ASK THE EXPERTS
Dear Mike ‘Spug’ Redfern
I’ve been a keen fisherman for 10 years but I have only just started carp fishing. My question is about the ideal setup. From your experience I would like to know the best all-round setup. I am puzzled by things such as does your main line strength need to be greater than your hooklength, braid, or line? I hope your advice will catch me a big one!
Tight lines!!
Andy Mason (14)
Shrewsbury
Hi Andy
Thanks for the question. Obviously it’s a big question and there are lots of possible answers, because each and every day is different, and what works one day doesn't always work the next. However, as I look back at my captures there is definitely one style of fishing that has caught me the most carp.
Tackle and Bait
This part of the equation is the least of your worries, especially these days, as good quality rods, etc. are a lot cheaper than they used to be and can be easily ordered off the Internet. A 12ft 2¾lb test curve rod, a free spool or baitrunner reel loaded up with 15lb main line, a semi-fixed rig (readily available in ready-made form from a host of manufacturers), the sharpest hook you can find (I am currently using Arma-Points pattern SSC and rate them very highly), leads of between 2-4oz, and finally, a bit of 15lb mono as your hooklink; all you need is a standard Knotless Knot, and, fished with a good quality freezer bait – Mainline’s Pulse being my preferred bait at the moment – and you are ready to go. People use hooklinks that are stronger than their main lines for a variety of reasons, but usually it’s just the rig mechanics. Don’t worry about that side of things for now, just get yourself a standard setup. The more complicated side of things will come in time
A simple mono rig, that’s the way forward!
Time to go Angling!
Now that you have got the tackle side of things sorted, there are only really three things left for you to deal with in your quest to catch a big one. The first, and really most obvious, is to get onto a water that has the size of fish you want to catch. I would still call anything over 25lb a big one, and there are plenty of lakes near you which hold fish of this size, so keep an eye on the local catch reports in Carp-Talk or on the Internet, and then off you go.
The second, and most important, factor is locating the fish in your lake. Always keep your eyes and ears open, watch what the lake is doing, i.e. where other people are catching from. Are they catching in the deeper water out in the middle? Are the fish coming from the margins? When you turn up, have a walk around the lake to see if you can see any signs of fish. Look to see if they are jumping or head and shouldering, if they aren’t, are there patches of bubbles coming up?
The Arma-Point SSC – devastating
It’s often a good idea to trickle a little bit of bait into the same spots on a regular basis; try to bait an area where other people don’t really fish. If you can get the fish feeding confidently on your bait in a little area that only you know about, then you are more than halfway there!
The last factor is time. If you set out your stall, don’t get distracted by other things, and go as much as you can, then by following the aforementioned advice a big one should come your way, hopefully sooner rather than later. What I would say is don’t panic, there is no rush; too many people are so keen to catch a big one that they seem to forget what it’s all about, and that is quite simply that fishing is about enjoying yourself with nice people in a nice environment. Every dog has its day, as they say, and that applies to fishing as well.
Every dog has its day – winning a match in front of my peers
Hope this helps, and be lucky.
Spug
