WORLDCARPCLASSIC.COM
STEVE HOWARD MAGAZINE EDITOR
Location is of course, rightly said to be a very important factor in carp angling. There can be no doubt about that, and to my mind it is the most crucial factor in our quest to capture carp by a very long way. Many anglers would suggest that on
commercial fisheries, this factor becomes much less of a problem because of the greater density of carp, but is this correct thinking? Although it cannot be denied that, in
some instances, this might be the case in some, grossly overstocked venues, the same cannot be said of all commercial venues. “Of course it is”, I hear you cry, “the greater the stocking level, the easier it becomes, right?” Well, yes and no. It must be remembered that carp quickly become very wary once they have been subjected to capture and that in itself increases the subsequent level of difficulty in both finding and catching them. With that fact in mind, it should also be
considered that there are a good number of public waters that are subjected to similar angling pressure, which in turn serves to educate the resident carp. For instance, where regular night fishing zones occupy only a very small percentage of the overall bank-space, these areas of concentrated angling pressure can often become dead zones over time, as carp become wary of them. It is also fair to say, that some resident carp can become overindulgent, even addicted to angling bait and will return time after time to indulge themselves on the easy pickings, despite the presence of anglers. In effect, anglers who occupy these
regularly fished night zones are left to target mainly only the carp that are regular visitors to that zone whilst other, more cautious carp avoid the area completely. ‘Location’ is often not in the equation in this scenario with fixed night zones, as carp can very easily evade capture by the simple process of avoiding the area altogether.
Many commercial venues can suffer in a similar fashion, of course. Some venues can become extremely ‘peggy’ as the majority of carp - in their attempt to avoid capture - group tightly together and adopt a ‘safety in numbers’ shoal mentality. I’m certain that we are all very well
aware of this tendency whereby they position themselves in areas where the risk is lessened and they can only be targeted by one or two anglers on the entire venue – in effect, minimising the risk. This simple and instinctive process
of evasion greatly lessens their individual chances of capture, by utilising sheer weight of numbers in much the same manner as small shoal-fish do to avoid predation. Location under these circumstances is greatly simplified; all you need to do is book the only peg on the lake that regularly produces carp in numbers! So under these circumstances, as far
54
as location goes, unless you are fishing on a venue where you have unlimited, unrestricted access, it is unlikely that your
location skills will have very much bearing on your overall results. Of course, none of these factors preclude the capture of a more solitary fish. In fact, your chances of catching a large lone fish may increase, as they are obviously not of the shoal mentality and they will, by default, be the only carp in the area. In this scenario your location skills may serve you well, if that is your personal quest. With the current climate in carp fishing,
where some commercial venues stock only extremely large carp, it becomes clear that the values of carp angling are being lost. I won’t decry any worthy angling achievement, but it is sad to say that claims
to the effect that these carp are equally meritorious, cheapens the exploits of other, somewhat more ethically minded carp anglers. Anyway, we each make a choice and live by our own set of morals, I guess…. I digress. Back to location…
Okay, so we have determined our venue and we have either booked a peg or we are able to choose from those pegs that are available on our visit, what next? Firstly, do you have all of your options
covered? By this, I mean, are you fully equipped with the tackle and bait to diversify and change your tactics according to the situation if and when you need to?
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64