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Viewing entries tagged with 'carp'
Sorting the Bait as we Approach Winter
As the cooler weather is now starting to set in it is time for my annual Autumn sort out of my tackle and bait but particularly the bait. From past experience I know that some of the baits that catch me a lot of summer fish will now stop working as effectively with the lowering of the water temperature. Yes, the carp will still eat them but certainly not with the same gusto as they did a month back. There are many reasons for this but on the whole they won’t be seeping out anything like same sort of attraction or stimulation to the fish that they did before the drop in temperature.
Accurate Casting in the Fog.
During this time of the year it is normal to get heavy mist and fog falling. This happened last week whilst fishing Brocard Large Lake in France and after catching a gorgeous looking common I could no longer see the silhouette of the tree line on the far bank to be able to re-cast accurately.
Never Mind the B******s – How Things Have Changed
1977 I had caught my first carp and the Sex Pistols were in full swing. Punk Rock had arrived and I like so many other young frustrated kids found myself swept away along the wave. I had two things in my life. Fishing and Punk Oh yes, I almost forgot. There was Karen Burton as well, now I bet she didn't go out with another angler after me!
Deep Water Carp Success with the Magnum White
With my Grenville season fast running out and deciding I was not going to be renewing my ticket I was desperate to get back over there after the events of the past couple of weeks which had been kind to me despite very few fish coming out. I knew they were turned on and tuned into the Magnum White. I just needed to get myself there and into a swim that gave me a good chance of putting a bait near a few fish.
Top Winter Carp Tactic
The prolonged cold, dark and often crisp nights of winter, followed by slippery drive ways and frozen window screens, hardly bring on the urge to go carp fishing do they?
Or do they?
They do to me. I must admit to feeling a relative smugness inside me during the winter months and can easily warm to many memories of winter success over the years. It is a fact that most of my personal best carp over the years have actually fallen during the winter period. The majority of times I have slowly upped my best has been during the winter and I truly believe this is the best time of the year to sort the bigger fish out. Undoubtedly the fish slow up and rest up for much longer periods when the water is cold but the larger fish tend to keep that little bit more active. If everything is active then all well and good, as every winter carp I catch seems to feel just that little more important to me than the same fish in the summer. Winter carp certainly give me a buzz!
Post Spawning Edge
I originally developed this product whilst fishing a difficult pit where the carp would follow the bream shoals around after spawning simply gorging themselves on spawn.
It became very difficult to get a take whilst the fish appeared to be preoccupied on spawn so I set about trying to mimic it but at the same time make it stand out much more than the natural spawn already there. After all you could wait a long while to get a take from a cow on a blade of grass couldn't you?
20 mm Boilies in the Winter.
It isn't just small tiny baits you will catch on during the cold winter months. During a time when many scale their baits down, it can be a lovely little edge going the opposite way.
British record Carp – How things have moved on.
Since posting a picture of Albert Buckley’s record carp from Mapperley Reservoir on my Facebook page I have spent a fair bit of time thinking about this – particularly the comments regarding the fish being killed.
I don’t think a lot of the younger anglers realise how relatively new the situation of returning big fish is. I guess most would be surprised if I pointed out that the first record carp to be returned alive to the water here in the U.K. was Chris Yates 51lb 8oz fish in 1980 (that wasn’t accepted as a record for some time as it had been returned). Not long ago is it?
Winter Bait Choice is Critical
There was a comment on facebook the other day that I responded to and thought I should add it here too.
Someone asked how important I think bait is.
