What am i doing wrong?

[Zorbeen98]

1 hour ago, crusian said:

Hello Zorbeen

I'm grateful that Cromiee and you asked your similar questions as it's certainly got me thinking , and there's been interesting replies , particularly from Kev.

I've never used a chod rig before so I can't comment on that rig , but my knee jerk reaction looking at both rigs is " what size hook are you using ? " .

😃

I believe size 8 but could be wrong as going from memory! What would you suggest? 

[greekskii]

10 hours ago, Zorbeen98 said:

These are the two rigs I've been using. I've used the chod rig on the new lake because of all the weed but was using the standard knotless knot rig last year as well. 

Only thing I’d mention is the hook youre using on the chod. It isn’t suited to stiff material with its inturned eye. It will close the gape and potentially affect hooking potential and hook holds. You want to be using a hook suited to chods with an outturned eye. Putting a slight curve on the chod will help too instead of fishing it dead straight. Elmo’s rigs show that. 

id look at dropping the lead if fishing in dense weed or using as light a lead you can get away with. It will help when landing fish. 

other than that they look perfectly catchable on. It’s just a case of putting them in the right place. Sometimes it takes a while. I was on a social at the weekend. It took 42hrs of fish showing over my friends hookbait before he got a run on it. Between us no-one would have done anything different. Sometimes it’s just the way! 
 

don’t be too disheartened. Just make sure your fishing in the right places where the fish are willing to feed and the bites will come. Location is 90% of the puzzle. 

[crusian]

10 hours ago, Zorbeen98 said:

I believe size 8 but could be wrong as going from memory! What would you suggest? 

I use a Sz. 6 , targeting doubles up to 20s. 

Don't forget Greekskiis' reply where he has highlighted changing your hook pattern on the Chod Rig ( which I missed - doh ! ) .

😃

[fangus15]

Sharpening hooks length of hair balanced baits or rig able to reset.          Glug baits oils goo spraying. I have bait pops and waffters glugged for years and mixed groundbait or pellets oiled or goo d .try soaking baits in vodka or pineapple rum. 

 

 

 

[Zorbeen98]

44 minutes ago, fangus15 said:

Sharpening hooks length of hair balanced baits or rig able to reset.          Glug baits oils goo spraying. I have bait pops and waffters glugged for years and mixed groundbait or pellets oiled or goo d .try soaking baits in vodka or pineapple rum. 

 

 

 

Hook sharpening and bait glugging is something I've been doing. 

Vodka and rum is a new one to me! 😳

[Ark79]

Took me a year And almost a relationship  to catch a carp🤷🏼‍♂️ Not an easy fish to catch, especially if you don’t know the water and it’s hidden Jems  ...just recently got the bug again, 3 times in the last 2 weeks and no fish😬 but that only make me more determined. 
 

the water I fish is a small fishery near me, cracking wee spot and very handy to hit and quit.....holds a few 20+ and a few 12 to 18. Few year back I had the place sussed (probably why I loosened of ) but it’s all changed now with less fish and an island in the middle with a handful of 2 foot patches dotted over that’s not thick with weed..... but that’s the appeal for me.  

[salokcinnodrog]

3 hours ago, Zorbeen98 said:

Hook sharpening and bait glugging is something I've been doing. 

Vodka and rum is a new one to me! 😳

I'm not one for glugging baits or hook sharpening. 

My view is the hook is straight out of the packet, it is sharp enough. 

There is a but in there, I use Gardner Muggas and Solar 101's, they are sharp from the pack, and they will penetrate my finger, and the carps mouth. 

 

As for glugging or soaking baits, I have not done so in goo or other soak for years. I know my hookbait work on runs waters, and my harder venues. 

[Garys_carping]

I am fishing a small 1 1/2 acre estate lake average depth of around 5ft with silt everywhere couple of ft deep in the middle of the pond. I find this time of the year especially they hold up in areas of sanctuary behind lilly pads, back of island & inbetween swims where there is less pressure I have noticed this by spending plenty of times walking the lake early morning & just before dark.

Fish location is no 1 priority and getting to know there patrol routes I lead about when I am not fishing get my wraps sorted all around the lake to give me options to move onto showing fish with as least disturbance as possible I would say 90% of the anglers who fish the lake have long blanking sessions they just turn up bait up and wait I have had 4 out since lockdown and I am very happy with that but I do put the time in even without a rig in the water. 

My advice would to be keeping your eyes on the water and do your leading around find those areas and watch there movements even know I am fishing a small lake my binoculars are around my neak 24/7. Keep rigs simple & bait up regularly in the areas you find preferably the lest obvious parts of the lake.

Tightlines 🎣

[Zorbeen98]

On 21/07/2020 at 10:05, kevtaylor said:

To me this sounds like stalking territory, and nothing will teach you better than watching them feed right in the edge.  You get instant feedback and can adapt much quicker because you actually see the reaction to the rig and baiting.

One rod, resting on the ground, baitrunner on is all you need, be as quiet as possible, stay back, stay low - a small amount of micro pellet and chops or similar and if you get it right - you'll see plenty and catch regular.

Stalking gives you a realistic chance all day, under bushes, near reeds, lillies, undercut banks - bait a few spots in the edge around the pond and check for activity.

Honestly - it is the most exciting way to fish and the learning curve is rapid, sometimes I've caught the first fish onto the bait, other times I've waited 6+ hours watching the same group pass over the spot time and time again, looking, then hours later sampling the bait and spooking - before eventually smashing the spot with gusto, competitive feeding and the time to get a run.  Very similar to surface fishing.

Trouble is people see camping, spodding buckets out and waiting as being the norm, how it's done.

Keep day only fishing I say it will give you a different perspective, wider skill set.

 

Yesterday I caught my first carp on the lake (14lb). 😁
Thanks so much for all of the advice and hopefully the below will inspire others.  

 

So first of all I tried to take very little with me as I knew having a lot of gear would limit me on being mobile. I had two rods (1x chod rig + 1x standard hair rig), a bucket of bait (whole + chopped + crushed boilies, pellet and sweet corn), and my tackle bag. I checked the weather and decided to leave the brolly behind. I left my chair in the car which didn't do my back or comfort any favours but with only a bucket to sit on, it meant that I remained sufficiently alert and once again, not weighed down. 

I began with a walk round the lake which was cut very short. As soon as I arrived I came to a very weedy and very shallow section which must have had at least 15 carp sitting there. I couldn't help myself and rushed back to the car to get my rods. I baited and dropped the chod rig in the weed - I could see it was presented fine which takes away a stress that I would usually have but noticed any bait I put in around it quickly disappeared below the weed.

Very quickly I learned just how easy it is to spook fish. They just wasn't coming near my rig so I decided to try and drop it somewhere a little closer to where they kept visiting. I was impatient; I should've waited until they moved further away but I didn't. Threw it in and they all swam away...

I then found another quiet spot at the other end of the lake. The swim was not much of a swim (most people would ignore it) and was the last fishable swim on that side of the lake before you get to the heavy weed. There were 3-4 fish there very close to the margin on a polished gravel spot. I waited for them to move away and then baited and dropped my rig in. This time I used the hair rig as I knew the spot was clear. They kept coming over, taking some of the bait and moving off again, over and over again. It was great to see what was actually happening and how the fish behave. 
Once again, I learned how easy it was to spook them, but this time, not so badly that they wouldn't come back. I decided to get back from the edge and sit on my bucket. Suddenly around midday, a family of 8 came over and started feeding. There was huge amounts of fizzing and then finally I got one! 🙂

Unfortunately I think catching that fish probably ruined the swim. As it was all pretty close quarters all his mates heard it and swam off. I tried looking for other areas along the lake and baited 4 other clear spots but nothing really came of them. I kept going for walks to check on them but every time the bait was still there and no signs of fish (one time I did find some ducks having a go though...). 
With no reason to go elsewhere, I stayed put which remained quiet for the next few hours. I was a good spot because the way the weed was sitting on that part of the lake meant that they would have to pass the bait if they wanted to get across the swim to the other side of the lake.
Around 17:00 I started getting the odd fish appear again and they would come feed on the spot but they never took the rig. By about 18:30 it was starting to get a little grey and dark so decided to pack up. I think if i stayed a couple of hours longer I may have just caught another one. 

 

Not sure if this actually counts as stalking as I ultimately pretty much stayed in the same place for the day. But I learned so much and am really glad that I didn't just setup wherever and throw out 2 rods on bite alarms and wait.

 

 

[yonny]

10 minutes ago, Zorbeen98 said:

Not sure if this actually counts as stalking as I ultimately pretty much stayed in the same place for the day.

This defo counts as stalking imo mate. And a fine example of it too.

Well done.

[fangus15]

All you need now is a lite weight chair or boat chair. I have both I saves your back and legs. Then try rods iv got greys 7ft stalking and t f gear 9ft a stalking mat to lay rods n net in my backpack with bait and small tackle bag.

What you can do is have a set up for stalking ready to go after work for few hours. It took me ages to figure that. 

[kevtaylor]

1 hour ago, Zorbeen98 said:

Yesterday I caught my first carp on the lake (14lb). 😁
Thanks so much for all of the advice and hopefully the below will inspire others.  

 

So first of all I tried to take very little with me as I knew having a lot of gear would limit me on being mobile. I had two rods (1x chod rig + 1x standard hair rig), a bucket of bait (whole + chopped + crushed boilies, pellet and sweet corn), and my tackle bag. I checked the weather and decided to leave the brolly behind. I left my chair in the car which didn't do my back or comfort any favours but with only a bucket to sit on, it meant that I remained sufficiently alert and once again, not weighed down. 

I began with a walk round the lake which was cut very short. As soon as I arrived I came to a very weedy and very shallow section which must have had at least 15 carp sitting there. I couldn't help myself and rushed back to the car to get my rods. I baited and dropped the chod rig in the weed - I could see it was presented fine which takes away a stress that I would usually have but noticed any bait I put in around it quickly disappeared below the weed.

Very quickly I learned just how easy it is to spook fish. They just wasn't coming near my rig so I decided to try and drop it somewhere a little closer to where they kept visiting. I was impatient; I should've waited until they moved further away but I didn't. Threw it in and they all swam away...

I then found another quiet spot at the other end of the lake. The swim was not much of a swim (most people would ignore it) and was the last fishable swim on that side of the lake before you get to the heavy weed. There were 3-4 fish there very close to the margin on a polished gravel spot. I waited for them to move away and then baited and dropped my rig in. This time I used the hair rig as I knew the spot was clear. They kept coming over, taking some of the bait and moving off again, over and over again. It was great to see what was actually happening and how the fish behave. 
Once again, I learned how easy it was to spook them, but this time, not so badly that they wouldn't come back. I decided to get back from the edge and sit on my bucket. Suddenly around midday, a family of 8 came over and started feeding. There was huge amounts of fizzing and then finally I got one! 🙂

Unfortunately I think catching that fish probably ruined the swim. As it was all pretty close quarters all his mates heard it and swam off. I tried looking for other areas along the lake and baited 4 other clear spots but nothing really came of them. I kept going for walks to check on them but every time the bait was still there and no signs of fish (one time I did find some ducks having a go though...). 
With no reason to go elsewhere, I stayed put which remained quiet for the next few hours. I was a good spot because the way the weed was sitting on that part of the lake meant that they would have to pass the bait if they wanted to get across the swim to the other side of the lake.
Around 17:00 I started getting the odd fish appear again and they would come feed on the spot but they never took the rig. By about 18:30 it was starting to get a little grey and dark so decided to pack up. I think if i stayed a couple of hours longer I may have just caught another one. 

 

Not sure if this actually counts as stalking as I ultimately pretty much stayed in the same place for the day. But I learned so much and am really glad that I didn't just setup wherever and throw out 2 rods on bite alarms and wait.

 

 

Brilliant - well done, effort = reward

One thing comes across loud and clear, you enjoyed the active approach and learnt plenty - keep up the good work. 👍

[Carpmaster]

58 minutes ago, kevtaylor said:

Brilliant - well done, effort = reward

One thing comes across loud and clear, you enjoyed the active approach and learnt plenty - keep up the good work. 👍

Your doing well butty   patience is key you'll soon be into another 

[salokcinnodrog]

3 hours ago, Zorbeen98 said:

Yesterday I caught my first carp on the lake (14lb). 😁
Thanks so much for all of the advice and hopefully the below will inspire others.  

 

So first of all I tried to take very little with me as I knew having a lot of gear would limit me on being mobile. I had two rods (1x chod rig + 1x standard hair rig), a bucket of bait (whole + chopped + crushed boilies, pellet and sweet corn), and my tackle bag. I checked the weather and decided to leave the brolly behind. I left my chair in the car which didn't do my back or comfort any favours but with only a bucket to sit on, it meant that I remained sufficiently alert and once again, not weighed down. 

I began with a walk round the lake which was cut very short. As soon as I arrived I came to a very weedy and very shallow section which must have had at least 15 carp sitting there. I couldn't help myself and rushed back to the car to get my rods. I baited and dropped the chod rig in the weed - I could see it was presented fine which takes away a stress that I would usually have but noticed any bait I put in around it quickly disappeared below the weed.

Very quickly I learned just how easy it is to spook fish. They just wasn't coming near my rig so I decided to try and drop it somewhere a little closer to where they kept visiting. I was impatient; I should've waited until they moved further away but I didn't. Threw it in and they all swam away...

I then found another quiet spot at the other end of the lake. The swim was not much of a swim (most people would ignore it) and was the last fishable swim on that side of the lake before you get to the heavy weed. There were 3-4 fish there very close to the margin on a polished gravel spot. I waited for them to move away and then baited and dropped my rig in. This time I used the hair rig as I knew the spot was clear. They kept coming over, taking some of the bait and moving off again, over and over again. It was great to see what was actually happening and how the fish behave. 
Once again, I learned how easy it was to spook them, but this time, not so badly that they wouldn't come back. I decided to get back from the edge and sit on my bucket. Suddenly around midday, a family of 8 came over and started feeding. There was huge amounts of fizzing and then finally I got one! 🙂

Unfortunately I think catching that fish probably ruined the swim. As it was all pretty close quarters all his mates heard it and swam off. I tried looking for other areas along the lake and baited 4 other clear spots but nothing really came of them. I kept going for walks to check on them but every time the bait was still there and no signs of fish (one time I did find some ducks having a go though...). 
With no reason to go elsewhere, I stayed put which remained quiet for the next few hours. I was a good spot because the way the weed was sitting on that part of the lake meant that they would have to pass the bait if they wanted to get across the swim to the other side of the lake.
Around 17:00 I started getting the odd fish appear again and they would come feed on the spot but they never took the rig. By about 18:30 it was starting to get a little grey and dark so decided to pack up. I think if i stayed a couple of hours longer I may have just caught another one. 

 

Not sure if this actually counts as stalking as I ultimately pretty much stayed in the same place for the day. But I learned so much and am really glad that I didn't just setup wherever and throw out 2 rods on bite alarms and wait.

 

 

Excellent result.

 

The nice thing is your thinking solved your problems and you worked out what to do.

 

[chillfactor]

9 hours ago, Zorbeen98 said:

Yesterday I caught my first carp on the lake (14lb). 😁
Thanks so much for all of the advice and hopefully the below will inspire others.  

 

So first of all I tried to take very little with me as I knew having a lot of gear would limit me on being mobile. I had two rods (1x chod rig + 1x standard hair rig), a bucket of bait (whole + chopped + crushed boilies, pellet and sweet corn), and my tackle bag. I checked the weather and decided to leave the brolly behind. I left my chair in the car which didn't do my back or comfort any favours but with only a bucket to sit on, it meant that I remained sufficiently alert and once again, not weighed down. 

I began with a walk round the lake which was cut very short. As soon as I arrived I came to a very weedy and very shallow section which must have had at least 15 carp sitting there. I couldn't help myself and rushed back to the car to get my rods. I baited and dropped the chod rig in the weed - I could see it was presented fine which takes away a stress that I would usually have but noticed any bait I put in around it quickly disappeared below the weed.

Very quickly I learned just how easy it is to spook fish. They just wasn't coming near my rig so I decided to try and drop it somewhere a little closer to where they kept visiting. I was impatient; I should've waited until they moved further away but I didn't. Threw it in and they all swam away...

I then found another quiet spot at the other end of the lake. The swim was not much of a swim (most people would ignore it) and was the last fishable swim on that side of the lake before you get to the heavy weed. There were 3-4 fish there very close to the margin on a polished gravel spot. I waited for them to move away and then baited and dropped my rig in. This time I used the hair rig as I knew the spot was clear. They kept coming over, taking some of the bait and moving off again, over and over again. It was great to see what was actually happening and how the fish behave. 
Once again, I learned how easy it was to spook them, but this time, not so badly that they wouldn't come back. I decided to get back from the edge and sit on my bucket. Suddenly around midday, a family of 8 came over and started feeding. There was huge amounts of fizzing and then finally I got one! 🙂

Unfortunately I think catching that fish probably ruined the swim. As it was all pretty close quarters all his mates heard it and swam off. I tried looking for other areas along the lake and baited 4 other clear spots but nothing really came of them. I kept going for walks to check on them but every time the bait was still there and no signs of fish (one time I did find some ducks having a go though...). 
With no reason to go elsewhere, I stayed put which remained quiet for the next few hours. I was a good spot because the way the weed was sitting on that part of the lake meant that they would have to pass the bait if they wanted to get across the swim to the other side of the lake.
Around 17:00 I started getting the odd fish appear again and they would come feed on the spot but they never took the rig. By about 18:30 it was starting to get a little grey and dark so decided to pack up. I think if i stayed a couple of hours longer I may have just caught another one. 

 

Not sure if this actually counts as stalking as I ultimately pretty much stayed in the same place for the day. But I learned so much and am really glad that I didn't just setup wherever and throw out 2 rods on bite alarms and wait.

 

 

Big congrats.... like you said ,was a day of learning & a well earned capture 😎,  nothing better than watching them feed with a rig in place real eye opener eh !  . We've all had these days  & reading about yours reminds me what fishing is really about . 

Nice one