Carp Catchers Blog

We now have the new Dynamite Baits Robin Red and Banana Nut Crunch Ranges in stock. The Dynamite Baits Robin Red Hookbait Dip,  Liquid and Fluro Pop Ups are all made with the original Haiths’ Robin Red. Haiths’ Robin Red is arguably one of the finest and most popular carp catching additives ever and Dynamite Baits have now made it available in this user friendly range. For more information or to purchase please click on the above link.

The new Dynamite Baits Banana Nut Crunch Boilies ,  Hookbait Dip and Pop Ups were developed by Terry Hearn and feature a crunchy banana and chopped nut base with a creamy banana flavoured attractant. The base maximises the leakage of the natural sugars and attractants, making the Banana Nut Crunch range a perfect alternative to fishmeals. For more information or to purchase please click on the above links.

                          Dynamite Baits Robin Red Range

                         Dynamite Baits Banana Nut Crunch Range

Best Fishes,

John

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

In the previous Carp Catchers Blog we talked about dips and glugs but we didn’t make clear what the difference between them is. This Blog will correct that.

Boilie Dips

Boilie dips are normally quite viscose and clear. They have a powerful flavour dissolved in a neutral carrier. Your hookbaits can be left to soak in them indefinitely and this will have an added effect/benefit of hardening them. Boilie Dips can be used with bottom baits, but they are ideally suited to pop ups. A couple of good examples are the  Richworth Impact Boilie Dips and Mainline Hookbait Enhancement System.

Glugs

Glugs are normally quite thick and based on a liquid food source. Very often they will have the same liquid attractors and nutrients as the boilies they represent. Hookbaits can be left in them indefinitely and though both bottom and pop ups can be glugged longer soaking is more suited to bottom baits. The reason for this that glugs or food dips as they are sometimes known are quite heavy and soak right into the hookbaits and this can affect the buoyancy of pop ups. Glugging into a food dip before casting is the more usual way to get an extra boost is the more usual way to use glugs with pop ups. A couple of good examples would be Nash Baits Top Rod Food Dips and Fresh Fish Mussel And Oyster Liquid .

Best Fishes,

John

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

For you carp anglers who fish through the winter we have the new Baitcraft Snowball  and Super Tutti Freezer Boilies in stock. These baits are dedicated winter baits, that will work year round. We also have the Attractor Pellets  and Pop Ups  to match. For more information click on the above links to go to the main site. There will be a lot of new product information in coming Carp Catchers Blogs as we have loads of new stuff.

Best fishes,

John

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  

We now have two new products from ESP and Drennan in stock. The NEW ESP Two Tone Striptease Hooklink  material is marginally thinner in diameter and more rigid than the original stripteaze. It is a tightly woven Dyneema core with a translucent polymer coating and has a specific gravity of 1.25 meaning it will lay flat on the lake bed without the need for additional weight. It comes on 20m spools of 15lb, 20lb and 25lb although ESP claim it obtained average higher breaking weights than stated with a carefully tied 5 turn Grinner knot.

The second product to arrive in the shop recently are the NEW  Drennan Buoyant Maggots . These are available in a mixture of shapes and sizes in Natural, Fluorescent or Bloodworm red colours. The range of size means they can have a diverse range of uses from popped up baits to critically balanced bottom baits. They can also be fishing in conjunction with other artificial or real baits as a bait cocktail. The maggots are pineapple flavour and have been dusted with food grade starch powder, although this flavour can be over-ridden with more concentrated flavours. These are a perfect little addition to your winter tactics. For more information or to purchase follow the above links.

Tight Lines

Dave

During the colder months of the year many anglers tend to use different baits to their preferred summer baits. At this time of year a lot of anglers move over from their summer fishmeal based baits and start using fruity baits such as Mainline Hi Visual Pop Ups or Richworth Pineapple Hawaiian Freezer Boilies  . These baits which are brightly coloured and have highly attractive fruity smells are more likely to grab the attention and interest of the carp even if they are not particularly interested in feeding. That isn’t to say that carp don’t get their heads down and feed during the colder periods, it is just that the feeding periods tend to be shorter. High food value fishmeal baits such as Dynamite Baits Source Boilies still work well during winter too, with its highly attractive smell and high nutritional value being prized by the carp during the winter months.

It is also a good idea to change your pellet choice if you’re intending on using them in a larger quantity than just for attraction in pva bags as the high oil pellets which the majority of anglers use during the warmer months are less digestible during the colder months. Although you can still use high oil pellets if you’re only planning on using them in small amounts as pva bag fillers for high attraction.

Groundbait mixes in Dynamite sticks are also a valued bait in the carp anglers armoury with the use of fish oils for added attraction but its a good idea to change from the oils you would use during the summer to a winterized fish oil as the colder water temperatures will cause some fish oils to congeal and your Dynamite sticks won’t breakdown very quickly, it could also hinder the melting time of your pva mesh. You could also try Hemp oil as this is naturally “winterised” so doesn’t congeal in colder temperatures. 

Particles and maggots are another big favourite of many anglers during the winter months and carp seem to love them no matter what time of year it is.

Tight Lines

Dave