HELLO again and welcome to our July Blog, although it seems like no time has passed since our last offering, conditions on the bank have certainly changed.
Summer angling pressure has had a major effect on the habits and routines of the fish and those anglers that seem to be doing things slightly differently from the crowds seem to be catching the most fish and the bigger ones too.
All our contributors this month are top anglers and it’s no surprise that they seem to be focussing on the margins at the moment.
Don’t overlook the margins
Weedy margins that receive plenty of direct sunlight always seem to be crawling with natural food during the warmer months so as you would expect carp are drawn to them like a magnet. I’m mainly fishing zigs and surface baits at close range which allows me to really sharpen up my tactics.
Nash will be hitting the road this summer
The new Bolt Machines have worked well, unlike a conventional controller; they create a very effective surface bolt effect which really nails those surface feeders, even the shy or spooky ones. As well as fishing Zig Bugs at various depths I’m also using them as alternative surface hook baits.
Don’t forget to come and see us at one of our fishery road shows if you can, we really enjoy meeting and chatting with our valued customers and fellow anglers.
At this time of year I get plenty of questions on social media and letters on what is the right ‘baiting approach’
Being totally honest, all waters are different BUT what I can say with a degree of certainty from watching others is that it seems that too much bait is put in on arrival and not enough when actually fishing. Having spent my formative years as a coarse and match angler I know that little and often and fishing for a bite at a time is far more consistent than an ‘all or nothing’ approach. So let me give you some pointers on my approach which may help you on your next trip…
Top up on your summer essentials
1. Research is everything! Although I do trust my own judgement I do keep my ear to the ground when it comes to how a water is fishing and most importantly what is and isn’t working. No point turning up and finding that maggots, particles, zigs etc. are working and not having them with you. So keep tuned in on the water so you are prepared even if you decide to do something different on the day…
2.Whatever swim you decide to set up in the golden rule is to fish for one bite at a time, one fish at a time. The temptation can be to put in bait but to what effect? Is that going to make them feed? Or will it mean your chances of them locating the hookbait are even less? If I find fish I tend to fish a single bait be it on the bottom, a pop up or maybe a Zig Bug. The most I would use is maybe some Chain Reaction on the hooklength. If I don’t get a pickup fairly quickly I sometimes add a few Soluballs to the area maybe with a light coating of Food Dip. The Monster Squid is spot on for this….
3. If I have had a fish AND believe it’s an area the carp will return to I will top up the swim with some Soluballs and a handful at most of chopped boilies. However I keep it light rather than heavy…Occasionally I will wind in and go looking for signs of fish (clouded water etc.) and repeat step 2….
4. If I am doing the night or a similar time period and I am satisfied that I am not baiting up on top of fish and that they will come across the area when I am fishing I will put a larger amount of feed out. At this time of year I tend to use 50% boilie crumb and chops-30% Hemp, 10% pellets to match my feed bait and 10% boilies ( usually 10mm or boilie pellet ) and either Spomb or spod it out. Different breakdown rates and lots of attraction during the whole of the session. If I get a fish I top up with Soluballs NOT boilies.
Stalking carp is without a doubt my favourite method of angling. I love the long days spent chasing carp around the lake trying to outwit them and the thrill of watching a carp pick up your hookbait and hook itself is quite Exhilarating it must be said!!
One of my first tips for catching carp at close quarters is to use a good quality boilie that the carp will readily accept. Simply walking around the margins of a lake dropping a few handfuls of whole and chopped boilie crumb will often be met with a positive response.
The key is to keep priming and checking several areas of the lake and it goes without saying that this should not interfere with other anglers. If you’ve chosen your spots wisely, you may even find the carp prior to even giving them any bait.
In fact, this is the method I employ most in the summer months. Find the carp first and if they move, move with them. One of my most memorable summer captures was a fish I managed to stalk from the margins. I’d been stalking carp all day from a 30 acre lake and had hooked and landed four all on the same size 10 fang twister hook.
Haydn Hoskins with a huge 36lb+ carp
At around 6pm I decided to stalk another. I found a group of large black shadows further up the bank and quickly plinked several baits around them. Barely spooking for a second, they returned and ate the bait with gusto.
I ran down the bank to retrieve my rod and deposited a few more baits before flicking my rod into position. My clutch was slackened off and I shimmied about 4 feet up a tree. As I got into position the largest shadow of the bunch made a beeline straight for where I had just put my rod.
The next thing I saw was this shadow bolt of in the opposite direction at speed. I jumped out of the tree and slowed the fish down. The fight was epic and if it wasn’t for the bullet braid I was using I don’t think I would have landed it.
At 36 lb-plus and one of the ‘A’ team, it was the biggest carp I’d ever stalked.
Now that daytime temperatures are much higher the window of opportunity when fishing over a bed of bait normally only lasts from first light until 8am. Not being blessed with much fishing time I can’t sit around and wait for things to happen so I need to try my hardest to get something else going, which leads us nicely towards my favourite style of angling; stalking!
You will probably have noticed that carp are starting to use the margins more than they have been and this really can work in your favour.
Firstly you need to be quiet and stealthy. Dress in drab colours and wear a hat or hood to cover/obscure your face and hands. You’ll also need polarising sunglasses so you can see what’s going on down there – once you’ve used them you’ll never go fishing without them again!
Some good margin spots really stand out and have obvious features like snaggy trees or reed beds but others are less obvious with little in the way of marginal cover and often you’ll find fish using un-assuming bits of margin to get from one snag/holding area to another.
Paul Martin netting in the margins
Much of the time my rigs will simply be lowered into place so there is no need for anything too fancy. Shorter rods can be helpful in cramped swims and I’ll often use my 9ft 2.75lb Scope rods.
On that I’d fish 15lb D-Cam mono straight through to a Diffusion Weed Clip without the tail rubber and a 3oz Nash flat pear attached. I’d then add a short 5” length of 20lb Missing Link with a simple knotless knot rig and Monster Squid boilie pellet hookbait.
I would also add a few lumps of Cling On putty to the line directly behind the rig to ensure the line stays pinned down whilst the fish browse around the spot.
Start by putting a handful of bait in the edge of 4 or 5 swims and keep checking them in rotation, topping up each spot with bait and then watching for 10 minutes at a time. You’ll normally find that one or two spots will get some interest and you can then concentrate solely on those.
Generally speaking you can get away with smaller baits when fishing in the edge and I use 10mm and boilie pellet Monster Squid in the red and black versions which seem to go nicely with a little bit of hemp and pellet.
Stay mobile just like the carp and you will enjoy huge success.
I’m fishing a new water this summer, a 25 acre mere set in the middle of Shropshire and it’s one that is very different to last year’s venue.
I thought long and hard how to kick off the campaign so asked all the lads who had fished there how they were picking fish up. The common factor was they were all fishing and catching at long range to get as close to the middle as they could.
So me being me I wanted to go against the grain and fish mobile and short range and I would only fish for them once I had located them in an area.
The reasoning for this is that carp are very active and mobile in summer, you may see them one minute and decide to angle for them, but without warning the same location could be devoid of fish in a matter of minutes.
Like most carp these days including the ones in my new venue, they have been either farm reared or continuously fed by fishery owner’s pellet. There is no better time than summer for using pellet as the water is warmer and pellet is far more easily digested by fish. And they will instantly recognise it too, so for this summer, a mixture of pellet and boilies is the way to go for me.
However I needed to think about how to get pellet into the swim without spooking the carp and something like spodding over their heads was not going to be an ideal option.
So I prepared a mixture of Nash Sticky Pellet and 10mm Monster Squid purple boilies as hook baits in a bucket and produced some 40mm balls with the new Deliverance Ball Maker. So far this summer it has turned out to be a real winner, I’ve been able to present balls of pellet at 20-30 yards with very little disturbance. I’ve been nicking a quick bite and then moving onto more showing fish instead of the static approach that most adopt.
As the weeks pass and or seasons change, so do the habits of our quarry, methods I might have happily used a few short weeks ago can soon prove less effective so it might soon be time to evolve and change again.
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