Logistics
One of the major differences between the two venues was that I would be able to use normal locational tactics on the park whereas the fish on the mere had been incredibly localised, by the end of May the action on there had been narrowed down to just 2 swims…nightmare. A barrow was going to be a major edge as there was going to be a lot of walking involved, other than chasing the carp around I would be on the move every day anyway on the park because technically I had to be off the venue at dusk and not back on until dawn. Even though I was going to be down there for up to 5 days at a time my kit remained pretty much the same as it was for the short days on the mere, the only additions were a small separate food bag and my bedchair. I was planning on using a lot of bait and 10k of bait weighs enough in itself so the less kit I had the better. Aside from that the local youths were causing more than a few problems and piles of ‘posh’ shiny carp gear would have only attracted unwanted attention. All in all it fitted nicely on the barrow and, being a ‘low loader’ I could literally jog round the paths with it.
The plan was going to be to keep my eyes peeled for shows, bait a few areas accordingly and then stay as mobile as possible, moving between the areas until I located the fish through sightings, liners or by catching one. Because the water clarity is quite poor you can’t really find them in the edges so I was hoping the bait would ‘find’ them for me. Only doing the days I was going to be forced to remain mobile whether I wanted to or not and there was no guarantees I would be able to get on the same area 2 days in a row so I hoped by keeping a few on the go I would give myself a few options.
Baiting Tactics
You can use bait boats on the venue and although not everyone uses them I had a feeling the fish might be a little wary of tight piles of bait. Because I was staying on the move I didn’t want to be dealing with baiting small areas, which would have just made things difficult for me in terms of having to very accurate all the time. Instead I decided to go exactly the other way and just spread it over big, wide areas and get them moving about looking for it. They’re big fish and I know they like a munch so it seemed the perfect tactic to me, no arsing around with particle or pellet either which suited me down to the ground!!! I was almost always baiting up after dark, or at dusk at least, and just spraying the eighteen millies over areas 20 yards square using a catty if it was a really short mark or by putting 6 at a time in a throwing stick, that way it was really quick to get a few kilos in and I didn’t have to worry about getting my hookbait on a ‘dustbin lid’ every time. Like I mentioned earlier I was planning on using a lot of bait and I thought that 5-10 kilos of 18mm baits spread over that sort of sized area would give me a lovely ‘grazing’ ground that hopefully wouldn’t alarm them too much, 10k on a spot the size of a bivvy may well have done though.
Minimal Disturbance
I’d done a bit of work with a marker the winter before so I knew the rough geography of the bottom and could find the sort of area I wanted my hookbait to be on within a couple of casts, more often than not just one. The bait would have been spread over a decent area and would be lay in a few different depths, some would have fallen on the hard ground and some just into the soft stuff, I hoped this would give me the best chance of intercepting fish moving along on different lines as unless I was actually seeing any show it was a bit of guesswork. If it was one of the open water spots and I was putting all 3 on the area I would position my rods accordingly, splayed out starting with the shortest one on the side I expected the carp to coming from; for example if I had a south westerly blowing from left to right then my left hand rod would be the short one, hopefully avoiding any fish moving though on a different line coming into contact with the lines. I’d might start off with one on the hard area, one on the ‘change’ and the other just into the silt and re-position them if I received action any action.
Often I knew I wouldn’t get any second chances on the day sessions so everything needed to be as spot on as I could get it but with the minimum of disturbance. I’d generally baited the spots the night before and then would be getting back early with every possibility that there might have been carp in the area, not being able to observe them you had to assume there might be and get the rods out with as discreetly as possible with first light always being a productive time. Sometimes I could get them clipped and marked up the night before but as I couldn’t be sure I would be able to get back on it in the morning and may well have ended up in a different area that wasn’t always an option.
I employed a really simple method of retaining accuracy but with a minimum of disturbance this year. If I hadn’t already got them clipped and marked I would simply make a cast with just a lead out 20-30 yards beyond the baited area when I arrived. Slowly dragging the lead it was easy enough to find the spots and I would just clip it, mark it with two little pieces of insulation tape and then wind it in. It was then just a case of clipping my rig onto the Kwik Link and it was back out within seconds, bang on the money. Two casts if you got it right. I simply estimated the depth by counting the lead down on a tight line and feeling for the donk, thud or dull landing.
The little Kwik Links were a brilliant edge this year, they’re normally regarded as the sort of thing you’d use on a prolific water where you’re catching fish regularly and want to be able to change rigs quickly but I found them invaluable. I’d prepare the rigs for all 3 rods with fresh hookbaits and stringers and then a cast or two with just the lead could be made with no chance of damaging the hook point, once it was clipped and marked the new rig was clipped on. The biggest advantage was when chesties were needed to make the cast, if you’re 30 yards from the bank finding the spot with the bare lead and then having the rig and a few spare stringers tucked in the breast pocket made things really easy.
A number of times this summer I ended up moving during the day onto an area I hadn’t already primed. The gulls are horrendous on the park and baiting with a catty or stick during daylight is a complete non-starter, one of the reasons I tended to bait after dark. I didn’t always just want to fish singles or stringers because I knew they were really having the bait so I was left with a bit of a dilemma as I don’t use a bait boat. You could wait until the gulls had moved away and get another pouchful in but it could take an hour or so to get 100 baits in, often they’d clock what you were up to and just end up sat on the area waiting for the next lot anyway. Although the last thing I really wanted to use on a day session was a spod they did come in handy on a number of occasions. Because I had the little quick-change attachments on my fishing rods I was simply taking the lead and rig off and clipping a spod on, it looked crude but worked a treat. Three or four softly landed casts against the clip with 10 baits in and you had a nice little area with not much disturbance at all, with all the bird life around I’m sure a spod wouldn’t have even been noticed anyway. The only thing you do have to take into account is the depth of water and allow for the amount the rig will swing in on a tight line. I just made sure I tweaked the spod back as it landed so the baits spread slightly.
I know a lot of anglers like to use pole elastic or a marker braid type material as a spot marker but I’ve found they all have their problems. Pole elastic has a tendency to slip and the braid materials are very difficult to remove once they’re on, you end up picking at it with a baiting needle and trying so hard not to damage your mainline, far from ideal if your fishing different spots everyday. Both those methods also suffer from the problem that if they do slip, you’ve got no idea they have done. By using two little slivers of tape I can always tell if they have moved as the gap will have changed, they are also dead easy to remove which was handy as I was fishing so many different areas; having tough, almost permanent markers on my line was pointless.
Counting Turns
Another really useful tactic for avoiding things like marker floats or even having to make an initial cast out onto your area is to count your turns. Since my days fishing at range in open water on the big meres up here I have always counted my reel turns back from spots, it’s just something I do out of habit now even if I don’t need to know. Arriving at a swim and knowing a spot is at, say 127 turns I’d just make a cast, roughly the right distance, away from the area. Carefully take out any slack and tighten up to the lead, clip it and then count the reel turns back in. If I’d overcast slightly and it was 136 it is then just a case of undoing the clip, making another 9 turns back onto the reel and re-clipping. Just one cast away from the area and you can be bang on a spot with just one cast, no marker floats, no leading around, nothing. If you want to introduce some bait via a spod it is just as simple to employ the same tactic, assuming you have the continuity and use the same reels on your spod as you do on your angling rods.
I’m out of space now but hopefully I’ve given you a few slightly unorthodox ideas to think about there, simple tricks but really efficient ones that actually work and are practical though! Till next month, be lucky.
