Carp Catchers Blog

Autumn has to be one of the best seasons on the calendar for carp fishing, as well as spring but we’re not there yet. During the autumn period big carp all over the country start to fed quite hard in a bid to up there weights for the winter ahead. It is not uncommon that all the larger residents of a lake will get caught during this period. This could be due to the fish being in competition for food or just generally being greedy about how they are feeding before the onset of winter. Either way they more often than not make mistakes this time of year.

If you’re planning to fish through this autumn into the coming winter then pick yourself a good quality bait such as the  Mainline Cell  or Activ 8 freezer boilies, the  Nash Amber Strawberry  or  Baitcraft T1 are all proven winter baits. Big carp know what’s good for them and what’s not, that’s how they got so big in the first place so picking a good quality bait is very important. This time of year it’s also important to find those areas which the carp are prepared to feed and get some bait on them, if you have the opportunity to prebait these spots in readiness for forthcoming sessions then it can pay to do so. Although prebaiting can be a frustrating game if the lake your fishing is targeted by a lot of anglers it can pay off in a big way if everything all comes together. Prebaiting can get the fish feeding confidently on your chosen bait in your chosen areas while there are no rigs in the water. If possible try to prebait on or just after darkness, this will avoid any unwanted attention from the birdlife residing on your water.

If you can it helps to find out as much as possible about captures during the autumn from previous years and the kind of spots they are getting caught from. If you can’t do this then I’d suggest targeting the deeper silty areas as this is where the majority of the carp’s natural food can be found in abundance. Carp are a creature of habit so it can become very difficult to get them to feed in areas they wouldn’t usually visit, so the areas you target must be visited by the carp on a regular basis or you could very well be making the challenge even harder for yourself.

Observation is the key to finding the feeding areas that carp are visiting, first and last light are the best time to watch for feeding carp. Whether that be bubbling, crashing or clouding of certain areas of the lake. If these areas are located you are half way to banking carp in their autumn colours.

If you bare in mind the factors I’ve discussed when planning your autumn campaign then you could well be in for a good one.

Tight Lines

Dave  

Im a big fan of spreading boilies over a larger area to encourage carp to keep moving, especially as the temperature is beginning to drop. Its helps your rigs work more effectively as the carp aren’t stopping to feed, they are picking up the boilies on the move. It also leaves less chance of the fish sussing your baited area. Tightly baited spots do produce fish and I will also use them in given situations but I believe that a spread of bait is far less obvious as the carp only come across the odd boilie over your area. It can also help produce takes faster as the carp are more likely to pick up your bait if they come across it.

This is a nice clean mirror carp caught over a spread of 20mm Baitcraft T1 Freezer Boilies on a recent overnighter where I put all three rods in the same area and spread 150 baits over the three of them. The rig I used a blowback combi rig tied with 15lb  Korda IQ Fluorocarbon   and 2” of stripped Sufix Stiff Silt  to a size 6 Korda Wide Gape Hook .

Give it a go.

Tight lines

Dave

We now have the new Nash Slaphead Bite Indicators/Bobbins in stock. There are four different size heads in the range, with a fifth on the way, so there should be one to suit most carp anglers. The Nash Slapheads have an intergrated, self tensioning line gate with a smooth round head ensuring snag free operation and an end to line clip tangles. They are manufactured in a very carpy PTFE and look the buisness. The bobbins, chains, brackets etc. are all sold separately so you can make up a system to suit your fishing. For more information or to purchase please visit the main site via the above link

Best Fishes,

John

One of our customers sent us this very fishy story…….Read on

” A guy that lives at Lake Conroe (50 miles north of Houston, Texas) saw a ball in the lake that was bouncing around rather strangely and went to investigate. It turned out to be a flat head catfish that had apparently tried to swallow a basketball, which consequently became stuck in it’s mouth!!!

The catfish was totally exhausted from trying to dive, which it was unable to do because the ball would always bring it back up to the surface. The guy in question tried repeatedly to dislodge the ball, but was unsuccessful. He eventually got his wife to cut the ball in order to deflate it. The ball was now easily removed and the catfish was released to the safety of the inky depth’s.

Unbelievable ? check the photo’s below

Best Fishes,

John

Carp care should be high on all carp anglers priority list. With that in mind we have two new ultra protection unhooking mats. First up we have the Nash Carp Cradle, which in reality is not a mat as the padded mat is held off the ground by an easily assembled metal cradle. If you look at the photo’s below you will get an idea of how it works. I used a similar product years ago when fishing Orchid Lakes and they really work well. The Nash Carp Cradle is definitely up there for ultimate carp care. For more information or to purchase follow the above link to the main site.

Another cracking more traditional unhooking mat is the Wychwood Epic Safeguard Unhooking Mat. This has a sculptured 90mm foam inner and a decent padded kneeling mat. The Epic Mat has a full length fish cover to stop the fishing getting out of the mat should you need to step away to get a camera etc. For convience the Epic folds in half and is stored in its own dedicated carry bag. The Wychwood Epic Safeguard Unhooking Mat is also up there in the carp protection stakes. For more information or to purchase follow the above link to the main site.

                                                                                        Nash Carp Cradle

                                                                                 Nash Carp Cradle

                                                                          Wychwood Epic Safeguard Unhooking Mat

Best Fishes,

John

Customer Sean Bown and his friends had a fantastic haul of French carp recently from The Sanctuary. Sean reports

 “Hi John,
A top time was had by all at the Sanctuary in France with 54 fish being banked between the four of us, with 5 40’s and some 20+ 30’s, awesome!!!!
I accounted for 14 of the haul with one 40 and nine 30’s three mid 20’s and one at 12.”

Baitcrafts T1 Freezer Boilies  purchased from us in both 16 and 20mm accounted for all of Sean’s fish. His rigs were constructed wth size 5 ESP Big T hooks tied to either Korda Hybrid Soft Coated Braid  or  Korda Supernatural  hooklinks. Nice one Sean, really good looking fish. Photos’ are pukka too.

                                                                                   38lb 8oz Common Carp

                                                                                   41lb 8oz Mirror Carp

Best Fishes,

John

Stick fishing is a very advantageous method of fishing as it helps illiminate tangles, can be cast long distances and leaves very little in the way of food items around the hookbait but maximises attraction. Once mastered stick fishing could help you put more carp on the bank.

All that is required to make a good dynamite stick is some Korda Funnel Web Pva, a compressor, some groundbait which in this case is Dynamite Swim Stim Amino Black and a PVA Friendly liquid or oil. Make sure you use a winterised oil for your winter sticks, these won’t congeal and have an adverse affect on the melt time of your PVA.

TFG Gunk Liquids or Winterised fish oils are ideal for stick mixes during the colder months as well as the colder ones.

Step 1.

Firstly pour your chosen groundbait into a container, I use an old pop-up pot which means I can store my mix away to avoid it drying out.

Step 2.

If preferred you can now crumble in a few boilies of your choice to customise your mix. A Korda Krusha can be used to get the finest of boilie dust. If done using your hands Id suggest gently agitating the tub, this will bring the larger items to the top of the mix which you can now crumbled further.

Step 3.

Add your chosen liquid or oil bit by bit making sure to thoroughly mix it in as you go so not to add too much, you want a slightly damp but firm mixture. It is important to get the consistency of the mix correct so it compresses properly. Now leave the mix to absorb the liquid for atleast 20 mins before making your sticks or adding more liquid or groundbait if necessary.

Step 4.

Once mixed thoroughly scoop the desired amount of the stick mix into your funnel web PVA system.

Step 5.

Now for the important part, using the compressor stick from your PVA funnel web system while holding your thumb over the end of the system compress the mix as hard as you possibly can, the firmer the better.

Step 6.

While holding the PVA tight push the compressed mix out of the end.

Step 7.

Now trying not to break up the mix in the bag tie it off as tightly as possible.

Step 8.

Tie another knot in your mesh and cut the pva between them.

Step 9.

Trim the ends of the knots down carefully and your bag is now ready to thread up your hooklink.

Dynamite sticks are ideal for winter fishing where you want as little food items as possible around the hookbait but maximum attraction.  They are alsp effective during the warmer months. Adding winterised fish oils during the winter can maximise the pulling power they have during the colder months. Another little edge, if you don’t want to use fish oils, is to use Mainline Hemp Oil  as this naturally does not congeal in cold water conditions.

If you’d much rather buy a ready made stick mix that doesn’t require any preparation then Mainline’s Pro-Active Stick&Bag Mix-Crushed Tiger Nut or Dynamite Bait’s Monster Tiger Nut Stick Mix and The Source Stick Mix are ideal.

Give them a go.

Dave

Martin Deathridge had a nice clean mirror carp from Bluebell Lakes Swan lake last week. Weighing 29lb 12oz Martins mirror was tempted from the edge of a weed bed at 70yrds range. Martin was using 18mm  Mainline Cell Freezer Boilies  scattered over a wide area. His hookbait was a snowman with a Cell bottom bait balanced out with a 10mm  Mainline Hi Visual Pineapple Pop Up. The rig Martin used was tied with  Nash Missing Link  in 25lb tied to a size 5  ESP Curve Shanx  hook. Nice one.

Best Fishes

John

Here’s a little Carp Catchers tip to help pin that mainline down on the lakebed. The Korda Sinkers  were developed to keep rigs pinned down, but try spacing out 3 or 4 of the large size along your maniline at the rig end to really sink your mainline. I’ve got them on my set up and they really work well sinking your mainline straight away, even quite heavy braided mainlines. For more information or to purchase please follow the above link.

Best Fishes,

John

Customer Tony had a nice result from Wold Lake recently. Using  Mainline Hi Visual  Pineapple pop ups Tony had two nice mirror carp of 17lb and 24lb. Tonys’ rig consisted of  Korda IQ Xtra Soft  tied to a size 8  Korda Kurv Shank  hook. Well done Tony!!

Best Fishes,

John