I basically consider myself a beginner/intermediate and I'm still buzzing after catching my first two 'serious' carp on Wednesday. The sun was shining all day and in the morning I used a bite alarm and hair rig for the first time and caught a 7 pound carp (a PB for me!).
However, the fun really started when I stripped everything down at 3pm and just put on a margin/controller float and a size 6 hook on my 12lb mainline. Bait was plain old bread crust from an uncut white loaf. I'd tried this two times before without catching anything but I found it really exciting so I tried again. My hook was about 10 metres away and I'd had some interest but to my amazement a big carp rose about a metre away from and started 'slurping' etc and I just couldn't resist moving my floating bread closer to him (I know you should wait for the fish to come to you but this one was taking the piss!). He was making a right old racket just yards from me and he seemed completely oblivious to my presence. About 10 seconds later he rose up and and sucked in the bread. What a moment! After a 10 to 15 minute fight he was in the net and weighed in at 14 pounds. Maybe not huge to some people but I'd just doubled my PB! I was seriously amazed at its strength though. I didn't want to rush things so I took my time but I've never known anything like it.
So basically if you haven't tried this method I really recommend it. It's dead simple and great fun (especialy when you have a whole 1 and a half acre lake to yourself because everyone else is at work or school!)
I never greased the line although most articles say that you should.
The only downside was that the fish wasn't the prettiest. It had obviously been caught before as its lips were scarred and basically looked as if it had be punched in the face. Is this usual for commercial carp?
However, the fun really started when I stripped everything down at 3pm and just put on a margin/controller float and a size 6 hook on my 12lb mainline. Bait was plain old bread crust from an uncut white loaf. I'd tried this two times before without catching anything but I found it really exciting so I tried again. My hook was about 10 metres away and I'd had some interest but to my amazement a big carp rose about a metre away from and started 'slurping' etc and I just couldn't resist moving my floating bread closer to him (I know you should wait for the fish to come to you but this one was taking the piss!). He was making a right old racket just yards from me and he seemed completely oblivious to my presence. About 10 seconds later he rose up and and sucked in the bread. What a moment! After a 10 to 15 minute fight he was in the net and weighed in at 14 pounds. Maybe not huge to some people but I'd just doubled my PB! I was seriously amazed at its strength though. I didn't want to rush things so I took my time but I've never known anything like it.
So basically if you haven't tried this method I really recommend it. It's dead simple and great fun (especialy when you have a whole 1 and a half acre lake to yourself because everyone else is at work or school!)
I never greased the line although most articles say that you should.
The only downside was that the fish wasn't the prettiest. It had obviously been caught before as its lips were scarred and basically looked as if it had be punched in the face. Is this usual for commercial carp?