Carp Catchers Blog

Oliver just keeps catching here’s a nice 10lb pike he had recently. The venue was the local canal and the bait was an eel section from our deadbait department.

Well done Oliver.

Best fishes,

John

One of the problems with using leadcore is the size of the knot used to attach it to the mainline. In a previous blog I showed you how to tie a proper needle knot, which is an extremely small and strong knot. In this blog I am going to show you a very good alternative devised by Keith Moors. Keith used to write for the mags in this country before he bought a carp fishery in France and moved there. Anyway on with the demo.

These are the components used to tie the knot.

I’ve used the ESP Bulk Spool Leadcore  in sandy gravel as I find it really easy to work with. I’ve used the Korda Fine Baiting Needle because it has a really wide body which helps to stretch out the leadcore sheath making easier to thread things through.

Step 1

Pull out about 2 inches of the lead

Step 2

Trim off the lead

Step 3

Singe the end of the leadcore sheath with a lighter to stop the sheath fraying.

Step 4

Loop the end of your mainline

Step 5

Trap the loop in the needle and close the latch of the needle

Step 6

Pull the looped mainline through the leadcore sheath, it should look like this

Step 7

Thread the end of the leadcore down through the loop

Step 8

Pass the leadcore over the bottom part of the loop

Step 9

Thread the leadcore over and under the top part of the loop

Step 10

Thread the leadcore over and under the top part of the loop again

Step 11

Gentley tease down the knot, then pull down tight

Step 12

Pull back the leadcore sheath to expose the tag end

Step 12a

Snip off the tag end

Step 14

Let the sheath go and you have your finished leadcore leader knot. Small, strong and unobtrusive!

Best fishes

John

The best pike of the season by a Carp Catchers customer so far was reported to us recently by Tom Cox. Toms’ monster pike weighed 25lb 4oz and was caught on a legered roach from our deadbaits section. Tom has been tying his own traces using Drennan Barbed Carbon Trebles  , Drennan Slim Crimps and Drennan 7 Strand Pike Wire. Well done Tom that is one big, toothy pike.

Best fishes,

John

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.

Customer Eamonn had a really nice scaly mirror recently. The fully scaled mirror carp weighed 19.5lb and was caught from an open water spot using Mainline Cell Freezer Boilies  in 18mm. Eamonns’ rig was tied using a size 4 Korda Wide Gape Hook  and Drennan Carp Silk . Nice one Eamonn!

Best fishes,

John

I read an interesting piece of research on hook sizes in carp fishing recently. The study looked at the relationship between hook size, mouth damage and catch rates when carp fishing. The ultimate purpose of the study was to try to limit mouth damage to carp in commercial carp fisheries. The results of the study showed that smaller hooks caused less damage and caught more fish than big hooks. However I believe the research was flawed as the hook sizes tested were a size 1 against a size 6. There are very few carp anglers using size 1 hooks, in fact I cannot think of any make of carp hook that comes in a size 1. To be useful in a modern day carp fishery the study needs to be repeated using more representative hooks sizes. I suggest that testing 4s, 8s and 12s would be more realistic. The bait used (sweetcorn) could have also have influenced the results as a big hook with a small bait would have hardly been a stealthy presentation to the carp.

Best fishes,

John

Oliver has been putting in a lot of time and effort into his pike fishing over the winter and it has paid off. Below is a nice clean pike of 11lb caught from the local canal, a decent size fish from a canal. Oliver caught his pike on a roach from our deadbait section. Nice one Oliver!

Best fishes,

John

Customer Phil Palmer upped his personal best recently with this stunning 30lb common. The common was Phils first fish of the year and caught on his first session at a new lake. Phil was fishing behind a gravel bar and his rig was tied with Sufix Sheath Skin  in 15lb to a Fox hook. A man with impeccable taste Phil tempted his new pb while wearing one of our olive hoodys. Well done Phil!

Best fishes,

John

Just a final reminder to anyone intending to fish this year that last years rod licence has now expired. Please make sure that you obtain a new rod licence for the coming season because as I have mentioned before the penaltys for getting caught without one can be severe. If you intend to fish with three or more rods you will need two licences. You can obtain your rod licence at the post office or online. Remember to keep the number that they give you safe (see previous blog on rod licence system changes).

Best fishes,

John

A quick review of some new products now. First up we have the new Shimano Alivio CX Specimen Carp Rods  if you are in market for a budget priced carp rod give these a look . The Alivio CXs have a nice understated matt black finish, quality Hardlite rings, DPS reel seats built on XT30 blanks. They are reasonably priced too, so check them out. On the bait front the new Nash Amber Attract Strawberry   Boilies look set to be an absolute winner. Previously only available to Nash consultants and fieldtesters these awesome carp catchers are now available to the rest of us. You only have to look at Jim Shelleys’ outstanding results over the atrocious winter we have just had to know how good these bad boys are. The Amber Strawberry range is bright white in colour so for an alternative hookbait when single bait fishing ,why not give the Amber Strawberry Pop Ups  a go. Thats it for now, more reviews soon.

Best fishes,

John