Dear Spug,

After recently purchasing all my carp tackle and speaking to some friends, I want to start my fishing campaign somewhere, but I don't know if I want to join a syndicate lake or try my hand at some day ticket venues first. I need to learn more about presentation and rigs as well, so could you please give me some advice on where to start, and how you would tackle this problem?

Thanks,
Sarah Sparrowhawk

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for the question. The first thing you need to think about is fish care. Make sure you have a good sized unhooking mat, forceps, a fish care kit, and a good landing net. I am sure you have bought the right gear, but seem people reading this won't have! It doesn't matter where you fish, or what you catch when you first start, but what does matter is that you look after each and every one of them.

I will be honest, syndicates often have a waiting list, so put your name down on one that is local and affordable to you, and in the meantime go off and do a bit of day ticket angling for a year or two – learn your trade, if you like. Some day tickets you will catch on, some you will struggle on; however, you can bet your last pound that you will learn more on the harder ones, so stick at it because you will quickly realise that every lake has a different crack to it, i.e. some lakes like loads of spodding and particle, and others like a bed of boilies. People often dismiss day ticket lakes, but I wouldn’t because you can learn loads. I fish down on the syndicate at Catch 22 quite regularly (having learnt my trade on the day ticket lake) and right next door is the day ticket lake, so I get to meet a lot of people down there. It’s amazing how the same faces always catch and some of the others don’t. It just goes to show that it’s a fine line between catching and blanking, and it never surprises me that those people who catch on there go on to catch everywhere they fish. The reason for this is that they've learnt how to catch them!

Cheers

Spug