Carp Catchers Blog

The Guru Pellet Cones  are an innovative alternative to PVA bags that enables an angler to present a small pile of feed around the hookbait. The tangle free presentation that the pellets cones provide is ideal for use with small soft pellets or groundbait.

The pellets I used in this demonstration were Dynamite Baits Marine Halibut Pellets.

If your using groundbait or softened pellets start from step 4. If your using harder pellets and are scolding them follow steps 1-3 first.

Step 1.

Pour the pellets into the bottom of a bait container.

Step 2.

Now pour boiling water over the pellets until they are all just covered over with the water and leave for 20-30 mins.

Step 3.

After 20-30 mins the pellets should still resemble their original shape but they should be soft to touch and lighter in colour.

Step 4.

Now take the pellet cone and hold it from the thin end.

Step 5.

Gently scoop some pellets into the cone, compressing them in as you go.

Step 6.

Once the cone is full compress it firmly with finger and thumb.

Step 7.

Now pass the fine baiting needle through the pellet cone, going in from the wider end and out the thinner end. Your now ready to pull your baited rig through the pellets, once you’ve pulled your rig through remove the cone and its ready to cast out.

The compressed pellets will look like so when attached to your rig.

Once cast out the pellets will hold together until they reach the bottom.

Within 30 seconds they will have broken down leaving a small neat pile of bait around your hookbait…..

Give them a go.

Tight Lines

Dave

The  MCF Dumper Lead Clip  is a very clever and innovative lead clip that is guaranteed to drop the lead in the event of a fish snagging or weeding you up. The tapered sleeves incorporated in this lead clip system help to minimise tangles. This Carp Catchers Blog will show you step by step how to set it up.

These can be set-up with any form of leader or tubing but for the purpose of this demonstration I used a ready spliced leadcore leader.

Step 1.

Using a bait needle thread the small rubber sleeve onto your leader or tubing.

Step 2.

Now you need to pass your spliced leader loop through the metal loop on the lead clip. Or tie on your mainline with your rig tubing already threaded on (Miss steps 3 and 4).

Step 3.

Then pass the lead clip through the loop in the end of your leader.

Step 4.

Pull the leader to secure the loop around the metal loop.

Step 5.

Push the small rubber sleeve over the metal loop.

Step 6.

Now push a baiting needle through the longer sleeve from next to the metal hook out of the tapered end and latch the baiting needle onto your choosen rig.

Step 7.

Once you’ve pulled your hooklink through loop it over the metal hook.

Step 8.

To finish the setup pull the hooklink tight and clip on a lead.

The lead should not eject on a normal force cast, however if a distance cast is required I would suggest securing the lead in place with PVA tape.

If you are using rig tubing then adapt the instructions accordingly.

Tight Lines

Dave

Its getting to that time of year again when maggots are becoming more widely used due to them being such an effective winter bait. Have a go at tying this rig and see how you get on.

The components used in this demonstration were the Korda IQ2 Xtra Soft Fluorocarbon , Korda Wide Gape  hook size 8 and  Korda Micro Rig Swivel.

Step 1.

After cutting your required length of fluorocarbon tie on a Korda Wide Gape using a knotless knot making sure to whip round the shank twice on the way back down to the eye. 

Step 2.

Now thread a micro rig swivel onto the tag end above the hook.

Step 3.

Then pass the tag end through the back of the eye to the front and trim the tag end down to about 3-4mm. This will have created a D shape on the back of the shank for the swivel to move on.

Step 4.

Holding the hooklength out of the way slowly blob the tag end with a lighter to secure it in place. Make sure not to burn the hooklink as this will damage the fluorocarbon and increase the chance of it breaking. Also take care not to burn yourself.

Step 5.

To finish the rig tie a figure of eight knot in the other end setting the desired length of rig you require and trim the tag end.

The finished rig should look like this.

This rig works best with a large bunch of maggots and a couple of imitation pop-up maggots to help counter the weight of the hook. This rig isn’t strictly a maggot rig and can be used with other baits as well. 

The knots used in this demonstration can be found in previous blogs by using the search bar on the top right hand side of the page.

Give it a go.

Tight Lines

Dave

Another single hookbait which could be utilised well in the winter is artificial baits, preferably the flavoured or high-viz variety as they need some attraction to them. The Enterprise Artificial Boilies 10mm , the Niteglow Eternal Boilies and the Solar Everlasting Hookbaits are all top artificial baits that will work well as single hookbaits. Don’t discount artificial sweetcorn as a single winter bait either the ever popular Enterprise range or the new Cotswold Bait Creations Soft Floating Corn. Imitation baits are resistant to nuisance fish, won’t lose bouyancy, go soft or lose attraction.

Give them a go.

Dave

Glugging or dipping single hookbaits can improve their pulling power and increase the chances of a run when no free offerings are available. Most pop-ups have a matching dip/liquid to go with them which can be used to soak hookbaits in for increased attraction. Although that doesn’t mean to say that hookbaits have to be soaked in matching dips, you could always try something different and mix hookbaits with different liquids. Try dipping or glugging your singles and see how your results improve. Two of the more popular dips are the Richworth Impact Boilie Dips  and the Mainline Hookbait Enhancement System

Glugging or dipping baits can be messy business, there are items out there such as the Sixth Sense Stainless Steel Dipping Tool which makes the job far less messy.

Tight lines

Dave

Single hookbaits are a good approach all year round although they come into their own during the winter when bites definately slow. Single hookbaits are many anglers favourite approach during the colder months because of their effectiveness at picking off fish in their winter mode which otherwise probably would not have been caught if a bed of bait was used.

There are a wide range of baits out there which work particularly well as single hookbaits. I prefer to use glugged pop-ups for singles but most high attraction baits are suitable. Some anglers prefer high viz baits where others prefer high attraction food baits. My favourites are white pop-ups such as the Baitcraft Snowball, yellow pineapple pop-ups such as Mainline Hi-Visual Pineapple Juice and food bait pop-ups such as Dynamite Baits The Source. This gives me a good enough range to try.

My tips would be to make note of any fish you see show during the winter months this year and in previous years if you know the water well and use these areas as starting points each session. Bear in mind on some waters the fish could well be at range so use simple pop-up rigs that are less likely to tangle and don’t over complicate things too much. And remember if you see fish show it might be worth a cast at them as fish are less likely to move much during the winter so the closer you can get a bait to the fish the better chance of a run.

Tight Lines

Dave

A method that works well over a bed of scattered boilies is mesh PVA bags of boilies. Using something like  Korda Boilie Funnel Web , a tight mesh bag can be created that practically explodes in the water spreading your hookbait and freebies a few inches apart making the trap less obvious to wary carp. The method is to tie a mesh bag with three boilies in a triangular shape as tightly as possible to create the tension in the PVA, which is needed to throw the baits apart upon melting.  When in the water PVA tightens and pulls the boilies even tighter together before the bags burst and catapulting the baits in seperate directions. The triangles are better than the normal linear mesh bag over choddy bottoms as the hook sits in the middle keeping it clear of any chod. However they obviously will not cast as well.

To tie these PVA bags you need some Korda Boilie Funnel Web PVA, scissors and some boilies, these are air dryed Mainline Activ-8 .

Step 1.

Place three boilies in the boilie funnel web tube and allow them to drop out of the bottom into the PVA mesh. If you are using baits over 16mm then I’d suggest using the largerKorda funnel web size as you won’t be able to create the right shape with the larger baits in the boilie funnel web, for baits 16mm and under the boilie funnel web is best.

Step 2.

Now push the baits into a triangular shape and tighten the PVA holding the baits as close together as possible to create a bait triangle.

Step 3.

Holding the boilies in position tie off the bag, again trying to hold the baits as tight as possible. The tighter the bag the better presentation you will achieve.

Once you have trimmed the tag ends of the knots tied in the bag you should have a mesh bag that looks like this. (See Picture Below).

The mesh bag can be hooked on or alternatively you can thread the hooklink through the middle of the baits and pull you hook through to sit between the three baits, this can actually help the slow the rig down as it travels through the water so might be worth a go fishing over softer lakebeds and as I said earlier keep the hook clear of any chod.

Here is a couple of pictures demonstrating the presentation this bag will give your freebies.

The bag still intact.

15-20 seconds after contact with the water.

Give it a go

Tight lines

Dave

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

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