Bagging Up - Carp Fishing

My mirror fell to a new bait on test, Surf ‘N’ Turf which was attached to an unusual take on the chod which I have been playing around with. Rather than using beads to hold the hooklink in place, I have been experiencing a lot of success by using two air-dried 10mm hookbaits threaded on to a TF leader and a 3 oz distance lead. Alongside this I presented a small PVA bags containing a dozen whole and broken freebies. I was the only one to catch during the trip and to do so during the snow make the experience even more special.

Samantha Collins-Ratcliffe

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35lb Carp in the “Snow”

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by Shaun Harrision
Following on from my previous blog regarding stopping the bite alarms constantly bleeping in a big wind I would like to share another little method I have developed since I wrote the last bit.

This has all come about since joining a large deep clay pit in Cambridgeshire. I have never fished anywhere before that gets so windy so often. It’s as though it has its own mini climate. The drive to the pit will often see barely a rustle in the trees but once there white caps can often be seen with huge waves breaking over the bank on the prevailing wind.

So, having originally got over the problem by using the bobbins in front of the alarms when things got really rough I kept my brain going on this problem and have come up with a great way of dealing with it which allows the bobbins to be fished in the conventional manner and drop back bites will still register on the alarms the moment they drop back.

Once cast out I tie on a pole elastic marker as usual. I then tie one or both of the tag ends of the marker to the line too. So the same marker knot is tied in place twice or three times. It is then a simple job to tease the knots apart then release them which gives you a loop or loops in your line as the elastic contracts.

There you have it a small spring loaded system for your line which takes the brunt of the worst of the conditions allowing the elastic to stretch a little rather than keep bleeping the alarms. A drop back allows the bobbin to drop in the conventional manner and a forward take simply stretches the elastic out and drags the bobbin up.

Try it next time those buzzers are driving you mad. The finer the elastic the better it works.

Best fishes
Shaun

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Stop those false bleeps II

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by Ron Key
American Signal Crayfish are here and they are spreading virtually unchecked. I first encountered them a few years ago in the Colne Valley where there were actually stocked in some waters to cultivate as food. They eventually escaped and have now spread over the whole of mainland UK. They are much larger than our native crayfish, and carry a fungus that is deadly to them. From an angling perspective they are so frustrating.
The crayfish are relentless they will try to eat everything; this includes your hooklink and boilie stop. I gave up using mono hooklinks very quickly as the crayfish nipped the line seriously weakening it. I use soft braids or coated braids now; they tend to fold when nipped rather than deforming but they do need examining regularly for damage. I also hide the hair stop when possible as this is usually the first thing to be eaten, leaving your boilie free for the crayfish to rob you. At best the only indication you will get is a single beep of your buzzer and you are no longer fishing.

After spending time finding your feature, baiting up and finally casting out your hook bait; there is nothing worse for your confidence than spending your time wondering if you actually have any bait on the hair. Were those liners you were getting and making you feel so confident actually signal crayfish taking your bait? I used to get up a couple of times a night to wind in and check my baits to ensure I was still fishing. On the worst water I fished, three rods were robbed of their hook baits within 20 minutes of casting out. The bobbins were dancing within seconds and were not still until the hook baits had gone. I don’t mind the crayfish creating a disturbance when they eat a few of my free offerings as I think this activity can attract carp. They do after all eat crayfish having the ability to crush them in their pharyngeal teeth, but when the carp arrive I do want be sure I have a baited hook waiting for them.

 I have successfully used many of the artificial baits on the market. However there are times particularly when you have been baiting up a water, when you want to present your favourite Quest boilie on the hair safe in the knowledge it will stay there.
So what is the answer? Years ago one of my many jobs was to manage an electronics workshop and when terminating cables we used to use a plastic heat shrink tube in a variety of colours to finish the joint and act as an identifier. This tubing was placed around the cable and shrunk to fit using a heat gun. I had used it in the past to create landing net handles and coating bank sticks never thinking at the time what it could be used for. I sourced a clear version of the tube in bulk from RS Components I think, and cut it into short lengths. The boilie was pierced with a baiting needle, the sleeve slipped over the boilie and it was rotated in the flame of the stove to shrink it. I usually store my prepared boilies in a pots of Bait Glugs to mask any smell of plastic that the process may have left behind.
The results were immediate, the plastic coat slowed down the crayfish and ensured we always had a hook bait, and best of all it did not affect the baits ability to attract a fish. I always leave a small opening at each end of the boilie to allow for flavour leakage, and an extension at one end which allows me to hide the boilie stop from the crayfishes’ clutches. All our original tubing was sourced through electrical/ electronic factors but now you can buy prepacked lengths from many tackle shops.  

At the time it was a leap of faith, would the carp pick up plastic? With the growth in artificial carp baits, wrapping your bait in plastic is not a confidence issue for most anglers. Try it; it’s put plenty of fish on the bank for me in situations when I hadn’t got a chance of fishing effectively

Ron Key

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Crayfish Combat

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Shaun Harrison gets out on the bank for a November session in France. He manages to bank several cracking carp including a 40lb plus mirror and a 29lb’er for the camera.

Quest Baits - Autumn Night from Gareth Watkins on Vimeo.

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Autumn Nights - Session in France

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by Pat Gillet

It is at this time of year when I start to dust off my barbel gear and think about getting out on the rivers. After 6 months on the Stillwaters it is nice to be getting back onto some moving water, fishing for some truly wild fish. Hopefully from now onwards (as the weather generally worsens) the banks will be less crowded and as always at this time of year the barbel and chub will be in their peak of condition.
From now until the end of the season you can expect to encounter some of the most challenging river conditions and the worse that the English weather can throw at you. With this in mind I have listed a few things, which although simple have helped me put more fish safely on the bank through many previous winters.

Long hooklengths
The use of long hooklengths is something that has brought me a lot of barbel over the years and is something that I see very few anglers ever do. With more and more carp anglers having a go at barbel fishing, the standard approach seems to be to use a shortish hooklength with a heavy lead / feeder (as though carp fishing). This is fine during the summer months when the rivers’ are low and carrying very little debris, but from now onwards when the leaves start falling and other debris get washed into the river, fishing with short hooklengths will very often lead to your hook bait getting masked in rubbish or your lead collecting a massive ball of rubbish. Now to me if you have a big ball of leaves etc say 12 inches from your hook then the presentation isn’t going to be exactly perfect!
To counteract this problem I will use a long mono hooklength of anything up to 6ft (I use Berkeley XT clear). To me this gives much better presentation and hardly ever does the hookbait become masked. I have heard some anglers voice concerns about deep hooking fish doing this, but I can honestly say of the hundreds of barbel I have caught using this method I have never hooked one more than say ¼” inside the mouth. I put this down to the fact that I am using a sharp bare hook, as I always fish with either a hair or a bait band. Maybe if the hook was buried in a bait the result would be different, but put it this way, if I deep hooked a fish I certainly wouldn’t use the method again.
Upstream fishing.
A method I will use wherever possible is upstream feeder / ledger fishing. I will fish a long way upstream as long as I am not interfering with anybody else. This is a method I very rarely see used by other anglers but it is one I have had a lot of success on. I think it gives a better presentation and with a slight bow in the line ensures most of the line is on the bottom and not bellowing up in the flow as can happen whilst fishing downstream.
Also because of the way the current acts on the line very often you can get away with leaving the bait in longer during flood or heavy debris conditions. In deep rivers such as the Lower Severn the rod fished out in front or slightly down stream picks up a lot more debris than the rod fished well upstream. I believe this is due to the fact that the line going straight across the current produces a much bigger affected surface area for rubbish to collect than the upstream line which is basically ‘cutting a straight line’ through the current.
I can think of a couple of swims on the Warwickshire Avon and Lower Severn that have produced a lot of double figure Barbel for me, that would have produced next to nothing if I had not been prepared to fish a good way upstream. The one has a submerged island that cuts a lot of the flow off, so is perfect to fish upstream to. The other has a huge mid-river snag, if you fish downstream to it you end up losing loads of tackle. Fish upstream to it and its no problem and the fish are also easier to land. Once you get the balance of this method right it can prove very effective.
Fishing safely
One of the most important things to bear in mind whilst fishing through the winter is your own safety. With the river levels constantly up and down the banks can be extremely treacherous so the utmost care must be taken. Some anglers use spikes and ropes but I personally prefer to use a long landing net handle to safely net fish. After years of using telescopic match type poles that snapped every season I finally came across a piece of kit, which I have had for the last five years. This is a very robust but lightweight extendable pole made by a company called Redport that I bought from The Tackle Box. This pole which extends from 6 foot to about 10 foot cost about £40 and as been worth every penny. When combined with a strong 36” net this gives me a reach of approximately 13 foot. If I can’t net a fish safely with this set up then I won’t fish the swim.

Fishing comfortably
When fishing on the river through the winter you will be faced with a lot of inclement weather and to fish effectively and enjoyably you will need to be comfortable, warm and dry. It’s not like carping where you can get inside your sleeping bag in your bivvy when the weather turns nasty.
With this in mind you will need a good fishing suit. I have been through a few over the years but by far the best one I have found is the Sundridge Igloo suit. This suit is very waterproof, exceptionally warm and being ‘soft’ is very comfortable to wear. It is also breathable so providing you wear breathable gear underneath you will not sweat too much whilst walking any distance along the river. I know this suit is expensive (about £190 for the bib and brace and jacket) but it will last you years and will keep you warm and dry. I have tried other cheaper and equivalent priced suits and have been deeply disappointed when they have fell to bits and have either let the water in or not been warm enough.

So just a few thoughts, although only simple (like most of the best things in fishing) these are things that have made my winter fishing both more effective and enjoyable.
Cheers
Pat

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On the river again !

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(All loaded & ready to go)
On one of the lakes I fish you need to place your baits out a good old distance and in a good size amount. But not having to worry too much about placing them exactly on the same spot every time but being able to create numerous feeding beds. So my initial approach was to opt for a simple throwing stick, and dot boiles around a marker, but soon came to realise that it was an option that had serious disadvantages. On one hand there is the limit to the bait that can be used and on the other hand there is the annoyance of seagulls. Many of you reading this most

likely at some point have experienced seagulls picking up your boilies in mid air or as they hit the water. Gulls have come to recognise the sound of the boilie as it

leaves the throwing stick and quickly gather in large flocks

ready to pick up the bait in flight; those baits that escape are soon picked off as soon as they hit the surface of the water. Therefore I decided to give myself more of a fighting chance and get the trusty spod out.

(Gulls that’s what you get when living by the sea!)

On some lakes I have fished the sound of a spod crashing into the water can draw the carp’s attention to the baited area around your marker float. When I started looking at spods I wanted one which would be easier to cast a fair distance whilst carrying a small amount of bait. This way it would be easier to make many smaller feeding spots around an area as opposed to larger beds that could spook the wary fish off. My personal choice is a Korda Mini Skyliner Spod, Its small but it suits me fine, I can cast out bait to my maker and have confidence in hitting the spot desired almost every time. Using this I don’t need a specially created spod rod set up all I use is my X Flite 50 3lb test rod, with 12lb line which does the job i ask of it perfectly.

(lucky carp)
y Spod Mix (lucky carp) maze, maple’s, hemp, black-eyed beans, mixed seeds, sea salt and a touch of magic in the form of fruity trifle dip. it smells good enough to eat even by my standards. But you don’t have to stop there you can add anything you wish.

(Im going to hit you?)
After finding my spot with a marker float I then clip it up and back lead it so there is no line showing just in case I have a fish or the spod get stuck on it, when I have fond the distance with the spod I then clip it up so I can hit the distance every time.

(I hope this will turn them on?)
When filling my spod I only fill three quarters of the way with my mix and then place some ground bait on top to plug the mix. this minimises mixture escaping whilst casting out.

(Dunking the spod)
Before casting I like to lower the spod into the water, this will give it more weight and helps to reduce any spillage therefore ensuring more bait hits the lake bed.

(Ready for the big one)
Ready for the big one all lined up ready for the cast. I prefer to watch the rod rather than look at the float as it helps me to release the line at the correct angle and not leave it too late in the cast. This way i have minimised line breakages in the initial cast and don’t get the ping back motion I first experienced when learning to spod.

(Out it goes spod rocket to the moon)
Out it goes, all I’ve got to do now is lift the rod vertically and wait for the line clip to do its job.

(on the spot not bad for a female!)
On the spot she goes to create another small bed of bait.

(Bombs away)
Splash as it hits the water right next to my marker lets hope the fish don’t get too spooked off.

(Nice and neat)
When I’m not using my spod I like to store it at the bottom of my rod, this will keep it nice and neat and help prevent the bottom of my rod getting scratched.

(Bottoms up)
As I wait for the action the swans go for lunch (Bottoms up) eating all the bits that drop from my spod as I dunked it in the water.

(A carp is a carp!)
The end result, a carp on the bank not a big one but a carp is a carp!

All the best with this method

Samantha Collins-Ratcliffe

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Spodding (my way) By Samantha

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This has nothing to do with carp fishing, but this guy has got to be the daftest, unluckiest, stupidest fisherman out there. I know you’ll love it!

Another great video tutorial shows how to create a helicopter rig. And well known carp fisherman Matt Hayes is just the man to show you…..

Carp fishing beginners can learn the basics of tying a hair rig by watching this video.

The hair rig is the most popular and effective hook setup in carp fishing and an essential part of the carp fisherman’s armoury.

Enjoy….

Heat 2 of the 2008 Wales Carp Masters took place at Celtic Lakes
Resort over the weekend of 20th June - 22nd June.

Six pairs of carp anglers braved the often atrocious conditions in
Heat 2 of the competition.

Position - Team - Weight

1 - Ian Carter & Paul Hatton - 237lb 15oz

2 - Gary Wady & Pat “No Fingers” - 137lb 6oz

3 - Steve McCreadie & Reece McCreadie - 122lb 15oz

Paul Hatton, one half of the winning team, had this to say about the
event and their victory:

“We decided to enter after watching the event last year on Sky
Sports. We thought the Carp Masters would be a break from the norm, a good experience and also a chance of winning a great prize. We have met some great people and had some good laughs with the other competitors and the guys working at Celtic Lakes.”

“We only had time to get down there for one practice session before
heat two as we live near Manchester. We organized ourselves well
though and got to know the lake quite well in a short space of time.
When the time came to qualify we had done our home work, had our
tactics and bait sorted and managed to get the peg we wanted”

“The weather was described by every team I think to be the worst they had ever fished in, including us! Heavy rain and winds you could
hardly stand up in! We refused to let it beat us though and battled
through it, we were soaked like we had fallen in but managed to keep
spirits high and keep working for the fish”

“I think we had about 25 carp in total, we lost a few and I also
caught 2 catfish which were a bonus although they don’t count in the
match. We caught all our fish on our own home made boilies: that’s all
I’m saying about the tactics! The marshal’s did a fantastic job as
well, it was hard for the anglers but wasn’t easy for them either
that’s for sure.”

“We are really looking forward to the final now, whatever the
weather!”

John Carney, who heads the Wales Carp Masters team, was delighted
with the second heat of this years event:

“After all the months of hard work and planning by my team, Its great
to get this years competition up and running with the second heat now
completed. As always I would like to thank the whole WCM team (with
special thanks going to the marshals who spent most of the weekend
trying to dry out) for their hard work and dedication. Congratulations
to the winning two pairs who we look forward to seeing back here at
Celtic Lakes in the final in August”.

There are still places available in the remaining four heats. Heats
three and four at Celtic Lakes were both won last year with weights
topping 500lbs and 600lbs respectively. So if you fancy some amazing
carp fishing and a chance to be crowned Wales carp Masters 2008,
please visit our registration page to find out more.

For more information and to register, please visit:

http://www.walescarpmasters.co.uk