Midlandcarper Posted March 11, 2017 Report Share Posted March 11, 2017 Hi guys first post on this forum. I've been fishing a weedy lake for about 2 years now and had 1 run. It does get fished and does see abit of bait but usually have the lake to myself. I've seen bait from the boat that just sits there until it rots, I've tried all sorts of things including prebaiting every day for about a month before a session but not getting any kind of response .Today has about broke me , moved onto showing fish in a shallow bay were I know the water is no more than 3 foot deep. I flicked out 2 chods with a white pop up on 1 and a pink on the other then watched on as fish rolled every 5 minutes directly over them for 3 hours without so much as a twictch. Just wondering if any one has fished any were similar and how they got a result . Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzbomb Posted March 11, 2017 Report Share Posted March 11, 2017 Welcome to the forum, full marks for determination! mucky pup 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midlandcarper Posted March 11, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2017 Zigs is something I haven't really gave a proper go , tried chucking the odd one out but never gone for all three rods. Should also mention it's not just me struggling there 2 lads managed to pick up afew fish last spring but other than that there was 1 fish out all last year that came to a bloke doing an 8 day session Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salokcinnodrog Posted March 11, 2017 Report Share Posted March 11, 2017 Welcome to the forum As CM says, there are fish that to start with won't look at a boilie. He does omit to say particles, or even groundbait. Vitalin may be the way to get fish onto bait, and can be used to introduce boilies. As the fish munch it, it may also break up the weed, digging right into and uprooting it. I know at the moment the naturals are starting to show, bloodworm, shrimps and the like, so it's quite possible the carp are really onto them, which is where groundbait may compete. Also in my view it's possibly a bit early for pellets, although low small amounts may work. Other baits that might work, maggots, worms, even bread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud9 Posted March 11, 2017 Report Share Posted March 11, 2017 I would have a try with a nice juicy lobworm free lined if its possible to get it out to the fish ? or float fished if not , bread flake over a crumb groundbait , can you rake out a nice patch ? is it a park lake where kids feed the ducks ? dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midlandcarper Posted March 11, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2017 Cheers guys , afew different ideas to mull over. Was thinking of switching to small pva bags of crushed black tigers with a tiger hookbait over the coming weeks, just a mouthful sort of thing. any ideas on a single hookbait , 1 bite sort of tactic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midlandcarper Posted March 11, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2017 8 minutes ago, cloud9 said: I would have a try with a nice juicy lobworm free lined if its possible to get it out to the fish ? or float fished if not , bread flake over a crumb groundbait , can you rake out a nice patch ? is it a park lake where kids feed the ducks ? dave It's a syndicate lake in a farmers field mate , wouldn't really have been possible today but could be worth ago in the summer. There not usually as easy to track down as they were today though which is why I've got so gutted about blanking 😂, I've sat up nearly all night for 2 nights before and seen nothing. Think they must have been flanking on the shallow gravel or something this morning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzbomb Posted March 11, 2017 Report Share Posted March 11, 2017 Big fat nightcrawler is what any fish are usually easiest to catch on in Canada and they cost a small fortune. Your best earthworm from the garden, (pictured below the nightcrawler in the hand), is the 2nd best. Midlandcarper and B.C. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud9 Posted March 11, 2017 Report Share Posted March 11, 2017 5 hours ago, carpmachine said: This post interests me , i have always beleived in the uncatchable, the fish that purely survive on naturals, what bait were you using, explain your prebait tactics, boilie may not be the wisest approach, prebaiting at this time needs to be very restricted, look at the Zig approach as well, its not my thing but others on here can guide you, Nige springs to mind. For me, have a mess around with seafood baits over halibut pellet. as cm says , what baits have you tried ? and prebait ? dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutcracker Posted March 11, 2017 Report Share Posted March 11, 2017 I would 100% go for partical hookbaits in tiny solid pva. Tiger nuts and chick peas as hookbaits. Question ... size of water ... approx stock if known. Have you tried pre baiting as this sounds like a water that needs it. Finally floaters in the summer is your best chance by a mile. charb 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chillfactor Posted March 14, 2017 Report Share Posted March 14, 2017 Sounds like a good challenge this lake any chance of a guesty? welder 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevtaylor Posted March 28, 2017 Report Share Posted March 28, 2017 (edited) Try zig bugs either as a zig or a low pop-up. You can buy them ready made or do your own. Bit of hemp with a fake snail pop-up. Easy lol You're more than likely watching them on the first hatch of the year, which makes the above even more relevant. Edited March 28, 2017 by kevtaylor addition Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dicky123 Posted March 29, 2017 Report Share Posted March 29, 2017 I'd start at the beginning and count the fish numbers in the lake? How many are there? Say you only ever see 10 fish, then double that as an estimate. Twenty fish will not eat loads of bait and possibly they simply have too much food? Just a guess and trying to find some answers for you. If it is a case of too much food, then you may have to fish with something very tempting and visual, like a single bright bait IN THE RIGHT SPOT. Try stalking and watch the fishes reaction to your baits. Try a full days floater fishing walking round putting some baits on the wind and watch, then watch some more. If it's not that, try all natural baits like worms, maggots, and such. It's a start. Most people seem to suggest different baits. I'd start with finding the fish, counting and watching them feed. That will be your starting point. Carp fishing is a marathon not a sprint. Dicky. cyborx and Midlandcarper 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukfrosty Posted March 19, 2021 Report Share Posted March 19, 2021 It's funny reading this old thread. I am a midlands based Angler and I usually target Carp. Mainly because they should give the best fight of any of the fish I can catch and because I'm sure there are greater numbers of large carp than large pike. I wish the massive Ebro sized catfish were commonly found in UK waters. Anyway back to the point. Today I fished my local lake. It's only a small venue. It's handy as it's 60 seconds from my house by car. Given that the weather was fairly nice and many people are on furlough, the place was packed. Around 15 anglers taking up about half or two thirds of the pegs. Not a single person caught a fish and I have never seen a person catch a fish since joining at the start of the year. Even match fishermen, fishing maggots and tiny hooks have not been catching. One chap I spoke to said essentially anything that swims should be able to take his hook. There are pike, perch, chub, roach, bream, tench etc in the water as well. It is simply amazing. I have fished many times since Jan 1st. Probably 20+ times. Normally I just do short sessions averaging around 3 hours a time. I am yet to even have a run. I first started fishing at this place in 2011 and I think I fished for around 2 years before catching my first fish there. I actually had to double check that this wasn't a thread I had started years ago. It has always been a difficult venue. The fish are very strange. Once I had one fish then I started to regularly catch the odd few every now and then. Then on one occasion I caught 17 in a 3 hr session. To go from 1 fish in 2 years to 17 in 3 hours was quite incredible. Honestly I couldn't put it down to anything other than the fish's attitude. Anyway I had a 2 year break after my daughter was born and I joined again this year. Now the place seems as difficult as ever. I've done everything I can to get a bite. Worms, bread, sweetcorn, various popular boilies, pellets (even though I thought it was too early but nothing else was working so I had nothing to lose), zig rigs, bottom baits, pop ups, floats. Free lined, chods, bolt rigs, mono, fluoro, braid, wide gape, curved, small hooks, big hooks. Bright baits, white baits, yellow baits, pink baits, brown baits. Single baits, method feeders, pva bags. Nothing at all will work. The place is so difficult. Up to now people seem to have blamed the cold. It's amazing that nobody seems to be able to do anything on this lake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmcee Posted March 19, 2021 Report Share Posted March 19, 2021 Are you sure the fish are still in there? Predators, poachers etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carpmaster Posted March 19, 2021 Report Share Posted March 19, 2021 On 11/03/2017 at 17:19, Midlandcarper said: Hi guys first post on this forum. I've been fishing a weedy lake for about 2 years now and had 1 run. It does get fished and does see abit of bait but usually have the lake to myself. I've seen bait from the boat that just sits there until it rots, I've tried all sorts of things including prebaiting every day for about a month before a session but not getting any kind of response .Today has about broke me , moved onto showing fish in a shallow bay were I know the water is no more than 3 foot deep. I flicked out 2 chods with a white pop up on 1 and a pink on the other then watched on as fish rolled every 5 minutes directly over them for 3 hours without so much as a twictch. Just wondering if any one has fished any were similar and how they got a result . Cheers The water I’m on at the moment is the same and as I found out yesterday publicly ban so I got told off but exactly the same I’ve seen people filling it in an it’s bream an tench eating it myself personally I’ve dropped to 8 and 10mm steamies and have been putting it here there and everywhere I’ve found them willing to pick up the small food items but leave the 14mm +boilies alone are they clued up I don’t know I’m not an expert another tip go dig a load of worms and I mean a load start by baiting a few spots with chopped worm see if that works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ouchthathurt Posted March 19, 2021 Report Share Posted March 19, 2021 I’d probably go in with the mag-aligner, I’ve got so much confidence in it after stumbling on it and having a red letter session. I doubt there’s a fish in the UK that won’t be tempted by the humble maggot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carpmaster Posted March 19, 2021 Report Share Posted March 19, 2021 1 minute ago, ouchthathurt said: I’d probably go in with the mag-aligner, I’ve got so much confidence in it after stumbling on it and having a red letter session. I doubt there’s a fish in the UK that won’t be tempted by the humble maggot! Not even worth thinking about on my water you wouldn’t be able to keep them out long enough for mr carp to find it the roach an bream stock in this lake is unreal it would be very expensive indeed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salokcinnodrog Posted March 19, 2021 Report Share Posted March 19, 2021 1 hour ago, Carpmaster said: The water I’m on at the moment is the same and as I found out yesterday publicly ban so I got told off but exactly the same I’ve seen people filling it in an it’s bream an tench eating it myself personally I’ve dropped to 8 and 10mm steamies and have been putting it here there and everywhere I’ve found them willing to pick up the small food items but leave the 14mm +boilies alone are they clued up I don’t know I’m not an expert another tip go dig a load of worms and I mean a load start by baiting a few spots with chopped worm see if that works I love and hate waters like this. Hate because it can be so difficult trying to switch them onto larger baits; I know you said bream and tench will clear up baited areas, will the carp push them off? And if you bait up with a mix of groundbait like Vitalin, and add 14/15mm boilies to the mix would they start to take them? 10 minutes ago, ouchthathurt said: I’d probably go in with the mag-aligner, I’ve got so much confidence in it after stumbling on it and having a red letter session. I doubt there’s a fish in the UK that won’t be tempted by the humble maggot! It can be worth going in heavily with maggots, almost every fish will take them, but a Medusa rig, a Cork ball or piece of foam with boilies attached, either Superglued or threaded onto it can get attention. I did have a decent mag aligner rig, a fake maggot creating a line aligner, then a rig ring on the hair to attach a 'string' of maggots. The more maggots introduced and The bigger ball of maggots for bait seemed to produce bigger fish for some reason. Worked very well on one water in particular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yonny Posted March 19, 2021 Report Share Posted March 19, 2021 6 hours ago, ukfrosty said: I've done everything I can to get a bite. Worms, bread, sweetcorn, various popular boilies, pellets (even though I thought it was too early but nothing else was working so I had nothing to lose), zig rigs, bottom baits, pop ups, floats. Free lined, chods, bolt rigs, mono, fluoro, braid, wide gape, curved, small hooks, big hooks. Bright baits, white baits, yellow baits, pink baits, brown baits. Single baits, method feeders, pva bags. Nothing at all will work. The place is so difficult. Up to now people seem to have blamed the cold. It's amazing that nobody seems to be able to do anything on this lake. The most important thing is being on active fish. Nothing will work if there's nothing catchable in front of you. It is very easy to waste a lot of time trying random methods and baits on "likely looking" spots. Imo your time is better spent walking and watching. One you've found where they like to feed regularly, go back to basics and the rest should slot into place pretty quickly. crusian 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carpmaster Posted March 19, 2021 Report Share Posted March 19, 2021 21 minutes ago, yonny said: The most important thing is being on active fish. Nothing will work if there's nothing catchable in front of you. It is very easy to waste a lot of time trying random methods and baits on "likely looking" spots. Imo your time is better spent walking and watching. One you've found where they like to feed regularly, go back to basics and the rest should slot into place pretty quickly. It sounds like ukfrosty is fishing the same water as me 😂😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ouchthathurt Posted March 19, 2021 Report Share Posted March 19, 2021 6 hours ago, yonny said: The most important thing is being on active fish. Nothing will work if there's nothing catchable in front of you. It is very easy to waste a lot of time trying random methods and baits on "likely looking" spots. Imo your time is better spent walking and watching. One you've found where they like to feed regularly, go back to basics and the rest should slot into place pretty quickly. Very true mate, they are having to feed somewhere! Although it’s easy to chop and change rigs and methods in the hope of finding “the one” you can run the risk of losing sight and losing confidence. Have you caught carp from here before? Do you know of anyone who has? I’d get on my toes and start exploring and mapping the lake, especially at this time of year when they are starting to wake up and move about. Half the battle is trying to find the fish actually feeding and this will do your confidence a world of good, look into past captures, speak to people who have been successful, look over your own past successes and build up a picture of what’s happening. Find their feeding spots, lying up spots, where they go to spawn, learn their routines, so when you walk on the lake, you can base swim choice on an informed decision, if you can’t find them, you can use this other information to help choose a swim, rather than just choosing a likely spot on a wing and a prayer and blanking. When you find their feeding spots, then you can use a bait you have confidence in, rather than chopping and changing. Keep beavering on mate, when it clicks and you catch, the feeling of achievement will make all the blanks and effort worthwhile! I once did a 2yr blank... trying to learn a difficult lake, when that first carp hit the back of the net the release of adrenaline and euphoria was so immense I screamed with joy... at 1am... in a park lake... surrounded by houses... over an 11lb mirror... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carpmaster Posted March 19, 2021 Report Share Posted March 19, 2021 3 hours ago, ouchthathurt said: Very true mate, they are having to feed somewhere! Although it’s easy to chop and change rigs and methods in the hope of finding “the one” you can run the risk of losing sight and losing confidence. Have you caught carp from here before? Do you know of anyone who has? I’d get on my toes and start exploring and mapping the lake, especially at this time of year when they are starting to wake up and move about. Half the battle is trying to find the fish actually feeding and this will do your confidence a world of good, look into past captures, speak to people who have been successful, look over your own past successes and build up a picture of what’s happening. Find their feeding spots, lying up spots, where they go to spawn, learn their routines, so when you walk on the lake, you can base swim choice on an informed decision, if you can’t find them, you can use this other information to help choose a swim, rather than just choosing a likely spot on a wing and a prayer and blanking. When you find their feeding spots, then you can use a bait you have confidence in, rather than chopping and changing. Keep beavering on mate, when it clicks and you catch, the feeling of achievement will make all the blanks and effort worthwhile! I once did a 2yr blank... trying to learn a difficult lake, when that first carp hit the back of the net the release of adrenaline and euphoria was so immense I screamed with joy... at 1am... in a park lake... surrounded by houses... over an 11lb mirror... good advice ouch it will come as ouch says the lake I’m fishing is chock block with weed even tho it’s died back there’s huge beds drifting I’ve ordered a rake after losing what felt like a new pb yesterday to the stuff I’m a man on a mission while doing this I will of course be chucking out a marker to have a feel afterwards the spots I fished last yr are still there but manky so I know they’ve not been fed on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ouchthathurt Posted March 19, 2021 Report Share Posted March 19, 2021 Those spots may well fish as the year progresses, I find it uncommon for certain hotspots to produce all year round. Often the hotspots change with the seasons. yonny 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carpmaster Posted March 19, 2021 Report Share Posted March 19, 2021 46 minutes ago, ouchthathurt said: Those spots may well fish as the year progresses, I find it uncommon for certain hotspots to produce all year round. Often the hotspots change with the seasons. This particular lake hasn’t got a hotspot they do get caught but mostly all over bearing in mind I’m still learning the place and have only seen one carp landed with my own eyes other than that there’s not a lot I can say Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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