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Carp Fishing - Gazumped By Poor Planning
2008-04-13 01:29:00
When you pick up a carp magazine and read it, you only ever get to see the success story, you seldom get to read about the disasters a carp angler might have to suffer along the way. Writing a weekly blog about carp fishing you have to give a sort of fly on the wall view of things. It’s nice to be consistent and catch carp every week but the truth of the matter is it’s nearly impossible to find that level of consistency, specially if you’re a short session carper like myself, and you are trying to target big north west carp rather than small to medium sized fish. I have my fair share of blanks and disasters just like every other angler. I strive to catch carp every week if I can but sometimes, despite my best efforts, it just doesn’t happen. I believe we can learn something from every carp session we fish, its just a case of either being observant and watching what’s going on around you or sitting down afterwards and going through the events of what’s just happened. This...
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Carp Fishing - Fishery Homework and Lake Mapping
2008-04-06 01:22:00
Carp Fishing - Doing Your Venue Homework Very few carp anglers seem to do their own homework these days. Just recently there have been a few debates about some north west carp anglers wanting everything handed to them on a plate. I’ve commented before on how easy it is to just log onto a carp fishing forum and ask what water, what bait and where do I cast?. How any carp angler can pat himself on the back and be pleased at catching a fish when he owes most of it to somebody else’s hard work is beyond me. It does seem that carp fishing is full of the kind of people who’s attitude is ‘I want it, I want it now and I don’t care how I get it’. Carp forums in particular seem to attract these type of anglers in numbers.Working things out for yourself and catching carp on your own terms is so much more rewarding than stooping to begging for information on a carp forum. Imagine the scenario, you’ve just joined a carp water, you know its got some big carp in and catching them is y...
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Carp Fishing - Spring Carping Continued
2008-03-30 01:10:00
Spring Carp Fishing After last weeks 2 day blank I was in no hurry to return to the Cheshire carp lake, it was bank holiday weekend, everybody was off work and to make matters worse the weather was truly awful. I can’t remember the last time we had snow at Easter!. The weather remained cold until mid-week, as I was off work I could afford to pick my days and when the weather forecasters gave milder conditions with wind and rain from Wednesday onwards, I made the decision to go carp fishing on Wednesday morning for a few nights, if nothing else at least I’d be a bit more comfortable.I was back to the Cheshire carp lake by 9.30am on Wednesday morning, I must have been keen because I’m never normally awake at that time let alone packed and at the lake!. I’d arrived early to try and secure a good swim. It was raining persistently and things didn’t look too good, the best pegs were all occupied and the last of the decent pegs had just been taken by an angler who arrived 5 minute...
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Carp Fishing - Spring Carping Begins
2008-03-23 02:34:00
Before I begin this weeks entry, and for those of you looking here for the first time, I put together a small You Tube compilation of all the carp fishing pictures that are present on the site up until the beginning of march 2008. Feel free to have a look at it and if you see anything that catches your eye, you can browse this blog for the relevant text by using the ‘Blog Archive’ section that’s located on the right hand side towards the top of the page. You can browse previous entries and find information by using the drop down menus for each year and looking through the entries for each month. I’m sure there will be something of interest within these pages, specially if you’re a carp angler.Anglers Diary, a compilation of the carp fishing photographs on this blog so far.Well after an enforced absence from the bank I finished work for two weeks annual leave and finally managed to get out carp fishing. The lake I fished was a tricky Cheshire carp water that has some half d...
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Carp Fishing - Red Letter Days Pt3
2008-03-16 01:12:00
Burton Mere - The Capture of the Fat CommonI first started carp fishing in June 1989 on some local ponds and pits, it wasn’t long before other anglers were telling me to get myself down to Burton Mere if I wanted to catch big carp. Every week I went fishing I kept getting told the same story and within a couple of months of converting from pleasure angler to carp angler I’d paid my first visit to what local anglers thought of as Wirral’s top carp venue.My first session on Burton Mere was a story in itself, suffice to say the place caught my attention and during the rest of the 1989 season and the early 90’s up until 1994 I honed my skills as a carp angler and got myself a solid grounding in the basics of fishing for carp.The syndicate carp lake known as Burton Mere was a lovely water, at the time, it held around 200 doubles with around 8 x 20’s up to 24lb but it was de-stocked for the 1993 season with most of the small fish being removed and around 30 of the biggest carp b...
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Carp Fishing - Red Letter Days Pt2
2008-03-09 01:11:00
A Special Cheshire Carp.My second instalment of red letter days is about a carp fishing trip to a local Cheshire carp water, the date of this fishing session was 3rd May 2005. Early May is always a good time to be out fishing and the first week of this particular month is traditionally a time I head south to one of the Oxfordshire gravel pits at Linear. This year I’d decided to give Linear a miss, the previous May it had been stupidly busy and I’d decided not to visit the lakes again, the prices were getting silly and the shear amount of anglers fishing meant I’d struggle to get on the fish. I’d done my fishing time in Oxfordshire and this year I’d decided to stay nearer to home.One of my clubs had an up and coming water that was beginning to throw out some decent carp, the club has a publicity ban but in recent years it has been relaxed and pictures could be published as long as the water wasn’t named. This particular Cheshire carp water was a fair size at around 15 acr...
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Carp Fishing - Red Letter Days Pt1
2008-03-02 01:42:00
Red letter days are those brilliant days in carp fishing when everything seems to fall into place and you get a good result, sometimes its just one carp, other times it can be a big hit of fish, either way these kind of days don’t come along very often and when they do, you remember them for years to come. My first instalment of red letter days is about my first ever carp fishing session on famous Yorkshire carp water selby 3 lakes.I’d been travelling to linear in April/May time for a few years and fancied a change of venue. At the time, April 2001, selby 3 lakes had not long changed from syndicate to day ticket and after a chat with my mate barney we decided to have a 2 day trip to this famous Yorkshire carp water rather than our usual trip to Oxford.Little did I know just how packed out selby 3 lakes gets, even though we’d booked a place on the lake I wasn’t expecting every single swim to be taken!. On top of it being packed, the two anglers due to leave were pulling off t...
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Carp Fishing - Frustrating Times
2008-02-24 01:23:00
It’s nearing the end of February and I haven’t been fishing since the first week of January. It’s been work, work and more work since the turn of the year. My carp fishing sessions throughout the winter only total 5 hours per week but despite this, I still miss them when I can’t get away for a few hours. At the moment, I know I’ll be fishing again from the middle of March onwards, simply because I’ve got two and a half weeks off work then. I had a lot of holidays left over and being unable to carry them over into the next tax year, I opted to take them all as late as I possibly could. March is a good time to be out, it’s still regarded as being too cold by most fair weather carp anglers yet the carp on most north west lakes will be starting to stir around this time and I thought I’d try and make the most of the fish beginning to switch on after a long winter.No fishing for an active carp angler like myself is frustrating, one thing I’ve kept going over in my mind t...
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Carp Fishing - Keeping One Step Ahead
2008-02-17 01:23:00
The north west carp scene is getting to be a bit of a nightmare these days. Over the years I’ve watched things change and without doubt the biggest influences have been the rise in popularity of both carp fishing and the internet. It’s so easy these days to just log onto a fishing website, post a question, then get an immediate answer. Good north west carp waters are now getting hammered because it’s so easy to get information on where the big carp are in our region and some anglers don’t realise they are actually making their own fishing harder when they give things away so easily.Finding big north west carp doesn’t require any effort or discipline anymore, information is freely available on fishing forums and unfortunately behaviour standards are dropping as competition for swims on our popular carp waters increases. One thing you have to accept about the modern north west carp scene is that sooner or later, another carp angler is going to see you catch a carp and jump i...
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Carp Fishing - Winter Carp Location
2008-02-10 16:42:00
Locating Winter CarpI’ve fished for carp in winter for the last 17 years or so now. Depending on the water I fish, I can sometimes catch more carp in winter than I do in summer. Obviously having access to a well stocked carp lake helps but even on a productive winter carp water, locating the carp is still everything when it comes to catching a fish at this time of year.Looking back at the time I’ve spent carp fishing in winter, I’d have to say the best advice I can give is to throw away the rule book. Yes it’s true the fishing is harder, the carps metabolism does slow down and generally they become less active but when it comes to the most important part, actually finding them, the bottom line is they will be where they will be. I’ve found carp in so many different places in winter, shallow water, deep water, off the bottom, on the back of the wind, in the teeth of an icy wind, they can be just about anywhere but they absolutley have to be found in order to catch consisten...
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Carp Fishing - Winter Carp Diary Pt11
2008-02-03 01:52:00
Winter Carp Diary Pt11Since starting my winter carp diary back in late Novemeber 2007 I’ve always known that the end of the Christmas holidays would also effectively see the end of my winter carp fishing for this particular year. For the last few months my work colleagues have been working late and putting in the hours to get ready for the arrival of a new computer system at work. I study at college in the evenings so the only time I have to help out at work is my weekends and my fishing time.With work and time pressures piling up it was time to hang up the rods and give the winter carping a miss for a few months. Hanging up the rods is hard at any time but when your on top of things and catching some good fish its even harder!. The festive period had been very good to me, a 25lb+ winter common on boxing day, 5 fish to 18lb on new years eve and a new years day twenty were the highlights and I wish I could have carried on fishing through January and February but there was no compet...
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Carp Fishing - Winter Carp Diary Pt10
2008-01-27 01:09:00
Winter Carp Diary Pt10After ending 2007 on a high with 5 carp to 18lb on New Years Eve I was keen to get back to the lake to try and open my account for 2008. The journey to the lake was a bit shorter than usual due to the lack of traffic on the roads, new years day morning was the quietest I've ever known and at one stage I felt I could well have been the only person on the motorway.I arrived at the lake around 10.30am, I was immediately scanning the water for signs of carp as soon as the lake came into view. I spent a few minutes sat in the car park just watching the water before I got out of the car and went for a walk around. On new years eve the carp had done a disappearing act on me during the afternoon so I figured they wouldn't be on my baitied area. I looked there first anyway but my gut feeling about them not being there was right. I found them in the bay round to the left. The fish were stacked up in the same area I'd caught from on Boxing Day and on the saturday betwe...
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Carp Fishing - Winter Carp Diary Pt9
2008-01-20 01:16:00
Winter Carp Diary Pt9New years eve was a mild day, I was at the lake for 11am for my final five hours carp fishing of 2007. After slowly driving down the track to the lake I pulled up in the car park and went for a quick walk around to see if I could locate some carp. I looked in the bay I'd caught a couple of doubles from a few days previous, nothing showed in the bay but I did notice a fish roll back in my usual swim. I didn't see the carp break surface but from the rippling ring it left behind it looked to be pretty much on top of the area I'd been prebaiting throughout this winter.My favourite winter carp swimThat was my starting point sorted out, I unloaded the fishing gear from the car and walked the short distance to my peg. Having put my gear down I had a good look at the swim. Sure enough, there were signs of carp in the area, in fact there seemed to be quite a few fish present and I couldn't get the rods out quick enough. The first rod went into the area I‘d been bai...
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Carp Fishing - Winter Carp Diary Pt8
2008-01-13 12:37:00
Winter Carp Diary Pt8After my 25lb 2oz winter carp on boxing day, I had a few days away from fishing. I did have a couple more sessions pencilled in for both Thursday and Friday but I didn’t bother going on either day, opting instead to take a break and catch up with a few odd jobs around the house.I was back at the lake again on Saturday 29th December. I had a decision to make now, the bay had done me a big fish and I was a little surprised not to catch another as there seemed to be a few fish rolling during the afternoon and I’d had them covered. I stood in my usual peg for 10 minutes just surveying the water, a fish crashed at around 100yds range. Usually thats just about within casting range but there was a big wind pushing down the lake and i’d struggle to make the cast. I went and stood in the bay swim I’d caught my mid-twenty from a few days previous. Sure enough, a fish rolled in the bay only it was a lot closer and well within range. That was enough for me, I abando...
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Carp Fishing - Winter Carp Diary Pt7
2008-01-06 01:06:00
Winter Carp Diary Pt7Fishing for carp in winter can be slow at times. It’s funny how a couple of blank sessions with nothing happening can affect you. It’s so easy to just give the carp fishing a miss for a while and return to it when you’ve had a rest. With the persistent cold weather we’d had recently I’d actually thought about not going fishing on Christmas eve. If it hadn’t been for the fact that my Christmas eve fishing sessions were a bit of a tradition, I’d probably have stayed at home. Similarly, I had second thoughts about going on boxing day too. In the end I managed to drag myself out of bed and after making a flask and some sandwiches I loaded the fishing gear into the car and headed for the lake in the hope that I might catch another winter carp.The temperature had certainly risen quite a bit, not only was it mild, it wasn’t raining either which meant I was in for a comfortable day on the bank if nothing else. On arriving at the lake I unloaded the fishi...
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Carp Fishing - Winter Carp Diary Pt6
2007-12-30 12:06:00
After blanking on Saturday I was in two minds about going fishing on Christmas eve. Although it rained on my previous fishing trip and the lake had been ice free, it had remained cold. As I’d left last time, the temperatures were plummeting again with a forecast for minus two degrees on Saturday night. By time Christmas eve arrives I’ve usually had a gut full of the festive season being rammed down my throat and this year was no different. I sort of knew I was going to be in for a hard time but I went fishing anyway, a bad days carp fishing is better then the endless drivel they put on TV at Christmas!.On the journey to the lake it rained on and off, the temperature had certainly risen and I was confident the lake would be free of ice. Just in case, I’d packed my wychwood rover lure bag as my plan b was to give the canal a go for pike for a few hours if I couldn’t fish for carp. I needn’t have worried, as I drove down the track to the lake I noticed a decent ripple on the ...
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Carp Fishing - Winter Carp Diary Pt5
2007-12-23 01:04:00
The weather had been ice cold all week and most waters were frozen over. I had a feeling my winter carp fishing wasn’t going to happen this week so I sat down in front of the PC on Friday evening and made my backup plan.I always have a backup plan when the weather is icy. If my carp lake happens to be frozen over there are always other species of fish to target in other waters. Rivers don’t freeze so species such as chub, grayling, perch and pike are all viable options even in the coldest of conditions. Even the canal can be free of ice when my chosen winter carp lake is frozen over so there is always plenty of choice no matter how cold it gets.My usual 'alternative' target is winter pike and in years gone by I’d visit either the river severn or the river dee if I couldn’t get my rods out for winter carp. I know a few stretches on both rivers that respond very well to wobbled deadbaits, even in the very coldest of conditions. However, you can’t keep fishing the same plac...
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Carp Fishing - Winter Carp Diary Pt4
2007-12-16 11:47:00
After several days of low temperatures and a particularly hard frost on Thursday night I was in two minds about my carp fishing this week. As well as the possibility of the lake being frozen over there was talk of fuel protests as well and I imagined a ‘go slow’ on all the main roads and wondered if it would effect my fishing trip.After a cloudy night and no apparent frost on Saturday morning I decided to make the trip. The first thing into the car was the sat nav, if I had to turn off a main road because of a go slow, the sat nav would plot me a new course to the lake and I figured I could avoid any potential trouble.As it turned out, the roads were clear and as I headed south through ellesmere port on the motorway, a quick glimpse at the Shropshire union canal in the backford area revealed it to be ice free. As I pulled into the car park at the lake, I was relieved to see no ice to be found on the lake either. I was half expecting it to be frozen or maybe part frozen but fortu...
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Carp Fishing - Winter Carp Diary Pt 3
2007-12-09 01:12:00
I was up earlier than usual on Saturday morning as I was selling off my 3 greys prodigy carp rods, the sat nav made my early morning meeting very easy and once the deal was done I plotted a course for the lake and headed south down the M6. The journey was uneventful and if anything a little slow due to the weather. I knew it was going to be quite bad and on the way to the lake I questioned my sanity for going carp fishing in such foul conditions. The rain was heavy and persistent and it was accompanied by a cold wind, despite last weeks success, I wasn’t too confident of catching a carp this week but you have to be in it to win it as they say.I pulled into the car park and looked at the lake. Once again I was the only angler there. With the rain being so heavy, I got myself into my igloo 3 and my skeetex boots in double quick time and headed off to my swim. Short session winter carping usually means the rods are first out but on this occasion I opted to get the brolly out and stor...
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Carp Fishing - Winter Carp Diary Pt2
2007-12-02 11:15:00
On Friday night I made sure all my fishing gear was in order and ready to go. I checked my pva mesh and my foam nuggets to make sure I had enough then I sorted out my bait, I had another bucket full of dynamite hemp and maize ready to go in the lake, I replenished my pellet bucket and grabbed another ‘bunch of fives’ bulk pack of peparami out of the fridge to go with the rest of the bait.With my gear sorted out I was ready to leave for the lake by 9.30am on Saturday morning, I set the sat nav and departed on a journey that took a little over an hour. I pulled up at the lake a little after 10.30am and quickly unloaded my carp gear from the car and headed for the same swim I was in last week. Once again the lake was empty of anglers, there was just me and the resident robin who was straight on the case begging for bait as soon as I got there, he even had the cheek to perch himself on my chair whilst I was busy setting up my new carp rods. Earlier in the week I’d taken delivery o...
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Carp Fishing - Winter Carp Diary Pt1
2007-11-25 00:08:00
Well it’s that time again, nearly the end of November and we’ve now had a few sharp frosts that have slowed down the carp fishing here in the north west, looking at the carp forums there’s been a big slowdown in catch reports and I think it’s fair to say we are in for some hard times until the spring.After a break last weekend, Saturday was my first real winter carp fishing session and I headed down to my favourite winter carp venue in darkest Shropshire. Winter is the only time I visit this particular carp water, it’s well stocked and a run is always a possibility even when it’s cold.I was the only angler on the lake yesterday, I didn’t bother to look for the fish, I simply dropped into a peg I knew very well. There was a nice area in front of my swim about 40 yards out that had proved to be a real hotspot for me in the past so it was just a case of drop my baits onto the spot then sit and wait. Should the carp be resident somewhere else on the lake, I had a very good...
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Carp Rigs - Basic Hair Rig
2007-11-17 18:40:00
I thought I’d share my thoughts on carp rigs this week but to be honest I’m not sure I could write a whole page about them!. Probably the best advice I’ve ever seen when it comes to carp rigs is ‘kiss’, short for keep it simple stupid!.This has been my approach to carp rigs for well over a decade now, in fact I’m using the same rig now in 2007 that I settled on way back in 1995!. I do have the odd phase when I try something new, I’ve had a dabble with a couple of different versions of the stiff rig, I’ve tried the chod rig too but both of these rigs have come up short for me and I’ve always ended up back on my old favourites. I’ve used and would recommend the following different hook length materials ….Kryston SilkwormKryston Snake BiteKryston Snake SkinDespite various experiments over the years, I always seem to end up back on a basic knotless knot setup tied with one of the materials above with 25lb kryston silkworm being my favourite. I’m not sure what it ...
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Carp Fishing - Back To Normal
2007-11-11 02:21:00
Following on from my last diary entry, after catching that 21lb 4oz mirror carp from the river dee I left my gear in the hall ready to go fishing again the next morning. My intentions of heading to one of the Cheshire carp lakes I have a ticket for were honourable but when I got up the next morning I just didn’t feel like going fishing. That river dee twenty was a season maker for me, it was such a good result I didn’t feel like sitting beside a carp lake watching for fish and trying to work out exactly where the carp were before it was time to go home so I packed my gear away for the week and went shopping to Birkenhead instead!. I was happy to wander round the shops picking up the odd new shirt and tie for work and that Saturday I didn’t miss being on the bank at all.Whilst writing this my mind wandered back to my carping in the early 90’s, I was a lot more dedicated back then and there’s no way I’d have missed a days fishing for anything regardless of what kind of res...
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Carp Fishing - River Carp Result
2007-11-04 13:22:00
I was sat in work on Friday afternoon staring out of the office window like carp anglers do!. The weather didn’t look too bad, it had been dry all week and I couldn’t help thinking that the river dee would be in good shape. After a couple of weeks break from the fishing and a couple of particle bait entries on my blog I was ready for a few hours on the bank in search of another carp.I’d already decided to visit one of my chosen north west winter carp venues on Saturday but I didn’t feel like sitting at home twiddling my thumbs on Friday evening. I thought long and hard about an evening carp fishing session during the slow afternoon in work and decided to have my tea when I got home then grab some gear and head for the river dee. Friday afternoon passed slowly, eventually 5pm arrived and I headed off home to gather my carp gear and have a bite to eat.I sorted out a few bits and pieces, the carp rods, rod pod, bite alarms, rucksack, fishing chair and my thermal suit so I would...
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Carp Baits - Groats
2007-10-28 11:55:00
Mention ‘mass’ particle baits and the first thing any carp angler will say is ‘hemp seed’. Hemp is probably the most effective mass particle baits of all time but there’s another one that’s right up there and that’s ‘naked oats’, more commonly known as groats.Groats are an incredibly successful mass particle bait for carp yet you rarely see carp anglers using them nowadays. What I like about groats is their ease of use. For a short session carp angler like myself this bait is perfect because it doesn’t require any boiling to prepare. All I need to do is tip my groats into a bait bucket and soak them in cold water for 24hrs before use. That is so convenient, not only do I not need to waste any time cooking bait, I also avoid stinking the house out and getting moaned at every week!, on top of this, they are ideally prepared on the bank so if you’re a long session carp angler, again, you simply add water and leave them to soak in a bucket outside the bivvy for 24h...