Carp Catchers Blog

This is an alternative to the previous Carp Catchers Blog on how to tie The Shot On The Hair Rig. It is tied in exactly the same way except the hair is lengthened by 10mm and the shot is placed halfway along the hair rather than directly next to the bait.

Setting the rig like this means the bait sits up off the lake bed by about 10mm if using a pop up hookbait. It allows the hook to lay flat on the lake bed alway from the bait, making it less obvious to wary carp. This alternate Shot On The Hair Rig  provides good bait separation and ensures the rig is hook heavy, making it more likely to catch in the carps mouth.  Though more effective with pop up hookbaits, a bottom bait can be used and the rig will still be very effective as it is still hook heavy.

Tight Lines

Dave

In this Carp Catchers Blog we have one for the future. Customer Rob O’Brien sent in this photo of this gorgeous scaly mirror carp not a monster but who cares. Also notice how Rob has chosen a suitable background for his catch photo which really enhances the whole thing. Rig details are sketchy but a Korda Choddy  hook and a Korda IQ Hooklink  were involved.

Best Fishes,

John

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

After deciding to change waters for the coming winter and due to busy banks I’ve had a little bit of a confidence boost. On my first weekend session from late friday evening to early monday morning I had a bit of a result in the shape of 6 mirror and common carp to 21lb15oz. After turning up in the dark at 8.30 friday evening I opted for the north bank as I had been told it was free of any other anglers. After watching the water for nearly 2 hours I decided to fish up the dam end in the the deeper water or what was left of it anyway as this is where I’d seen the carp showing the most . The reservoir serves the purpose of topping up the Grand Union canal so the water levels can get quite low at times.

During my session I banked 6 carp to 21lb 15oz from 3 different spots using  Baitcraft T1  boilies over a spread of bait which included a spod mix of hemp, Solar Pure Bait BYT and crushed T1s over one of my rods. Most of the bites came during the hours of darkness which meant I had to have all my spots marked up to get them back on the spots in the darkness.

The rigs I used consisted of 15lb Korda IQ2 tied to 2 inches of stripped Sufix Stiff Silt with a size 6 Korda Wide Gape Hook, a small piece of shrink tubing over the eye and tied blowback style.

Tight Lines

Dave

(I should have turned my head torch off for the night time shots, but had forgotten while sorting the self takes. Luckily they didn’t turn out too bad.)

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

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

These were recommended by a customer called Bob. The Drennan Grippa Stops  really do grip even low breaking strain line. So if you want a line stop that really grips the line give the Drennan Grippa Stops a try, I recommend them highly. For more information or to purchase please follow the above link.

Best Fishes,

John

Here’s a session report from little David who’s featured on the Carp Catchers Blog before.

“A couple of weeks ago I decided to give my rods a dabble at Welham lake as I was hoping to fish there this winter. After arriving I decided to fish peg 11 and started to spread 100 free offerings at 50yds range with Dynamite Baits  The Source Shelf Life Boilies after setting my traps over a shallow silt bed, all I had to do was sit back and wait for my alarm to scream into life. Whilst waiting for this “screaming take” I saw a gorgeous looking ghost carp patrolling round one of the lily pads to my right with a few hefty lookin mates too,I didnt have to think twice about moving over to peg 8 with the “carpy” looking lilys to my left this time finding much smoother patch with the marker doing the same again using my ever trusty Gardner Scorpion Stik  throwing out 100 free offerings,but this time a lot more spread out to get the carp moving more hopefully resulting in a take. A few hours past and I was starting to lose hope when suddenly that screaming take finally came. The minute I picked up the rod and started doing battle I could tell it was a big fish possibly one of the gorgeous looking mirrors I’d seen. After ten minutes the fish rose and I was amazed to see a golden carp on the surface heading towards my net, I lifted my rod ready to net my prize when Snap! then silence and after staring at my rod for a second I couldnt believe it the Big ,un had come off! After recasting my rod Ian and big David (Im little Dave!) came down and fished the swin next to mine,I told them about this beautiful ghostie on the end of my line. After having a talk with Ian and big David I decided to have a rig change and swapped to a size 10  Gardner Incizor  hook, hoping that the bigger hook would stick better in the fishes mouth an hour passed and it was time to go home,losing that fish was extremly frustrating but I was very happy to see that my tactics are working and I hope to reach my target by catching the big ghostie by next summer! I would like to say thank you very much to Ian and Big David they gave me some great advice both a couple of great fellas! I will try to keep you informed of my quest for the biggie im sure he’ll be in my net soon! ”

We’ll keep track of little Davids quest over the coming months.

Best Fishes,

John

Tying a zig rig is simple, all you need is a good hooklink material like the Ultima Power Zig, a strong hook and a small section of silicone tubing.

The rig components used in this demonstration were Ultima Power Zig hooklink, ESP Big T Carp Hook and ESP Silicone Tube .

Step 1.

Cut the Ultima Power Zig to your desired length.

Step 2.

Now tie a small overhand loop in one end for your hair stop and thread on your desired choice of pop-up or foam followed by a bait stop.

Step 3.

Then cut a small section (2-3mm) of silicone tubing and thread it onto your zig hooklink.

Step 4.

Now thread the point of the hook through the silicone tubing heading towards the bait and set the hair length at about 2-3mm with the tubing sitting at the top of the shank.

Step 5.

Now tie a knotless knot and don’t forget to whip the hooklink back round the knot once on the way towards the eye to prevent it from slipping.

Step 6.

To finish the zig rig off tie a figure of eight knot at the other end.

The zig rig is now finished and ready to use.

If you are not sure about any of the knots use the Carp Catchers Blog search bar to navigate to the relevant knot

Tight lines

Dave

Have you noticed how many 30lb plus common carp are being reported to the Carp Catchers Blog? Anyhow customer Martin Deathridge fished an overnight session on Bluebell Lakes Swan lake recently and was rewarded with the 32lb 4oz common shown below. Using a new bait on test, Martin fished over light weed at 60 yards range. The rig Martin used consisted of a 12” Korda Supernatural Sinking Braid   hooklink tied to a size 6 ESP Stiff Rigger  hook. Martins hookbait was a snowman with a 10mm Hi-Viz Mainline Pop-Ups  topper. Nice result for an overnighter Martin.

Best Fishes,

John