by Pat Gillett Over the last few weeks I have been doing a few short afternoon / day sessions, with the longest one being no more than 10 hours. This really is my favourite type of carpfishing. I have kept the tackle to a minimum and been very mobile in my fishing. By moving around a lot (sometimes up to four or five times) and closely watching the behaviour of the carp I have been able to catch one or two fish when the going has really been pretty slow.
The Midlands Estate Lake I have been fishing is about 4 acres, crystal clear and very shallow (no more than 3 ½ feet deep). It also has an increasing amount of weed has the weather warms up. Stocking levels are not particularly high with approximately 35 fish. Because of the water conditions it really is a better ‘nightwater’ with most angler’s catching very little in the day. But I have always believed in the old adage of ‘catching on my own terms’ and as such I have still not fished a night on this water. (I get more enjoyment catching in the daytime). (more…)
Since James Harrison’s first piece in this magazine about carp captures being a result of many things coming together at the same time and most captures basically being ‘meant to be’, I have got to thinking an awful lot. Obviously, the more experienced angler will always catch a few more because he/she makes sure to be there when the right factors are coming together and the rig is in place ready for where the fish will undoubtedly turn up.
I have looked long and hard at my own fishing and, these past couple of weeks apart, I have never particularly struggled to catch carp and for many years I have used exactly the same rig for all of my bottom fishing on everything except soft silkweed. (more…)
I enjoyed Russell Hall’s ‘Goldendale – The Forgotten Lake’. Those carp look like true old warriors and it goes to show there are still a fair few lakes out there which are temporarily forgotten. I think the longer you spend in this game the more it becomes apparent just how quickly some carp can appear to grow, but upon reflection they are often just slow ‘plodders’. Many lakes that I wrote off several years ago as not being worth the effort for the size of fish they held, have now produced some very big fish. You can easily forget how long it is since originally writing them off. Even with a relatively slow growth rate it is amazing how much the fish grow over a period of a few years. There are some real gems swimming around in waters overlooked for a long while. (more…)
Snag Fishing
Now then, back to the previous edition of Carpworld. I enjoy interview type pieces and like to see what makes certain anglers tick. Some come over a little bit cold, in my opinion, and some at the opposite end of the scale seem to absolutely ooze eagerness. I like to think that by the time I have finished reading an interview I have a rough idea what the angler is like, personality-wise. The ‘Big Interview’ with Jim Carpenter showed just how much he has sacrificed in the pursuit of carp over the years, but the one thing which really makes me take my hat off to him was quite early on in his piece where he said: “I learnt then that I would never be a snag angler, and to this day I very rarely do it. I think that many fish get damaged in those hook-and-hold scenarios and I prefer to keep the fish looking good.”(more…)
Over the last few weeks I have been doing a few short afternoon / day sessions, with the longest one being no more than 10 hours. This really is my favourite type of carp fishing. I have kept the tackle to a minimum and been very mobile in my fishing. By moving around a lot (sometimes up to four or five times) and closely watching the behaviour of the carp I have been able to catch one or two fish when the going has really been pretty slow.![[del.icio.us]](http://www.questbaits.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
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