By Mehdi Daho I like to mix dumbellshapeboilies with normal round boilies in my baiting spot.
I think it confuses the carp, even the most spooky specimens. This is especially true when nobody else is using the dumbells on the water.
I fished a spot very close to the margin where I baited by hand a mixture of hot hemp and partiblend with 30% of dumbells Liver B8 and 70% of 15mm Liver B8 boilies. I placed my rig with a small dumbellLiver B8 followed by a plastic yellow corn on the baiting area.
Thirty minutes later I had a run !!! After a long fight under the rodtip, I landed a superb 37lb brown mirror.
I repeated the same situation for 3 days fishing only 1h in the evening, and I managed a run each night. I really believe the shape of the bait can increase runs.
It’s been a long time since we had a cold spell with prolonged sub zero temperatures like we had earlier this year. Apparently the start of December 2008 was the coldest since 1970. The older I get the more I feel the cold, especially in my fingers and toes and unlike in the love song, it isn’t pleasant at all. In fact it’s miserable. Fishing in these conditions can be demanding and I know that if I don’t keep warm I won’t enjoy being ‘out there’ and more importantly, I won’t fish well. So here are some tips about staying warm this winter.
In the last year rather than stick to one main syndicate water I have fished lots of waters both in the UK and France.Most of these waters were completely new to me, many I had not even seen before I started fishing.Of course I could write about how I used watercraft, searching for gravel spots, weed beds, bars, drop offs, gulleys, bottlenecks and all the usual elements that go into choosing our swim and the places we fish in them.I’m going to take that as read though and concentrate on feeding. When I approach a new water; unless I know for certain the fish are feeding heavily, and fish are getting caught, it’s unlikely that I will start by creating large beds of particles or boilies from the start. (more…)
Wintercarping can be one of the most sole destroying pastimes imaginable. What with the long cold nights, freezing days and with little chance of a fish anyone would be mad to fish through the winter months-wrong wintercarping can be one of the most rewarding and exciting parts of carpfishing, if you get it right. The fish are normally at their best weight and in excellent condition. The million dollar question how do you get it right in winter?
Firstly my definition of a wintercarp is one caught between 1st November and 1st March just to make it clear. Now that has been cleared up what makes the difference between success and failure?
I have winter fished for carp for well over 20 years, with some spectacular successes and some dismal failures. The problem with wintercarping is that there are few rules. (more…)
Shaun Harrison gets out on the bank for a Novembersession in France. He manages to bank several cracking carp including a 40lb plus mirror and a 29lb’er for the camera.
We were lucky enough to be able to stop at Oakview for a few days whilst making one of our usual trips to some of our venues in France. On this trip most of our visits to the lakes were grouped in an area where we could stop in one place and circle out each day to view the venues. When we arrived at Oakview in the evening Shirley and Martin made us most welcome at their home with a nice hot cuppa. From their house we could just see the lake through the trees in the distance as the sun was going down. We discussed their plans and then the talk got around to the actual fishing something I love to do! (I always travel with my rods in the roof of the van) Martin could see I was chomping at the bit and offered to show me around the lake - if I wanted to fish… If !! – we were down the stairs and half way across the field before his feet touched the ground.
As we walked around the lake Martin told me all about the work they had done – including de-silting the lake and putting in a deeper channel along the left side of the lake (looking from the cabin) He also showed me the hotspots where successful anglers had fished before.(more…)