MATCH CARP CATCH TACTICS
The secret to catching big weights of carp during the warmer months is to get the fish feeding in close as Alec Roberts demonstrates ...
One of the best, if not THE best, methods for catching some big fi sh on the pole in the summer is to tackle the margins.
The shallow marginal shelf is an area carp are naturally attracted to and you don’t even need features like bushes or reeds to fi sh up to. Quite often a bare, grassy bank will produce just as many fi sh as those with an abundance of cover and when you do hook a big fi sh, they will be a damn site easier to get out! Don’t for one second think that because there is no cover for the fi sh you won’t catch there, because nothing could be further from the truth. It’s the depth that’s most important and if you have 12” to 18” of water it’s just about perfect
14 Match Carp Catch Tactics
and on some venues things like reeds can prevent you from getting close enough to the bank to catch in the margins.
The peg I’m fi shing today has got a bush to my right which is an obvious place to target and because we’re not quite into the warm months just yet, the depth of just over 2 feet should be bang on. Unlike open water swims, margin fi shing can be real hook and hold stuff and I’ll have to put the pressure on as soon as I hook a fi sh to prevent it from getting into that bush. Unless you pile on immediate pressure you’re going to lose fi sh but with the strong kit we have at our disposal these days, the odds are defi nitely stacked in our favour.
I’m using the new Thriller pole today which is exceptionally strong and
perfect for margin fi shing. My elastic is Middy Hi-Viz 18-20 and I’ve matched that with 0.20mm Hi-Viz main line tied to a pre-tied Meat Carp hooklength that incorporates a screw for hair rigging my pellet of meat that I’ll be using as my hookbait. All you do is twist the pellet of meat onto the wire coil, a bit like twisting a corkscrew into a cork, and it’s fi xed fi rmly in position. Luncheon meat is my favourite bait for carp once the weather starts to warm up and today I’ll be feeding 4mm cubed meat and using a 6mm pellet of punched meat on the hook. I fi nd I catch more fi sh if I use a hookbait that’s slightly larger than the bait I’m feeding. A lot of anglers make the mistake of increasing the size of the hookbait too much, I defi nitely fi nd a small increase is more productive.
MEAT MARGINS IN THE
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