andy_the_spruce

I had my session last night - just a short one in the end, didn't get there till 5 and had to pack up when it got dark (no night ticket). It started badly: the lad in the tackle shop said the water wasn't fishing well, the lads I spoke to when I arrived had fished all day and only seen one fish caught, and the bailiff told me it was a hard water. Not filling me with confidence! I'd been told of a gravel patch, so I targeted that and it seemed to work — I had two carp of 12lb and 12.5lb. The tackle shop chap (who fishes the lake sometimes) suggested fishing a Boilie Pellet (Nash Top Rod Mach1 10x15mm) with a fake corn. I fishing that on both rods but on one I used the rig I used last week (coated braid, 1 inch stripped) with a floating corn and corn stop, which was not enough to fully lift the pellet of the floor but made the corn sit up on top of the pellet. On the other I fished ordinary braid and a sinking corn on the pellet. And I had a fish on each rod, so that didn't tell me much! On both I had abandoned the 2mm pellet feed in favour of a small bag of crushed boilie pellets, a few whole ones and a few kernels of corn. Salokcinnodrog, that seems like a good suggestion, to fish one rod as above and experiment with the other, thanks. thedddjjj, thanks for the compliment! I've done quite a bit of reading up, it's just putting it into practise that can be hard. I've always used a weaker hook length, but many rigs involve braid hook lengths which is 15lb or more. I'm relectant to start using 18lb mono main line, seems a little unwieldy to me.

Twopenneth gratefully accepted. It's a disturbing thought, that they may have been hoovering up my loose feed and leaving the hook bait! Would you recommending using a small bag of corn only then? In my imagination, I see the carp attacking and disturbing the loose feed (whether pellets or corn) and causing my slightly bouyant hook bait to waft around enticingly. But that may happen only in my imagination, just like when Charlize Theron... er.. better keep that one to myself I've not come across the idea of speading loose feed over a large area (I assume you did mean 20 yards square, ie 20 x 20 as opposed to 20 square yards, 4.5 x 4.5). Have you had a lot of success with that method?

Thanks for the input. I was orinally going to use a bit of putty, but when I tried it in the bucket, it seemed to balance quite nicely without it. The fake corn is in the smaller size, so less bouyant. Although if I reduce the hook size I may need to counterbalance that. If fishing with meat, do just you put in a few freebies? Meat and corn appeal to me because they are familiar – my local tackle shop has about a 20 yard run of shelves with hundreds of different boilies, pellets, glugs etc which makes my head hurt just thinking about it

Hi, I'm a carp newbie so please bear with me. I got back into fishing last year having done a bit of fishing as a lad (25 years ago!). I've mostly fished for barbel, pike and roach so far, but I've just joined a local club with a small carp water, with a view to learning how to catch carp. The typical carp here seems to be around 5 to 10 pounds plus a good number of doubles and the odd biggie. I've done a fair bit of reading, on this site and elsewhere, but the range of carp baits, tactics and techniques is mind-blowing and very hard for a beginner to get started with. I had my first session last weekend, and caught a 4lb tench and a 7lb common, which at least gave me the confidence that I can catch something. I'm off to have another go later this afternoon, and mostly wanted to check whether initial choice of rig and bait is a reasonable approach. My hook-length is 9in coated braid, with the bottom inch exposed to create a combi effect. The bait is hair-rigged corn - one real kernel and one fake, with a plastic corn-stop (see pics below). This creates, I think, a balanced popup (I tried it in a bucket!) with the bait an inch or two off the bottom. The rig is a ready-made one (30-Plus) with a size 8 hook (is that too big for this bait?). I'm using a 2.25oz lead with lead clip, and 12lb mono main line. My thinking behind the popup is partly to make the bait stand out (I'm using a mesh bag with 2mm pellets and a few pieces of corn), and partly in case the silt is a little deeper than I think. As far as I can tell its a silt bottom, but I don't have the experience to tell how deep it is. Do you think my rig and bait choices are reasonable place to start? I can experiment as I gain experience, it's just working out where to start! Thanks for any advice, Andy