Philip Parker wrote:
I will be tackling a venue that contains a good head of large grasscarp. The lake itself is quite shallow 3′-4′ and around nine acres in size. Can anyone offer some advice on trying to catch them. Of all the fish I’ve caught this one has eluded me. Surfacebaits are not an option at this venue. Any advice would be well received and appreciated.
Gareth Watkins replies:
Hi Philip, Grasscarp are lovely looking fish and a strange species as they are not easy to target. They will get caught on boilies, but this is more often than not in a water that has little or no weed. In my experience on heavily weeded waters they very rarely get caught at all.
Being basically plant eaters the best way to go about attracting them to your swim is with a plant based bait. I have found maize and sweet corn to be very good in this respect. If you put down a large bed of these particles you have a fair chance you’ll get the fish move on to it. (more…)
I relearned and old lesson last weekend, you may think you have the lake sorted out but no one tells the carp the rules.When I joined Shaun on our syndicatewater Grenville Lake he had already fished for 24 hours.He was fishing a swim in a bay that he knows well and has fished successfully over the last year. I chose a swim at the other side of the point on his right.Conditions for us both looked good.Within an hour I was getting liners over the Surf n’Turf and after three hours I had a run that I did not connect with.I sat confidently for another 24 hours; while the new wind that should have pushed the fish towards swung slowly around 360 degrees and the temperature cooled considerably.Was I worried was I hell? The fish in this lake always fish off the back of a cold wind.Don’t they?The wind picked up and I sat it out. (more…)
By roy van goor All anglers are waiting for the first sunny days, when the temperatures are going upwards and the lake shows more and more fish activity. The warmth of the sun is responsible for more carpmovement and often you can catch them fairly easily on these mild days. A few tips that can be effective considering the early time of the season:
1) Fish often don’t respond to heavy baiting: Under these circumstances, try to fish bags and single hookbaits. Bait that has gone in, can’t be taking out. So be careful with free offerings.
2) Always try to get your rods on the bank where the first sunlight falls on: This side of the lake will warm up faster and on a lot of occasions the majority of the fish will be hanging around in that part of the lake.
3) Don’t ignore the margins: Most of my early season captures are hooked just a few feet of the bank, right in my own margin.. (more…)
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.
One of the most productive methods for multiple captures of any species of fish, is by accurate presentation of both loose feed, boilies and the hookbait to a small area in open water.The first task is to locate a possible feeding area that is within casting distance, to present a carpet of feed and your hookbait. The requirements for this are:
1) A markerrod,
2) A spod rod
3) 2, 3 or 4 Fishing rods.
The first rod that you should use is the markerrod which can find the depth of water, the contours of the lake bed and the texture of the make up of the lake bed. Once a fishingspot is located, allow the float to rise to the surface and pick a point on the skyline that the float is lined up with. Either record this or memorise the location. Wind the lineback until you feel the marker hit the lead on the line, so that the marker is now on the lake bottom. Mark up the main line of the markerrod, at the butt ring of the rod with electrical tape or pole elastic. Once you are happy that it is properly marked, reel in the line.
Our next step is to mark up the spod rod and the fishing rods for that that baited area. (more…)
Having had to abort the session the previous Friday after just half an hour due to high water levels and a large amount of debris being carried through, I was more than keen to get back down for another session. All seemed right, the level was only about a foot up on summer levels and the waterclarity was reasonable.
I was cast out within minutes and was more than happy with the spots as I have had a few fish from them this season. I feel that knowing the area you are fishing is vital if you are only there for a limited period and it is almost dark when you arrive. Due to this I always have my rods ready with hookbaits on when I arrive and leave my leads in a side pocket of my rucksack along with my buzzer bars. One problem you get with the river is that the topography changes over the years and snags can get moved every time the high levels and floods come. Even existing snags change and get more branches etc attached to them, so feeling the lead down is vital even if you think the spots are clear. (more…)
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