KEEPING SIGHT OF REALITY
Carp are relatively simply creatures, with two main objectives in life, firstly to reproduce and secondly to eat. Crediting them with a super level of intelligence does add much to the allure of carp fishing and it makes a great excuse when we’re not catching, but the realities are, in my opinion much different.
Many anglers these days seem to have a fascination or an obsession even with what is often described as ‘advanced methods and tactics’ which can make the whole situation far more complicated than it needs to be.
Put simply if you fish a good proven bait in an area accessible to the fish, (by this I mean free from being tangled up in weed or bottom debris) then as long as carp are present, and your rig is able to perform the basic task of hooking fish, then more times than not you will catch.
ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL
When a lake is considered to be difficult, it’s often down to the low stock that inhabits the water, and it’s likely that an introduction of more fish which should create competition for food would stack the odds back in the anglers favour.
Pressure plays a huge part in how the fish behave, for example 10 carp in a small pond fished for 364 days a year, will be harder to catch than 100 fish in the same pond under the same amount of angling pressure.
This is purely down to competition between fish and the pressure being spread through the stock and should in no way credit the fish with any more intelligence.
All this may seem very obvious to most people, but the ‘modern approach’ can cloud over the facts and can lead to us looking for a wonder rig or bait.
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED
When an angler experiences a problem, be it hook pulls or lack of action, when clearly on feeding fish, usually the smallest of adjustments to the current tactic, is all that’s required, just as long as we think in a logical and more practical manner.
We must never loose sight of the fact that every lake is different and therefore, the feeding habits of our chosen quarry may vary from venue to venue.
It’s also important to remember that these fish are not acting differently because they are far cleverer than carp in any other lake, it’s more likely the nature of the lake and the make up of the bottom, that has conditioned them to feed in this manner.
Of coarse all these observations are only my opinion and you may well disagree.
A RECENT EXPERIENCE
On a recent visit to my syndicate lake I was unfortunate to receive a hook pull, on a rig that has served me well for a long time.
The rig in question was a pop up rig, fished an inch off the bottom and presented above any bottom debris, such as leaves and twigs that were present in the swim.
My first reaction was something needed to change, as that couldn’t happen again.
The reason my faith was so strong in this rig is that on the water I fished last year I caught several large carp to over 40lb fishing in this exact same way. Fishing over light weed and bottom debris I thought the pop would be less likely to become contaminated with lakebed odours.
It was on this same recent trip that I was able to observe some large Carp sitting in the no fishing area, so I spent hours watching them feed on bait I had introduced.
It didn’t take long to see the problem, as due to the nature of the bottom the carp were feeding extremely close to the lakebed and it was clear to see that the pop up rig I had so much faith in would be sitting too high in this situation, they just weren’t feeding as I’d expected and only a bait close to the bottom would do the trick.
SOLUTION
I returned to the swim and repositioned the shot on the rig only 5mm from the Fang Twister hook and bingo! The next take resulted in an upper 30!
It would have been so easy to start looking at different rigs and methods, but in this case an adjustment of around 2 cm was all that was required.
The fact is the fish hadn’t got off the hook because he was too clever or he’d pulled a trick to dislodge the hook, he’d simply eaten what I’d put in front of him, but the hook bait just wasn’t presented properly.
SIMPLE RIG – BASIC TASK
There are so many rigs out there today, finding one that’s right for you is not easy.
For me I love the idea of combi rigs constructed of both stiff and supple material, as in my opinion the two most important parts of any rig are that, it’s tangle proof and that it has enough movement to allow the rig to enter the carps mouth.
Although I’ve used coated braids such as the Missing Link with great success, my favourite method is to use Nash stiff fluorocarbon in 20 lb and combine it with the excellent Armour Braid.
For me it ticks all the boxes and when combined with the awesome Fang Twister hook, it just doesn’t get any better.
I like to add a 10mm section of Nash Diffusion shrink tube over the eye of the hook to extend the shank, and then fix the hair with a small piece of blow back rig tube on the bend, nothing too complex and it works!
What I really like about this rig is it’s the only one I use! Fished with a 2 inch supple section at the sharp end and combined with a snow-man hook bait, its hard to better. For a pop up I’ll substitute the blow back tube for a Nash TT rig ring, but that’s just about it.
Very simple and very effective, I know if it’s presented correctly and the carp visit me I’ll catch.
THE PRESENCE OF WEED.
Weed is probably most anglers worst nightmare, and you only have to look at it to see why, but the fact is carp love it and if the bait is presented in a way that allows the carp to get the rig in their mouth success is the most likely outcome.
Some anglers prefer to fish pop up’s in weed and others are religious users of bottom baits, but for me a snow man rig is my number one choice.
A pop up may sit on the weed perfectly in some cases, and a bottom bait may make it to the bottom in other types of weed, such as Canadian pond weed, but without the use of underwater footage, there is no way of telling 100% exactly what is out there,
For me a snow-man rig works best in this situation, the key is the length of the rig which is always long enough to ensure the balanced hook bait sits on top of whatever I‘m fishing over.
EJECT AND LAND
For all my fishing I use the Nash Weed Safe lead clip, as I feel that in most cases dropping the lead is essential for converting runs into banked fish, but never more so when dealing with weed.
It’s hard enough to prize the fish out of their underwater homes, without an extra large clump of weed tagging along as well.
Diffusion Weed Safe clips and associated components also vanish against any lake bed colours and shades which also adds to the stealth effect.
A PROVEN BAIT
Bait is another contentious topic, with everyone having their own views and opinions, but when you think about it, the only things that matter, are that the fish want to eat it, and that it’s ‘angler friendly’ and is nuisance fish resistant and remains on the rig.
Being part of the Nash team I have access to a vast range of bait products, all with a proven track record for catching big carp, but with such a large choice it wasn’t easy to narrow things down to one product.
Monster Squid would have been the obvious choice, its just catching so many fish at the moment but again I’ve gone my own way and opted for the ever reliable Scopex Squid. With over 16 years of carp catching heritage behind it’s name, for me its still the number one big fish bait in the UK.
The amount of large carp this bait still catches is simply unbelievable, while other ‘wonder baits’ come and go it just goes on working year after year and it’s no wonder that it’s still a big seller.
To say that Scopex Squid has stood the test of time is an understatement, but it’s not just the impressive boilie range that makes this bait such a success, the matching pellets, dips, pop ups, Soluballs and the new Chain Reaction never seem to fail.
TOP TIP!
A top tip that has served me well over the last 18 months is to keep some Scopex Squid pop ups permanently swimming in a pot of the matching Food Dip. Carp find this stuff irresistible and you just can’t seem to over do it, the added attraction acts as a kind of beacon and makes the hook bait impossible to ignore and I’m sure its caught me plenty of bonus fish.
CONCLUSION
There’s no magic answers! To look at bait from a practical point of view, there is no such thing as a wonder bait and that applies to rigs too, but using products with a proven history will stack the odds in our favour
I hope you’ve enjoyed my ramblings, it isn’t my intention to convert you to my way of thinking but maybe this article will be just enough to get you thinking and re evaluating aspects of your own approach that you might not be completely confident with.
Good luck and keep thinking!