John Wilson's 1001 Top Angling Tips E-Book

John Wilson

• Herausgeber: G2 Rights
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Seitenzahl: 412

Beschreibung

1001 Top Angling Tips is written by bestselling fishing author and broadcaster John Wilson. This fantastic book is packed with tips on freshwater fishing, saltwater fishing, tackle, baits and much more. Illustrated with his own photographs, and superb drawings by Andy Steer, this 208-page hardback book is a perfect gift for anyone interested in angling.

Leseprobe

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Freshwater Species

Barbel

Bream

Carp

Crucian Carp and Grass Carp

Catfish (Wels)

Chub

Eel

Grayling

Perch

Pike

Roach and Dace

Rudd and Golden Orfe

Tench

Trout

Salmon and Sea Trout

Zander

Saltwater Species

Bass

Black Bream

Coalfish and Garfish

Cod

Conger Eel

Dogfishes

Ling

Mullet and Mackerel

Plaice and Flounders

Pollack

Rays

Sharks

Skate

Smooth Hounds

Turbot and Brill

Wrasse and Shad

Freshwater Boat Fishing

At Anchor

On the Drift and Trolling

Saltwater Boat Fishing

At Anchor

On the Drift and Trolling

Freshwater Tackle

Rods and Reels

Sundries

Lines

Hooks and Rigs

Saltwater Tackle

Rods and Reels

Sundries

Lines

Hooks and Rigs

Freshwater Baits

Natural

Manufactured Baits and Lures

Ground Baiting

Saltwater Baits

Natural

Artificial

Ground Baiting

Publishing Rights

Acknowledgements

All angling writers have special people or a particular person to thank. My wife Jo for instance, (who took the barbel cover photo incidentally) puts up with my profession like a trooper, knowing full well that at times I really do not always ‘have’ to go out fishing. I could perhaps draw on experiences past, and old photos to illustrate a particular article. But then she also understands my personal ‘needs’ to keep experiencing my sport. And with a string of good friends, some young, some my age, who are always providing me with reasons enough for leaving a warm bed in the early hours, like Martin Bowler, Dave Lewis, Simon Clarke, Terry Houseago, Nick Beardmore, John (Jinx) Davey, and others, how can I possibly refuse? Frankly, I don’t think I ever want to.

A good, illustrative angling book just doesn’t happen without much design and thought from an accomplished artist and editorial team, which is why I should like to express my appreciation to both designer Kevin Gardner and illustrator Andy Steer for their pains-taking contributions.

Introduction

Writing this mammoth collection of top angling tips has given me a wonderful opportunity of putting down just about everything I’ve learnt in getting on for 60 years of fishing, whilst simultaneously providing some lovely memories, past and present, along the way. And the plain fact is, if I personally have learnt anything from this volume, it is that we really never actually stop learning. Each and every day out or trip abroad, or opportunist, two hour session grabbed after work or at the drop of a hat, maybe just an hour spent in search of a particular monster, provides us all with such invaluable and unique individual experiences and memories. Even those hard lessons learnt of what not to do next time, because we tried in the wrong place, or took the wrong bait along, got the tide wrong, or misread current patterns, are all part and parcel of this fabulous field sport of ours called angling. And it ‘is’ a ‘field sport’ you know.

Surely no other pursuit is so full of contradictions, hearsay, luck, pleasure, indecision and contemplation. I know one thing for sure. No other outlet or ‘calling’ allows a grown man to draw on that boyish enthusiasm for decade after decade which finds him rising at a time when fish are most likely to feed, be it a February morning with a thick frost on the ground and chub are the quarry, to facing the full force of the Atlantic and punching out a lead that the wind promptly throws back at you, when there is a remote chance of a fat codling.

Lastly, I should like to point out that this volume is not in any way designed to be the be all and end all of angling advice, nor any kind of encyclopaedia. It is merely a collection of my own, personal ‘top tips’ covering some 50 subjects within the framework of angling in the UK today. Nothing more, nothing less. But I truly hope that some of you might catch more or larger specimens from reading it.

Good Fishing!

John Wilson

Great Witchingham, 2007

Freshwater Species

Barbel

1. To stop chub from hooking themselves and disturbing the swim when barbel fishing with ‘bolt-rig’ style tactics, use a 12 inch hook length and a long (1-2 inch) hair, in conjunction with a heavy 2-3 ounce ‘running’ flat-bomb. Use a rubber cushioning bead between hook trace swivel and lead. They will then freely move away across the current or turn immediately downstream with the lower of your two 15-18mm boilies, large boilie or halibut pellet pursed in their lips, but usually spit it out at the last second. So only lift into a fish when the rod tip slams round and stays round, indicating a barbel has found the bait. Ignore all other pulls.

2. Have you ever wondered why a ‘sand-papery’ feeling happens to the line when you are touch ledgering for barbel, or the rod tip vibrates momentarily before ‘hooping over’ as a fish runs off with the bait and actually hooks itself? Well, as barbel are equipped with four long sensory barbels (hence their name) an under-slung mouth and a long snout, unlike fish such as chub, roach and tench, they actually lose visual contact with what they are about to swallow before opening their mouth. So they gently move their snout from side to side in an agitated manner, in order to centralize the bait once their mouth is open. And in so doing, their barbels must inevitably do a ‘plink-plunk’ against the line.

3. When baiting up a swim, either loose feeding by hand from a spot several yards upstream to allow for the pace of flow to ensure the food is deposited exactly where you want it on the river bed, or by using bait droppers full of maggots, hempseed or 3-6mm pellets, possibly the three most effective attractor ‘loose feeds’ for barbel, try not to fish immediately afterwards. Action is invariably more hectic and lasts for much longer if you first allow the barbel to move into the swim and over the bait, gaining confidence in their feeding, for at least an hour or so, before your hook rig is presented to them. Try it and see.

4. During the warm summer and autumnal months barbel are far more likely to move across the flow and intercept a moving bait, even one being ‘trotted’ through at current speed, than later on in the year when temperatures start to plummet, and they will only suck up static baits from the bottom. So get to enjoy catching some barbel on the float, using a powerful 13 foot trotting rod and centre pin reel holding 6-8lbs test. Keep a selection of both heavy ‘Avon’ and ‘Chubber’ floats in your waistcoat, and be sure to split their bulk shotting capacity of say 3-5 swan shots, into a line of AAs fixed onto the line 12-16 inches above the hook, with a small shot or two in between. See Grayling Tip 1.

5. To get the most out of your river, especially when exploring those barbel-holding runs beneath willows and lines of alders along the opposite bank (I bet certain, previously unattainable swims immediately spring to mind here) you need to get in with the fish, at least into the centre of the river, in order to trot a bait through steadily and directly downstream. This means splashing out on a pair of lightweight, chest-high, waders. The best are ‘breathable’ and come with hard-wearing neoprene reinforcement at the knees and built-in neoprene socks. You then simply slip on ‘felt-soled’ wading shoes for maximum stability over slippery stones and boulders. Anyone who fly fishes for salmon or sea trout or who long trots for grayling during the winter months, will no doubt be equipped already. Either way, quality chest-high waders are a sound investment for enjoyment, allowing you to also kneel and sit down on the bank anywhere along the river without the need for a stool.

6. When ledgering at close range ‘bolt-rig’ style for barbel (or carp) in really clear water where they can be viewed moving all around the bait to inspect it, even above your ledger rig, it pays to incorporate a ‘back-lead’ positioned on the line two to four foot above the bait. Simply and ‘loosely’ pinch onto the line two 3x swan shots, or sleeve a coffin ledger onto the line and secure with a rubber ‘sliding float stop’ at each end. This ensures that the line above your ledger rig is ironed flat to the river bed, thus alleviating any chance of lines bites and fish spooking through their fins touching the line, It is especially important when having to fish from ‘high-bank’ swims, where the line would otherwise angle down sharply from rod tip to ledger rig.

7. If like me you welcome the rest provided by the statutory closed season for rivers, but after a few weeks start to get itchy to be beside water, why not pay your favourite ‘barbel’ stretches a visit. From around the beginning of May onwards (depending upon water temperatures) barbel congregate upon the gravel shallows in readiness for spawning, and so there is no better time for ‘fish-spotting’, and ascertaining to exactly what size they grow along a particular part of the river. So don’t forget the Polaroid glasses.

8. When clear-water barbel do not play ball and move up into a pre-baited swim, pushing smaller fish species out of the way, as they usually do, then plan to fish for them during the hours of darkness. This reluctance to feed aggressively during daylight hours is common place in stretches of river where the barbel are targeted daily, particularly with small groups of ‘known’ or ‘specimen-sized fish’ that have been repeatedly caught and know all the tricks. So plan to start an hour or so before dusk, expecting no small level of response once the light has totally gone, and be prepared to fish on for some while until they do respond. Those first few hours of darkness are usually best. But don’t forget a trip during that first hour or two before dawn, which can so often produce, especially during the warmer months.

9. For depositing any kind of loose feed straight down to the river bed of close range swims (say up to a rod length and a half out) regardless of current force, bait droppers, which come in all shapes and sizes, are worth their weight in gold. Monster droppers holding half a pint of hempseed, maggots or pellets etc, get the job done in no time at all and minimize disturbance, though you do need a long, stiff rod to swing a large ‘full’ dropper out. And droppers must be ‘swung’ out and not ‘cast’, otherwise bait could get distributed all over the place. And you want it concentrated within a relatively small area over which the barbel will eventually move and start hoovering it up. Beware of the odd pike which appear from nowhere to attack the lid of the dropper when it hangs down and ‘flaps’ in the current as you lift it out.

10. One of the most satisfying and pleasing techniques for catching barbel occurs during the warmer months when donning chest-high waders and getting into clear-flowing, gravel-bottomed rivers allows you to carefully wade out to a position immediately below a shoal of fish, (which can often be seen hugging the bottom in the runs between long beds of flowing weed) and then to cast a chunk of luncheon meat upstream and slightly across, so it rolls back along the bottom directly in line with the shoal. And to do this you must allow an all-important ‘bow’ to form in the line between rod tip and bait.

11. ‘Rolling meat’, as the method has been dubbed, works effectively for one main reason. The free lined bait is brought down to the shoal at current speed, like all loose particles of natural food, so their suspicion is not aroused, and moreover, it comes ‘directly’ down river, tumbling along the gravel, and is not dragged ‘unnaturally’ across the fish’s vision which is what the line would do if you were situated on the bank and not standing in the water immediately downriver.

12. To facilitate easy casting and to counteract the bait’s inherent buoyancy when ‘rolling meat’ so it tumbles along naturally, catching momentarily here and there every so often amongst the clean gravel, just like all other tit bits brought along by the current, a slither of lead wire (roofing lead is exactly the right thickness) is super-glued to the top of the hook shank and firmly whipped over with black fly tying thread. Chamfering each end of the lead with your thumbnail makes for an extremely neat finish. The hook now looking decidedly ‘shrimp-like’ with its ‘curved’ back, will always present the bait with the hook point angled upwards, and is thus less likely to catch upon snags or weed. Generally however, large chunks of meat are used in order that the hook is not actually visible.

13. You can make up several different ‘weights’ of hooks, (to cover all conditions from slow currents to turbulent runs) simply by using different thicknesses of lead wire. I suggest large sizes of ‘wide gape’ eyed hooks from 6 up to 2 will serve you best. And in addition to luncheon meat, tinned ham, sausage in skins, etc, etc, even good old bread flake and protein pastes will all make this method work and come alive.

14. For extra sensitivity when ‘rolling meat’, a braided reel line used in conjunction with a free running centre-pin reel is hard to beat, though you can manage with a fixed spool reel and monofilament. The secret being always to gently recover line as the bait is brought down to you by the current, whilst keeping that ‘bow’ in the line, which could suddenly ‘tighten’ or completely fall ‘slack’ as a fish hoovers up the bait and belts downstream towards you.

15. When ‘bolt-rig’ style ledgering for barbel (and chub) particularly when the river is in full flood and visibility is at an all time low, give your bait added attraction by moulding a large dollop of soft, aromatic paste around your hair-rigged boilie or halibut pellet. As pieces break off or are pecked off by small fish and roll downstream, barbel will follow the scent up to your hook bait.

16. When smaller specimens pick up your ledgered size 10-15mm boilie or pellet hook bait, simply tie on a longer hair to accommodate two size 20mm boilies or a 25mm halibut pellet. The mouth of a double figure barbel can easily hoover them up.

17. If you have your sights set on a really big barbel, remember that a September fish for instance, could weigh as much as 10-15% heavier towards the end of the season in March. So providing the weather stays mild, concentrate your efforts during those ‘precious’ last two weeks of the river season.

18. There’s no doubt about it, barbel love maggots. Trouble is, so does every other cyprinid species, so wherever small, nuisance fish share a particular swim with barbel you must be prepared to ‘feed them off’. And that means having enough maggots to keep loose feeding till all the lesser fish are literally full up, by keeping a steady stream going through the swim, either by throwing in maggots by hand or depositing them straight down to the bottom of really fast runs through continual use of a bait dropper. In small rivers a gallon of maggots is not excessive, while in rivers twice the size, you’ll need twice as many maggots. But eventually, and it may take an hour or two, those barbel will be the only fish still munching maggots. Then you could clean up. And in clear-flowing swims where the fish are plainly visible, even select a particular specimen and watch it hoover in your bunch of maggots.

19. If you’re planning to catch barbel from a deep, even-paced run close into the bank, then why not anchor your bait to the river bed using a mini link-ledger, but have a float to watch on the surface. This devastatingly effective rig is called ‘stret-pegging’ and allows you to watch a float (which must lie flat on the surface) due to the exaggerated subsurface bow in the line between float and link-ledger. You simply set the float, a Chubber, Avon or large Balsa, fixed with silicon tubing at both ends, at least twice the depth of the swim (keep pushing it up the line till the set-up works) and cast directly downstream.

20. The secret of stret-pegging, once the mini ledger (in slow swims a single swan shot is sufficient) has anchored the bait to the bottom, is in allowing a little loose line, for the subsurface ‘bow’ to form and the float to settle ‘lying flat’, before placing the rod in two rests with the tip angled up a little. The float should now be swaying gently from side to side in the current, (literally any speed water may be fished in this way so long as your float is set far enough over depth) and when a fish takes the bait, it will cock and glide positively under all in one. A lovely sight to see, not only when barbel fishing, because any bottom-feeding river fish may be caught stret-pegging. See Carp Tip 13.

21. Though float fishing, the close-in technique of stret-pegging is best executed using a 11-12 foot Avon style rod, rather than a lighter ‘waggler’ rod.

Bream

1. Want to catch bream on the float that are feeding over weed or amongst ‘cabbages’ in still or slow moving water? Then ‘float ledgering’ is often the answer, using a peacock quill waggler float (attached with silicon tubing around the bottom end - not locked with shot) and set a foot or two over depth. But not with a small bomb stopped several inches from the hook by a small shot. This would drag the bait and hook length into the weed and minimize bites. Far better to use a 20-30 inch (depending upon weed density and height) ‘weight link’, joined to the reel line 20-24 inches above the hook using a ‘four-turn water knot’. And simply pinch 2-3 large swan shot onto the end of the link. Don’t worry about the float’s actual shotting capacity.

2. Use buoyant baits when float-ledgering, like bread flake or crust, which will lie on top of the weed, and remember to angle the rod top upwards in a flow, in order to ensure that minimal line is on the surface, which will stop the float tip from pulling under. But when your rig is settled on the bottom, you can tighten up so that only a small part of the tip is showing. Bites are registered by the float tip simply disappearing positively, though occasionally by it rising, if a bream ‘lifts’ the shots from the weed. Works well for tench, and carp too.

3. Rather than wait for ‘difficult to miss’ slammers which rarely materialize when quiver-tip ledgering rivers for winter bream, (summer fish are entirely different), be prepared to strike at any ‘strange’ movement on the tip. Keep the rod angled up high (on two rests) to alleviate excess current pressure against the reel line, and you’ll find that ‘just’ holding bottom (and this is the secret) with a couple or three 3x swan shot, is possible in the strongest flow.

4. ‘ Drop-back’ indications are often the bites to look for when quiver-tipping for bream, where the tip suddenly and seemingly without reason, momentarily ‘eases’ or ‘jerks’ back because the shots have slightly moved due to a bream inhaling the bait. Forward pulls and vibratory pulses of the tip are also worth hitting, but those ‘drop-backs’ will put far more bream in your net. So juggle about with the amount of shots on your ledger link, ensuring that they only ‘just’ hold bottom. Anything more or less, is a bite.

5. The silver bream is in British waters extremely rare, and mainly confined to East Anglia and the Midlands. This decidedly ‘delicate-looking’ fish takes most small baits used for roach and rudd and prefers still and slow moving waters. It lacks the thick covering of mucus associated with common bream, and the scales are quite large and noticeably ‘silvery’, hence its name. It has a small head, large eyes and less of a protrusible mouth than common bream. When erect the silver bream’s dorsal fin is unusually high, and its pectoral, pelvic and anal fins (unlike the common bream) show a tinge of orangey-pink, rather similar to the dace.

6. When ‘slider-float’ fishing for bream in deep, still waters, always use a ‘bodied-waggler’ float carrying more shot than would seem necessary. This is to ensure the reel line passes freely through the float’s eye or ring, quickly taking the bait down to the bottom. Bulk most of the shot (against which the float will rest for casting) 3-4 feet above the bait, with two small shots in between, the lowest positioned 6-10 inches from the hook actually resting on the bottom.

Using several inches of slightly ‘finer’ line, tie a five turn stop knot onto the reel line above the float at the desired depth for bait presentation, leaving both ends 1-1½ inches long, ensuring they ‘fold’ when passing through the rod rings. If the float’s bottom ring or eye allows the stop knot to slip through, use a tiny (2-3mm) bead between it and the knot.

7. Remember always to dip the rod tip immediately after casting when slider-float fishing, and wind like crazy for a few turns, in order to ensure all the line sinks between float and rod tip to counter act any sub-surface draw, and quickly open the reel’s bale arm allowing line to peel freely from the spool and eventually through the float’s bottom ring till the bait touches bottom and the float cocks. Lastly, remember to strike ‘sideways’ in order to pull the line ‘through’ the water and the hook into the bream, as opposed to losing striking power by trying to ‘lift’ the line ‘against’ surface tension; which is next to impossible!

8. When distance ledgering for big, still-water bream, hitting bites is always a problem. Taking a leaf from the carp angler’s book however by incorporating a mini-shock, or ‘bolt rig’ into your end tackle, will result in those bream actually pulling a small hook into themselves. Method feeders with internal elastic are much favoured, (which alleviates snap-offs) to which a short 4-5 inch hook length of 10lbs test soft braid is tied with a size 12 or 10 hook on the business end. As for reel line, due to the long casting of a heavy ball of bait, do not go below 8lbs test.

9. The bait for distance ledgering for bream like a 10mm boilie, pellet, or three grains of corn etc, is then hair-rigged, and immediately prior to casting a ball of ‘method-mix ground bait’ (to which hempseed, corn, casters and chopped worms etc, have been added) is firmly moulded around the feeder, with the hook bait carefully hidden inside.

After casting to the desired spot, (use a marker float cast out using another rod - so all the bait ends up within a relatively small area), the line is tightened up, and a heavy, ‘swinger type’ bite indicator clipped onto the line (on a short drop) in front of the bite alarm, so that should a bream swim towards the rod, the indicator will fall and indicate a drop-back bite.

10. When fishing the ‘waggler’ for bream in still water, one of the most common problems is avoiding the ‘drift’. So here are three tips for beating it. Start by sloshing a finger full of washing up liquid around the line on your reel’s spool, which will quickly sink the line. Second, use a really long, straight peacock waggler with a bulk shot capacity of at least four to five SSG shots so all the locking shots are well beneath the surface and below the ‘top drifting layer’. And lastly, fish over depth with one or two No 6 or 8 shots dragging along the bottom, which acts like a ‘brake’ to help keep the bait in position.

11. Feeder fishing for bream in still waters usually revolves around incorporating a clear plastic open-end or cage-type swim feeder made from wire mesh, into your ledger rig. A ‘fixed paternoster’ tied using a four turn water knot is best for this. And ‘plugging’ as it is often called, is the secret to this method, because you don’t want feed coming out on the cast and baiting up areas you’re not fishing.

Start by pressing one end of your feeder into the ground bait mix (not over-dampened) gently pressing the ground bait inside to block that end. Then put in some loose feed, sweet corn, casters, finely chopped worm etc, but leave enough room at the opposite end for another plug of ground bait. Finally, squeeze tightly at both ends using thumb and forefinger, immediately before casting, and providing you have not ‘over-wetted’ the ground bait, the feeder will explode its contents ONLY when it reaches the lake bottom.

12. When standard ledgering or feeder fishing for bream in both still and running water, regardless of whether you use a swing tip, a quiver tip or a hanging bobbin-type indicator, a ‘running’ ledger is not required. The simple ‘fixed paternoster’ is the best rig by far, and to make one simply tie an 8-10 inch length of line (could be reel line or thicker) onto your mainline using a four turn water knot. This forms the ‘link’ to which shots, bomb or feeder are attached. For feeders and bombs add a tiny snap swivel to facilitate quick changing.

How far up the line from the hook you tie this link depends on whether you are presenting a ‘static’ bait, or are hoping to encourage bites ‘on the drop’. For the latter, start with a tail of around 4-5 feet. For static baits 18-24 inches is ideal. If you wish to use a hook tail of a lighter breaking strain than your reel line, for a more natural presentation of say slowly falling baits like casters and maggots, then simply tie this, again using the four turn water knot, say 10 inches from the end of your mainline, which itself then becomes the ‘ledger link’.

13. When ledgering in still and slow moving rivers for bream, quiver tip and bobbin-type bite indicators are not only more commonly used than the ‘swing-tip’, but they are more versatile. The trouble with swing tips, though unbelievably sensitive, is that they wobble about too much when trying to cast any reasonable distance, causing the mainline to wrap around the rod tip and tangle.

Swing tips do however have one redeeming feature, and that is showing the difference between line bites and true bites. ‘Liners’ cause the tip to twitch and jiggle about in short, sharp lifts. Whereas with true bites, the tip continues to rise until it points directly at the bream. Or, should the bream swim towards the rod, thus moving the lead or feeder, the tip simply ‘falls back’ dramatically. So in certain circumstances, especially for short to medium range ledgering, there is still good reason for using a swing tip indicator.

14. When feeder fishing for bream in shallow still waters, say less than six foot deep, put your faith in plastic or wire mesh ‘cage-feeders’ which ensure that the ground bait filling ‘explodes’ quickly and easily, forming an attractive cloud that doesn’t spook the fish.

But you don’t want this to happen if ledgering a 20 foot deep swim in Ireland’s fast flowing River Shannon, where a large, open end, clear, plastic feeder will retain the bait as it sinks and release only with impact with the river bed. Remember. Fishing is ‘horses for courses’.

15. If you are distance-ledgering a still water that requires constant baiting with ground bait balls, add a few drops of oil-based liquid ‘additive’ to your feeder mix on the next cast, to leave a ‘slick’ on the surface, as a target for aiming your ground bait.

16. To catch big bream on ‘static’ baits that are situated within pole range in both wide, deep rivers (6-20 foot plus) and smaller, deep and fast flowing rivers, consider a ‘Polaris’ slider float set up. The wire-stemmed ‘Polaris’ slides on the 4-5lbs running line (pinch a small shot at mid depth against which it rests while being shipped out) and automatically locks like magic (via the ‘Frixon’ device at the floats base) at the desired depth once the one ounce bomb has settled. Use a four turn water knot to attach a 12 inch hook link five inches above the bomb, and pinch on a tiny shot five inches above the hook to keep the bait anchored to the river bed.

17. If quiver-tip ledgering for bream in large, open waters remember that during extremely windy conditions, there will be a considerable ‘subsurface tow’ caused by the waves hitting one end of the lake which subsequently forces surface water down, and back up the lake. So for maximum line pick up on the strike, sit parallel to the bank actually facing wind direction, and make sweeping, sideways strikes.

18. You never know when you might be wanting to slider-float fish for bream in excessively deep still water, so always keep a few ‘Polaris’ floats in your box. Setting up these ‘self-locking’ floats is easy. Thread your reel line down through one of the two holes in the tubular ‘Frixon’ locking device at the bottom, and make up a fixed paternoster end rig incorporating either a bomb or feeder rig. The small hole accommodates lines in the 3-6lbs range and the larger, heavier lines. Then pinch on a No 1 shot three feet up the line for the float to rest against when casting.

It is imperative not to use less weight in the terminal set up than is recommended, otherwise the float’s buoyancy will only drag the bait along the bottom when you try to tighten up.

19. Float ledgering using a ‘Polaris’ is the best way of beating that eternal problem experienced when ledgering for bream line bites. But because of the enormous ‘right angle’ of line that exists between bait and rod tip once the float has automatically ‘locked’, setting large hooks at distance can prove troublesome. So use smaller hooks and smaller baits when fishing the ‘Polaris’ and if you do inexplicably miss bites, try winding in fast for a couple of seconds before lifting the rod into a strike. This will effectively take up that slack line.

20. Having trouble getting the specimen-sized bream of rich and clear water lakes or pits to pick up your baits during daylight hours? Then simply fish for them during darkness when they naturally feed more ravenously.

Carp

1. One of the most simplistic and, consequently, most delightful ways of catching carp (any sized carp) at close range, is fishing the ‘lift-method’ with 4-6 inches of peacock quill attached bottom end only with a sleeve of silicon tubing, (locking shots result in the line breaking should a carp plunge through weeds), set slightly over depth. Using a reel line of around 8-10lbs test, with a single swan shot pinched on 5-6 inches above a size 10-8 hook, completes the rig. Bait can be pellets, maize or small boilies, hair rigged, with loose feed of the same or smaller, pellets or particles. The permutations are like carp fishing itself: endless.

2. When fishing the ‘lift’, the rod is best supported (no rod rests are used for this technique) beneath the forearm and rested upon your knee, after an ‘underarm-flick’ cast is made several feet further out than you have introduced ‘loose-feed’. This is for good reason, because you need to quickly wind the rig back (with the float well clear of the surface) so the exposed hook does not catch up on bottom debris, or the shot bump into feeding carp, before allowing it to settle on the bottom directly amongst the loose feed. Gently tighten the line so the float is ‘all but cocking’ and wait, whilst holding the rod throughout.

Line bites will make the float sway and jerk, almost dipping it under at times, as the tails or pectoral fins of carp momentarily catch the line. One reason why I like the float lying ‘flat’. ‘Lift bites’ will still be recognizable however, whenever a carp ‘lifts’ the single shot up, by the float suddenly ‘drifting’ as though someone has cut the line with a pair of scissors. But most bites will consist of the float suddenly ‘cocking and disappearing’ all in one motion…lovely!

3. A ‘marker-float’ outfit is required whenever you intend distance casting to an area that has been pre-baited for carp (works for tench and bream too) using a spod or radio-controlled boat. In fact, exploring with the marker float outfit is the very first task. Use an entirely separate outfit (to your fishing rods) such as a long 12-13 foot powerful carp or pike rod, a heavy (3-5 ounce) lead and a 30-50lbs test braided reel line. Simply thread a large rubber bead onto the end of your braided line, followed by the lead (which should have a large-swivelled eye) and another bead, and tie to the bottom ring of your marker float. Be sure to use one that incorporates a large, vane-type top that can easily be seen at distance.

After making an exploratory cast, if your rod ‘locks-up’ as you try to drag the lead back along the bottom, then you have located a weed bed. If you feel no resistance as the lead is being wound back, then you have found a weed-free area, with the bottom consisting of sand, mud or silt. If however you feel a little ‘knocking’ transmitted through the rod, your lead will be dragging over stones or a gravel bar. So select your ‘fishing ground’ and once the float is settled as a marker for both casting to and baiting up, sink all the line between float and rod tip by attaching a heavy ‘back lead’ close into the bank. With your entire marker float line now ironed to the bottom and the rod tip dunked below the surface and out of the way, you should not catch up on it throughout the session. And it can be simply wound in when you leave.

4. If you love catching carp off the top using small floating baits like mixer biscuits and floating pellets etc, here’s a useful tip which allows you to quickly change from a ‘floating controller’ set up geared to fishing distances of up to 50 yards, to just the plain hook, for those times when fish move in ridiculously close, and you merely wish to suspend the floater directly below the rod tip, free-line style.

Start by threading onto your 8-12lbs reel line a floating controller such as a ‘Tenpin’, followed by a 3mm, black, rubber bead, and then tie a five turn stop knot (using a few inches of reel line) before tying on a size 10 hook direct to the reel line 2-4 feet below the Tenpin.

To quickly ‘de-rig’, simply work the rubber bead over the stop knot and all the way along the hook’s shank and off the point, followed by the swivel at the top of the Tenpin. This literally takes seconds, and you are left with the bare hook. Repeat to be fishing with the controller again. Obviously, this can only be achieved when using a small ‘rubber’ bead. See Rudd Tip 4, for fishing ‘lighter’.

5. To present small floaters to carp like mixer biscuits, sunflower seeds, floating pellets or even small boilies etc, use a small, but strong hook (a size 10 is ideal and will land the biggest carp) and so that it sits immediately ‘below’ the floater where it is less inhibitive to a ‘taking’ fish, simply cut a shallow groove in the bait using a junior hacksaw blade, and super-glue along the hook shank. Once you have mastered this technique, very rarely will a bait come off during the hardest of casts. I even glue my pellet or biscuit floaters on when ‘fly-rodding’ for carp using powerful ‘double-haul’ casting.

6. Both clear and brown-coloured latex rubber ‘bait bands’, most of which come with a small, built-in dimple tab at the top through which the hook point is passed, are another excellent way of quickly attaching square-shaped floaters to your hook. Being tough and flexible, they come in varying sizes to accommodate virtually any sized floater.

7. At some time or another everyone is faced with the difficult task of extracting hooked carp out of lilies. The secret if there is one, and this works for me, is to watch carefully where your line actually goes into the pads, which we’ll assume for argument’s sake are both thick and extensive. Because you need to get the rod tip down low for some ‘side-strain’ hauling, following the exact ‘angle’ at which the carp is heading. And continue pulling with the rod nicely bent, in that direction till it is ‘hauled’ back, changing direction accordingly with your angle of pull each time the carp moves position. It is a strange but very effective technique.

Obviously you need an all-through action rod that bends in harmony with the stretch in your line for this. It’s simply no good heaving away with the rod held straight up high and fully bent if the fish has gone straight into the lilies and turned sharp right, winding the line at an acute angle around a clump of stems. The torque upon your tackle is immense. But steady and continual pressure from the right angle, will surprisingly, extract the largest of fish. One reason why I endeavour only to float fish or free line when tackling ‘lily-bed carp’. The less on the line in the way of rigs, leads, tubing, anti-tangle this and anti-tangle that, the better. And as my float (a few inches of peacock quill) is always attached with a sleeve of silicon tubing, it immediately comes off as a fish enters the pads, as does the large single shot lightly pinched onto the line several inches from the hook.

8. Whether ledgering for carp at close or long range, due to varying bottom contours over which your line is bound to hang, ‘line bites’ can at times, prove a real problem, making the carp even more wary as they approach your bait. To alleviate this simply clip a ‘back-lead’ to your line immediately in front of the rod tip after casting and let it slide down to the bottom, thus pinning the line down between ledger rig and rod. Remember however, that this only works when employing ‘bolt-rig’ tactics where due to the weight of the lead, the fish more or less hooks itself.

9. For stalking summer carp, when carrying the very minimum of tackle invariably results in more fish on the bank simply because you haven’t scared the fish away from the margins, it’s worth investing in a ‘stalking belt’. Designed to be worn around the waist with a variety of pockets at the side and at the rear, these ‘bum-bag’ type belts are capable of holding scales, a compact camera, baits, plus hooks, floats, shot and rig bits etc, leaving you free, clutching just rod and net, to crawl stealthily through dense vegetation in order to creep up on the whoppers slurping amongst the tree roots.

10. When the carp inhabiting large sheets of deep still water are cruising in the warm upper layers, sometimes topping, sometimes a few feet below, seemingly aimlessly moving about, one technique that can really sort them out is the ‘Zig-rig’ which on a size 8 hook, is used to present a small, rectangular, hair-rigged piece of buoyant cork, about the size of a mixer biscuit (but, ‘yes’ cork!) at any depth from the surface to several feet down. It resembles a pop-up boilie or imitation floater like a mixer biscuit, and is, believe it or not, readily taken.

The rig comprises of a heavy in-line, semi-fixed 3-4 ounce lead, through which the mainline passes before it is attached, via the swivel, to hook a length anything up to (assuming you are casting with 12 foot rods) 12 feet long, (you’re fishing deep water remember), which means that the imitation, buoyant cork bait can be presented two feet below the surface (by far the best ‘taking’ distance) in a maximum of 14 foot of water. After casting, putting the rod in its rest and tightening up, hang a weighted swinger-type bobbin on the line and be ready for strange, ‘drop-back’ bites which sometimes just keep dropping. But do not strike yet. Wait for the fish to pull the indicator up tight before setting the hook.

A most ‘versatile’ variation to this set up is to use a 3-4 ounce ‘running lead’ with a rubber ‘cushioning’ bead between lead and a buoyant, plastic sub-float. To the opposite end of the sub-float tie on a two foot hook length and hair-rigged cork bait already described. Then upon the lead settling on the bottom, free line is slowly given till the sub-float and floating bait pop up to the surface. Now slowly wind till the sub-float disappears, adding just four feet of line to the reel, if you wish the cork to be presented two feet below the surface. But it can of course be fished at any depth from two feet above bottom upwards, all the way to the surface. And there are days when it pays to experiment. So clip on an indicator and set the bite alarm.

If bites do not materialize, slowly wind the sub-float and bait down to four, six or eight feet, and so on below the surface until a ‘taking’ depth is found. Most fish will hook themselves whilst moving off against the buoyancy of the sub-float, and give screaming runs.

11. Here’s a handy tip for presenting your bait using a ‘bolt-rig’ set up to carp amongst dense weed beds when you have no option. Firstly step up your reel line breaking strain accordingly, and match it to a powerful ‘all-through’ action rod, which collapses into a ‘full bend’ and absorbs all the lunges of a big carp thrashing and crashing through weed beds.

For the best presentation of your rig and bait, everything needs to be tucked away carefully into a clear PVA bag including a 2-3 ounce lead (to get you easily through the weed) plus some loose feed like small pellets etc, (secure the top of the bag using PVA string or tape, so that after casting through the weed and the bag dissolves, both hook bait and freebies are in plain view and nothing is ‘hung-up’). Lastly, don’t go far from your rod. It actually needs to be to hand, in order that you can respond immediately to a bite by bending into a fish and hauling it around before it travels too far.

12. Contrary to popular belief fuelled by the hype of ‘pre-made’ bait manufacturers, plain old ‘maggots’ are one of the most effective of all baits to catch carp. Trouble is, when used in ones, twos and threes, maggots are not SELECTIVE, and just about every fish in every water, from a two inch roach upwards, love them. The answer therefore is to present a real ‘mouthful’ if you only want to catch larger species like carp. And a method devised exactly to this end, is the ‘Korda maggot clip’. A cunning device that permits dozens of maggots to be threaded onto a fine wire ring without bursting any of them, which in turn is then attached (via a quick-change clip) to the loop of a ‘hair-rig’. You can even add slithers of rig foam cut to the shape and size of maggots should you wish to present your bunch of maggots ‘pop-up’ style above bottom weed. Clever, isn’t it?

13. With more and more carp these days making their way into British river systems from adjacent gravel pit fisheries during flood time, including some ‘whoppers’, do you fancy catching them on the float in running water? Well, then the technique of stret-pegging is simply unbeatable. And you don’t need heavy tackle either.

Stret-pegging in rivers is a ‘close-range’ method, so a heavy Avon-style rod coupled to a centre pin or fixed spool reel holding 8-10lbs test monofilament is quite adequate. Fix onto the reel line several feet deeper than the swim, (with a band of silicone tubing at each end) an 8-10 inch straight waggler float, or unpainted length of peacock quill. It matters not because they are the same thing really.

Ten to 12 inches above your hook (all baits and hair-rig options are open here) pinch on a single SSG shot, and above this fold a short length of mono (could be reel line) and secure as a ‘running ledger’ by securing with two or three 3X SSG shot, leaving enough gap so the ‘mini-ledger’ can slide up the line. Now, cast the rig directly downstream over your baited area, and once the rig has touched bottom, allow a little slack for the float to come around and lay ‘flat’. If it doesn’t, push it further up the line till it does lay flat.

Angle the rod on two rests with the tip pointing upwards and wait for events. From swaying gently in the current, the float will suddenly cock and slide under, all in one glorious moment. See Barbel Tip 19.

14. Should you witness the sad sight of a freshly killed, partly eaten carp lying up on the bank or in the margins of your local fishery, (as shown in the accompanying photo here, it was unfortunately from my own two-lake fishery) then inform the owner immediately. Such devastation is caused by otters released into a river environment where due to cormorant predation upon silver shoal fishes combined with a much reduced annual run of eels, during the winter months especially, they roam far and wide (up to 10 miles from their home) to enjoy the easy pickings of carp stocked into still water lakes and pits, because the rivers are bare.

15. Contrary to popular belief, whilst otters may be perceived by the public as cute and cuddly, they are in fact indiscriminate killers, which during the warmer months in addition to feeding upon frogs, toads and the spawn of both, plus newts and the eggs and young of moorhens and mallards (they also take the adult birds incidentally) when pickings are scarce in the winter, they maul or actually kill (though they never consume the entire carcass) specimen-sized carp weighing far heavier than themselves. Otters have in fact been responsible for killing carp to over 40lbs up and down the country.

16. When stalking for carp around really ‘overgrown’ lakes and pits or rivers, don’t put pressure upon yourself by carting around the typical ‘session-type’ landing net comprising of a short pole and large, 42-45 inch arm, triangular net. Not only will it get easily tangled up whilst creeping about, beaten carp cannot always be hauled in close enough.

A strong, telescopic pole however, allows you to net fish that cannot be hauled close in through weed or lilies for a big net, and with a lightweight 24-30 inch round or spoon-shaped (deep-mesh) net on the end, you can capture fish of up to at least 40lbs when they lay beaten beyond the snags and marginal screen.

17. For targeting carp off the top when a fair amount of loose-fed floaters will get used during a lengthy session, invest in a ‘bucket-organiser’. Mine has two strips of Velcro around the sides to which an organizer wallet is quickly fixed. This holds spare hooks, floating controllers, hair needles, mini hacksaw blades, super-glue and scissors etc, while the bucket itself contains several pints of mixers or floating pellets, plus catapult, and a few tubs of ‘alternative’ hook baits.

18. When hair-rigging with particles, pellets or boilies, remember, (it takes but a few seconds) by using your thumb nail, to press the Dumbell-type, hard plastic hair stop completely into the bait so that it is hidden. With hard pellets, simply scrape out a depression with the end of your hair needle.

Carp (and barbel) have been purposefully-equipped with four ultra sensitive barbels which have minute sensory taste-pads on the end, in order to probe through gravel, sand and into deep silt to locate small, soft items of natural food. And if a carp can locate items such as midge larva, ‘bloodworms’ by feeling them with its barbel-tips, it is quite capable of reacting to hard, alien objects like a hair stop, and possibly refuse your bait as a result.

19. There is a clear case for wearing shorts and a pair of old shoes or trainers when stalking summer carp amongst lilies and from amongst the branches of partly submerged trees. You can then quickly get in there to apply pressure from a different angle or to untangle a snagged fish, which you might otherwise lose, without second thought.

20. To suit all your carping (tench and barbel) rig requirements during the summer ahead, tie up a selection of eyed hooks of varying sizes, each with varying length hairs to accommodate a variety of bait combinations. Use a soft Dacron or braid for the hair and after forming the loop using an overhand knot, tie on using my spade-end ‘barrel’ knot, (see Hooks and Rigs Tip 8) adding a spot of super glue beneath the whipping so they do not slide up and down the hook shank.

Crucian Carp and Grass Carp

1. With massive introductions of king carp and carp hybrids to a large proportion of still water fisheries in the UK during the last 20 years, particularly ‘commercial fisheries’ as they are known, finding waters containing true crucian carp is now exceedingly difficult.

2. Most ‘thought to be’ record crucian carp submitted to the British Record Fish Committee, are in fact found, on close inspection, to be either crucian/king carp crosses (paler, slimmer fish than true crucians with tiny barbels, sometimes referred to as F1 carp) or brown gold fish/ king carp/ or crucian crosses.

3. True crucian carp do not of course have barbels and rarely exceed 5lbs in weight. But they do have a slightly upturned mouth, are extremely deep-bodied, with rounded fins (which are an even, warm, grey-brown colour) and are distinctly ‘buttery-bronze’ in colour with flat-lying scales .If the fish you catch do not conform to all these characteristics, then consider them not to be true crucian carp.

4.