Like a lot of anglers in the UK, weekends are when I get my fishing fix but more often than not, that’s when waters are at their busiest. This short but busy period means the fish really do get everything but the kitchen sink thrown at them, and that in itself can be one of the biggest challenges; tricking fish that see pretty much every rig and bait going.
The key to success on any day ticket venue is knowing the effects of angling pressure. Doing your homework should always start with talking to the staff. They have an intimate knowledge of their business and ultimately, they want happy anglers. They will usually give you a good idea of areas to target and the general trend of what baits are catching and how much to feed. I’ve brought the CC cameras to one of my favourite day waters, Willow Park Fishery, and the staff offer honest and practical advice. It’s just a case of asking the right questions to get an answer that can help; you then just need to work out for yourself how the advice suits your plan of attack. Of course, if other anglers are catching it shows that fish are in that area and that’s often a great place to start. Be polite and you generally get a good response from fellow anglers, so its always worth an ask about bait and tactics used.
On day-ticket venues it can be very much hit and miss as to what swims are free. Some days you turn up and you have the venue to yourself, others you really have to work with what pegs are left. Willow’s big lake is a good representation of what anglers want from a carp lake; gravel bars are accessible from most pegs, the pegs are well spaced with some nice bays to target with plenty of marginal cover. The bays fish well with a warm wind blowing into them. Most pegs have options so you can experiment throughout the day, even when it’s rammed with anglers. With a shallow end to the lake this often draws the fish in warm weather, perfect for little zigs or solid bags to draw the fish down in the water.
I always try to cover as much water as possible when I fish pressured waters. If you fish a venue a few times you can often find a quiet corner that has very little pressure and these are my favorite. Today I’ve got one rod towards an out-of-bounds area on my right and the other is in open water, out to a gravel bar that runs parallel with the bank. The swim also provides a great view of the lake, so I can watch for signs of fish and move quickly if needed. The open water rod is fished a short chuck of 9.5 rod-length wraps. This is just shy of 9ft deep at the base of the bar, rising to 6ft on top of the bar. Over the back it’s a flat plateau, offering 7ft of water.
I will generally opt to fish at the base of the bar as this is where all the food will collect, be it natural or bait that other anglers have put in. The fish will be used to feeding here and most importantly feel comfortable. You will often find that this sort of area is quite silty which can put most people off fishing it, they will always be looking for a much firmer area where they can confidently present a bait… But they are missing out!
The silt is home to so much natural food the carp will be drawn to it almost magnetically, a couple of small tweaks to my set-up, namely lengthening the hooklink and fishing it in conjunction with a balanced bait to avoid it being pulled deep into the silt, I also drop the lead size down for the same reason.
It is worth pointing out that a balanced bait will out fish a higher pop-up in most cases, the fish are so used to rooting around in the silt a bait hovering well above will often be ignored, so I tend to save the chods for more of a roving approach.
Providing that the bar isn’t too steep I will generally fish the far side of the bar for two reasons, firstly most people will opt for the nearside without thinking about it – so it sees less pressure which will always work in your favour. It also makes feature finding a lot quicker and easier, which in turn means less disturbance. I can overcast the area where I already know the bar is (this can even be done with a bear lead) just slowly drag it back until you feel the resistance of the base of the bar. I then pay off a couple of feet of line and clip up. One more cast to check it is landing in the silt pocket and you are fishing with next to no disturbance.
I do make a point of marking this distance around distance sticks so if I do need to recast after a fish I can do it without thrashing the swim to a foam – Im sure you can get the idea by this point… Less disturbance equals more carp!
The rod fished to the right is just off the inside marginal shelf, but I find it’s best to scatter bait along the boundary rope into deeper water. This is back to maximizing your option again. I want to be drawing the fish from all directions and I make sure to bait past the rope too – if you are baiting tight to the rope you can imagine a visual line underwater which will scream out danger, however by scattering over a wider area you take this imaginary danger line out of the equasion.
The rod is then clipped up to get as close as I can to the rope, but I can always move this one into the deeper water if the margin doesn’t produce.
The open water rod gets 30 baits as tight around the rig, with 20 boilies scattered along the bar. When fishing ultra accurately tight to features a few inches can be the difference between the perfect cast and an embarrassing situation of a rig swinging from a tree. I will always record my distances wrapping round bank sticks as many people do but I never use a cord to space them. You can easily set it under more or less tension which could be an inch or so difference per wrap – if you are fishing at 20 wraps this could add up to a couple of feet difference each time you clip up. So I will opt to use my rod as the gauge as being a stiff object I know it will be identical distance every session, oh and get the bank sticks straight for the same reasons!
Keep It Simple...
Once fishing, I tend to keep baiting as simple as possible, with small bags of crushed boilies or pellet being my preferred approach. Casting these regularly will allow you to build your baited area without making too much disturbance. Plus, it means you’re regulating the feed in relation to bites, a bit like match anglers do when feeding ‘little and often’.
A lot of anglers are boilie mad and want to chuck kilo after kilo in; I’m not a big believer in huge beds of boilies, preferring to feed 10-15 every hour just to create a bit of noise and to put out some slightly bigger baits that will grab the attention of carp, particularly important on venues that may have a mix of fish that may clear up smaller particles of feed.
However, don’t be tempted to just pile bait in as you cant take it out once you have killed the swim; stick to a regime and work out how the feed amounts are affecting the number of bites. As said, PVA bags are a great way of keeping some attraction around the rig but when there’s food content such as pellets and broken boilies I make sure all my bags are measured using bottle lids. I have lids of different sizes that allow me to scoop bait and fill each bag with the same mount every time. It might seem a bit precise but when tying bags by hand, it’s easy to make them different sizes, which not only not only affects the overall weight you’re casting, but also how much feed the fish are getting. This is particularly important early in the year when fish aren’t gorging themselves. Plus, keeping them all the same size means that when you’re glugging bags, they fit. When you’re on fish, speed is paramount and you don’t want to be wasting time with an oversize bag and glug pot.
Fish Smart...
I see a lot of anglers who will basically camp out and wait for the fish to come to them. For me when paying to catch fish, this is a waste, especially when there are pegs free on a venue and fish showing. Never be afraid to move; if the rules allow you, wind in, leave your stuff where it is and go chasing fish, or just target areas that just look like they’ll produce. Nothing is more exciting that standing in a swim watching fish show in front of you. Things change during a session and more often than not, there will be an opportunity that presents itself. Many times I’ve done overnighters and seen fish boshing early in the morning, moving onto them and catching pretty much immediately. Even if you’re on a day-only venue, it’s still worth having the ability to basically follow fish.
There will always be some pegs on a lake that get fish less than other areas, usually because anglers don’t fancy the walk. It could be that these spots aren’t the best ones but when it’s busy, the fish will search out safe havens and it can be these unlikely areas that are your best bet.
It’s about fishing smarter and not harder; use your brain not your barrow to stay one step ahead of the fish. This will usually beat piling bait on a spot in the going swim that’s been flogged to death.
Origionally Published in Crafty Carper Magazine
