealer, was much mourned by all for his kindness and for the time he took with all of us. I loved the guy as a strategiser. Rob had a busy life, a family, and his visits to the water were short ones, and he had to make the best use of his time. He knew that one cast a session would produce the fish he wanted if he got that cast right. I often watched him in action, moving slowly, carefully, glued to what the lake would be telling him. If he had three hours, he might take all but fifteen minutes of that time before his bait went out but, more often than not, I saw him catch. That is what a Master Strategist is all about: as Baldrick said, it is all about having a cunning plan.



Carp feeding hard.. they have even cleared the gravels!..

You see reeds shaking as a carp pushes amongst them? Which way is it moving? Would a natural, like a lobworm, be the right bait? Would that be best presented under a float or freelined? What line do you need to get the fish away from the snags? Indeed, how big do you reckon the carp is, because that makes a difference of course.

There’s a fish slowly cruising six inches under the surface. Watch ’till you have an idea of its patrol route. Do you put a floater to it? How far in front of it should that floater be placed? Too close and the fish spooks. Too far away and it might not sense it. Or indeed, would a bait sinking in front of it be a better bet, especially as the water there is only three feet deep?




…but how do you get a bait in without damage?

It’s early doors and two carp are grubbing away in a small shallow bay, probably after bloodworm. If they are fixated on small food items, might particle baits like maggots be the way to go? Can you get a pint of reds out, and convince the fish to feed on them? Do you use a tiny float for indication? As the water is shallow, would that float be better uncocked, looking like a broken reed stem? Three natural maggots on a size 14? Three naturals on a 12 and four artificials hair-rigged off it to give buoyancy?

There is just a bit of action down by the bridge. A few bubbles are coming up every thirty seconds or so. They are large and show no real pattern. Are they simply bottom gases? Are they bream or tench? There’s a slight vortex on the water, so it is a fish and then, after ten minutes of watching, you see the broad back of a near-twenty common. Do you put any loose bait in? Do you just drop in a single boilie perhaps? Will a heavy lead set-up spook the fish going in? Can you freeline and watch the line to draw tight on a take? How about touch legering? It’s not just a river technique, remember.


Steve with two thirties spotted and caught

Lee with a twenty from close in

You can’t see much at all. What is all this strategising stuff about, you think? Crush up thirty boilies and wander the quiet bank of a lake, introducing handfuls here and there, especially under overhanging trees. Bait five or six dark, moody spots, and keep coming back to them, perhaps with binoculars for a really good look. Any sign whatsoever of action over the baited area? Just a bubble, a shift in the water surface, a puff of silt, that’s all the telling you need to catch that carp of yours.

Get your strategies right and believe me, it’s a case of ‘Dolly strikes again’!

The post Carp for All… Part 3 first appeared on FishingMagic Magazine.

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[John Bailey]

TACKLE


Simon Clarke with a thirty taken on an Avon

Apologies for the delay in this latest episode, but as we all know April 2021 has seen more frosts than any other April on record, so you probably weren’t chomping on the bit to get out there!

I run a syndicate on the famous Kingfisher Lake in mid-Norfolk, a water that once produced the East of England’s record carp. Let me say at once I really like the guys (and girls) in the club, many of whom I have known for two decades. I also have the highest regard for their abilities… these truly are thinking anglers of the highest order. There is a “but” coming, as you have guessed. I never cease to be amazed by the gear they use. 3lb and 4lb test curve rods. Giant big pit reels. Battles are grunting affairs, and even in the hands of the most sensitive of carpers, rods like these show little grace. I, and the people I take carp fishing, catch great fish… including plenty of 40s… on gear you can enjoy, on rods that let you feel the fish. I like to think also, that vitally we do the fish absolutely no harm. On slightly lighter gear, fights are not greatly protracted, and because we don’t bully fish, mouths can never be damaged.




Alan Blair in action

We pick up very good fish indeed on the more powerful Avon-type rods. This is largely because we rarely fish at more than 60/70 yards, so extreme range and power are not needed. Most of the fish we pick up are observed fish, and this is where the strength and enjoyment of this style of carping lies. Quite a few of our carp come on vintage or retro rods as well. My two cane Mark IVs are quite up to the job, and I make no excuses for mentioning our parent company Thomas Turner here. I see TT is offering some Chapman 500/550 carp rods for sale in pretty good nick. Finding these took me back to the Sixties, when I had a pair of 500s and worshipped them. They were perfect for fish to 20 plus then, with the closer-in methods we used, just as they would be today. If you haven’t played a twenty on cane, then you are missing out. There is an immediacy to the fight you just do not get on the more brutal carp rods of this century. I fish with the great Alan Blair, and I know Nash make tools that are enjoyable to use, but I’d still hand-on-heart recommend a clash with cane!

While I am at it, I’d love to see a modern carp range that offers more in the way of user-friendly than user-efficiency. Way back in the day, when Hardy were making the Marksman range, we were discussing just such a rod when the Americans bought in, and coarse was scrapped in an instant. I feel the gap is still open, but disabuse me you carpers, please?


Simon Ratcliffe with a super fish caught close in

In the same vein, plenty of guys around me like to fish the margins with ‘pins. I can only repeat that this is not Crabtree nonsense. A ‘pin gives ultimate feel, and you really can go lighter on line strengths when you are playing a fish through your fingers than through the medium of gears. You can go new if you are investing, or again TT have some great versions of older models that have years of service in them.

Of course, use powerful modern rods and big reels if you wish, but when we get to Part 5 of this short series you’ll see that the methods we use and enjoy are often those that do not demand the heavy approach. “Enjoy” is the key word in all this. We love our carp, and we like the way we fish for them in an active hunter-type fashion. I co-wrote one of the more important carp books of the Eighties (Carp, Quest For The Queen) so I would never disrespect the “professional“ approach to carp, but I am suggesting there is another way for the Casual Carper who has limited access.


Perhaps the ultimate shot of a thirty and a forty,
both taken in ten minutes of each other just off the rod tip!

I’m accompanying this piece with some meaty pictures NOT to brag, I assure you, but simply as proof that my friends catch super fish, fishing for them most frequently Nine ‘Till Five. Next time we’ll look at float approaches that work very well for us. And hope these unseasonal frosts get lost for good!

The post Carp for All… Part 4 first appeared on FishingMagic Magazine.

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[xenon]

Wasn't Clarrisa caught on a one and a half test curve?

 

[john step]

I have been watching "Monster Carp" on the box (trying to avoid getting irritated by the girly screaming and carp kissing) and have wondered what the power of the rods they use. Even the 30s and 40s dont seem to put a bend in the rods.

I think the reason the run of the mill carpers use over gunned gear is possibly cost. It may be they purchase one set of tackle that they imagine will cope with the most extreme conditions or fish size and extreme distance they may wish to cast to in their dreams not the reality of their actual venue!!!

 

[steve2]

Never watched Monster Carp but judging from what I see there must be many carpers that believe it's the only way to fish for carp.

 

[John Bailey]

CARP ON FLOAT


JG with a lovely common

Float fishing is enjoying a surge of popularity amongst anglers of a certain age because it’s a “nice” way to fish, and of course fits with the “Dolly” 9 ’till 5 approach. A float isn’t much good to the carper fishing through the night when it’s dark and he/she is asleep anyway, but in daylight hours when you are on the rod, it is a good way to go. The float DOES catch carp, often with an efficiency that would shock you.

I used the phrase “on the rod” and therein lies a big issue. When I first took my guided clients after serious carp, we set out using only slightly beefed-up tench gear, which wasn’t really fair on the fish as we were playing them for too long in many situations. Watch an Acolyte try to deal with a thirty pound common and you’ll see what I mean. In the end, I found that the best outfit I could come across was a 12ft Hardy Marksman Avon, allied to a ‘pin (mostly), and 10lb mainline. The Marksman was the perfect compromise: it had the length I wanted for float control, but more guts than a dedicated float rod. The problem is that they are now hard to find and I personally haven’t found anything nearly as good… hence asking Dave Coster – what else is out there today, and John Stephenson – what might have done the job in the past? So, if you have ideas JS/DC, perhaps we could hear from you?



Richard Jones and Simon Ratcliffe with fish

Three Bridges Farm is a delightful, small, carp syndicate lake with a good head of fish between 20 and upper 30s. It’s moderately hard, and a good carper might expect to catch a fish or two in a 24 hour session. During the 2019 season, however, we blew the lake away on float tactics. My anglers hooked 89 carp in 19 sessions which averages out at around 4.5 carp per trip. Add the fact that we were rarely there for more than five hours, and you see how successful we were. Why?

The method was simplicity itself and really only adapted from tench tactics I have discussed earlier this spring. Heavy prebaiting was good, if possible, with particles to keep the carp busy, and plenty of freebie boilies as the cherries on the cake. Baiting on the day worked nearly as well, however. Another key was to find deep water close in, and all our fish came from swims 8 to 12 feet, rarely more than two rods out.



Steve Halligan with a ghost as well

A waggler was obviously the float to use, but as small as conditions would easily allow. ALL the cocking shot was up top, locking the float in position. The float would invariably be set two feet or so overdepth so the line hung limp through the water column and there was a length of it on the lake bed. The weight of the boilie, hair-rigged of course, was enough to provide an anchor in all but the roughest of conditions. You’ll appreciate now why the 12ft rod was such a bonus, and anything shorter struggled. We obviously tried slider float combos that year but with nowhere near the success we enjoyed with a fixed float… but perhaps that was us. (The Polaris floats, BTW, caught us nothing at all!)

In effect, we were all but using freelined boilies, with a small float as an immediate indication of a take. The rig went in with virtually no fuss or damaging splash factor, and the carp felt minimal resistance when a boilie was picked up. The slack line between float and bait seemed not to bother them and, in short, it was as though the carp had no answers to the method which really slayed them for a full five months. We began catching in May and when we pulled off in September, we were still averaging a take every hour or so… compare that to the results of the carp boys and the difference was stark.


Simon Ratcliffe with a 30 plus

John Gilman does battle

There are a few points to make. We rarely saw drastic signs of carp feeding at our feet. Perhaps a few bubbles but nothing volcanic. Silver fish sometimes sheered away as a pod of carp approached, and such a sighting would get us on extra alert. In high wind, it was sometimes necessary to go three feet over and/or add an AAA a few inches from the hook. A hooked carp would generally hang puzzled for five seconds or so before powering off unstoppably into the lake, often on a first run of eighty yards or more. The ‘pin gave wonderful, tactile control, but you needed lots of line on the drum! On a five hour session, we’d fish a half hour to see if there were carp in the swim. We’d then put in a lot of bait, half a bucket at least, and expect to wait an hour before the first fish. After that we’d simply top up and the carp would continue to appear, along with bonus tench and bream… a bonus for us, if not for the pro carpers there!

I have used Three Bridges as a prime example of where the approach works, one that has done so well for us over the years on many hard lakes up the Wensum valley. The point I am trying to make is that the float is not just an answer on small, heavily stocked, commercial-style waters. It works on tough, big pits where top carpers can sometimes struggle. The float unlocks the door for the casual carper who wants to catch big fish, in an exciting fashion, in a reasonable time span. I’m going to put up some pictures of lovely captures, not to brag, but to assure you that all were caught on the waggler, and to add weight to my words.


JB and Robbie with a 29

Richard Jones again

Dave Coster replies:

Hi John,
Like you suggest, a 12ft Avon sounds the best bet, or possibly a 12ft pellet waggler rod? There are some models geared up for long chucks and big fish, but it's a case of shopping around for more backbone.
Best Regards, Dave


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[john step]

Are there such Avon rods still made? I did a quick Google and the pellet type wagglers dont seem beefy enough. The only gap between a commie pellet waggler and an out and out carp rod seems to be a barbel rod which may not be the required action.
The only one I saw which approaches it was a Korum 12 foot allrounder at 1.75 tc.

 

[steve2]

If don't mind not using carbon or secondhand then you will find some on Ebay. I am sure of my older rods would have the same action.

 

[John Aston]

Carp for all ? Frankly , I wish it were still carp for the few. Carp are now ubiquitous , and often ruin a day's fishing for other species . Either they disrupt sport by taking an age to land on light gear or they necessitate the use of gear too heavy for the chosen species . Add in the worst sort of carp angler (can't cast less than 100 yards , are obsessed with silly toys and affect disdain for lesser species) - whose number seems to be increasing - and carp are , at best , a very mixed blessing .

 

[steve2]

Carp for all ? Frankly , I wish it were still carp for the few. Carp are now ubiquitous , and often ruin a day's fishing for other species . Either they disrupt sport by taking an age to land on light gear or they necessitate the use of gear too heavy for the chosen species . Add in the worst sort of carp angler (can't cast less than 100 yards , are obsessed with silly toys and affect disdain for lesser species) - whose number seems to be increasing - and carp are , at best , a very mixed blessing .

Carp now nothing special because of overstocking in all sizes. There was a time when a 20lb carp was the fish of a life time now they are just run of the mill. All that modern carp fishing proves is that they were once only difficult to catch because they weren't there in numbers.

 

[nottskev]

We've disputed the merits of Carp For All more than once, and if you're out of step with the increasing dominance of carp, it's not easy to put your point over without antagonising members who don't see it as a problem, and it's hard to comment on trends in fishing without appearing to denigrate, which I don't, the entirely respectable world of carp fishing, with its long tradition of dedication, ingenuity with rigs and baits, watercraft etc.

That said, here's a few instances of the impact of Carp For All on my local waters and my fishing. Day ticket estate lake in gorgeous setting, offering mixed fishing and a crack at some big tench - now a carp syndicate. Gravel pit complex, open season ticket, where carpers fished for carp and others fished for roach, perch, tench - now carp syndicate plus development as overnight glamping for carp. Day ticket clay pit where carpers carped and others had excellent fishing for bream, tench, ide, perch - now exclusively carp, plus owner netted and sold huge amount of quality fish (or swapped them for unwanted carp) and flattened tree-lined banks and other vegetation to create space for bivvies etc. A club I joined with 3 pools, two carp - centred one mixed, put stockies into the mixed pool where they are the most aggressive feeders and unavoidable. Another club stocked its chain of small lilly-strewn pools with carp, and , you guessed it, had to have them removed a few years later. They're still tying re-balance the stock. A favourite day ticket water still caters for both carp and mixed fishing, but the addition of increasing numbers of carp has transformed the fishing, transformed the water itself - formerly tending to be clear with abundant soft weed with a huge head of good roach and tench, it's now heavily coloured with little weed growth and the roach and tench fishing is a shadow, and transformed the behaviour of anglers. Blokes fishing for mixed species tend to sit on their box, busy fishing and studying their floats or tips. The new breed of casual carpers chuck out and, with nothing to do for half an hour til the alarm goes off, get together to drink, smoke weed and make a raucous scene kicking their heels at the water's edge. Oh man. Yeah bro! Sweet! I went to check out an unusual local pool during lockdown. In an unlikely suburban setting it was a little gem of a water for small to medium size tench. More and more carp were added, and I found that there are no day tickets now, and the only angler on the water, with three rods out, was dozing in his van. ! could keep listing local waters transformed to a kind of fishing monoculture in the last decade, but I've made the point. The commercial fishing available in the region, notwithstanding whatever wondrous variety anglers may be enjoying elsewhere in the country, is firmly in the mold of match pools based around heavy carp stocking.

It may be the fashion, and it may be where the money is now, but in my view it's too narrow and too exclusive, and I don't believe it's good for the general angler or for angling in general.

 

[john step]

It must be a bind Kev. I am lucky in that there are many waters where I can pick and choose . Apart from the usual reasons that carp are dominant in waters there is another. For instance the club water I fished today is now carp orientated because its in a quiet location and the cormorants have destroyed the previously excellent roach fishing.
There were more carp stocked as these seemed to be a safe bet. It therefore still provides a nice day out. I just accept it as it is and enjoy it.

Luckily my local club have the best of all worlds. One has to wait for dead mens shoes to join the carp section. The few carpers there are must not be on the water on official club match days. The three types get on well. The casual pleasure angler( for want of a phrase). The serious match types and the carpers. In fact once a year we fish a match where carpers V match men.

Over my way the drains and slow rivers provide good fishing enabling one to fish a deserted mixed fishery but it must be galling for those limited to busy areas.

 

[John Bailey]

FREELINING AND STALKING



Dawn, lilies, reeds…

Carpers of a certain age were all of us brought up to believe in the ‘Richard Walker School Of Freelining’. Clarissa, his record common, was caught on the method, and that was good enough for us young lads who strode confidently in his footsteps. The problem is that, as we all know, freelining is in most cases a hopeless approach, and most pick-ups result in lightning-fast runs that are speedily dropped. As happened to me continually in the mid-Sixties at Roman Lakes and Lymm Park Dam, both in Greater Manchester. New thinking that revolved around big leads and bolt set-ups were initially considered heresy in the Seventies, and it took me several revelatory trips to Essex waters to see the sense of the modern ways. Not of course, that many of us liked it much. Chris Yates was only one celebrated carper who flatly refused to accept that a hair rig was not cheating. I was with him shoulder to shoulder, ’till I realised that my carp catches were rocketing using these dubious developments, and my solidarity began to waver.



…mist, bubbles, get freelining

Of course, everything comes round a second time in fishing, and freelining once more has a small but rightful place on the modern carp scene. Of course, it’s not much use trying to punch an unweighted boilie a hundred-plus yards and then wait for a carp to self-hook, but there are moments when it pays to take the lead off the line and fish a bait weightless. Modern freelining and stalking are in my book indivisible.



Carp come close

To get the full picture, we need to go back to my chapter on sighting fish, and really working out where they are and what they are doing. Freelining fits the schedule of the casual carper perfectly. One rod, one reel, one hook, and one bait. A few hours at the water, wandering, watching, strategising and often making a single cast. If that cast is to a feeding fish, and if the bait is right and if it doesn’t scare the carp on entry, then there is a fair chance success will result.

But first find those feeding fish, so often tucked into forgotten corners of the lake, away from the major wood-chipped swims and often where the wind is blowing in food. You can see it now. A tree fringe. A small bay. A reed bed or a scattering of lilies. A mild Southerly or Westerly is pushing in. The water is coloured a little, and perhaps there are puffs of cloud here and there. Sometimes the water looks just a little unstable, as though it is moving to an unseen force beneath. You might catch a glimpse of a scaled back, a fleeting fin. There’s no-one around to disturb the peace. Play it right my friend, and you could be in!



Perfect close-in baits

It’s traditional now to recommend a natural bait, and it’s true that a couple of lobs hooked through the head on a size 4 or 6 can do the business. Their weight alone allows a cast of ten yards easy, and all you need do is watch the line as it sinks and then wait for it to slide off and tighten. How simple is that and how exciting. When the line does twitch and move, and when you do lift into a carp, and when the surface does explode into a thousand fragments, there is no more thrilling experience in fishing.

But boilies work well, just a single one, fixed on a hair with a few crushed boilies scattered around. Maggot/hemp mix can be a killer. You can draw in the fish, get them boiling and then flick out a size 10 with a bunch of maggots, again on a hair. Sweetcorn was a killer bait back in the day, and has been forgotten on many waters. Try it now, especially close in and freelined. Carp can and do go mad for it.

Once again, freelining is all about short, sharp sessions fitted in around work and family pressures, but because it is so intense, there is no better way of mental escape. This is carping at its most engaging and most challenging. And with the summer coming, the best three hours are 4.00am ’till 7.00am, just right for a quickie before the day begins.


JB on a mission
The post Carp for All… Part 6 first appeared on FishingMagic Magazine.

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[steve2]

On my club waters believe it or not you are not allowed to stalk fish all fishing must be done from made up swims. I was once got a warning for fishing to the left of the swim instead of straight out in front. They said it was because the left hand side wasn't classed as part of the swim I was fishing and if I wanted to fish there I would have to go round to the other side of the lake and cast across to it.

 

[xenon]

On my club waters believe it or not you are not allowed to stalk fish all fishing must be done from made up swims. I was once got a warning for fishing to the left of the swim instead of straight out in front. They said it was because the left hand side wasn't classed as part of the swim I was fishing and if I wanted to fish there I would have to go round to the other side of the lake and cast across to it.

Who ran that lake? The bloody Stasi?