Here’s another article from our friends at Nash Tackle. We hope you enjoy!
According to my dictionary the meaning of the word “ambush” is the act of concealing yourself and lying in wait to attack by surprise. This description certainly applies to the direction my carp fishing has gone in recent years. Like most people, time is limited so it needs to be used wisely.
In order to utilize the ambush tactic, I need to first get on fish and then get my rigs out amongst the carp without spooking them. This is easier said than done on the majority of modern busy venues, its certainly a difficult proposition on my current water where angling pressure and capture avoidance is a way of life for the carp that reside here. So I need as many aspects as possible stacked in my favour for the ambush to be effective.
GETTING IN TUNE
Imagine this scenario, I walk onto my lake just as dawn is breaking to see a large dark coloured carp silently nut out in front of a vacant swim. The other anglers on the lake are all tucked up and snoring when another, even bigger fish shows itself. I rush back to the car for my gear and after working up a sweat with the barrow I am setting up in the swim with the carp still showing. The last thing I want to do is scare them off but to catch them I need to cast baited rigs to them. This is where doing your homework comes in handy. If it’s a swim I have explored and fished before I will know exactly where baits need to be.
Whenever I locate features or have caught from particular spots, I like to mark out the distance to the zones with bank side markers or whatever is to hand. For example, the distance I need to cast to one hot spot on my current water is the exact distance as that from the edge of the grass at the side of the swim to a conveniently dug rabbit hole further down the path. I’ve also used bank side posts and branches or simply kicked divots in the soil. Then when the need arises, it’s just a case of pacing out the line and clipping up. I doubt that any other anglers fishing here will realize the significance of my markers, but for me they are a crucial element if I’m to fish effectively.
CONFIDENCE
If you’re going to make the most of a situation presented by a showing fish, you want to make one cast and be sure that your hook bait is presented effectively. Also you don’t want to be left agonizing over whether the hook link has tangled! In this situation I also want to use the lightest lead possible to reach the required distance. To help this I’m currently using 12lb Nash Bullet Mono instead of my usual 15lb and will continue to do so until the weed comes up and the extra strength is needed. Stealth, concealment and anti tangle properties are maximized by incorporating a length of Nash TT Core Plus lead core into my rigs where it is permitted. I keep everything simple and functional,
I can’t go on much further without mentioning the fashionable chod rig. I’ll be honest and say that the choddy is far from my favorite rig but I’ll always have a few tied up ready for this situation. If I’m going after fish that are in an unfamiliar swim or in an area I know to have a messy bottom I’ll employ the choddy but not over clean spots. For those I’ll use either a low pop-up on a multi rig or a balanced bottom bait.
THE RIGHT STUFF
Bait choice is a personal one but if I’m fishing the venue on a regular basis then I will have been steadily applying a top quality food bait, I’ll also have a supply of cork ball and Nash Airball pop-ups. For ‘one off’ trips to other lakes or for casting into the unknown I also have a supply of Fluoro Airball pop-ups in various flavours.
Often when fish are showing a single hook bait is all that is needed but a stringer or stick will boost attraction and reduce the tangle worries. The humble stringer does seem to have taken a backseat to sticks over recent years but with Nash TT PVA Stringer Tape it has never been easier. It grips the boilies in place and provides a reliable total dissolve without residue.
In the past I’ve used sticks a lot, but after my initial tests they have been dropped in favour of the new Nash Soluballs. Loosely described as ball pellets, they are a vast improvement on the ones which were available to us some years ago. Ball pellets of old were basically carriers of flavours providing not much in the way of nutrition. But Soluballs are very different. Formulated with an attractive high nutritional value there’s one containing the same flavours and attractors to match every boilie in the Nash range. They start breaking down immediately when submerged in water and create an irresistible cloud of attraction when disturbed by the carp. What I really like about this baiting situation is that despite the boosted attraction, the only real substance for the carp to actually eat is the hook bait and if the rig is an effective one, then pretty soon another carp will be in the album. Soluballs also take on Nash Bait Food and Boilie Dips, I’m sure the forward thinking anglers out there can find many uses for them.
MEMORIES
I’ve enjoyed some good captures using the ambush, but one of the most pleasing was my capture of Starburst from Willington in Bedfordshire. I had arrived early that morning to see a nice fish which may have been the venues big common launch itself out of the water out in the middle over a spot I knew well. It was in line with a pylon and soon I had a stringer on the spot and a choddy in the rough next to it and was climbing into the kip bag as I’d driven straight down after a night shift.
I woke at around 10:30 and heard a loud splash coming from my right. Another followed but it wasn’t a monster carp boshing. It was in fact an idiot tench angler in the next swim which was only 20 yards away, raking it out! I was not amused to say the least but kept my cool, made a brew and went for a walk. Luckily for me the fish had the same idea to get as far away from the idiot tench angler as possible. I found several carp mooching around in a set of pads at the other end of the lake so I knew what I had to do.
Previous knowledge told me that there was a small gravely patch to the left of the pads and after a little observation I noticed a common was using the same route to get in and out of the pads. There was zero bank side cover so I had to be as stealthy as an 18 stone lump could be. After what seemed like an age I had one hook bait with a 2 bait stringer on the gravel and a choddy in only 18 inches of water on the common’s patrol route.
I was sat well back from the water waiting for action when I noticed carp moving along the margin further along. I filled my pockets with pellets and crept along to take a look. It was at that point that the choddy rod tore off so I legged it back to the rods. The fish kited a long way to my left so I had to follow it. At one point I was on my tip toes with a barbed wire fence between my legs as the fish tore off on another run. Not something I can recommend.
Eventually and three swims further down the bank I had the fish circling in the margins, a hefty clump of weed was stuck on the line about three feet above the fish and I had only limited control on the proceedings. I had to wade out a little and scoop the fish up like a salmon as it turned and as I did I dropped the rod to raise the net with both hands. It worked and Starburst was mine!
I always look back on that battle with a smile, for the record she went 45lb 6oz on the scales and was ambush fishing at its best. And certainly more fun than sitting behind static rods or festering in a bivvy.
GET STEALTHY
Stealthy ambush tactics, in essence getting an effective rig and bait onto feeding fish without spooking them can be effectively applied when you arrive at a lake or after a move of swim, or in any situation when a fish catching opportunity presents itself. On the odd occasion when I move swims at night, having distances pre marked on the bank allows me to present baits where I need them without any fuss and with minimal disturbance. A good bait, a suitable and effective rig, a light lead and minimal disturbance are the keys to success.
Practicing and perfecting this type of approach has earned me plenty of bonus fish and it can for you.