How to use the Claw rig
Big-carp fanatic Rich Wilby is a bit of an expert when it comes to tying, mastering and fishing carp rigs. He's caught masses of huge carp all over the country, including on his own day-ticket complex, Airfield Lakes.
Wanting to know more about the most popular carp fishing rigs, we met up with Rich at his lovely fishery to pick his brains.
In this video he details the Claw Rig - one of Rich's favourite and most reliable rigs for using on any new venue.
It's a very aggressive rig, in terms of the hook flipping over and hitting home - so if you want to almost guarantee that the fish that's taken your bait is landed, this might well be the rig to use!
As you will see after watching the video below, this rig is best fished with a semi-bouyant bait, presented just off the bottom.
To watch the video, click the image below.
How to use zig rigs
Big-carp fanatic Rich Wilby is a bit of an expert when it comes to tying, mastering and fishing carp rigs. He's caught masses of huge carp all over the country, including on his own day-ticket complex, Airfield Lakes.
Wanting to know more about the most popular carp fishing rigs, we met up with Rich at his lovely fishery to pick his brains.
In this video he details the Zig Rig - a superb rig for catching carp throughout the year which are cruising through the middle and upper layers of any lake.
In his own words, it's basically fly-fishing for carp, in a way! Where the bait is popped up well off the bottom where passing carp can easily spot it and intercept it.
So - if you wish to find out how this rather unique rig works, watch the video by clicking on the image below.
How to catch more carp with paste and worms
If you love to catch carp on pole fishing tackle, you'll love these two great bait tips we discovered when we visited anglers pole fishing at Orchill - Britain's most northerly commercial carp fishery.
The best thing about these two simple yet highly effective tips is that anyone can use them... not just highly experienced match anglers!
You'll find out how to get more from worms by avoiding the attentions of smaller nuisance species that tend to attack the worms as they drop through the water.
Also, paste fishing is covered in great detail too, helping you to catch lots more using this soft and extremely deadly carp bait.
To watch this video, click the image below.
How to enhance your Method mix to catch more commercial carp
The Method is one of the best ways to catch lots of commercial and specimen carp, so when Dean Jones contacted us to reveal a brilliant new baiting technique that has caught him loads more carp than ever before, we jumped at the chance!
He's been adding a very special sticky foodstuff to his Method mix to help draw in even more carp than usual, plus his ingenious hook bait - a cork ball smothered in the same sticky additive - has to be seen to be believed!
It's action all the way as Dean tackles a local commercial fishery, fishing the Method feeder only feet from the bank to catch masses of small and hungry commercial carp.
To watch this unique video, click on the image below.
How to pole fish for commercial carp from tight margin swims
Catching carp - and big carp - from the margins of commercial carp fisheries can be a tricky business, especially when the fish surge straight towards nearby snags.
But get it right and you can be in for some fantastic sport, as Matt Pillay knows only too well.
Here, in this exclusive video, he visited Lindholme Lakes to tackle and extremely tough margin swim surrounded by reeds to run through his top margin pole fishing tips and tactics.
To watch the video, click on the image below.
How to stalk carp in the margins - Part 2
A superb, action-packed way to catch carp from the margins is to use your watercraft skills and stalk them, and in this two-part video Jan Porter shows you how...
We met up with Jan on the banks of a popular and well-established mixed commercial fishery in Worcestershire to see how he gets the most from the absolute minimum of tackle.
Using only a few pellets to attract the carp in to the margins, Jan used his vast watercraft skills to tempt as many carp as possible right from under his feet in water only inches deep.
In this two-part video Jan explains how you can easily get to within a few feet of feeding carp and build-up their confidence enough to catch them from right in front of you.
How to stalk carp in the margins - Part 1
A superb, action-packed way to catch carp from the margins is to use your watercraft skills and stalk them, and in this two-part video Jan Porter shows you how...
We met up with Jan on the banks of a popular and well-established mixed commercial fishery in Worcestershire to see how he gets the most from the absolute minimum of tackle.
Using only a few pellets to attract the carp in to the margins, Jan used his vast watercraft skills to tempt as many carp as possible right from under his feet in water only inches deep.
In this two-part video Jan explains how you can easily get to within a few feet of feeding carp and build-up their confidence enough to catch them from right in front of you.
New 30-Plus V3 Specimen Carp Rod
Making the right choice when buying fishing rods for catching big carp can be a minefield because there simply are just so many available.
This new rod, from 30-Plus, is just one rod that is more than capable of catching, controlling and landing big carp.
Steve Broad, from UK Carp magazine, took delivery of a pair to take them to the bankside and put them through their paces.
He visited a vast, well-established lake just north of Peterborough, used a simple specialist rig coupled with a tiny PVA bag with pellets.
As you'll see by watching the video, Steve found this reasonably priced carp fishing rod more than adequate for the size of fish he caught.
To watch the video, click on the image below.
How to use the new Drennan Method feeder
"The best Method feeders money can buy." That's the verdict of five-times world champion Alan Scotthorne on the new Method feeders from Drennan, which have helped him win a recent White Acres festival and many other open matches.
No-nonsense Yorkshireman Alan doesn't put his name to any old tackle creation and has been so impressed by the new frames and mould system that he now uses it exclusively, especially when faced with island features like those at his local Hayfield and Lindholme Lakes.
We met up with Alan at Hayfield Lakes to find out why he rates this feeder so highly, and also to find out how to get the most from a typical Method feeder fishing session.
To watch the video, click on the image below
How to catch 100lb-plus carp nets fishing tight to undercut margins
An angler who's had triple-figure carp bags in every pleasure session he's been on in the last month has put his overwhelming success down to catch bigger carp tight to undercut margin banks.
London-based angler Peter Bolt is a regular at a number of top southern commercials, including the prolific Hartleylands Farm, and has been outscoring all those around him by targeting fish that are literally sat under his feet!
To find out more about his approach, Angling Times met up with him at the Kent fishery.
With rushes and reedbeds lining virtually every peg on the inside line, it looked like a margin angler's paradise - but these features only created problems for our top-flight angler.
To see how Peter tackles the undercut margins, watch the video below.
How to pole fish at varying depths for huge carp and bream weights
Steve Barraclough has been in unstoppable form at Hallcroft fishery, winning the last seven matches he has fished with catches to a venue record-nudging 249lb 14oz.
The Frenzee and Bait-Tech-sponsored matchman relies on luncheon meat to catch big carp, banking two 20lb-plus fish in consecutive events on Bridge Pool, and often topping his keepnets up with 50lb to 60lb of skimmer bream.
Several different pole rigs set at varying depths allow Steve to cover every inch of the water, catchign fish from inches deep, down to the deck while loosefeeding meat on his pole line. He says that Hallcroft fish are old, wise and notoriously finicky, and a careful technique is needed to fool them.
We met up with Steve on the banks of Hallcroft to see how he fishes his pole rigs at varying depths, and catch such massive weights.
To watch the video, click on the image below.
If the video doesn't load automatically, press Ctrl and F5.
How to successfully pole fish a typical snake lake
With more than 400 Angling Times County Championship points now bagged, Mal Bailey is currently the third highest points scorer in the UK, thanks to his mastery of a certain type of commercial fishery design.
The Yorkshireman specialises in snake lakes, the term for a long, canal-style water where the far bank can be reached with a long pole, and an out-and-out pellet approach has seen Mal amass countless top-three frame places at two venues in particular.
Concentrating on Langwith Lakes at York and the Oaks Lakes near Thirsk, has seen winning netsto 135lb on his simple, cheap method of fishing.
To demonstrate this Mal took Angling Times to the scene of his latest victory - peg 19 on Emma's Lake at Langwith.
In this exclusive video Mal shows exactly how he goes about tackling this kind of water.
To watch the video click the image below.
If the video doesn't load automatically, press Ctrl and F5.
How to fish Monk Lakes
A group of anglers have uncovered what they are describing as the best mixed fishery in the country after taking countless triple-figure bags in the last month alone.
Bridges Lake at Kent's Monk Lakes complex has had a solid reputation as a specimen anglers paradise for several years but it has only gained recognition from match and pleasure anglers since the turn of the year after producing 100lb-plus hauls of tench, bream, carp, roach and even F1s.
OPne man who knows the complex better than most is local tackle dealer Richard Taylor. The Medway Tackle and Preston Innovations Delcac ace has built up an immense dossier of information about the water over the years and was one of the first to discover the true potential of Bridges Lake.
We caught up with him on the banks of the venue to find out how he tackles it.
To watch the video click on the image below.
New Middy 3G Micro Muscle Waggler rod
Despite its pencil-thin profile this new two-piece Middy 3G Micro Muscle waggler rod has been designed to handle carp to double figures.
The sleek high modulus carbon blank looks a million dollars in a refined gunmetal grey with silver tipped dark grey whippings.
It boasts a full cork handle with a Loc-tite woven carp reel fitting, nine lightweight single-legged original SiC guides on the top section, and two double-legged guides on the butt.
The looks and build quality are quite unsurpassed, yet this rod can be all yours for a penny under a ton. So what about the performance?
We've accompanied Mark Sawyer to the banks of Hinderclay Lakes in Suffolk to put the rod through its paces, and to watch the video showing how the rod performs, click the image below.
How to fish Woodland Lakes
A top match angler who has pocketed over £3,000 in the last couple of months puts his success down to constantly rotating his carp swims.
Luke Hawksworth is in unstoppable form at North Yorkshire's Woodland Lakes and hasn't missed out on a brown envelope since the end of March.
During his phenomenal run he has taken weights to 203lb and smashed the magic ton mark on virtually every outing - on a venue that attracts up to 80 quality anglers per competition.
Most gamble on the vast carp shoals settling in their favourite swim, but Luke switches between several areas to keep the carp coming to the net all match long.
To see how Luke tackles the venue and to watch his tips click on the image below.
How to fish Decoy Lakes
Angling Times can this week lift the lid on the tactics of one of the country's best venue experts, who is taking Decoy Lakes apart after recently winning eight open matches in as many weeks.
Former Essex County match fishing ace John Whincup is on fire at the famous Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire bagging water with a string of top-up weights to more than 180lb, predominantly made up of big F1 carp.
He has also finished second twice and third three times during a purple patch of form which has seen him propelled up to 368 AT County Championship points, the second highest in the country.
Fox and Bait-Tech-backed John relies on two main methods to win at Decoy Lakes - the long pole and the open-end feeder.
To see how John fishes these methods, click on the video image below.
How to catch massive carp on the pole from margin swims
One man has dominated a popular West Midlands fishery - winning around 30 matches per year and scoring over 320 points in the current Angling Times County Championship - by pole fishing for carp ultra tight to the margins, in only inches of water.
The name Mal Watson is synonymous with Moorlands Farm, where the Daiwa Gordon League angler has amassed a constant string of frame places and weights to 187lb in recent weeks, fishing just inches from the concrete structures, or tight into the bank itself.
Venue expert Mal is the fishery manager, and since starting the job in 2004 he has cottoned on to a method of fishing close in that often sees up to 25 big fish netted in the latter stages of a match.
To see just how Mal pole fishes tight to the margins of his favourite commercial carp water, watch the video below.
Simply click on the image below to play the video.
If the video doesn't load automatically, press Ctrl and F5.
How to pole fish dapping style for carp off the top
Anglers such as Graham Eden have been taking commercial carp fisheries apart recently by dapping bread and dog biscuits on the surface, with waters such as Lincolnshire's Willow Lakes having their match records broken with huge weights.
An ultra-simple approach, using just 2ft of line, a big hook and a piece of crust, has proved deadly at the Foston, Lincolnshire venue, where the carp just cannot resist a bait dangled on the top.
But if you thought Willow Lakes was just another bagging water, think again. Its feature-filled lakes have not been stocked with 'proper' carp since 2003 and the existing fis, says local ace Graham, are among the cleverest in the country.
To see how Graham fishes this devastating technique, click the play button on the image below.
How to catch using paste in the cold
An unseasonal paste approach has helped a top match angler outscore his opponents on a weekly basis and rack up four wins on the trot.
Former Division 1 National champion Steve Ellis has been using an ultra-positive tactic at Scunthorpe's Messingham Sands and has been cleaning up on the prolific Tripp Lake.
While his rivals have adopted a sensitive approach in search of crucians and F1s, Steve has been using a robust paste rig that those on the next peg snigger at. That's until they have been taught a lesson or two during the contest...
In this video Steve shows exactly how he tackles the water using his heavy baiting technique, clearly showing how it's done.
To watch the video, click the image below. If the video doesn't load automatically, press Ctrl and F5.
How to catch at Rockells Farm
Rockells Farm is being billed as the UK's most prolific commercial fishery, after posting the heaviest match weight of the year so far - a whopping 238lb to Tony Wynnick.
In an action packed session Tony caught a fish a chuck up-in-the-water and had to feed masses of bait - a tactic more akin to fishing in summer that a cold, wet and damp February.
The potrential of the Saffrom Walden, Essex, lake was underlined in 2008 when Gary Huth reportedly banked 661lb of carp to 20lb on a short pole and paste.
Rockells sounds like it's carp soup, but what is it like to fish?
The Angling Times met up with Tony Wynnick on the banks of this fabulous water to find out exactly that.
To watch the video of Tony in action, click the play button on the image below. If the video doesn't automatically load press Ctrl and F5.
