andy_the_spruce Posted May 8, 2009 Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nafy118 Posted May 8, 2009 Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 i dont see anythign wrong with it mate, just check that the lead can be ejected if snagged and maybe put a bit of rig putty on the hooklink where the coating is stripped back, if its already caught fish then its working and doesn't need to be changed luncheon meat and pepperami is also a good bait for those kind of waters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonybranno Posted May 8, 2009 Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 Ok mate heres my twopenneth. Your set up sounds ok but i would like to know what size of fish are in your venue? If they are only singles to low doubles then i would consider dropping your hooksize down to a size 10. You say the bottom is silt so in truth i would drop the coated hooklink altogether and use standard braid of around 8-10 inches in length? Also im not sure of the tactic of using pellets with a pop up. If your baited hook is off the bottom, then why use pellets which will sink? I know this tactic has supposed to have caught loads of fish, but i think that the pellets have been taken first and then the pop up will be taken last..... maybe some hours later, so in truth you may have been fishing with a single hookbait for the majority of the time. I only use pop ups when im using them as single hookbaits or over a scattering of boilies. And when i say scattering, i mean over a wide area of about 20 yards square. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_the_spruce Posted May 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 i dont see anythign wrong with it mate, just check that the lead can be ejected if snagged and maybe put a bit of rig putty on the hooklink where the coating is stripped back, if its already caught fish then its working and doesn't need to be changed luncheon meat and pepperami is also a good bait for those kind of waters 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nafy118 Posted May 8, 2009 Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 lol, no probs mate i dont see anything wrong with the hook size with 3 bits of fair sized corn, plus you will get better hook holds the pellet thing might be true but if your using a balanced bait it will sit on the botom eventualy anyway so it should sit in the middle of all the pellet, maybe try a small 8mm pre drilled pellet on the hair with something like a size 10 or 12 hook on that? with meat i throw in about a hand full of chunkc and a small ball of mahed meat, just tear some chunks of the tin put them in your hand and rip them all to small bits and then mush it all up into a paste, just leaks oils, i then just put a smallish cube on the hair as usual if im not casting a long way if i intend to give it a bit of a chuck i use middy meat hooks they have a big screw in stead of a hair to put your meat on making it stable and can withstand a good chuck, they're also good for cheese and small bits of potatoe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_the_spruce Posted May 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 Ok mate heres my twopenneth. Your set up sounds ok but i would like to know what size of fish are in your venue? If they are only singles to low doubles then i would consider dropping your hooksize down to a size 10. You say the bottom is silt so in truth i would drop the coated hooklink altogether and use standard braid of around 8-10 inches in length? Also im not sure of the tactic of using pellets with a pop up. If your baited hook is off the bottom, then why use pellets which will sink? I know this tactic has supposed to have caught loads of fish, but i think that the pellets have been taken first and then the pop up will be taken last..... maybe some hours later, so in truth you may have been fishing with a single hookbait for the majority of the time. I only use pop ups when im using them as single hookbaits or over a scattering of boilies. And when i say scattering, i mean over a wide area of about 20 yards square. 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedddjjj Posted May 8, 2009 Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 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. Hi Andy, Your setup looks great and considering you say you have not been carp fishing long you clearly know how to put a rig together. I would use a hooklink weaker than the mainline so if you get smashed up the carp won't be towing around your hooklink, swivel and a length of line which is more likely to tangle up and cause the fish serious distress - but this is an 'old-fashioned' opinion these days I think your imagination is working fine Carp often use their pectoral fins to stir up the bottom in front of them and they suck and blow the bottom too which causes turbidity. The silt is a slightly different issue and if you can find a hard spot then I would try and concentrate on that for lots of reasons. Is the bottom all muddy or is it an old gravel pit (or similar) with bars? Is it a clay bottom with years of silt collected in the holes on the bottom? Try and have a good feel around or just ask someone and find out! If it is very very silty everywhere, you may find you need to change to a helicopter rig if the fish are up to their gills in mud and feed mainly on bloodworm or something. Try and find a hard spot, clay/gravel whatever, and it is likely you can bait up their better and present your bait better too. Lots of carp fishing is trial and error, just like all other species to be honest. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salokcinnodrog Posted May 8, 2009 Report Share Posted May 8, 2009 If you are catching then what you are doing is working It is when your results start to drop that you may need to change, although it may be worth experimenting with loads of bait over 1 rod to see if it makes any difference to a rod fished over no bait. If you are catching Tench, then you are definitely doing things right as they are a lot harder to convince than Carp. The only other thing I would do is to increase time watching and experimenting with various set-ups with 1 rod fished as you are as a control to see if anything can be adapted or improved Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_the_spruce Posted May 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2009 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noknot Posted May 9, 2009 Report Share Posted May 9, 2009 Well done Andy, good Angling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nash_gadgeteer Posted May 9, 2009 Report Share Posted May 9, 2009 Sorry to be picky, can we have a close up of the lead and clip... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigewoodcock Posted May 9, 2009 Report Share Posted May 9, 2009 Sorry to be picky, can we have a close up of the lead and clip... I see where your coming from but I think the lead is just obscuring the view Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zander1 Posted May 9, 2009 Report Share Posted May 9, 2009 Also im not sure of the tactic of using pellets with a pop up. Thats a killer tactic on some good stocked waters- the pellets attract the carp and keep them grubbing around- the pop-up is the only visible bait. Hey presto- banged out loads like that: if i can remember it was 18 fish upto 20lb (my only 20) + 2 bream Also- A size 8 hook is fine for your fishing apart from a korda size 8 which is more like a 6 believe it or not (compared with drennan super specialists and fox arma points) even with hooks the size 6 and bigger you will still catch but it may cause unnesasary damage to the carp you catch. And one more thing- learn to tie your own rigs as soon as possible- get a coated braid and some Fox arma point hooks (ssc or sssp size and some swivels. Yow ill need to learn to tie a knot less knot and a grinner knot (or fig of 8 knot) and thats about it- your on the road to catching Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedddjjj Posted May 9, 2009 Report Share Posted May 9, 2009 Nice one baggin the carp. Sounds like you got it right on the day and you are being a bit modest, reading between the lines... Definately tie your own rigs - I thought you had - will save you a fortune. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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