Carp Fishing Tips | Choosing a swim on big waters - Adam Penning

September 24, 2020 Guest User

Rarely, if ever, is the stock of carp in a lake evenly spread. Some areas will have very few visits from carp, while others could go months without seeing a fish at all! To me, the only reason to ever fish any swim is because you have seen something that tells you fish are present. That could be a specimen showing itself or it could be more subtle.

Maybe there is one corner of the lake where the water is a totally different colour to the rest? Perhaps, if there’s no wind, you can spy clusters of bubbles?

Whatever the clues, once you have seen it, you’ll need to stand still and look for more indications because, more often than not, these will be forthcoming if you are prepared to invest a little time and patience.

Instead of being in a blind rush to get into a swim and crack on, take time to actually look for the fish. I won’t even contemplate setting up until I have some degree of certainty that I’m in the same place as the fish!

I won’t even contemplate setting up until I have some degree of certainty that I’m in the same place as the fish!

Commercial Fishing Tips | Carp on the bomb with Darren Cox

September 24, 2020 Guest User

The bomb is often seen as a winter method, when fishing a single hookbait with no feed is needed, but it works well at this time of year too, as Andy Bennett showed recently by winning Fish O’Mania using it.

Carp of all sizes can be caught on the bomb

It’s a good tactic when there are a lot of fish feeding over a lot of bait, because if you use a large stand-out hookbait you can catch them quicker. Two bright, hard pellets or a grain of corn are brilliant, because they are easy for the fish to find in among the loosefed pellets that you’ve been catapulting over the top.

I’ll also have a bomb set up if I am fishing the pellet waggler, as some fish will remain on the bottom, having followed the loosefed pellets down. A few chucks on the bomb can nick a few extra fish if the waggler goes a bit quiet.

Go easy on the feeding. You don’t want five or six carp hunting about when there’s 300 pellets on the bottom, as this will make them harder to catch. The idea is to give them just enough to be feeding on, almost trying to starve them into taking your hookbait.

Rig components

Mainline - 8lb Shimano Technium with a 5ins twizzled loop above hooklength
Hooklength -10ins -14 ins of 0.20mm Garbolino Super Soft attached to feeder bead
Bomb - 0.5oz Guru Square clipped to a feeder link which runs on the twizzled section of mainline
Hook & bait - Size 12 or 14 Guru QM1 with a grain of corn or two hard pellets.

River Fishing Tips | Six tips to make river fishing easy with Lee Kerry

September 23, 2020 Guest User

Tackling flowing water is one of the most exciting challenges in fishing.

The way that fish behave in moving water is totally different to how they behave in still water. On a river, they will generally sit in line with the flow and compete for food, and there are a number of ways that you can go about trying to catch them from this line.

Choose your species

When a river is low and the water clear, target smaller fish like roach, dace and perch. If the river is carrying extra water and colour, skimmers, bream and barbel can all switch on.

Have feeder options

Use an open-end feeder with SonuBaits Black River groundbait if the river is coloured. Alternatively, to kick off a peg, use a blockend with hemp, maggots or casters.

Use sturdy tackle

I use an Extremity 520 reel paired with a 12ft 6ins Supera rod – a great balance for many fast-flowing rivers using feeders to 2oz. Mainline is 6lb Sinking Feeder Mono.

Balance the rig

Fish with a bow in the line and the rod pointing downstream towards it. Balance the weight of the feeder with the flow, so as a fish picks up the bait, the bite shows as a drop-back.

Cast regularly

Early in the session, I’ll cast every minute to get a steady stream of bait in the swim and attract the fish. Later, I’ll lengthen the gap between casts to around three minutes.

Don’t go too short

Long hooklengths are best as the bait will sit downstream of the feeder and be the first thing the fish finds as it moves up to the feed. A size 16 to 0.15mm mono is a good all-round choice.

Specimen Fishing Tips | The best crucian float rig - Dai Gribble

September 18, 2020 Guest User

A common mistake is to use a float that is too light, which makes casting difficult and is very likely to be dragged out of position by the wind or undertow.

Select a float that allows you to easily cast past the spot you are fishing and wind it back into position, sinking the line as you do so by pushing the rod-tip underwater.

A straight peacock or crystal waggler is my float of choice, but I will switch to an insert waggler with a finer tip if bites are finicky.

In terms of size, a float carrying 4AAA is a good starting point in water 6ft-8ft deep and I lock it in place with two movable float stops. I’ll then have an AAA shot at half depth and a BB and several No4s spaced between the AAA and the hook.

I like to present my hookbait slightly overdepth with about 4ins of line laid on the bottom. If there’s a lot of undertow, place a No6 shot just on the bottom. With this set-up the bites are usually very positive, with the float often rising slightly before disappearing under the surface.

Commercial Fishing Tips | Margin Feeder Fishing With Steve Ringer

September 18, 2020 Guest User

Perhaps one of the most underrated tactics on commercial fisheries is fishing the feeder in the margins.

In fact, when you think about it, it’s amazing that it isn’t used more because the approach has several big advantages compared to fishing the pole.

Firstly, you don’t have the carbon waving about over the fish’s heads, which can spook them in shallow water. Secondly there is very little chance of foul-hooking fish because by fishing the feeder in the edge, the carp hook themselves – which eliminates striking at line bites, too.

The other bonus to the tactic is that you aren’t restricted on the distance you can fish at either, because even if you have a really long margin you can fish it easily with a feeder!

One of the most underrated tactics on commercial fisheries is fishing the feeder in the margins.

Where to fish

There are a few features to look for that always hold fish. The most obvious one is an empty platform. I prefer to fish to the side of them because the water will be shallow, meaning I’ll have less trouble with line bites.

Empty platforms are great spots to fish to

Feeder size

A large 28g Guru Hybrid is ideal. I like to fish with a slack line from rod to feeder, so there’s less chance of fish spooking. Don’t worry about not seeing a bite – you can’t miss them when a fish takes the bait!

You a large feeder, you won’t miss any bites!

Bait choice

This is decided by the depth of water. If the margin is over 2ft deep, I’ll use micros with a hard pellet or wafter hookbait. If the swim is just 12ins deep, I’ll use groundbait with dead red maggots on the hook.

Casting times

If you see fish moving about, be patient and let them find the bait – around six or seven minutes between casts is about right. If there’s no signs of action, wind in and fish somewhere else until the carp turn up.

River Fishing Tips | 5 Tips For Barbel

September 16, 2020 Guest User

Go for the gravels

Although a swim on somewhere like the River Severn might seem to have a similar depth and pace all the way across, there are definite areas that barbel prefer. The most productive of these will be shallow water, which in turn will be much faster and better oxygenated in summer when rivers are often low and sluggish. Combine this with a gravel bottom and you’re in business.

Use enough lead

As with any type of fishing, your rig needs to act naturally in order to get a barbel to take the bait. That means keeping everything nailed to the deck. A feeder that’s carrying too little weight to hold bottom will roll down the swim, with no chance of a fish picking up the bait. Before the session, cast with a range of different weights of feeder until you find the one that holds bottom just where you want it. Be aware that the flow could increase when you start fishing, so have some even heavier feeders to hand just in case.

You need enough lead on the feeder to hold bottom

Don’t go undergunned

Barbel fishing isn’t like going after roach or dace. You have to make sure that you are able to take control of every battle and that means using suitably robust tackle. A long hooklength is important because the fish seem to spook and feed less confidently close to a feeder. Start with a 5ft tail of around 0.20mm hooklength material, matched to strong size 12 or 14 hook.

Old school baits can be the best

Pellets are catching ever more barbel on rivers, but at times they can be a bit too much of a slow burner. For a more high-impact feed, it’s hard to see past hemp and casters. These small particles, introduced via a blockend feeder, will keep fish grubbing around for ages and pull other valuable fish, such as chub and perch, into the area too, letting you catch these while waiting for a barbel to pull the rod in!

Hemp and casters are deadly barbel baits in clear water

Put a bow in the line

If you keep a very tight line between the rod tip and feeder when barbel fishing, then you’re asking for trouble! Bites can be ferocious and before you’ve even picked the rod up you could have been broken, even when using heavy gear, due to the lack of forgiveness in the set-up.

The solution is to have a bow in the line, which means that the line is slacker and creates a cushion that reduces the chance of being smashed. Bites when fishing like this will normally be a sharp knock on the tip and then a drop back as a fish moves the feeder and the line slackens off.

Carp Fishing Tips | Carp and weed - Simon Scott

September 12, 2020 Guest User

Carp absolutely love sitting in weed. It provides them with a safe spot in which to rest, and because it is photosynthesising in the sunshine, they can enjoy the benefit of resting in a stream of tiny oxygen bubbles while they relax in the sun.

Additionally, weed beds are often packed full of natural food like snails and shrimps, which the carp can graze on in relative safety. Snail numbers can skyrocket in the middle of summer and carp will often spend many hours feasting on these crunchy snacks.

In terms of catching them while they are in the weed, an excellent approach is to use floater fishing tactics, which can enable you to pin-point the larger fish in many situations.

Alternatively, position rigs on the bottom close to the weed beds on shallow areas or in holes in the weed. It is really important, however, that if you are fishing in or near to thick weed beds that you use heavy tackle that will enable you to land the fish safely. I would use a line of at least 15lb breaking strain and a size 4 hook. This ensures that I have every chance of landing a hooked fish.

Carp love sitting in weed (Photo - Carl and Alex Fishing)

Commercial Fishing Tips | How depth should dictate your margin feed - Des Shipp

September 12, 2020 Guest User

JUST about any bait has the potential to work in the margins, but there is one factor that should dictate what you use – the depth.

Pinning the fish to the deck is imperative for this style of fishing. If they are tempted to come off bottom then you will experience line bites, which will lead to you foul-hooking fish.

With this in mind, you need to use baits that will get down to the deck and not create much of a cloud. At the same time, you don’t want to give them loads of loosefeed as this will increase the amount of time it takes for the fish to take the hookbait.

Around 18ins is the ideal depth, but there are times when no matter how much you search the margins, it’s impossible to find it. Therefore, the depth I find will dictate the baits that I turn to. I have worked on four bait combinations, and each performs best at a certain depth.

These pairings have worked well for me, and I’m sure that they’ll do the same for you!

Four bait combinations for the margins, each performs best at a certain depth.

1ft-deep swim

Fish won’t come up off the deck in this depth because it is simply too shallow. Use loose groundbait and dead maggots – a low-feed combination with loads of attraction!

2ft-deep swim

In this depth fish are tempted to come off the bottom for loosefeed. Use sweetcorn and maggots laced in balls of lightly squeezed groundbait to prevent a big cloud forming.

3ft-deep swim

Groundbait in any form can cause problems at this sort of depth. Heavier baits such as 4mm pellets and sweetcorn sink fairly quickly and will keep the carp down on the deck.

4ft-PLUS swim

Some fisheries have deep margins, and 6mm or 8mm pellets are needed. They will sink quickly and stay firmly on the deck, even when carp are charging around.

Consider your feed choice when margin feeding

River Fishing Tips | Running or fixed feeder for chub? - Hadrian Whittle

September 10, 2020 Guest User

My rig actually works on both principles – it’s a hybrid of a running and fixed set-up. The feeder slides on the line and is stopped above a short length of twisted line via a float stop or bead.

Above the feeder is another stop that can be slid up and down to increase or decrease the gap between the stops and, thus, how far the feeder can move.

By leaving just an inch gap and having the feeder balanced to just hold bottom, anything taking the bait moves the feeder, which then hits the stop and helps to hook the fish.

There are days when lengthening this gap works, others when shortening it right up catches more.

River Fishing Tips | Six tips to catch big fish on the pole - Steve Harwood

September 9, 2020 Guest User

RIVERS are full of all kinds of obstacles that make many anglers nervous when fishing for larger species such as bream, tench, chub and perch. Weed is the most common of these snags but there's no need to put the pole away when fishing around the green stuff. Here are six of my top tips to beat it…

Big river fish can be caught on the pole

Use heavy floats

Get the bait down fast with a float from 1.5g to 2g and all the weight down the line.

Big baits rule

Two halves of dendra worm are best for Thames bream and perch, fished overdepth.

Get the feed down

Roughly chopped worms are packed into crumb with casters and dead maggots.

Don’t go too light

I use a 14-16 Gamakatsu 2210B hook with 0.15mm hooklength and 0.18mm mainline.

Soft & strong elastic

You’ll lose fish in the weed if your elastic is too light. I fish white or grey grade Hydrolastic: soft yet powerful.

Light elastic will see you lose more fish

Prime the swim

A baitdropper delivers choppy without spillage, allowing me to put the rig directly on top of where those worms are.

Bait droppers are great for delivering bait into a river swim

Commercial Fishing Tips | How to fish meat in shallow water - Pete Upperton

September 8, 2020 Guest User

I’ve had lots of success using meat ‘slop’ in shallow water. In deeper swims, standard cubes will be better due to their heavier weight.

What I like about slop is it creates a cloud and gives me more pieces of feed for the relatively small amount that I’m putting in. By that, I mean that if I fed just eight 8mm cubes, one carp could eat the lot and swim off.

By using slop, there are hundreds of pieces in the swim and that makes the fish stay in the peg longer. I use a meat grinder to put the luncheon meat through, which makes slop much quicker than trying to force it through a riddle.

I use a meat grinder to put the luncheon meat through

It will catch you plenty of carp - give it a go!

River Fishing Tips | What does it mean when fish cough up bait? - Darren Cox

September 7, 2020 Guest User

Greedy species like perch and chub tend to regurgitate bait the most, but I’ve had roach and dace do it too.

When it happens, it tells me two things…

Firstly, that the fish are ravenous and eating well and secondly, that there may not be that many fish in the peg as the ones I catch are eating everything I’ve fed.

In this situation I then feed less bait, meaning there’s more chance of my hookbait being taken by the few fish that are present.

Fish coughing up bait can be a sign you need to limit the feed

Commercial Fishing Tips | How to fish up to islands - Steve Ringer

September 2, 2020 Guest User

Islands are great holding spots on fisheries, and they prove almost as attractive to anglers as they do to the fish!

Faced with a swim that features an island, it’s the most obvious area to target because fish naturally live there, using the island as cover, so you won’t have to do anything special to start catching.

However, bites can soon dry up given the relatively shallow water you are fishing in, and that makes your next moves crucial to success.

Having other areas to target, feeding differently and changing hookbaits will all get results, so don’t keep plugging away doing the same thing that worked well in the first hour of the day.

Often, making what seems like just a small change can have a huge effect!

Fish multiple swims

Unless there is a mudline between reeds or sedges, I would have an eye on several areas of an island. This gives you somewhere to move to when you’ve had a few fish from a spot and then they back off a little and bites die away.

Try to fish multiple points on the island margin

The right float

The size of float I use is based around how many fish I am expecting. If it’s not too many, something like a 0.2g Guru AR pattern is perfect, but if a lot of carp arrive, you’ll need a float of double that size to give you stability in among feeding fish.

If you are expecting lots of fish to be present, make sure you use a heavy float

Pellets and pots

Pellets are the safest bait and feed to use if you don’t know a venue that well – they’re never the wrong choice! I’d begin by feeding with a pole pot, trickling in a dozen 6mm hard pellets and then changing to a catapult to create some noise.

Pellets are the best bait to start with in an island swim

Change the baits

Banded hard pellet is my starting bait, as these won’t come off if you miss a bite. On venues with smaller fish, an expander pellet is perhaps a better option. If there aren’t too many silvers, groundbait and maggot can be a great pairing too.

Try maggots if there aren’t too many silverfish

River Fishing Tips | 5 tips to catch more roach on hemp

September 2, 2020 Guest User

The prime time to catch big river roach on hemp is now! Here are five tips to help you get the most from the seed…

Regulate your feeding

No two days are ever the same when it comes to feeding hemp. A little and often loosefeed approach works on some rivers, while others respond to feeding larger amounts with a pole cup and then fishing over it. The standard approach, though, is to loosefeed with a catapult, around 20 or 30 grains of hemp each time and, using a slow-falling rig, catch fish as the bait settles. If the roach show signs of coming up in the water to get to the loosefeed, break out the pole cup and get them back on the bottom with
a good helping of hemp fed in one go.

Every day is different when it comes to feeding with hemp. Watch how the fish behave.

Stop nuisance ‘shot bites’

A normal pole rig for fishing hemp consists of a light float and small shot strung evenly down the line to give the hookbait a slow fall. Sometimes, though, fish grab those shot, mistaking them for grains of hemp. So switch to cylindrical styl weights instead. The slow fall of the bait is still guaranteed but there’s no longer a danger of the fish grabbing them.

Look out for fish taking the shot instead

Hook it right

MANY anglers have difficulty in getting hemp to stay on the hook. But it’s easy when you know how. There are two ways to hook hemp, but first ensure the grain has a full split in its side but isn’t falling apart. The quickest way is to push the bend of the hook into the split so the sides of the grain grip the hook point and shank. You’ll get a more secure hookhold by punching a hole in the flat end of the grain with a baiting needle and threading the hook point, bend and shank through until the seed hangs off the bend. You can catch several fish on the same grain before it will need replacing.

There’s no need to struggle hooking hemp

Switch hookbaits

Hemp isn’t the only option you have to put on the hook. When the roach are present in numbers, bigger fish can be picked off using tares, and on some rivers even elderberries will catch their share! Tares are a hard particle used as pigeon feed, but when cooked they turn soft, are easy to hook, and have the knack of catching the bigger roach in a shoal. Don’t spend too long fishing them without bites, though, as you’ll either catch quickly on them or not at all. Elderberries are an old-fashioned bait rarely used today, but especially on rivers where elderberry bushes line the banks, the berries are eaten by roach and slipping one on the hook might just mean lift-off for the peg!

There are some great alternative baits to fish alongside hemp feed

Use small floats for a slow fall

To create that slow fall of the bait with the small strung-out shotting pattern, the pole float you use needs to be on the light side. You’re not after stability from the rig when fishing hemp, so even in 10ft of water, a 0.5g slim-bodied float will be ample and, in shallower swims, you can go even lighter.

You want the bait to fall slowly through the water with hemp, so use as light a float as you can get away with

Commercial Fishing Tips | How to set up a Jigga rig - Paul Yates

September 1, 2020 Guest User

It’s simple to set a Jigga rig up – the hard work comes in finding the depth the fish are feeding at and ensuring that the hookbait is lowered directly downwards through the water. It’s a great summer method for carp and F1s feeding shallow, and allows you to cover more depth of water.

I use thick 0.18mm line so that it can slide through the body of the Jigga float easily, letting the hookbait fall directly down. Around 2ft from the pole-tip I fix a float stop to the line, thread the float on and pop another stop in place around 12ins below this. Around four No8 shot are then bulked under this stop.

The plan is to set the two float stops apart at the depth you think the fish will be at. When the float hits the top stop, the bait will be at full depth. Once you lift the pole-tip slowly, the float will stay in the water, but the line will pass through, pulling the hookbait up in the water until it hits that bottom stop.

Commercial Fishing Tips | How to shot the waggler for carp - Bob Nudd

August 29, 2020 Guest User

There’s no point in using a bulk down the line for summer carp on the waggler, as I want the hookbait to fall slowly and give me a chance of picking up fish on the drop.

I fix three No8 shot evenly-spaced down the line in the bottom half of the rig. These give the bait that slow fall and help straighten the line out when the float lands to cut down on tangles.

The rig also uses a tiny swivel that reduces line twist when winding in but also lets me quickly change hooklinks from one with a hair-rigged band to one with a plain hook.

I want the hookbait to fall slowly when fishing the waggler for carp

River Fishing Tips | Perch on the pole with Cameron Hughes

August 29, 2020 Guest User

Faced with the whole river to go at, I look for a couple of things where perch are concerned – a slow flow and good depth close to cover.

Cover is vital as it gives perch an ambush point, so reeds, weed or lilies are good but there has to be sufficient depth, certainly a minimum of 5ft.

In some swims, you won’t have that so you’ll have to work with what you’ve got. Slacker water is important because again, perch will wait here to ambush smaller fish – I’ve never found them to be that keen on sitting in the main flow.

In many instances, you’ll be almost margin fishing with the pole pointing down the edge of the river. The pole is unbeatable for precision placement of the hookbait close to cover, and would always be my choice over rod-and-line tackle.

The margins are a real hotspot for river perch

Commercial Fishing Tips | The short line - Adam Wakelin

August 29, 2020 Guest User

When fishing short, you’re looking for a line that you can catch enough fish from without the danger of them backing off, so that means finding the right depth.

In my book, between 3ft and 5ft is perfect. If it is deeper than this you may suffer from line bites, while if it’s shallower, fish won’t congregate in the numbers needed.

I use a heavy plummet, ship out to 6m and see what I’ve got.

I’m looking for that depth plus a hard bottom. This could be a metre or so past the base of the marginal shelf or even up the slope slightly.

I don’t want to be fishing at the very foot of the slope, as this is where rubbish naturally gathers, creating a bit of a mucky substrate.

Look for a depth of between 3-5ft on the short line

Pole Fishing Tips | Six feeding tips for silvers on natural venues - Josh Newman

August 27, 2020 Guest User

Little-and-often is a tried and tested way of feeding for silverfish, but there are occasions in summer when a bolder approach is required.

Be bold with your feeding for summer silvers and you will catch more

Feed heavily to start

At the start I’ll throw in 14 large balls of the groundbait and leam mix. This sounds a lot, but I won’t be feeding any more of this mix, so I need a good amount to try and keep the fish in the peg.

Top-up with more

When I think the effect of the cloud from balling in has finished, it’s time to add more feed with a pot. This is a mix of damp leam and grey leam (half a bag of damp to just 25ml of grey), plus particles.

Keep loosefeeding

Loosefeeding hemp is important. It not only gives me the chance to catch on it late in the day, but it also keeps on drawing fish into the swim by having something falling through the water all the time.

Steady feeding with hemp will keep fish interested

Set up Multiple rigs

Because of the cloud, I can catch fish 6ins off bottom and then switch to the deck later. One rig won’t do both jobs, so I set a couple up. Both are Sensas Avon floats with a 0.8g for fishing off deck and then a 1.25g pattern for down below.

Multiple rigs will ensure you can catch fish at all layers

Dot your float down

The less float bristle you have on show, the more bites you will hit. Trying to shot a float with small split shot is tricky, so I use micro styls. I’ll shot the float as normal, then add four or five tiny styls to leave just a speck showing.

Dot your float right down to hit sensitive bites

Try ‘Short’ elastics

In deep pegs of over 10ft, you need a strong elastic to set the hook. Running elastic through a top kit would require around a No6, which is too heavy. My solution is to use a length of No4 elastic through just the tip section of the kit.

A light elastic through just the tip section will land you more fish

Commercial Fishing Tips | Ready your pellets with Steve Ringer

August 25, 2020 Guest User

Given the range of pellet sizes, shapes and colours on the shelves of tackle shops, it’s easy to see how anglers can get confused about which is the right one to use.

Years ago, life was a lot easier. We had plain brown pellets in just a couple of sizes but now we’ve got micros through to big 10mm ‘donkey chokers’ and colours from bright yellow to black. You’ll get bites on them all, but some will be much better than others – if you know which ones!

I tend to use just a couple of sizes – micros and 6mms – for much of my summer pellet fishing, and I stick to plain-coloured baits. Most carp and F1s are reared on plain pellets, so they see them as part of their diet.

Having an edge, though, is important and that’s where colours come into play.

On some venues, I’ve struggled to catch on a brown pellet but emptied the lake by changing to a red one. Swapping sizes can also have a big effect. Experimentation is key, but getting the basics sorted is the first thing to get right.

Micro pellets

At this time of year micros won’t get to the bottom due to small fish. I will only use them in shallow water and on a Hybrid feeder.