Carp Catchers Blog

Now the weather is starting to warm up a bit and most of you will be looking to get out and start fishing your waters I’m sure some of you will have considered a baiting campaign of some sort. Whether your plan be to continuously bait areas or just to bait a swim prior to sessions there will be a few points that you have to consider.

Bait can sometimes determine the success you have when pre baiting. You want to provide the fish with a food source that can be recognised by them as one that fulfils their nutritional requirements providing them with what they need, when they need it. Now some anglers will choose to use solely boilies for prebaiting where as others will take the pellet/particle route. There is no right or wrong choice but the type of water your fishing needs to be taken into consideration. If you are fishing a water which mostly contain carp then particles and pellets can be a very effective method along with boilies. But if you are fishing a water which holds a large head of other species such as Bream, Tench and Roach etc. then you may find that using particles and pellets will not work very well unless used in larger quantities.

Boilies are an ideal food source for Carp as they are generally highly nutritional and in most cases contain a large quantity of proteins, fats, amino acids, vitamins and minerals. These are all highly sort after by carp in their diet. Choosing the right boilie can be a tricky task with the sheer number of bait companies and choices of flavours available to us as carp anglers. I would suggest choosing a bait that ticks all the boxes in terms of nutrition and digestion. It is no good having a bait that holds all the nutritional factors but isn’t completely digestable to the fish. If they can’t unlock the nutritional factors in the bait then it is no good for them. I would suggest using a freezer bait for a long term baiting campaign but that isn’t to say that good results can’t be had on shelf life baits. Confidence in your chosen bait is paramount. Using a bait you’re are confident in can sometimes be the difference between catching and not. If you not confident you won’t fish as effectively. Mixing up the size of boilies can also help contribute to the success of a baiting campaign as this can confuse the carp when it comes to taking your hookbait. Although the sizes you are able to use can depend on the range your baiting at as smaller boilies won’t reach the spots with a catapult or stick if you’re baiting at a distance. There are a range of good boilies available, Baitcraft T1, Mainline Cell, Dynamite Baits Banana Nut Crunch and Richworth Kg1 to name a few. I would suggest choosing your preferred bait and sticking to it, you won’t be as successful chopping and changing between baits if you plan to establish it as a good food source on your water.

Pellets and particles can be a very effective method of prebaiting. The quantity of smaller food items in the swim means that the bait remains on the lake bed for longer keeping to fish grubbing around and revisiting the area. Although smaller course fish on a water can prove to be a problem when baiting with pellets and particles, purely because they are able to eat the small food items. A lot of people like to use pellets and/or particles to prepare and clear spots of weed and debris as not only will the fish help clean the spot but diving birds will help as they try to pick up food items. A pellet, particle and boilie is a firm favourite.

In the following sections I will cover where to prebait, quantities to bait with and how to go about it. In the meantime there some older Carp Catchers Blogs on the same subject that may be of interest to you go to New Season Baiting Campaign  and Good Quality Baits .

Tight Lines

Dave

Knowing how busy it was likely to be over the bank holiday weekend I planned to fish Elsons from Wednesday to Friday of the previous week. Upon arrival at the lake it didn’t appear to be too busy but I decided to slip in behind someone who was just leaving, opting for a swim that Ive fished before that would give me control over a lot of water. I placed one rod out to a far margin, another to a clear area in the weed and the third was slipped a short way down the margin on a clear area that I could clearly observe from the bank. After a very uneventful 24 hours with little to show for my efforts, I decided I was going to up the bait a bit and put around 100 baits over the far margin rod. For the next night I recieved no indication of any fish feeding or moving around for that matter, but at around 11 o’clock the last morning I recieved a single bleep on the far margin followed shortly by another two then a very stuttery take which left me a tad confused as when I lifted the rod the culprit hit the surface between the snags. To begin with I thought it was a coot but then as it rolled I saw the distinct sight of a carps flanks, it had just come to the surface as the lead had discharged on the take. After a short fight I netted the smallest fish landed from Elsons this year, at 13lb 6oz it wasn’t massive but it was definitely a stunning little mirror that could one day be a gorgeous looking 30 or even 40lb’er. 

The going bait was a single 16mm Baitcraft T1 fished on a simple ESP Soft Ghost fluorocarbon hooklink, lead clip setup and 3oz distance lead with around 100 free offerings baited tightly to the gap in the trees.

Congratulations to Andre Kormoniki from London on landing the world record carp. Andre used a  Greys Platinum 12ft 6” 3lb Carp Rod to land the 91lb, YES 91lb monster from Luke Moffats Le Graviers water in France last week. The leviathan is known as the scarred fish or the fish of two halves as it has a scar running round its body. The scar was caused by a rope which was tied around the fishes body to retain it, this was done many years ago before people were less concerned about carp care. The bait Andre used was the awesome Baitcraft T1 a bait with a track record for the bigger specimens. Andre used a blowback rig tied with a Kryston Super Mantis hooklink and a Korda Longshank X Hook to catch the carp of a lifetime. Not content on catching the world record Andre went on to catch ten more fish including carp of 63lb, 56lb, two at 50lb, 40lb, 37lb, 33lb, 32lb, 29lb and 27lb. Well done again Andre, Well done also to Luke Moffet for nurturing such a special water and such a colossal fish.

Best fishes,

John