Spring CarpingWell, spring is well and truly here, in fact it’s almost summer – days are longer, trees have leaves, and the fish are feeding! Where winter is all about fishing for bites, you can afford to put a bit more bait in without worrying about it – carp are big fish, and they are hungry so give them what they want!Overnighter and extra baitAn overnighter is the order of the day, the pressure was staying low, but a warm south/south westerly wind had sprung up – ideal spring conditions! Normally this time of year fishmeals start to come into their own as they are ideal baits for fish to build up to spawning as they offer everything a fish needs. However, I completely forgot I was running a bit low of B5, and as I’d offered some for the charity auction, I would only have the Nutrabaits Hi-Nu-Val bait from my winter campaign – not that I was too worried as it’s still a top bait.
I’m taken a similar amount of bait to my winter sessions, but I’m going to take a lot more pellet to create a bit more of a feeding area. I like to boost the pellet to add a bit more attraction; in this case I’m using a liquid liver compound – all of the bottle being added to 5kg pellet. Give it a good shake to get them all coated and half an hour or so later its all absorbed. This also helps some of the lighter pellets to sink. Later in the year, when the water is properly warmed up, I would replace this with something like salmon oil, tuna brine or a similar bait soak (like Sonu Baits Tuna Dip). So down to the lake for about 7pm, it’s still a couple of hours till dark, so I’ve got plenty of time and don’t need to rush. I’m fishing a swim which is on the back of the wind as the dam wall is already crammed, but it’s the area that I’ve put bait into when I’ve been down for a walk and fished in the winter – never seen anyone else fish it! RigsRigs are being kept simple, a 2oz inline lead, no tubing or leadcore, and an 8″ Snakebite hooklength to Korda wide gape and a simple hair rig is all that I think is needed – the fish are more interested in feeding than later in the season when they are a bit more wary, and don’t ‘need’ to feed so hard. So long as the hook is sharp, and the hooklength is relatively short, it should be fine.Rods in positionThe first rod goes to the back of a bar that runs between two islands, but a long way from the island margins – everyone fishes them as can be seen by the marker floats and leads in the trees. Maybe baitboats aren’t such a bad thing? Approx 3kg of baits are scattered along the bar, concentrating it around the hookbait. Line marked with power gum, and as the front of the swim is quite tight, a backlead added directly below the rod tip.
The other two rods went approx 40yds out to an area of broken ground, and the whole of the bucket of pellets (bar enough for a few bags) went around the marker. Luckily, there is a spit that runs out from the swim, which meant the spot was only 20yds or so from the bank, and with a really strong wind blowing from behind, using the bait spoon and tossing the pellet high meant I could make short work of putting the bait out! Another couple of kilo’s of boilies finished the spot off. Rods out and marked, and I just get the brolly up when a surprise shower hits, followed a minute later by clear skies. April eh! Liners and then runsI don’t normally expect to catch till around 9pm in this swim, but I was getting the odd liner, and fish were rolling over the baits fairly quickly. I sat back and listened to Rangers boring a draw out, but must’ve fallen asleep as I was woken at about 9.20 with a twitchy take to the rod on the back of the bar, a low double being the culprit. I must’ve needed a sleep as I swear the pics looked fine when I took them! Just as I put the fish back, the middle rod ripped off with a mid double. Things were looking good! Fish were crashing all over the pellet spot, so I expected a few more.
No more takes were forthcoming until just after midnight when a chunky 171/2 pounder came to the bar rod. Over the next two hours I had fish roughly every 20 minutes, all low to mid doubles from the pellet spot, until I decided to leave the rods reeled in – great fishing, but not great for work the next day! I could then get a few more hours un-interrupted sleep, until the bar rod which was still out ripped off again with a mid double common – the first of the session – the culprit. Luckily, it was only about five minutes before my alarm went off to go to work. Eleven fish in 10 hours fishing when I didn’t actually fish the whole night wasn’t a bad night’s fishing, it would’ve been interesting to see what I would’ve caught if I had fished the whole time. ‘Pile the bait in’I don’t want this to sound like the normal ‘pile the bait in’ article, but at some times of the year it can be an absolutely killer method – especially on some of the higher stocked commercial waters. It doesn’t have to be boilie – pellet is cheap enough if you get it from the right sources, and adding something simple like Tuna brine can make it just different enough from everyone else. A couple of cans of sweet corn or handfuls of maize would probably work just as well, but you might get a lot of unwanted attention from other species. Don’t forget, they are on the feed as well! Instead of PVA bags, use ‘the method’ – it’ll help keep the cost down, and maybe just that little bit different from everyone else.Good luck, the next two months can give you some of the best fishing of the year, just try and make the most of it!
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