Rig and tactics for margin fishing on an unfamiliar lake

[Tuckab]

Mods - please move if this isn't in the appropriate area of the forum.

 

I'm fishing a new venue this weekend and was planning to attack the margins. Overcast but warmish - it seems likely they'll be some feeding carp there.

 

I was planning to use a PVA bag full of goodies and a cork pop-up on a lead clip system. Probably a size 4 hook to weed out the small fry. 

 

What does everyone think to this approach? Are there any suggestions on better methods of targeting a margin?

[yonny]

1 hour ago, Tuckab said:

I'm fishing a new venue this weekend and was planning to attack the margins.

Turning up with a preconceived idea of location/tactics is one of the biggest mistakes an angler can make imo.

Clear your mind of expectation and fish where you see feeding activity.

If you do find them in the margins then a pva bag is as good a tactic as any. Tiny qty's of bait, particularly pellets, are defo the one in the margins for me. I'd personally go for a bottom bait over a pop up though. You need that hook-bait/rig to be as inconspicuous as possible. Carp are naturally far more cautious in the margin in my experience and a pop up will often be ignored.

[elmoputney]

I agree with yonny, solid bags use a wafter or bottom bait tbh, good method though can be devastating, we all tend to think about it before a session but you have to go with what you see really and try and give yourself the best chance on the day, it's OK to have an idea, but don't make it your only option 

[salokcinnodrog]

5 hours ago, Tuckab said:

Mods - please move if this isn't in the appropriate area of the forum.

 

I'm fishing a new venue this weekend and was planning to attack the margins. Overcast but warmish - it seems likely they'll be some feeding carp there.

 

I was planning to use a PVA bag full of goodies and a cork pop-up on a lead clip system. Probably a size 4 hook to weed out the small fry. 

 

What does everyone think to this approach? Are there any suggestions on better methods of targeting a margin?

Don't ever go with preconceived ideas, you'll ignore the best approach.

In the margins, the carp are usually feeding on the bottom, a pop-up could be above them and ignored.

 

One of the guys on on our syndicate has been quietly catching doubles when all else is quiet. Float fishing a couple of worms on a size 8 hook!

His setup is basically for large tench.

I used to fish a few busy day ticket waters, and on most margin fishing, a handful of hemp and pellets with a float fished hookbait over the top produced most fish.

 

 

[ouchthathurt]

I do a lot of margin fishing, and dependant on substrate I will use either bottom baits (90%) of the time, or a really low lying pop up, usually on a spinner rig if it’s a bit choddy. My go to rig choice would be a bottom bait, with half a dozen boilies or broken baits around it, I want something that is discreet and only a mouthful for a carp. On my waters, everyone, (me included and I bet most carp anglers) take their old baits off the hair on the recast and chuck them in the edge, carp are aware of this and will ghost the margins looking for these. That’s what I’m trying to replicate, I’ll happily fish a single bottom bait in the margins, especially if I have seen carp visiting the same place. To my mind, a big pva bag with a blatant pop up would be too obvious, but every water is different! 

[Golden Paws]

My local park lane deepens down rapidly to about 7 foot a rod length out. I drag a lead through the margins until I feel the rise and then tighten the rod to the lead until the tip is on the surface and I've found the transition. The loose feed is then fed about a foot further out. The far bank trees always get targeted by most other anglers and I've normally got one rod there and the other is in the margins. Don't let on but the margin rod often outfishes the other!

[newmarket]

On my lake it’s pretty much overstocked with a LOT of Carp in the 10-14lb range .

And with only 50 members , 30 of which never fish it (strange I know but hey) it’s very lightly fished , never more than 3 anglers at a time in my limited experience and even fewer overnight.

Although it seems to hold a natural larder to an extent, I’ve found bloodworms on hooks & leads in the few times I’ve fished it myself , there’s nowhere near enough bait going in to maintain the fish .

Every morning that I’ve been on there so far I’ve seen the manager or his bailiff sidekick walking the lake launching handful after handful of pellet into the margins and at times this summer the water has been boiling with feeding activity .

Now I know this will vary from lake to lake but for that reason I always have a bait in the margins… and is the reason ,  I expect, why it is said to fish well throughout the winter .

Ill find out for myself but depending on where you’re intending to fish , especially a runs water , it’s always worth finding this sort of stuff out .

[crusian]

6 hours ago, newmarket said:

On my lake it’s pretty much overstocked with a LOT of Carp in the 10-14lb range .

And with only 50 members , 30 of which never fish it (strange I know but hey) it’s very lightly fished , never more than 3 anglers at a time in my limited experience and even fewer overnight.

Although it seems to hold a natural larder to an extent, I’ve found bloodworms on hooks & leads in the few times I’ve fished it myself , there’s nowhere near enough bait going in to maintain the fish .

Every morning that I’ve been on there so far I’ve seen the manager or his bailiff sidekick walking the lake launching handful after handful of pellet into the margins and at times this summer the water has been boiling with feeding activity .

Now I know this will vary from lake to lake but for that reason I always have a bait in the margins… and is the reason ,  I expect, why it is said to fish well throughout the winter .

Ill find out for myself but depending on where you’re intending to fish , especially a runs water , it’s always worth finding this sort of stuff out .

Hi Newmarket

I wonder if the 30 who don't fish are waiting for those 10-14lb Carp to grow into 20s , and then memberships may become hard to come by .

🤔

[salokcinnodrog]

9 hours ago, newmarket said:

 

And with only 50 members , 30 of which never fish it (strange I know but hey) it’s very lightly fished , never more than 3 anglers at a time in my limited experience and even fewer overnight.

Although it seems to hold a natural larder to an extent, I’ve found bloodworms on hooks & leads in the few times I’ve fished it myself , there’s nowhere near enough bait going in to maintain the fish .

Every morning that I’ve been on there so far I’ve seen the manager or his bailiff sidekick walking the lake launching handful after handful of pellet into the margins and at times this summer the water has been boiling with feeding activity

My syndicate is the same, only 5 regularly fishing. Some get the ticket to hold onto for the future.

I think your next 2 paragraphs are the crux of the matter:

The smaller fish that you have been catching may well be bait and pellet orientated, whereas the larger fish could well be natural food feeders.

 

The stock fish in our syndicate seem to be bait feeders for a year or two before switching onto naturals. The older originals rarely get caught over bait. It takes an absolute mountain to get the originals feeding on bait, more than I can afford!

As the stockies move onto naturals they get harder to catch.

I've been wading, through the margins, the silt and weed; within 20minutes you can collect a carrier bag full of snails, I've waded through massive silt holes dug by carp, absolutely full of bloodworm as well as bringing them in on the hook and lead. Mussels from tiny shells to as big as a side plate.

Plenty of fish food, difficult to compete with.

[salokcinnodrog]

On 01/07/2022 at 10:38, Tuckab said:

Mods - please move if this isn't in the appropriate area of the forum.

 

I'm fishing a new venue this weekend and was planning to attack the margins. Overcast but warmish - it seems likely they'll be some feeding carp there.

 

I was planning to use a PVA bag full of goodies and a cork pop-up on a lead clip system. Probably a size 4 hook to weed out the small fry. 

 

What does everyone think to this approach? Are there any suggestions on better methods of targeting a margin?

I'll go back to the original post again, hopefully with some more valid input from my last 2 sessions.

The first of the 2 saw a very good result. I have a video of carp feeding on the margins, sadly too big to put up on here.

I found the carp feeding, definite so set up on them. 

Rig was a basic short Multi-rig with a whittled down pop-up, to sink but slightly lighter than the hook, essentially critically balanced to the 'n'th' degree, and a proper running lead, slack line. The whole lot was put in a PVA bag, rig, lead, bait, a handful of pellets and chops.

It worked and produced a decent, hard earned carp.

 

The second trip was different, in that the conditions made fishing a slack line rather more difficult. A wind and tow pulling silkweed down the lake through my lines meant I had to tighten up, although my rod tips were well under water.

When fishing at such short range tight lines can make the carp wary of feeding on the spot. I have seen fish spook or eject baits on semi-fixed leads, which is why I have a preference for running leads and slack lines.