European bottom fishing techniques are the best in the world, far better than our (by comparison) crude methods for catching catfish, carp, and pike. For most of us a large hook and several ounces of weight (for distance) are enough. If a fish tries to pull the rod into the water we try to hook it. More often we miss the fish and come up empty handed. The modern bank angler has a tremendous advantage when it comes to bottom fishing because his methods are more sensitive and more likely to succeed.

Legering is the British term used for a variety of bottom fishing approaches. These methods include sensitive bite indicators and terminal tackle suited for each technique. In this chapter I will focus on swingtipping and quivertipping, techniques which are best used for the smaller bottom feeding species such as catfish. Methods for carp and pike will be explained elsewhere.

Terminal Tackle

There are two terminal schemes used in legering, the paternoster and the link leger. The paternoster rig is characterized by weight being placed at the end of the line while the link leger has the weight somewhere between the hook and the rod. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.

The Paternoster Rig

The paternoster is a rig borrowed from ocean fishing and adapted to fresh water needs. A weight (a bell sinker in North America) is tied onto the end of the line and a loop is placed four to 12 inches from the weight. A leader and hook are attached to the loop. Variations on this theme include a swivel instead of a loop and several gadgets which form a loop without a knot. The loop to weight distance, called the link, is always shorter than the leader. This allows the baited hook to float down while the line is held tight against the sinker.

The paternoster is a sensitive terminal rig in both still and moving water. Leaders of up to six feet are used in still water but the link is never longer than 24 inches. When cast, the weight dives towards the bottom with the hook trailing behind. Once the rig reaches bottom (or just before it does) you start reeling the line in both to move the sinker towards you and to tighten the line. The result is a straightening of the leader and a tantalizing action on the bait.

It is very common for a fish to hit the bait at this point so the process of setting the rig must be done smoothly. Otherwise you will miss the strike. Strikes will be quick with the paternoster as the fish will feel the weight of the sinker fairly rapidly. Some species will reject the bait once they feel lead so you have to pay attention to the indicator when using this rig.

In moving water the leader and link can be shorter. Since the leader is always longer links tend to be four to eight inches and the leader 12 to 24 inches. The motion of the water will straighten the leader but you will still have to achieve a tight line by reeling it in.

A short leader and a shorter link are used when fish are shy biters. Experiment to find the correct combination for your conditions.

Leger Link Rigs

The static leger link is the most commonly used bottom fishing method in North America. It consists of a sinker crimped onto the line with four to 18 inches of line left before the hook is tied on. Ironically it is considered the least useful of the leger link rigs by Euro-style fishermen. These anglers think that the running leger offers more versatility and sensitivity since the running rig allows the bait to roam free once the rig reaches bottom. It is especially helpful when the fish are leery about weight.

The weights used can be a bell sinker, large split shot, or swimfeeders. Each of these has a specific use and can be employed with or without a link. Elaborate booms and other devices have been designed for running legers but are generally unavailable in this country.

The easiest running leger is a bell sinker placed directly on the line and a small split shot used to keep it from hitting the hook. The hook can be connected to a leader whose breaking strength is less than the main line and attached loop to loop or to a swivel. This is a good rig for long range casting and is used extensively by the carp fishermen.

Another type of running leger is heavy split shot clipped to both sides of a length of line looped over the main line. This is called a swan shot leger and it is good for moving water where the bottom is rocky or full of snags. The split shot will pull off when caught and the rest of the rig is saved. It has the added advantage of your being able to add or subtract weight in an instant.

The link can be made from the main line, can be a special rigid tube with snaps, or can even be a float. The latter two are useful in mud and weeds as they allow the bait to rise above these obstacles.

Hooks

Forged hooks are used with most of the rigs you will set up. A variety of specialist hooks are available in Europe but any good quality sharp hook is acceptable. One of the most common mistakes made is to use too small a hook. Tiny hooks are needed for float techniques where the majority of fish are not going to bend the hook and the angle of strike is overhead. Bottom feeders can be any size and these fish often hook themselves sometimes with considerable force.

The best configuration is a short to medium shanked forged hook (such as the Gamakatsu Live Bait hook) which is sharp and strong. It is tied to the leader with a palomar knot or snelled on if preferred. Check the link and knot often because this part of the outfit takes quite a beating between catching fish and setting up the rig after the cast. Replace the leader as often as needed.

Wire hooks have their place when the fish are paranoid due to intense pressure. A slight outpoint can be placed on a wire hook which will render it more efficient. Wire hooks will have a shortened lifespan when legering.

Rods and Reels

European anglers have a wide variety of quality bottom fishing rods to choose from while North Americans have no specialized legering rods. The 1990 Diawa catalogue from England lists 25 different styles ranging from inexpensive graphite-fiberglass quivertip rods to an elaborate combination Kevlar and graphite rod which boasts the best Fuji guides. Most of these rods reflect the fishing conditions in England and are not needed in North America, but the technology and design can be adapted for our styles of angling.

The most common setup for bottom fishing in this country is a Zebco spincast rod and reel combination which is propped up on a forked stick or stuck in a single rod holder. The fisherman waits for a clear indication of a strike (usually the fish pulling the rod into the water) before setting the hook. Good strikes can be few and far between. As a result most of the concern of anglers in the new world centers around bait and placement (mostly bait). Periodically the angler will check his hook to see if some little fish has stolen the bait. Usually it has.

More enterprising fishermen have added bells or other indicators to the line or rod tip to alert them to a bite. They meet with more success and have learned the shortcomings of the five and one half foot rod when dealing with finicky eaters. These anglers catch a lot of fish because they use what they have to its best advantage.

Euro-style rods used for legering have a fairly stiff all-through action which is similar to a flipping rod. Because these rods are eight to eleven feet long they have a different feel than the flipping rod and tend to have a lower test curve. A good feeder rod needs guts to set the hook and cast an ounce weight while remaining sensitive. The rods that would be useful for catfish, etc. are eight to twelve feet long with enough power to cast long distances. The extra length allows you to set the hook even if the line is not as tight as it should be. The only way to achieve this with a short rod is to run backwards while setting the hook.

If you are handy enough to make your own rods, you will find that heavy steelhead blanks can be used to make a good bottom rod. The newer crappie specialty rods make a good substitute for a leger rod.

Almost any good spinning reel can be used with leger rods. Casting rods and reels are useful with the larger species such as flathead catfish but are ignored in Europe for this purpose. Reels which can be set on free spool or have quickly adjustable drags are better, especially if you use the same reels for carp and catfish. Reels designed for long range fishing are very helpful. The Mitchell 300 is still praised by the Europeans in spite of its age.

Any reel you feel comfortable with is good. You will have to work the reel quickly when the fish bite so pick one which is simple and reliable.

Bank Sticks

This may seem a minor point but there are no decent rod rests made in North America. The majority of them are gadgets resembling outriggers and most anglers use a forked stick or nothing at all. The bank stick is a very important part of legering systems and the position of the rod is crucial to its success. If you just add three rod rests to your present system, you will improve your fish catching by 25 percent.

The best rod rests come in a variety of lengths and are made from quality aluminum or stainless steel. Specimen fishermen consider the purchase of a good set of bank sticks an investment. Cheap rod rests do not provide stability and will wear out quickly. In England you can buy several brands of rests with a variety of screw on heads. These heads have various purposes such as holding the handle or the tip of the rod. Rests for the body of the rod will have a groove cut in them to allow free flow of the line. This technology keeps being refined (like all modern bank fishing) and new ideas added yearly.

How to Leger

Legering is the Cinderella form of Euro-style fishing. For years it was thought of as a last resort when match techniques failed. Now it has an exclusive following who are constantly refining the methods and broadening its scope. These anglers are concerned with presentation, bite indication, chumming and/or finding the fish, and setting the hook. In North America there are still plenty of naive fish who take the bait and run but the other 90 percent of the fish population are now available to you with legering techniques.

Preparation

All of the legering techniques are used over baited areas in Europe. Old world waters have been transformed to canals and the remaining fish are usually cyprinoids who are wary and smarter than the average North American counterpart. In order to assure the presence of fish large amounts of chum may be used especially in moving waters. Canals in Europe have little structure so fish have to be attracted.

We don't think in these terms because our waters have good structure and we can usually pinpoint where the fish are supposed to be. But the use of feeding can open up worlds of opportunity for the astute fisherman.

If you add the element of free offerings to your favorite fishing hole you may greatly increase the chances for fish. Feeding is a time consuming affair but is an integral part of the system of legering. After you feed to your favorite structure you will find that it will become more consistent. If you feed time and time again fish will alter behavior and deliberately seek where you chum assuming you pick a spot which has obvious structure. Carp anglers will feed a gravel bar for an entire season to attract one large fish.

For example you could use a slingshot and put several ounces of sweetcorn at the head of a pool which carries the fish you want. Sweetcorn is cheap and an almost universal bait for most freshwater fish. Don't feed too much (little and often) and the fish will find your bait quickly. You can also use groundbait to attract fish without actually feeding them very much. Once you are at the water's side and have begun the feeding process you should prepare your site. Set up your rod rests, place your seat, and put your net in place. Bait, drinks, umbrella, target board, etc. should be ready before you assemble your rod. This serves two purposes: it allows you to plan your fishing a little better and it preserves your rod from clumsy feet.

A word of advice. Don't take more equipment than you can carry in one trip. Often you will set up only to find conditions better in another spot. After several such moves you will become a master of angling minimalism.

Touch Legering

This is a technique familiar to most of us, keeping the line in hand while waiting for a strike. When all else fails, Euro-style fishermen will go to touch legering but its sensitivity is actually its greatest drawback.

Touch legering requires no rod rests and is simple to understand. A strike is readily felt because you are in direct linkage with the fish. It requires constant attention and it is so sensitive that it is difficult to tell a line hit from a slight nibble. This can lead to striking too early. It is an expert's method and best used when there are frequent light strikes.

Swingtipping

This is the oldest of the sophisticated legering systems but the one which has wide application in the new world. Swingtips were invented by Jack Clayton (in the 1950s) who added a 15 inch extension to his rod to catch shy biting bream. This indicator had an extruded nylon link attached to the rod which allowed it to rise and fall as the fish struck. Now you can find swingtips of various sizes and weights to suit conditions. Swingtips are utilized in still water and slowly moving rivers or streams. They allow you to see virtually every bite which occurs and after a while you will learn when to strike. But you must pay attention to the details.

The usual swingtipping setup is a paternoster terminal rig, three rod rests, and a seat close to the handle of the rod. Set the rod pointing directly at the bait. The rig is cast over a baited area then drawn back towards it. As the weight hits the water you should reel in the slack line and pull the weight in your direction. This will have two effects: the line will become taut and the bait will begin to float down behind the line. At this point many fish will strike as they are triggered by the swarming effect of feeding and the slow fall of the bait. Your attention should be on the swingtip throughout this process.

If you don't get a strike at once reel in until the swingtip shows some movement and set the rod on the rests. The tip of the rod should never be more than 12 inches from the third rod rest or you will lose sensitivity. Set the angle of the tip 45 to 90 degrees from the water. The swingtip should be as close to the water as possible. In heavy winds it can even be in the water a little.

A strike will be indicated by a lifting of the swing tip to almost 180 degrees. This can be a quick indication and will require close attention. Usually you will get a few preliminary movements caused by fish mouthing the bait or hitting the line. If you strike then you will almost always miss. The wind can cause movement which is mistaken for a fish. On windy days it is best to use a heavy swingtip or weigh it down with lead wire. You will lose sensitivity but still catch fish.

When striking you should just lift the rod. If you are set up correctly the line will be taut when the fish hits and the bait in the fish's mouth. A quick lift will drive the hook in and the ten foot lever you use for a rod will multiply the force. If you give the fish a bass shaking yank you may pull the bait and hook out, especially with small fish.

If the swingtip suddenly flops into the water you have a fish swimming right towards you with the bait in his mouth. You must reel in a few inches and then set the hook. This is the only time you may want to add a little extra oomph to the hook set.

If the swingtip will not stay at an angle steep enough to register fish you should go to the quivertip.

Quivertipping

This is a later refinement in rod tip indicators and it consists of a thin fiberglass tip spliced into the rod or screwed in via a special rod tip. Quivertips come in a variety of sizes, lengths and resistances which fit various conditions. It is set up by casting a heavy (3/4 ounce or more) weight and reeling the line in until the tip arcs slightly. Any pull on the bait will cause the tip to move telling you there is a fish on the line. Like the swingtip you will soon learn how to read it and when to strike.

The quivertip can be used in fast moving water with great success. Swimfeeder users will weight the feeder until it holds in place (barely) and then set the quivertip by reeling in line until it bends. When a fish hits it will dislodge the swimfeeder causing the tip to spring back and then bend when the force of the current moves the swimfeeder or weight. In slower moving water the same trick can be used with lighter weight. The quivertip is set after the rig is in place and watched. Any twitch not due to wind will be a bite.

The rod is set up at 90 degrees to the bait when quivertipping. This allows for a to and fro movement of the tip and takes full advantage of sensitivity. Three rod rests are used but one of these could be your tackle box. When a fish hits strike across the current to add the force of the current to your hook set. You should cast directly in front of you when using a quivertip so the rod is parallel to the bank. The rod should then be pointed downstream. This assures maximum sensitivity.

In fast moving water, especially with a swimfeeder, a different method is used. Current tends to move line and the line can act like a sail in some circumstances. Under these conditions the rod should be held almost vertically in the rod rests with the quivertip high in the air. Most of the line is held out of the water and the swimfeeder doesn't have to be burdened with excessive weight. The tip will indicate in the usual way. This trick can also be used in any situation where the rod can't be placed in a horizontal position. It is hard to use a vertical rod in high wind conditions.

Quivertips are especially good to use in stiff winds because they are stabilized by the tight line. With a swingtip the wind can move the line and give a false signal. In the new world strikes are still vigorous enough to be seen in a 25 knot wind. In fact you may see your rod pulled off the rests by an aggressive bluegill if you don't keep your hand near the rod.

Springtips

This is the latest refinement on rod tip indicators consisting of a swingtip linked to the rod by a spring. It combines the best features of the quivertip and the swing tip. You use it the same ways as the other methods and the sensitivity of the method changes with the strength of the spring. It is especially good in wind.

Target Boards

Sometimes the strike is very tiny and after several minutes of watching a thin tip your eyes will begin to play tricks on you. This is where the target board comes in. It can be used with swingtips or quivertips and it consists of a board on a stick placed as a background to the tip. Most anglers make up their own target boards by painting a piece of plastic or wood a dull color and putting in a series of parallel lines to act as reference points. When the tip moves there will be a steady background to watch instead of water or leaves. This is much kinder on the eyes. In addition the target board may serve as wind break for the tip and add to the sensitivity of the system.

What to do When the Fish Won't Bite

In spite of advanced technique, you will run into situations when you know the fish are present but they are neutral or negative. This is where twitching is a good method for triggering strikes. Twitching consists of moving the terminal tackle through the baited area by lifting and reeling in a few inches every minute or so. This slow lifting and falling of the bait will get the fish's attention and probably cause a strike. At times this is a devastating routine which will fill your keepnet. Don't be too eager to move the bait. Let it settle and wait for a while to see if a finicky fish will bite.

Swimfeeders

Swimfeeders are hollow tubes one half to one inch in diameter which are attached to the line instead of a weight (although weights are commonly added) and are filled with bait or groundbait. Two types of swimfeeders exist: open and closed ended. Open ended swimfeeders are used with groundbait which stays in the swimfeeder until it hits the water. The groundbait then loosens and falls towards the bottom. Closed end feeders are used for bait such as maggots which exit the swimfeeder while it lies on the bottom. Maggots can be used in open ended feeders if they are packed in with ground bait while commercial catfish baits and loose groundbait can be used in closed ended swimfeeders. There are no hard and fast rules.

Swimfeeders serve the purpose of depositing the feed in the same spot that you are fishing thus attracting the fish to you. Most of the time you will not feed the area before using a swimfeeder, but there are times when both feeding methods can be used. When using the swimfeeder you must cast accurately so you leave food in the same area each time. Eventually the fish will come.

Swimfeeding is a waiting game which can yield large catches. It may take an hour consisting of casting, waiting a few minutes and then reeling in an empty swimfeeder, but the wait is worth it. It is especially good for catfish.

The setup for swimfeeding is a little different from the other legering methods. A quivertip is the usual indicator and the swimfeeder can be placed as a paternoster or link leger. I prefer a modified link leger in which a large 12 inch loop is placed on the main line with the swimfeeder running freely in the loop. A smaller loop is placed at the end of the large loop and a small hook with a 12 to 18 inch leader is tied in loop to loop. I also prefer to use a snelled wire hook since my main bait is usually maggot or worm.

I commonly use ground bait in the swimfeeder as an attractant, especially for catfish, and leave more smell than bait. This may be the best place to put those commercial stink baits which never seem to stay on the hook all that well. In sandy bottoms the swimfeeder is a killer.

Vic Bellars, well known English pike angler , uses ground fish and Alka-Seltzer to attract fish. The bubbles appeal to sight and sound senses while distributing the odor. In this country the same trick is deadly on catfish.

Philosophy

If you learn these techniques and apply them to catfish, bluegill, or you name it, you will catch fish often and consistently. You must practice them in order to make them work and at first they will seem odd. My experience of watching a good fisherman with bad equipment out fish me was tough at first, but as I improved that same fisherman came over to learn about the swingtip (which he called a "neat idea"). On our next session together one of his rods boasted a crude swingtip. There will be times when legering will not work and times when legering will catch fish not usually thought of as bottom feeders. Bass and trout fit in this category not because they aren't bottom feeders but precisely because they are. Most food eventually ends up on the bottom and all fish have to become opportunists if they wish to survive. Try these methods when all else fails.

Practical Hints

Most of you are not going to be able to go to England for equipment but never fear, help is on the way, sort of. The new interest in crappie fishing has brought us several rods ideal for legering. These rods have thin tips and are fairly stiff. They are eight to fourteen feet long and are designed for light line. Most of them are fiberglass or fiberglass/graphite and are reasonably priced. They work fairly well.

For those of you who cannot find or afford a new rod a quivertip is still possible. If you live where ice fishing occurs you can find wire bite indicators for sale in any tackle shop. These are designed to go on the rod so the loop is directly over the tip. This way a vertical bite is indicated. If you place it in the tip itself and let the wire extend beyond the tip it will indicate horizontal takes and becomes a quivertip. It is not as sensitive as a built-in quivertip but it has the advantage of being cheap.

If a quivertip or a swingtip is not practical you can try a technique called float legering. This is an old North American trick which uses the tension of the line to hold a float in place against a rig on the bottom. Set up a waggler (as a slider) and a running link leger terminal rig. Make sure the line below the float is overdepth. When the bait hits bottom, reel in the line until there is tension on the line. Put the tip of the rod in the water and continue to reel until the float sets up correctly. The tension of the line will hold the float in place as long as the water is not moving too fast. Any take by a fish will pull the float in or cause it to rise. This is the time to strike.

Mike Keyes from Modern Bank Fishing

1. BETTER EQUIPMENT MEANS FEWER FISH. Yep, it’s true. I’ve replaced my old 6-foot bass rods with 12-foot carp rods. My old spinning reels, which had served me faithfully for years, have been replaced with baitrunners. Instead of cutting a couple of forked sticks from a nearby tree, I no w have a nice rod pod. I could go on, but you get the point: I’ve upgraded to real carp equipment. The carp don’t seem to care.

2. MORE EQUIPMENT MEANS FEWER FISH. There is no doubting the truth of this statement. I have a cart full of equipment. In the past, I didn’t even have a cart. Now I need one to carry everything I’ve bought. In the past, I hopped out of the car and was set up and fishing within ten minutes. Now I can’t even unload the cart in ten minutes; it takes me about forty-five minutes to get set up and begin fishing. I know the carp start laughing when they see me coming down to the bank dragging this arsenal of gear.

3. FANCY BAITS MEAN FEWER FISH. I suspect all of us know the truth of this statement. Now I have to start days in advance to prepare my baits. First there’s the groundbait – I’ve got nine (honestly, nine) separate plastic bins in the garage, each containing a different type of animal feed. Then I have to spend a whole evening grinding this stuff in a blender to reduce it to granules. Then I mix it and bag it. And that’s just my groundbait. After all that, I start making my actual bait - boilies. I’ve got multiple types of flours and other ingredients that go into the dry mix. Then there’s the flavors...I buy these from specialty shops. All told, it takes hours for me to get my baits ready for a weekend of fishing. I think my baits scare the carp! In the past, all I did was stop in at the grocery store on my way to the river to buy a can of corn. I caught a lot of carp; you would think I was exaggerating if I told you how many.

4. SPECIAL RIGS MEAN FEWER FISH. I’m doing it all...hair rigs, safety rigs, anti-tangle rigs, feeders, anti-eject rigs, backleads, shock leaders...the carp must really be having a laugh at my expense. In the past, I side-hooked my corn on just about any hook I had handy. I used to catch so many, I’d literally lose count. Big ones, too.

5. THE MORE KNOWLEDGE YOU ACCUMULATE, THE FEWER FISH YOU CATCH. This is completely true and cannot be refuted. I’ve gotten tons of advice from the CAG discussion forum, from books, from videos, from going to fish-ins, and from weekend trips with other carp anglers. None of it works. Period. Forget about the barometer, the temperature, the phase of the moon, the time of day...it’s all useless. The simple truth is, sometimes the fish bite, and sometimes they don't. In the past, my approach was much more successful: if I had the time to go fishing, I went. If I was too busy, I didn’t. It worked.

6. IF YOU TRAVEL TO THE BEST VENUES, YOU WILL CATCH FEWER AND SMALLER FISH. This past year I drove all over the state of Indiana in search of twenty-to-thirty-pound carp. Most of these places are three or more hours from my house. I’ve gone to all the places in the state that have the best reputation. If a lake was rumored to contain monster carp, I got directions to it and off I went. I even traveled a couple of thousand miles to fish in one of the best venues in the country. But you know the largest fish I’ve ever caught came from the river about fifteen minutes from my house. And I caught lots of them there.

7. THE MORE COMFORTABLE YOU ARE WHEN YOU ARE FISHING, THE FEWER FISH YOU WILL CATCH. This is absolutely true, without question. I bought myself a nice brolly to keep me comfortable. These umbrella shelters seemed perfect to me. I had to have one. Too much sun? Set up the brolly. Is it starting to rain? Get out the brolly. What a mistake! In the past, if I was fishing and it got too hot or too rainy, I went home. The reason? The fish would quit biting when it was too hot or too stormy.

8. THE USE OF ELECTRONIC GEAR WILL GUARANTEE YOU CATCH FEWER FISH. There is no doubt about this one. I’ve bought myself a wireless sonar device, with a transducer that you tie to the end of your line. This is great, I thought: a device that will accurately map out the lake or river bottom. I can scope out the water and find all the best holes. I invested a lot of time, specifically making trips to map out the bottom. I found some places that looked perfect. So I started fishing those swims. The only problem was those places had no fish! In the past, I went down to the river and if I could see carp feeding somewhere, I would fish there. And I would catch them. And of course there are other electronics, like my bite alarms. Do you know what these alarms do? They certainly don’t attract carp – they attract other anglers, who come over to fish right next to me when they hear one go off.

So there you have it – I have invested lots of money, spent countless hours, drove thousands of miles, and gathered all kinds of information. The grand result that I have achieved is that I catch far fewer and much smaller fish than I ever have. Even my wife comments on this. “Gee, you don’t seem to be catching many fish anymore,” she said the other day. “You used to do real well down at the river over near the bridge. Why did you stop going there?” I mumbled something about the cycles of nature and went out into the garage to find my old 6-foot spinning rod. "Honey," I said, "do you have an extra can of corn?"

Now it’s probably worth saying that everything I’ve written here is only a half-truth, a tongue-in-cheek tale meant to try to console myself after a poor year of catching. Of course, all gear has a place, and I love using my distance rods and the associated tackle as much as I love sitting on the bank with a can of sweet corn and my old bass gear. In fact, truth be known, I rarely do the latter any more. But the memories of my very first carp, caught with nothing more than some old gear that I had laying around in the garage, are among the sweetest carp fishing memories of all.

But an excellent piece by my friend Dom from a top UK Carp forum.

I thought I would post this up to see if it could give CAG members some ideas and thoughts!

I hope this is of intrest and of some help, Enjoy and feel free to add comments:

From Dom:

Introduction

This is not a guide, it is written by one angler and outlines that anglers personal opinion on things. That angler doesn't pretend to be a great authority on any matters mentioned and other anglers will no doubt have differing views. It is however written with the express intention of stirring both thought and responsibility into all levels of angler not necessarily through instruction but even through disagreement it will no doubt make people think about their own methods of fishcare and that has to be good!

What is Carp care and why should I practice it?

Quite simply the Carp we catch do not belong to us! Someone once wrote in their forum signature; 'The Carp we catch are not ours, they belong to our children and our children's children' I think this is very fitting and indeed it sits in-line with the way I myself like to look at the subject. The carp are indeed not ours and factually not anyone's. They belong to a massive, very powerful force called 'Nature' although its power is seemingly no match for Human beings, this is why we must all do our utmost to preserve it for the benefit of the unborn. We enjoy the pursuit of Carp amongst other species and it is a small thing to ask that we repay them with respect so that they might return unscathed to bring joy to others in the future whilst all the while living a long healthy life with as little stress as possible. To put it another way the Carp is our adversary and we hunt him, we try to outsmart him and then duel to outfight him, it's only fair then that when we beat him we respect him.

When we take a Carp out of it's natural habitat we must make allowances, he is in our world now and no longer does the water cradle him, protect him and support him, we now must strive to fulfil these criteria ourselves. The bigger a carp gets the more delicate it becomes and the more gravity takes effect on it's delicate structure and internal organs and in-turn the more gentle we should be when we handle it.

It is unfortunate that many carp show signs of angler neglect and although it is very rare it is also pretty much permanent. Mouth damage is perhaps the main visual aspect but there are far more problems that are caused mainly by lack of experience in anglers handling. For example, have you ever wondered how that Carp got the lump that gives it the name 'Lumpy' or 'scar'? Okay so it might well be down to spawning damage or even predation but its worth stopping for a minute and thinking about it. We often see fish that look very fat, often due to holding spawn and this maybe perfectly natural but what's to say its not a result of internal damage, Stress or poor diet which believe it or not we as anglers hold immense control over. Another big cause of this in my opinion is the constant stocking of new fish, often completely different strains and from far away ecosystems. This can effect not only the ecology of the host water but also the hierarchy and settlement of the existing stock. they also carry completely different genes and completely different bacteria.

To put it bluntly, if you love Carp angling then you should be thinking of the long term effects your actions are making and if you respect the carp then the longer your enjoyment of them will continue.

Tackled up to care?

The tackle we use and the situations we use it in have a massive bearing on how much potential risk we put our quarry at. Most available items have a place in our kit but its how its used, when its used and in what combination we use things that makes the big difference to any risk we may impart.

Rigs, Line and Lead Arrangements

Perhaps the best example is when fishing weedy lakes, in this situation it is of paramount importance that the lead can part company with the line, leader and hooklink. Not when the carp gets ‘weeded up’ but immediately, on the take! When the carp realises it is hooked and shakes its head the lead should come loose if there are any dense weedbeds in the vicinity. When you hook a Carp in a weedy lake you can bet it will head straight for it and losing the lead gives nothing for the weed to ‘grab’ onto. It also helps you to lift the fish to the surface, even at range.

When fishing in snaggy waters it is my opinion that helicopter style rig/lead set ups are the safest, as if you should snap off, or if a fish should become ‘snagged up’ the rig should be able to leave the leader and theoretically the Carp will be left only with the rig, hooks, we are told, are easily shed and it’s almost impossible for a Carp to become tethered with just a rig. It may not be totally safe to fish in snags but at least it is much safer if the carp is less likely to become tethered.

When applying any type of Hit and hold style to your angling, like you would in snags or heavy weed then strong hooks are a must, not only for strength but for safety. Larger hooks have more hold and will not rip out so easily and therefore be less prone to cause mouth damage. Hooklinks are also of concern, braided rigs can cut a Carps mouth when put under pressure and this is exaggerated when movement is applied to it, to combat this how about using heavy mono type rigs. It goes without saying that a mainline breakage in any of these situations is hopefully going to be less than a once in a lifetime occurrence as you will of course be tackled up with the correct breaking strain and you will have checked it for signs of wear and tear and changed it regularly. In heavy weed or snags a breaking strain of at least 15lb (.35) and in this situation a mono line should be employed

When using a braided mainline it is important to remember that there is no give/stretch in it, and all force you impart will be transferred straight to the fish. Strong hook lengths are needed with braid and large strong hooks are advisory. Some sort of leader or tubing will be required as braid will damage a fishes flanks during the fight and will also lift scales. Braided lines are very thin and are expensive so higher breaking strains (30-40lb) are the order of the day to give more longevity and also make it less tangle prone. Breaking strains are also often 'overstated' on braided lines.

Nets, Mats, Sacks and Weigh Slings

If you are fishing for carp then you should have an appropriately sized net, 42’’ is the recommended size but on commercials where the carp are all under 15lbs then a 32’’ will suffice. The mesh should be soft and fairly deep and the arms of the net should be easily detached from the spreader block. The handle should be of around 6 feet in length and for ease of use it should be light and rigid.

A quality unhooking mat is a must, so many shops sell small thin ones but these are only any good for Roach fishing! A Carp mat should be at least 50mm/ 2” thick foam and should be large enough for specimen Carp (approx 4ft x 2.5ft) or alternatively of the polyball type, there are no poor polyball type mats on the market to my knowledge so these would seem a safe choice.

Weigh slings should be supportive and secure, the rigid pole type ones are ideal and should always be zipped up at each end to prevent the fish from sliding out, they should feature a special material inside that prevents mucous loss but not always. These are ideal for use with weigh crooks and are perfect for returning the fish to the water

The use of forceps is often recommended to the beginner or novice but in my opinion this is unwise for it takes much more skill to use forceps without causing damage than it does to use your fingers or in extreme cases, side cutters to cut the hook . When the use of forceps becomes the norm there is the risk of imparting too much force and damaging the soft mouthparts of the Carp, much more control is gained by using the fingers and if it takes a while so be it, it is never wise to rush

Treatments for wounds to the body or mouth of Carp are commonplace in anglers kit and although there is no record of these ever causing harm to a Carp I believe that it is perhaps better to let nature run its course. There are many times during a Carps life when it will receive much the same injuries in the wild, for example Spawning will remove scales and cause lesions much more severe than most anglers would cause and the Carps natural diet of shelled creatures will regularly rip its mouth to shreds. We are anglers not vets or doctors and I personally believe it unwise to interfere. Personal Verdict: Personal choice.

Playing it safe

In the majority of Carp fishing situations the angler receives a ‘Run’ and thus the carp will be hooked or at least lightly hooked, subsequently when the angler lifts the rod there will be no need to ‘Strike’ to set the hook, a tightening of the line until the rod has a steady bend will ensure the hook is driven home with firm but limited force. When the rod continues to bend as the fish powerfully tries to evade capture the correctly set ‘Clutch’ or ‘Drag’ of the reel should allow line to release in a manner that is balanced between the tackle being used and the power of the fish. When using heavy tackle more force may be applied on the fish in order to control it quicker and steer it from snags or weed where they will inevitably head for, but when using light tackle it is required to go easier on the fish and let it run a little more thus lighter tackle should only be used when the risk of a fish finding snags or weed is significantly low. When using heavy tackle a strong fish also requires an element of freedom as more of the power exerted will be transferred directly to the hook hold and in turn could cause damage to the fishes mouth.

The anglers choice of mainline has a profound effect on the amount of pressure is exerted on the fish, ‘Braided’ lines have almost zero stretch and so will transfer virtually all force directly to the fish. It is wise to only use braided lines in the situations where they are essential or at least very much needed. The reels drag settings will be in constant alteration to succeed in landing any fish hooked using braid. In my opinion braided lines should only be used by experienced anglers. Monofilament or ‘Mono’ lines have a degree of stretch that will increase as the distance between angler and hooked fish increases and gives an often vital cushion against the often very spirited fight of the Carp, it is still very wise to alter the drag settings during the fight to optimise the balance between tiring of the fish and pressure on the hook hold.

It is vitally important to net a Carp in water that is deep enough so if this means getting wet then so be it, the net should be in place before the Carp is drawn towards it. There should be as much line between the tip of the rod and the fish as possible and when the Carp is drawn into the net it should do so on its side with only its mouth slightly out of the water. As the net is lifted around the fish take a break, there is no rush if the water is deep and well oxygenated and a little breather will help you to concentrate on what comes next.

Short term retention

When you net a carp You should have all the things needed to deal with it ready and waiting on the bank. However if like me you are disorganised and lazy there is nothing wrong with leaving the fish in the net for a short time, it is quite probably of benefit to the fish after a hard tussle. It is however not always possible and there are certain criteria to be met that will decide whether or not short term retention is a good idea in any given situation.

The water should be deep enough to fully cover the fish, ideally deep enough to ensure it needn’t make contact with the mesh.

The marginal water should be cool and well oxygenated, on hot sunny days I certainly wouldn’t recommend retaining a fish for very long if at all.

The net should be firmly secured to the bank, I use a bankstick through the spreader block to ensure the fish cannot swim off with my net and quite possibly meet an unfortunate end.

Ensure with regular checks that the fish remains upright at all times but refrain from lifting it out unnecessarily to show other anglers/passers by. It should NEVER be left unsupervised.

There should be no large rocks/structures that could lead to the fish damaging itself if it should become eager to attempt to escape the net.

The fish should sit there quite still and calm if undisturbed but if it does become agitated and struggles then its retention should be cut short.

Long term retention

This practice is known as ‘Sacking’ and whilst I do believe that it can be carried out with pretty much zero risk to the fish I also strongly believe that it is unnecessary in 99.9% of Carp fishing situations. It involves a specialised and dedicated ‘Carp sack’ which the carp is placed into and secured inside in very deep margins or a suitable distance out into the lake. It should be firmly secured to a bankstick or a tree etc by a strong rot proof cord/rope. Basically there should be absolutely no way that the carp can pull itself loose as if that happens it is certainly going to mean curtains for the carp. I have never used a sack myself and don’t think I would ever need to.

I firmly believe that only very experienced and serious anglers should retain a Carp in this way and only then for very important reasons, it certainly shouldn’t be done for the sake of something as ridiculous as a daytime photo or to show an expected visitor.

When removing a Carp from a sack after a considerable time it is also important that your handling skills are extremely well honed as the fish will be refreshed and very lively after such a long rest, poor handling skills could very well lead to a badly damaged fish in this situation. Personal Verdict: Unnecessary.

Removing a Carp From the water

Ok so you have caught a carp....Well done!..It's sitting in the net or sack and you have that warm fuzzy feeling. Of course you do! And why not, its what you came for after all! Retention whether short term or long term as stated earlier CAN benefit the carp IF done properly. So why not take the time to relax yourself and enjoy the feeling that success brings.

So everything is to hand around the mat, you have situated the mat on even ground with a nice backdrop for your picture, the weighsling, scales and other bits and bobs are all well within reach...why not have a nice bucket of lake water handy too? In hot weather this is essential as the fish will dry off quite rapidly. The photos look better if the fish is nice and wet and free of dirt, leaves and white foam. The white foam incidentally may be a sign that the fish is starting to dry out so we slosh this off with nice cold lake water at regular intervals, i like to do so between every photo.

I'm taking it for granted that you have a photographer ready as self takes are definitely not a good idea for beginners and those confident enough to do it won't need to be reading this! Get him to pull his weight! As you will now need to make sure EVERYTHING is wet, mat, sling, EVERYTHING the fish touches should be wet, this includes your hands and possibly even your clothes! Talking of hands it would be a good idea to remove wristwatches etc that may damage the fish as you hoist her up for a mugshot

Right all is wet and all is to hand you can now start to think about removing the fish from the water. The mat area should be as close as possible to the lake to limit any mishaps when carrying fish and there are several thought processes that i normally have at this time. Firstly i will make sure there is no unnecessary obstructions between lake and mat and secondly if there are natural obstacles then you must decide how you will go about navigating them whilst carrying a heavy and delicate fish.

If the fish is in a sack then you simply MUST get in to remove it, its not good to be dragging a fish out of the water. You must make sure the fish is in an upright position with all fins laying flat to its body. It must be in the bottom of the sack with its head into one of the bottom corners. Now you must take up all of the excess sacking by rolling it down till you meet the top of the fish's back. Sacks can and do break so you will need to either put the sack into a weigh sling or if its a stronger type sack you should think about gently supporting the fish underneath its body. Personally i wouldn't carry a sack, i'd rather use a weigh sling to transport the fish about should i ever sack a fish.

If the fish is retained in a landing net then the same is best, remove the arms from the pole and roll them down to the fish and take the same care when carrying the fish to the mat.

On the mat

Right then the carp has been placed on the mat and if shes lively she might flap about a bit. There is no excuse for a carp that leaps off the mat, preventing this should be you very first priority. Second priority is damage limitation, The mat may well be soft and deep but it ain't as soft and supportive as the water the fish came from. Some anglers seem to think its OK for the fish to flap about as long as it is on the mat! I feel this is ignorance as the fish can still damage itself both externally and internally. So i like to prevent the carp flapping about by keeping it covered by the wet mesh or the flaps attached to the mat, I'm almost certain it is the sunlight that causes this as the don't seem to go quite so bonkers at night and covering the head (and eye) does seem to help quite considerably. If the carp does start to twitch or writhe i simply apply pressure to both ends of its body. Never push down on the middle of the carp, one because you could cause damage and two because it seems to make them flip even more! I think the second point proves the first!

Another thing to remember is never sit the fish upright on the mat, its organs are delicate and they really seem to dislike this, I'm not 100% sure how risky this is to be honest but i know when something looks wrong! Also keep a good eye on the fins to make sure they are not put under any pressure.

It is important to be confident about handling a carp as confidence gives a cool head and allows more rational decision making, its no good going all 'butterfingers' and 'scatterbrained' when you are responsible for a magnificent fish!

Dom "Welsh80"

On the river-bank:

Okay, let’s say you're a competent still water float-fisher, but not on rivers. Well, we have to forget all about still-water tactics period! In all but a few instances, which I'll not discuss at this time, they'll be little help in flowing water. We must think differently, as we’ll be in an entirely different medium on flowing water, whether slow or fast. Understanding how flowing environments affect the fish and their feeding habits is imperative. Catching river fish using floats attached by double rubbers or sliding is totally different to legering with heavy feeders etc. Float tactics are very much more skillful and the excitement when that float disappears is magic, and worth every effort when we get it right. River fishing doesn’t bog us down with a truck load of gear.

Just one rod & reel, landing net, back pack and a bag of bait, life is a breeze on rivers.

Let’s go fishing!

Choosing the venue is entirely in your hands and I’m assuming you know how & where to find fish. I'm hoping you'll have a rod at least 10-12 ft for float fishing. Anything shorter will cramp your style. A rod with a test curve about 1.5 lbs and 12 ft long is ideal to control floats and should be light enough to hold for several hours to alleviate fatigue, not just your arm, your back too. The ideal fishing depth using a 12 ft rod is about 8 ft. If the fishing depth is more than 8 ft, unless you're well practiced, you might find it easier to use a sliding float. Preferably using 2 rings top & bottom rather than the hole through floats, they don't hold back so well. Try to have a selection of slim & thick bodied floats carrying different weights. You won't need many at first, add more to suit the swims you'll be fishing. Forget those fat dumpy things sold as bobbers, unless you're fishing live bait. Finding the depth is very simple. With the float on the line and using more weight than the float will support. Cast out into the swim, if float is set too deep or shallow, adjust it up or down till top of float is just at the surface.

Choice of reels will depend on how far we’ll be casting to reach the chosen swim. Using a center-pin reel is the best tool for trotting the stream, but our distance is limited. A good light-weight spinning reel is the obvious choice for swims beyond the distance of a center-pin, but they don’t control the float through the swim as smoothly as a center-pin. Don’t worry if you don’t have a center-pin reel, the spinning reel will work okay for you. It’s just not as good for holding the float back and checking its journey downstream.

Casting float tackle to the desired spot will probably be a sort of underarm sideways motion. This puts the end tackle out in a straight line ahead of the float and slightly pointing downstream in the swim. The float is held steady while the end tackle falls through the water. Once settled, the float can be held back slightly on a straight line, the speed of the float down the swim is then checked to suit the flow at the river bed. This might take a few tries till you get it right. Fishing deep swims more than 12ft will require a sliding float. Reaching the swim will be largely as above except the line is eased through the float rings to reach the fishing depth. Also holding back hard on sliders will not work as well as fixed floats. Fortunately the deeper swims are slower and holding back hard isn’t as critical.

Color of floats is a personal choice and 2 excellent colors are, brilliant neon orange for broken or shady surfaces, matt-black is best on bright silver water. Black is the last color we'll see into darkness.

Lines are a personal choice, braids & Fireline work well on both spinning & center-pin reels and owing to their small diameter for higher breaking strains (10lb = 2lb dia) they’re a good choice for float-fishing, the non-stretch gives a positive strike. Very important, ‘coz you’ll be straightening out an angle in the line before connecting with a fish. Floats held by double rubbers tend to slip a bit at the strike using braids, and might need the occasional depth adjustment. To correct any slip, try a small split shot beneath the float, or use a small piece of 1/16th rubber tubing with a cocktail stick jammed in it. Although monofilament grips the double rubbers better when fixed floats are used it has a lot of stretch, making the strike less positive. To keep tabs on the fishing depth, mark the rod with white nail polish every foot down the length. When you find your fishing depth, wind the float to the rod top & note the depth in feet or which guide the hook is at. That way you'll never lose your correct depth. You can then change your fishing depth & go back to it at will.

I don't mean to be technical or confusing here, but we do need to fully understand what happens beneath the surface and how it will affect the float tackle and how fish feed. If we plan to chum, we’ll have to gauge the pace of the current and throw the chum far enough upstream to settle where the fish are. Throw it too short and they'll follow it downstream. We need to visualize what is happening to water both on the surface & below, maybe even to 16 ft or more. In other words, we need to know how water flows as it runs its course downhill.

All rivers whether slow or fast behave in the same way. They roll over themselves. In other words, the fastest flow is at the surface and the slowest at the riverbed. Because friction at the riverbed slows the flow of streams, the surface water rolls over and falls below and slows, middle of the flow also rolls over and slows, this rolling over continues the whole depth of the river even at the slowest flow creeping along the bottom, thoroughly mixing throughout its course. The bottom is where most food is found that enters the stream for fish to forage on, so we’ll generally want our bait at or near bottom. Providing dams do not restrict the natural flow of rivers, temperatures remain fairly constant from surface to bottom, according to time of year.

I'm a great believer in the 3 golden rules of fishing. A; first find the fish. B; give them a bait we know they'll eat. C; offer the bait on the right method. Bingo! It's that easy!!

Okay you now know how water flows; you know where the fish are; what bait they'll take; and they can be caught on float tackle.

If the surface flow boils, we’ll need a substantially buoyant but slender type of float, with the main thickness at or near the top to ride the roiling current. Unless the stream is very slow, forget about wagglers (long stick floats), we cannot hold back in a good flow on a waggler. We choose our floats by the weight we need to comfortably reach the fishing distance, not the other way round. Having the right weight to reach our target is way easier than struggling to get there with tackle too light. Better to overcast and pull back to the right place.

Don't be concerned how big the float is, we counter the buoyancy with split shot or other weights for balance without being pulled under by the roiling current. I have sometimes used large floats that carry up to an ounce to reach a desired spot in the river. In medium flows, split shot patterns for an 8ft depth might be 1 small 12 inches from the hook, 2 slightly larger 18 inches from that and the bulk shots 36 from that. Occasionally one weight a short distance from the hook might be best. Do whatever’s needed to balance the float and make it work. Try different spacing patterns until the float works best in the current. For faster flows more shot may be needed nearer the hook or the reverse of the descending pattern to suit the current. There are no hard & fast rules.

If our swim is deepest at the end of the run, we’ll need to find the depth and hold the float back over the shallower section until the float reaches the deeper part, hence why we need a good size float. If we try this with a wimpy light float, it'll keep pulling off course, especially in windy conditions. Nothing is more frustrating than an inadequate float. Big is better than too small or too light. If the current is relatively smooth, obviously the shot patterns can be adjusted up or down to suit the conditions of the current. If the current is fast, we'll have to fish well over depth and hold back hard to compensate for the bait dragging along the bottom, but not too hard or the bait will fly over the heads of feeding fish.

Fishing well over depth and holding back is the key in faster flows, allowing the bait to trundle at the same flow on the riverbed. If the bait is dragged along the bottom faster than the flow, most fish will be naturally suspicious of the bait.

When fishing deep runs close in or at distance, a good float set up to keep the bait at the right depth is, have most or all the weight to just clear the bottom. This will always ensure our bait is bouncing the bottom or very near it. Don't be afraid to hold back hard, because riverbeds are uneven and fish will take the bait as it rises slightly off the bottom. You may find a high spot somewhere along the run and have to hold back hard to clear it before letting the float go again. In shallower swims, shots or weights can be spaced on the line to suit a variety of fishing depths. Its trial & error but the fish always let us know how they want it. Sometimes, holding the float back real hard while fishing well over depth with all the shots or weights clumped together on the bottom, will work better for slowly inching the bait along. This old style is known as stret-pegging and mostly used fairly close in. Best used resting the rod on a bank stick or one knee. Lifting the rod top slightly allows the current to move the tackle along. Many times this deadly method prompts more bites verses a bait skimming along the bottom.

Fishing shallow runs is a bit different inasmuch flows are generally faster. Either trip the bait along the bottom throughout the length of the run or hold back over depth at a slower pace. The fish will let you know when you get it right. Above all, we try to keep a mental picture in our minds of what's happening below the surface.

All this might sound a little intricate, but it's really very easy once we have it clear in our minds how we need to present the bait in the flow. If our water is relatively slow to moderate, by fishing over depth, say a foot or so and holding back we control the speed of the bait through the swim, or stop it periodically to trigger a bite.

Try to keep an open mind and avoid getting bogged down on favorites with floats, one size suits all doesn’t get it. Every river is different as are the flows from day to day. Carefully read the river and fish it according to the conditions on the day. You’ll catch more fish and get experienced. One thing that has always worked for me is; “simplicity works best!” Fish aren’t Albert Einsteins and they haven’t got me fooled like some anglers.

Chumming:

Chum for rivers needs to be fairly heavy, neither loose nor solid. Bread-crumbs & cornmeal will disappear as a cloud and might even take your fish further downstream. A heavier real bread base mix is a good start when learning to mix chum, plus it has weight. If your own method-mix is reasonably tight and heavy, try it. With bread, you need to accomplish how to mix the base to the right consistency for tossing to the right place without too much effort and not breaking up in mid-air or on impact. It'll take a while before you're able to get it right and you'll have many frustrating hours getting it to work for you, persevere till you master it. From my position, I can only give directions on what you need & how to do it. Everything will depend on you the chef to get the consistency of the mix right. Above all else, concentrate on the right consistency. If you need more weight there's several ways to increase it. Put a stone in the middle of the ball to be introduced, or mix sand in the mix, mold it round your lead, adding bait samples helps too.

So, what bread do we use? It must be stale and dry. We never use fresh bread except as bait! Ask all your friends & relatives to save their whole wheat bread scraps for you. Tell them it's for chum and you want it dried out, not left in plastic wraps, it goes moldy. The best bread is "stone ground whole wheat", but that is $3.50 per loaf, so I know you won't buy that & dry it out. If you get on the right side of a food store manager, he might give you a big sack of out of date bread before it goes to the pig farmer. If he says no, offer to buy it cheaply. Or you can buy the cheaper wheat when on sale for a $1.00. Unwrap it & toss it into brown paper bags and store in a warm dry place. Every day or so, shake the bag up to bring the slices at the bottom to the top to stop it from molding. When it's all hard & dry, store the slices in something like a plastic box, or bucket with a sealed lid. Once bread is hard & dry it'll last for 100 years, that's plenty of time to use it. I have a method of storing fresh soft bread baits that last for years, but that’s a secret and I’m not telling how. Collect some cheapo white bread and dry out the same way. You'll need this to make your own bread-crumbs.

Whenever possible, make a chum mix to withstand a controlled smooth swing out on the rod & line with a lead inside for weight. This is the most accurate way to chum, 'coz when it reaches the bottom, you strike it off and the chum will be precisely where you want it. You could say on the end of the fish’s nose. None of this will scare the fish, quite the opposite, they fight each other for the bait, and you'll get very positive bites.

Okay, we've got lots of hard stale bread stashed in plastic buckets and today we're going fishing and we'll be chumming with bread and samples of hook bait.

Fill a couple of plastic shopping bags with dry whole wheat bread, we're taking it "as is" to the river. You'll also need a fine mesh nylon bag with a draw string neck and cord (from camping supply shops) to soak the bread in. When fully saturated, using your hands, squeeze out all the water of 2-3 slices at a time. Place the whole lot in a bucket and thoroughly mash up the bread. Nylon collapsible mixing bowls complete with carrying straps are better than a bucket, unless you want to sit on it. After thoroughly mixing, gradually add some dry breadcrumbs to the mix as a stiffener until you judge it will stay together during flight & falling thru the water column, but only just. Adjust the consistence of the mix by adding water or breadcrumbs until it works for you. Flavors should be added at the first mixing process, other ingredients & bait samples last.

Chum is just a medium to titillate the fish’s senses & offer them your bait. Experiment until you're happy with results. Confidence in what you create is essential when chumming. Getting it right can make or break the days fishing.

Now the tricky bit many anglers screw-up on, exactly where to put the chum. Again, nothing is cut & dried. The river can be different from day to day, time of year etc. even in the same swims. This is why mixing the chum at the river scores over mixing at home. We make the mix per the conditions, plus you're using river water, not from the tap. If doing a pre-chum for a couple of days prior to fishing, it might be easier to mix at home and take some dry to add in case it needs stiffening up. You'll need to chum upstream but how far? Depends on several factors, depth, current speed, & how far you plan to trot the bait. Unless you have experience of the swim it will be trial & error.

A little trick to judge the current speed is to throw a stick into the head of the swim & watch it go downstream. Count how many seconds the stick takes to complete the course. Bear in mind the surface flow is fastest and the bottom might be half that. Deep swims equate a much slower pace on the riverbed.

Wearing polarized sun-glasses, place a ball of chum say 10 yards upstream and watch where it lands & how it breaks up on descent. Ideally, it wants to land on the bottom at the head of the swim or slightly below to ensure you’re chumming the entire length of the swim. If it lands too far down or too soon adjust the surface landing spot. Slightly above the swim is better, the current will eventually carry it thru the swim. On the other hand you might want the chum to collect in a depression or hump at the end of the swim, thus creating a feeding hot spot, throw further downstream. According to how the chum breaks up on landing & descent, the consistency will need adjusting. It shouldn't land in a solid lump or explode too soon and be swept waaaaaay downstream. None of this is hard to achieve but it will take patience & judgment before that certain magic happens where your judgment becomes more right than wrong.

This is how to make poor-mans white bread-crumbs. Put some hard dry stale white bread into a box say 16'’ x 16"x 8"on a solid surface, using a 4-7 lb hammer standing on its head. Smash the bread and reduce it to fine & large breadcrumbs, then transfer them to a 1/8th mesh nylon bag and sieve them into a bucket, throw the larger stuff back in the box, add more bread and keep smashing, repeating the process until it's all reduced to fine crumbs. Put into gallon Ziploc bags ready to go fishing. You can pre-make tons of crumbs and store in clean 5 gal buckets with well sealed lids. Don't reduce the stale whole wheat chum mix to bread to crumbs, leave in whole slices until ready for use.

Note: If you decide to use white bread instead of whole wheat as base mix, you will need plenty of bran in the mix to help stiffen and break up in the water. It is very difficult to squeeze water from white bread by hand. Without roughage to break it up, it’s unlikely you’ll get the consistency right and it’ll look like sludge on the riverbed.

All the above is very basic. Once you get the hang of it, over time your float-fishing skills & chumming from the riverbank will get much more inventive & sophisticated.

I hope this small amount of information will help gain your confidence to float-fish rivers. If you truly fish center-pins, you'll have more fun than most anglers can only dream of.

My 2 original Alcocks Arials have helped me catch 1000's of carp to 25 lbs plus from rivers during my 25 years living in America.

The ultimate way of float-fishing in rivers is from a boat, but that’s a different story.

Have fun, and may your next fish be your best.

Don’t catch ‘em all. Terry Mardell aka T-angles

This section will now replace our articles section in the outer website.

he rigs we use in pay-lakes are fairly much all the same. The differences would be the sizes. We use 3-way swivels, slip sinkers, beads to protect the knot and hooks that are in the size you prefer. I like to use a 3/0 brass 3-way swivel (you can use 2/0 or 4/0), the slip sinkers I use are ¼ ounce egg sinkers (any style or size of slip sinker up to ¾ ounce is used). Almost all lakes require a sinker to be used. The bead I use is a 10mm clear glass bead to protect the knot. Hooks are again personal preference, size 4 to 2/0 are the most commonly used. Many use Eagle Claw 1/0 double leaders. My preference is sizes 1/0 or 2, Eagle Claw wide bend, offset, plain shank and ringed eye. I tie my own leaders with the Trilene 17lb test, length being 3 to 4 inches on the leader.

Why bother? Well it's a good long range, anti-tangle set up. Again I'm not going to debate the merits and variations ( as usual there are slightly different ways to skin this cat ), rather illustrate how it's tied and leave the debate for another time.

This rig can be bought in ready to assemble kits and I would recommend these as they're usualy safer. However I don't think its so bizarre and specialised that it can't be made without the custom made components either.

The kit I'm using here is by Korda. Here are the components.

1. Rig tubing

2. Lead weight

3. Buffer bead

4. Rubber bead

5. Swivel bead ( a wide bore swivel will do the job as well )

6. Tail rubber

7. Leader ( stiff leaders work best - I've used coated braid here ) Apologies - the leader shouldn't have a swivel on it

Step 1

Thread your mainline through the tubing and push a tight fitting rubber bead over the tubing.

Step 2

Thread the tail rubber onto your leader and tie the leader to the swivel bead.

Step 3

Push the tail rubber onto the swivel bead and slide the swivel bead onto the tubing. Then thread your buffer bead onto the tubing.

Step 4

Tie the lead weight to the mainline and slide everything nice and tightly together. Job done

I'm using the korda ( before anyone asks no I don't work for them ) method feeder, since it has a the right size clip socket for my swivels.

So, thread it together as per an inline lead

And clip the swivel into the socket at the bottom end of the feeder to create the semi-fixed bolt rig setup.

Job done

COMPONENTS

I've checked their site and while Wacker Bait don't have Korda feeders, the Fox and Anchor method feeder are available and work in exactly the same way. All other components I've used are available there as well ( no I don't work for them either! ) incuding safety bolt rig kits, tubing and inline leads. Its well worth checking with them about getting the correct size swivels for individual method feeders. Size 8 swivels are usualy the right size for inline leads in my experience.

Starting with one of the most widely used set-ups, the Bolt Rig.

The principle is simple ( see below. )

In Step 1, the fish picks up your hookbait on a slack leader, taking with it the hook..

In Step 2, as the carp moves away the leader tightens and the weight of the lead comes into play. The carp 'bolts' ( hence the name ) and the weight of the lead helps pull the hook home.

Right, here's how to construct a simple in-line bolt rig.

First you need your components.

OK this is what I'm using here ( ps this just my own personal preferences - obviously there are other makes and types etc. ) My rig here consists of 8" Kryston Snakebite leader with a size 8 Fox Uni-swivel to a size 8 CarpRus Longshank hook tied with a hair rig. 3oz Fox inline lead, tail rubber and 12" sink tubing ( your tubing must always be longer than your leader, about 1.5 times the length is ideal. )

Step 1: Thread your mainline through the tubing and then thread on the tail rubber, which must slip over the end of the tubing.

Step 2: Thread on your weight, attaching it to the tail rubber.

Step 3: Take your leader swivel and push it into the rubber or plastic housing. This is an essential move, since this housing creates the 'semi - fixed rig' set-up essential to a bolt rig. IT MUST NOT be jammed in too tightly so that if the line breaks or the lead gets snagged up the swivel can be pulled free of the lead. At the same time if the swivel can come free too easily when the carp picks up the hookbait the bolt rig effect is lost as the weight of the lead will not come into play.

Step 4: Push the housing into the lead weight and there you have it.

Just want to re-iterate the 'semi - fixed rig' thing. The important thing here is that the weight is fixed to the leader so the weight helps drive the hook home. But it is important that the swivel can come free under pressure. If, for example, a mainline break occurs it is important that the leader can come free of the weight so that it is not going to have to drag around a length of line attached to a lead weight. This will often eventualy kill the fish, why such fixed rigs ( for example, tying the lead weight to a mainline ) are known as 'death rigs'. Its important to get a balance whereby the swivel is fixed enough to the weight to allow the 'bolt rig' efect and loose enough to pull free in an emergency.

Next ( when time allows ) I'll show you a variant of the bolt rig using a 'safety clip' setup.

Tight lines

Especially for the CAG website, I created a boilie mix composer. With this simple Excel tool, one can easily calculate the

composition of a boilie mix in terms of percentages of Carbohydrates, Protein and Fat content. In addition, it’s easy to see what the

ultimate hardness of the boilie would be, how easy it is to process the boilie mix and to what extent boilies have a short or long term

attractiveness to carp.

Hardness: Scores vary between 25 and 100, with 100 being a very hard boilie that lasts a long time in the water without

getting soft

Processing: Scores around 25-50 mean boilies are very difficult to process. The dough may be very sticky, spongy and

especially with rolling tables difficult to process. A score of a 100 means you created a boilie makers dream dough composition.

Instant Response: In general, I am assuming that high Carbohydrate boilies lead to a high instant response (with a score

between 75 and 100) and would be very useful in short term campaigns without time to pre-bait. High Protein boilies which will score

around 50-75, are more useful to be baited up with in the longer run.

So how does it work: Simply fill in the ounces of ingredients that you will be using in the base-mix. There are 30 main

boilie ingredients to choose from. For those people who have some specific boilie ingredients they would like to include, please send me

a pm or e-mail and I’ll see if I can update the Boilie Calculator.

In addition you have to add the special ingredients such as eggs, sugar, salt, oil, powder additives (f.e. chili powder) and

flavors. I used the weight of an “average” egg of 2.29 ounce. Just fill in the number of eggs you will need in your mix in the green cell

(in my case I often work with an average of 0.39 eggs per ounce of dry mix, but this will very much depend on the exact composition of

the mix). In case you use smaller or bigger eggs, you can manually overwrite the total egg weight in ounces in the blue cell.

And that’s it really. Have a look at it and tell me if you would like something changed. Of course the exact protein/fat/carb

content will differ somewhat depending on the supplier and quality of the ingredients. So don’t see it as an exact science. It’s a tool

that might give you a better idea of the composition of your boilies, especially for starting boilie makers. Of course you could also

apply it for dough balls (with the exception of the “hardness” factor).

If you put the number of eggs at zero, you can also check the composition of any individual ingredient. Let me know if you would

happen to disagree with a particular composition. This is still the first version and I’m sure there will be quite a few changes in the

future.

Note for the high protein freaks: do you see how difficult it is to get to a very high protein level (f.e. above 60%) if you

keep using whole eggs in your boilies? There is simply a too low protein contents in whole eggs. It might be better to start using egg

powder and egg albumin instead. Or accept a lower protein contents in the 40-50% ranges (which in my view would be more than enough

anyhow).

Have fun!

Mario Kok

Monterrey, Mexico, via Holland

<TABLE BORDER=3 WIDTH=550 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=3 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><td>STATE</td><td>ANGLER</td><td>DATE</td><td>WEIGHT</td><td>WATER</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>NEVADA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Sep 1960</td><td>2to3lbs</td><td>Lake Mead</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Apr 15, 1981</td><td>15lbs-6ozs</td><td>Lake Mead</td></TR></TABLE><p>The Walters' ambitious/improbable fishin' mission had its actual beginning in September of 1960 with Frank's catch of six carp in some now forgotten cove of Lake Mead in southern Nevada. Frank was not aware of it at that momentous point in his life, but that stringer of six "NEVADA CARP" marked the inception of the quest to catch a carp in all 50 States. Nevada became the 1st State to be entered on the carp - caught - in -list. Narda's first "State Carp" was brought to the net in 1981, and the 15 pound plus lunker earned for her a Nevada Trophy Fish Award and a Fenwick Master Angler award. </p><TABLE BORDER=3 WIDTH=550 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=3 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><td>STATE</td><td>ANGLER</td><td>DATE</td><td>WEIGHT</td><td>WATER</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>UTAH</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>April 29, 1981</td><td>not recorded</td><td>Lake Powell</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>May 29, 2002</td><td>10 lbs - 9 ozs</td><td>Willard Reservoir</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>INDIANA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Aug 9, 1992</td><td>4 lbs</td><td>Lake George</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Aug 24, 2000</td><td>2lbs - 2 ozs</td><td>Lake George</td></TR><TR><TD ALIGN=center>OREGON</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Sep 11, 1992</td><td>11 lbs</td><td>John Day River</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>WASHINGTON</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Sep 25, 1992</td><td>25 lbs *</td><td>Potholes Reservoir</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Sep 25, 1992</td><td>9lbs - 8 ozs</td><td>Potholes Reservoir</td></tr><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>NEW MEXICO</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Apr 5, 1994</td><td>4 lbs</td><td>Rio Grande River</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Apr 5, 1994</td><td>4 lbs - 8 ozs</td><td>Rio Grande River</td></TR></TABLE><center>* personal best</center><p>The catching of the "New Mexico Carp" was done specifically to add another State to Frank's list of States in which he had caught a carp, and can be considered to be the official onset of "CARP FISHIN" the USA" as a viable fishin'mission. </p><TABLE BORDER=3 WIDTH=550 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=3 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><td>STATE</td><td>ANGLER</td><td>DATE</td><td>WEIGHT</td><td>WATER</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>COLORADO</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>May 2, 1996</td><td>5lbs</td><td>John Martin Reservoir - CAG Fish-In</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>May 23, 1997</td><td>8 lbs - 2 ozs</td><td>Lions Pond</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>ILLINOIS</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Jun 2, 1996</td><td>19 lbs</td><td>Highland Lake - CAG Fish-In</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Sep 29, 2000</td><td>6 lbs -12 ozs</td><td>Chicago River - CAG Fish-In</td></TR><TR><TD ALIGN=center>MISSOURI</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Jun 21, 1996</td><td>0lbs-12ozs</td><td>Creve Coeur Lake</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>ARIZONA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Jul 3, 1996</td><td>4lbs -10 ozs</td><td>Lake Mead - AZ shore</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Apr 12, 1997</td><td>9lbs</td><td>Lake Mead - AZ shore</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>IDAHO</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Jul 18, 1996</td><td>10 lbs - 6 ozs</td><td>Snake River</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Jun 5, 2002</td><td>2 lbs-8 ozs</td><td>Snake River</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>MONTANA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>July 19,1996</td><td>4lbs</td><td>Musselshell River</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>July 19,1996</td><td>10 lbs</td><td>Musselshell River</td></TR> <TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>WYOMING</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Jul 22, 1996</td><td>16 lbs</td><td>Boysen Reservoir</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Jul 22, 1996</td><td>6lbs - 8 ozs</td><td>Boysen Reservoir</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>CALIFORNIA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Aug 10, 1996</td><td>4lbs</td><td>Big Bear Lake</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Jul 11, 2001</td><td>11 lbs-2 ozs</td><td>Clear Lake</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>SOUTH DAKOTA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Sep 13, 1996</td><td>3 lbs - 8 ozs</td><td>Angostura Reservoir</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Sep 13, 1996</td><td>3 lbs</td><td>Angostura Reservoir</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>TEXAS</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Mar 31, 1997</td><td>14 lbs-6 ozs</td><td>White Rock Lake</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>March 29, 2002</td><td>31 lbs-13 ozs*</td><td>Town Lake - CAG Event</td></TR> <TR><TD ALIGN=center>OKLAHOMA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>May 17, 1997</td><td>9 lbs</td><td>Cleveland Lake</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>KANSAS</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>May 20, 1997</td><td>4 lbs - 6 ozs</td><td>Arkansas River-KC</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>May 21, 1997</td><td>3lbs - 6 ozs</td><td>Arkansas River-KC</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>NEBRASKA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Aug 6, 1997</td><td>16 lbs-7 ozs</td><td>Lake Ogallala</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Aug 7,1997</td><td>10 lbs-2 ozs</td><td>Lake Ogallala</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>ALABAMA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Oct 11,1997</td><td>16 lbs</td><td>Tennessee River</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Oct 11,1997</td><td>9 lbs-3 ozs</td><td>Tennessee River</td></TR></TABLE><center>* personal best</center><p>The State of Alabama marked the Walters' first encounter of a hookin' kind with the species known as Grass Carp. Fishing in Ketona Lake, Narda managed to entice a grass carp to the hook which weighed-in at 13lbs - 7 ozs. Frank managed to net his first grasser weighing 12 lbs..</p> <TABLE BORDER=3 WIDTH=550 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=3 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><td>STATE</td><td>ANGLER</td><td>DATE</td><td>WEIGHT</td><td>WATER</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>TENNESSEE</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Oct 14, 1997</td><td>2 lbs-12 ozs</td><td>Cordell Hull Lake</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Oct 14, 1997</td><td>5 lbs</td><td>Cordell Hull Lake</td></TR></TABLE><p>December of 1997 brought a complete halt to the fishin' mission. Frank's adult son was critically injured in a vehicular accident and required Frank and Narda's undivided care and attention in order to return him from complete paralysis to a nearly fully functional fisherman. August of 2000 brought a resumption of "CARP FISHIN' the USA" with their traveling to Bob Bernowski's Buckeye Lake. Outstanding carpin' resulted in their adding the "Ohio Carp" as the 22nd State on their carp-caught-in-list.</p><TABLE BORDER=3 WIDTH=550 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=3 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><td>STATE</td><td>ANGLER</td><td>DATE</td><td>WEIGHT</td><td>WATER</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>OHIO</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Aug 27, 2000</td><td>10 lbs</td><td>Buckeye Lake</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Aug 27, 2000</td><td>11 lbs-4 ozs</td><td>Buckeye Lake</td></TR><TR><TD ALIGN=center>NORTH CAROLINA</TD><TD>Narda</TD><td>Sep 1, 2000</td><td>1 lb - 9 ozs</td><td>High Rock Lake</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>SOUTH CAROLINA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Sep 2, 2000</td><td>2 lbs-9 ozs</td><td>Lake Hartwell</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Sep 2, 2000</td><td>3 lbs - 5 ozs</td><td>Lake Hartwell</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>GEORGIA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Sep 3, 2000</td><td>1 lb</td><td>Lake Hartwell</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Sep 3, 2000</td><td>2 lbs-1 ozs</td><td>Lake Hartwell</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>WISCONSIN</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Oct 1, 2000</td><td>20 lbs -12 ozs</td><td>Lake Winnebago</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Oct 1, 2000</td><td>14 lbs - 8 ozs</td><td>Lake Winnebago</td></TR> <TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>KENTUCKY</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Apr 23, 2001</td><td>12 lbs</td><td>Nolin River Lake</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Apr 23, 2001</td><td>14lbs-6ozs</td><td>Nolin River Lake</td></TR><TR><TD ALIGN=center>MARYLAND</TD><TD>Narda</TD><td>Apr 26, 2001</td><td>12 lbs</td><td>Potomac River</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Apr 28, 2001</td><td>17lbs - 7 ozs</td><td>Tidal Basin - CAG Fish-In</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Apr 28, 2001</td><td>5 Lbs-3 ozs</td><td>Potomac River</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>NORTH DAKOTA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>May 31, 2001</td><td>11lbs - 5 ozs</td><td>James River</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>May 31, 2001</td><td>13 lbs-7 ozs</td><td>James River</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>MINNESOTA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Jun 2, 2001</td><td>14 1bs-5 ozs</td><td>Minnesota River</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Jun 2, 2001</td><td>14 lbs-6 ozs</td><td>Minnesota River</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>MASSACHUSETTS</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Aug 25,2001</td><td>6 lbs -10 ozs</td><td>Merrimac River</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Aug 25,2001</td><td>22 lbs-8 ozs</td><td>St. Charles River</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>NEW HAMPSHIRE</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Aug 26,2001</td><td>16 lbs - 12 ozs</td><td>Semi-private Pond</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Aug 26,2001</td><td>11 lbs-4 ozs</td><td>Semi-private Pond</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>CONNECTICUT</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Aug 29, 2001</td><td>12 lbs-10 ozs</td><td>Housatonic River</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Aug 29, 2001</td><td>18 Lbs-12 ozs</td><td>Lake Zoar</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>RHODE ISLAND</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Aug 30, 2001</td><td>l5 lbs</td><td>Lake Tiogue</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Aug 30, 2001</td><td>13 lbs - 4 ozs</td><td>Lake Tiogue</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>VERMONT</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Sep 6, 2001</td><td>5 lbs-9 ozs</td><td></td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Sep 6, 2001</td><td>17 lbs-12 ozs</td><td></td></TR></TABLE><p>The water where the "Vermont Carp" were caught is not included. It is not an oversight, this water is a truly special place to both Frank and Narda and will remain their secret. Your "fishin' mission", should you choose to accept It, IS to locate this quaint and charming; body of water.</p> <TABLE BORDER=3 WIDTH=550 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=3 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><td>STATE</td><td>ANGLER</td><td>DATE</td><td>WEIGHT</td><td>WATER</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>NEW YORK</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Sep 8, 2001</td><td>15 lbs - 9 ozs</td><td>Long Pond</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Sep 8, 2001</td><td>8 lbs - 8 ozs</td><td>Long Pond</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>PENNSYLVANIA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Sep 10, 2001</td><td>6 lbs-15 ozs</td><td>Pymatuning Reservoir</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Sep 10, 2001</td><td>3 lbs-12 ozs</td><td>Pymatuning Reservoir</td></TR></TABLE><p>The year 2001 proved to be outstanding in the course of the Walters' quest. Eleven States and the District of Columbia were added to their carp-caught-in-list. This carp filled year of fishin' and traveling brought their total of "Carp States" to 37. Their fishin' mission was actually taking on the appearance of being "doable".</p><TABLE BORDER=3 WIDTH=550 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=3 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><td>STATE</td><td>ANGLER</td><td>DATE</td><td>WEIGHT</td><td>WATER</td></TR><TR><TD ALIGN=center>DELAWARE</TD><TD>Narda</TD><td>Apr 30, 2002</td><td>3 lbs -12 ozs</td><td>Moore's Lake</td></TR><TR><TD ALIGN=center>NEW JERSEY</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>May 2,2002</td><td> 6lb - 4 ozs</td><td>Delaware & Rariton Canal</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>WEST VIRGINIA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>May 4, 2002</td><td>12 lbs-15 ozs</td><td>Shenandoah River</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>May 4, 2002</td><td>18 lbs-4 ozs</td><td>Shenandoah River</td></TR><TR><TD ALIGN=center>VIRGINIA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>May 5, 2002</td><td>13 lbs</td><td>Shenandoah River, South Fork</td></TR><TR><TD ALIGN=center>FLORIDA</TD><TD>Narda</TD><td>May 10, 2002</td><td>10 lbs -13 ozs</td><td>Golf Course Water Hazard</td></TR></TABLE> <p>The "Florida Carp" was a Grass Carp that was caught after an entire day of stalking these extremely wary denizens of the water hazards on a golf course. The Walters were escorted/guided/chauffeured around to the various ponds on the course by a CAG member from Florida. The grassers did not drop their guard until the sun had set and darkness settled upon the water. The grasser then eagerly slurped down a floating pineapple flavored boilie. </p><TABLE BORDER=3 WIDTH=550 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=3 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><td>STATE</td><td>ANGLER</td><td>DATE</td><td>WEIGHT</td><td>WATER</td></TR><TR><TD ALIGN=center>MISSISSIPPI</TD><TD>Narda</TD><td>May 13, 2002</td><td>4lbs -12 ozs</td><td>Private Lake in Hattiesburg</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>ARKANSAS</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>May 18, 2002</td><td>8 lbs - 6 ozs</td><td>Dardanelle Lake</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>May 18, 2002</td><td>8 lbs - 5 ozs</td><td>Dardanelle Lake</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>IOWA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>May 22, 2002</td><td>6 lbs-1 oz</td><td>Big Creek</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>May 22, 2002</td><td>10 lbs</td><td>Big Creek</td></TR> <TR><TD ALIGN=center>MICHIGAN</TD><TD>Narda</TD><td>Aug 5, 2002</td><td>12 1bs - 13 ozs</td><td>Kent Lake</td></TR><TR><TD ALIGN=center>MAINE</TD><TD>Narda</TD><td>Sep 12, 2002</td><td>13 lbs - 8 ozs</td><td>Kennebec River</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>HAWAII</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>Jan 30, 2003</td><td>3 lbs - 13 ozs</td><td>Oahu Cemetery Pond</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>Jan 30, 2003</td><td>7 lbs-5 ozs</td><td>Oahu Cemetery Pond</td></TR><TR><TD ROWSPAN="2" ALIGN=center>LOUISIANA</TD><TD>Frank</TD><td>May 13, 2003</td><td>1 lbs - 2 ozs</td><td>Spanish Lake</td></TR><TR><TD>Narda</TD><td>May 13, 2003</td><td>1 lbs - 8 ozs</td><td>Spanish Lake</td></TR></TABLE> <p>The enticing to the hook of the "Louisiana Carp" brought the Walters' seemingly improbable fishin' mission to within one State of completion. Only the "Alaska Carp" remains uncaught. It is rumored that there are "NO CARP IN ALASKA". The Walters will journey to Alaska in late August, 2003. They vow to net and photograph whichever species comes closest to qualifying as the" ALASKA CARP".</p> <p>The Walters were graciously assisted and often guided by many Carp Anglers Group members without whose assistance the "fishin' mission" would be much further from completion. This gracious and readily extended assistance, stories in and of themselves, caused their quest to become more about the meeting, fishing, and sharing of their adventure with the people and CAG members of the various States. Without their guidance and readily shared knowledge of local fishing conditions, the Walters could not have accomplished this prodigious adventure. The Walters offer a deeply sincere THANK YOU to all who shared in their quest. Naming names could result in inadvertently overlooking someone, an inexcusable error. You know who you are, and your contribution is deeply appreciated. Individual tales or a book will one day properly document the Walters experiences along this fascinating trail of carpin' adventures. The individuals who aided us along the way shall receive full and proper acknowledgement at that point in time. In conclusion, the Walters encourage one and all to fit into your busy lives and schedules as much of your own carpin' time in the pursuit of your own individual "fishin' mission". </p></td><td WIDTH="35"></td></tr></table>

Prior to 1900, native North American fish were viewed as vital natural resources. Most of the fish we regard today as sport fish were harvested commercially by the millions of pounds. They were shipped by rail to markets where they were an important food source for a growing population. This was before the advent of refrigeration and communities relied on 'ice house' preservation. Harvested were the basses, sunfish, crappies, pike, walleye, perch, lake trout, and sturgeon. Also coarse fish such as freshwater drum, buffalo fish, catfish, suckers, bullheads and others.

The results of large harvests were declining stocks of lake and river fishes at a time when the population was expanding. To answer these concerns the U.S. Congress authorized President Ulysses S. Grant to appoint the US Fish Commission in 1871 to oversee the nation's fisheries interests. Among the first tasks was to consider what species to introduce to bolster the nations supply of food fishes. By 1874 the commission after long study issued a report entitled "Fishes Especially worthy of Cultivation" It went on to say that no other species except the carp, promises so great a return in limited waters. Cited were advantages over such fish as black bass, trout, grayling and others " because it is a vegetable feeder, and although not disdaining animal matters can live on vegetation alone and can attain large weight kept in small ponds and tanks".

In 1876 the commission enumerated other good qualities such as high fecundity (a count of ripe eggs in the female fish), adaptability to artificial propagation, hardiness of growth, adaptability to environmental conditions unfavorable to equally palatable species, rapid growth, harmlessness in relation to fish of other species, ability to populate waters to it's greatest extent, and fine table qualities. By 1877 citing the above reasons and adding 'there is no reason why time should be lost with less proved fishes' the commission convinced of the value of carp imported 345 fishes of scaled, mirror and leather carp from German aquaculturists. On May 26th they were placed in the Druid Hill Park ponds in Baltimore Maryland. The ponds proved inadequate and some were transferred to the Babcock lakes on the monument lot in Washington, D.C.

So did they somehow escape from these confines to populate nearly everywhere? No. Now the state governments get involved. Records indicate in 1879, about 6.203 fingerlings were produced in the Babcock Lakes. These were shipped to 273 applicants in 24 states. About 6000 fingerlings were produced in the Druid Hill ponds that year and were stocked primarily in Maryland. One year later, 31,332 carp were shipped to 1,374 applicants. In 1882 carp production increased to 143,696 fish, distributed in small lots to 7,000 applicants. In 1883 about 260,000 carp were sent to 9,872 applicants in 298 of 301 congressional districts and into 1,478 counties. During the years 1879-1896 the US Fish Commission distributed 2.4 million carp, some of which were sent to Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Mexico. By 1897 the Commission discontinued the stocking because carp had been distributed nearly everywhere and many states assumed the task of propagation and stocking of carp.

Within several years many states were involved in the propagation and stocking of millions of carp. The Ohio State Fish Commission stocked tributaries of Lake Erie. Every major river in Illinois was stocked. Fish rescue missions from 1890-1920 conducted by various states and the US fish Commission stocked hundreds of lakes and rivers, particularly into the Midwestern region of the US. In a few short years the effort to introduce the resource of carp had been successful. Newspapers and magazines lauded the importance to the food industry and the bright future of all citizens eating carp.

Commercial production started in the 1900's. During the decade after World War II, annual catches reached 36 million pounds. Many prominent restaurants and hotels served carp on the menu. Restaurants of the Waldorf and Astoria listed "Carp in Rhine Wine Sauce"

Following World War II the saltwater commercial fishing industry captured a major portion of the fishing market by consolidating and modernizing operations This resulted in tremendous productions of ocean fish and improvements in processing, packaging ,shipping and storage and a reduction in operating costs. At a time when the oceans were perceived as pure and our rivers were becoming polluted, contributed among other factors to the decline of carp as a food fish.

History demonstrates that the federal and state governments of the US undertook a massive effort to install the carp in all of our waters from coast to coast in an effort that no other country has ever embarked upon. History also indicates that American anglers in great numbers lead the world today in the history of carp angling since the earliest turn of the century. Generations of anglers have enjoyed the carp as a sport or food fish. History also indicates that the carp found in our many waters did not escaped the ponds of long ago carp farmers, as the myth is told, but were placed carefully for our angling benefit by thoughtful government agencies.

Al Kowaleski

CAG Historian

Mulberries come in a variety of colors and sizes and they are all effective baits. They come in white, purple and pink. Some trees hold large oval shaped ones that are as wide as quarters while other trees have smaller ones less than the size of dimes. Carp love them regardless of color or size.

Look for large mulberry trees that overlook the water. In this case we have a large tree with large, white mulberries. As the berries begin to fall, carp will become conditioned to feed right under the tree. Mulberries can come in purple, white and pink colors.

Timing is an important issue as the mulberry hatch lasts for only about three weeks. Here in southern New England, mulberries will begin to grow on trees in late spring. By early summer (third to fourth week of June here), ripe berries will begin to drop from the trees. For about three weeks, it will be a steady drop of carp food. I’ve seen the shoreline covered in a white or purple carpet of countless berries. The water can be a slick. It’s a feast just begging for hungry carp.

I’ve spent many hours just searching for these trees in early springtime. I know that if I find one along carp waters it will be a hotspot to treasure. I find mulberry trees by walking shorelines and river banks, paddling around lakes in my kayak and through word of mouth. Other carp fishermen are also prospecting for this pot of gold.

Here’s how to hook mulberries. Simply hook through the center of the berry with a #6 or #8 hook. A large berry usually floats on the water. If you want it to sink, squeeze it gently.

Fishing with mulberries is a simple approach compared to other types of high tech, complex carp fishing methods. When berry fishing I leave the alarms, rod pods and hair rigs at home in favor of a simple set up. I will rig up a short spinning rod with a good reel that is spooled with eight or ten pound test monofilament. The light line is needed to cast the berry and the short rod is for tight spots under and around trees. At the end of the line, I will tie a #6 or #8 hook depending on the size of the berry I am using. The hook is simply impaled into the berry. Note that fresh berries picked from a tree are more firm and better to use than those that have fallen on the ground. Fish the berry near its source, usually right under or around a tree. Carp become conditioned to feed in this location.

Here’s a trick of the berry trade. Most large mulberries will float once they are hooked. However, if you gently squeeze them once they are on the hook, they will sink. That becomes an important key to this type of fishing. If carp are whirling and grabbing berries on the surface, go with a floater. However, if no fish are showing, use a sinking berry since many times the fish will stay below the surface near the bottom.

Your sense of observation is important in this type of fishing. Much of this is sight fishing. You can usually spot fish feeding below mulberry trees. Those feeding on top will subtly move along the surface with open lips. At times, you may only see their lips breaking the surface. Under the surface, dark shadows may dart about in search of berries that are sinking or those that are resting on the bottom.

The berry fishing technique is so natural that most fish will not even know they are grabbing your offering. When fishing sinking berries, I like to keep a close watch on my slack line (bail can be fished open or closed). Carp will usually gently take the berry followed by a slow run. There is usually no bolt in panic as they often do when feeling the hook on baits fished with a hair rig. A simple pull will usually hook a fish as the rod will pull the hook from the soft bait into the fish’s lips or mouth area.

The author likes to fish with mulberries on rainy and stormy days. During those times, berries will be falling in great numbers. This good sized mirror was caught by the author in the Blackstone River in northern RI.

Realize that fish under a mulberry tree will quickly wise up to what is going on and they can get wary mighty quickly. “Smart” fish begin to realize that berries with a hook in them sink at a faster rate than natural ones. They may begin to bump a hooked bait to see how it reacts. Fussy fish may prefer bait that is just sitting on the bottom over one that is floating. Often times a hooked fish will also spook the feeding crowd in the area with its splashing and churning in the water. However, the feeders usually return when the commotion calms down. It may take a short period of time, but the ones that return are usually more cautious.

Weather can greatly affect berry fishing. I love to hit my favorite spots on a windy, rainy or stormy day. Those types of conditions will cause mulberries to fall like hailstones in a thunderstorm. The more a tree shakes, the more berries that fall. Stormy days often lead to a feeding frenzy along with nonstop action. On calm days, you may need to chum with berries that have fallen on the ground to get the fish interested in feeding. Shady spots and conditions of low light (early morning and evening) are also best.

Strange things can happen when mulberries fall. One of my best berry spots that I fish actually has no tree near the water. This place is located on the Blackstone River in northern RI. About a hundred yards from the river along a main road is a huge tree with large purple mulberries. Right under the tree along the road’s curbing is a drain.

The author displays a large mirror of 16 lbs. that was taken on a mulberry fished on the bottom. The tree above the fish and angler is a mulberry tree.

The drain leads into a pipe that empties the street run-off along with thousands of fallen berries into the river every time there is a heavy rain. It’s chum line that the carp in this section of the river know well during a heavy rain. Berries are just pouring out of the drainpipe and large mirror carp will just stack up here waiting for the catering service to arrive. All I have to do is flip a berry into the drain’s current, and it is a hook-up on just about every cast. In this spot I have had many rainy days with upwards of a dozen fish into the high teens. During times of no rain, there are few fish here.

There is about a three week window of opportunity to fish mulberries for carp in most areas of the country. It is one of those unique ways to fish, and a very effective one also. If you find a good sized mulberry tree near the water, expect phenomenal action. You may end up walking away from it in a daze just whispering to yourself, “too easy”.

Carp, like all fish, are cold blooded so their activity levels and hence appetite are generally affected by the water temperature. I say generally as there are a few exceptions and there are ways that the Carp’s natural behavior can be influenced by the angler………read on.

LOCATION

An excellent winter swim. Overhanging trees, sheltered bay and a gravel bar running from the bushes on the right to the island middle left.

I’m sure nobody will disagree that the most important factor in successful Carping at any time of year is location. It’s no good fishing 100’s of yards from the nearest fish no matter how good your tackle or bait is – you might just as well be at home with your feet up! Location becomes even more critical in winter as the cold temperatures will make the Carp less inclined to roam great distances in search of food. In fact they may not roam at all preferring instead to find an area where they are comfortable and can conserve energy.

However if you are diligent or lucky enough to find one of these holding areas you can actually enjoy even better sport than during the warmer months – certainly it can be more predictable as the fish will be found in the same location throughout the winter. There’s also a big plus to be mentioned here – in my experience winter Carp weigh on average more than they do during the summer, I guess in part because they are not tearing around burning off energy and hence don’t use up their fat reserves. As an example I caught a 23lb mirror first day of the old UK fishing season (16th June) and caught the same fish again in November at 26lb 14oz. That’s about a 15% weight difference. Frequently they also look even more beautiful in the winter months – somehow they don’t look so tired. Anyway, back to the plot………

I’m going to assume here that you’re not cheating and using one of those echo sounder fish finders but are instead relying on good old fashioned water craft (sorry Phil – in truth it’s just I can’t afford one). Here are a few tips as to where you should search out fish:

* Look for areas protected from the cold winds. My best results have come from areas behind islands or in quiet bays. Conversely areas on the end of warmer winds can be good places to search for fish.

* Look for areas of deep water adjacent to shelves or steep drop offs. Water is unique in that below 3.8 degrees centigrade it becomes less dense and rises to the surface (that’s why water at 0 degrees freezes on the surface and not from the bottom up). Therefore in really cold conditions the warmest water will be in the deep holes. However, shallower water will warm up quicker during mild periods. Therefore deep water near shallower shelves or plateau gives the Carp the best of both worlds – reasonable comfort during very cold spells and the opportunity to move to shallow water if the sun comes out and all without having to travel very far and use up that precious energy.

* Weed beds or areas of vegetation. Carp are always attracted to weed or reeds but even more so in winter. They’ll sit in the stuff. The theory is that the dead, rotting vegetation generates a little warmth. It may be only a fraction of a degree but it’s often enough to make that area just a bit more comfortable than the surrounding area. Also the greatest concentration of natural food will more than likely be in these areas so should the Carp fancy a quick feed it won’t need to work to hard for it. I used to fish a lake in the winter that wouldn’t yield a take unless your bait was placed literally inches from the reed beds that lined one bank. The fish would not poke more than their head out of the reeds to take a bait.

* Slack areas during times of flood. So far I have really only described areas of location in lakes or slow moving water. One of the exceptions I spoke of above involves the Carp’s necessity to become active when rising water levels make it impossible to hold station against strong flows. In these conditions the fish will search out quieter areas where they don’t have to fight to remain comfortable and will use energy in doing so making them more inclined to feed.

* Over hanging trees, bushes, other bank side vegetation and bridges etc. This is one of those areas that sometimes even hold fish when the water is comparatively shallow beneath the branches but it’s often difficult to present a bait there! On waters that freeze, areas under trees or bridges etc will often be the last places to ice over suggesting the water is fractionally warmer in these areas or at least protected from the severe effects of frost.

* Warm water outflows or springs. If you’re really lucky you’ll know of the location of warm water outflows from factories, power stations etc you could be on the one spot in miles where the fish will congregate and feed consistently. To a lesser degree this applies to fresh water springs in lakes as the water coming from deep underground may be just slightly warmer than the rest of the lake.

* Pick a water with Carp in it!! Might sound stupid but don’t waste your time on a water with only a few fish in it. Carp fishing can be tough enough during the warmer months let alone giving yourself a headache trying to catch during the winter.

* Move to California. Only joking!!

On rivers particularly there are other areas that can be productive but I have limited experience of these so have concentrated in the main on still water. Any one of the above areas could be holding spots but find areas that have two or more of these features – especially if there are no similar features for some distance around – and you could have discovered a gold mine. By far the most successful winter swim I ever found was behind an island away from cold winds, adjacent to weed and reed beds with deepish water either side of a shallow gravel plateau. I only blanked once fishing that swim the entire winter!

23.6 common in mid January after a long spell of settled mild weather.

BAIT

I have already said that Carp feed less in the winter due to the fact that they are less active. The conventional wisdom is therefore find the fish but don’t overfeed them or you could turn them off for weeks. Single hook baits with high flavor levels or very light feeding is generally the recommendation. However I’m going to say there is an exception to this rule and this is where the Carp’s natural behavior can be influenced by the angler.

If you are lucky enough to live close to your favorite Carp water then keep the bait going in all winter long. It helps if you put the bait in a spot such as those described above but I’m convinced that an otherwise unattractive area can become a holding spot if the fish become accustomed to food going in regularly. I know of a lake back in the UK which is in a popular winter vacation spot where the kids feed the ducks all year round. The Carp have got wise to this and even in the coldest weather they will compete with the ducks for the bread. It’s like the constant availability of food keeps them actively feeding when otherwise they would slow down as the temperature drops.

Brother Adam with a common taken on a single high flavor boilie on a cold frosty morning

A word of caution here, it’s no good receiving this newsletter in January and deciding to start a baiting campaign – you cannot reactivate Carp that have already had their metabolism slowed down with the onset of winter, your bait will likely sit on the bottom and rot. However take this as early advice for next year and keep introducing bait from September onwards!! I don’t mean going to the water once every couple of weeks to throw in a bucket load – I mean going once every two or three days and throwing in a few carefully positioned handfuls. I’m a firm believer in the little and often approach when ever I fish but even more so in the winter - enough to keep them active but not too much as to overfeed them. I used to feed trout pellets and fish boilie over the top but I would imagine corn would work fine. In all honesty I’m going to be bold enough to suggest that I don’t really think it matters what you feed with as long as it’s edible and is introduced in frequent moderation as outlined above.

A small common on a bleak winter day taken on a bait cast tight to the fringe of reeds in the background

WEATHER CONDITIONS

I know we’re talking about winter Carping here but give yourself the best opportunity to catch. The best advice I can give is to go fishing after a settled spell of weather and preferably after a settled spell of mild weather. Others have advised that fishing on the first mild day immediately after a big freeze is a good time as the warming water will stimulate the fish to feed. I’m sure there is logic in this suggestion but for me settled mild weather has always proved to be more productive. I think individual fish become active at different times and the longer the air temperatures are higher than the water temperatures the greater the numbers of Carp will become active and the better the chances of catching.

One thing is for sure don’t waste your time fishing in rapidly falling temperatures in winter as these conditions I have found to be the kiss of death – you’d be better off at home tying rigs.

If I were still in the UK I’d also mention that winter was often one of the only times of the year that you had the chance of having the lake to yourself as winter fishing doesn’t appeal to everybody and the lakes are generally deserted. You don’t exactly have that problem here – the lakes are generally deserted all year round!

Well there you go - hardly the definitive guide to winter Carp fishing but hopefully a few pointers that might help those brave enough try to put a few fish in front of the camera. Good luck!

26.14 mirror in November - up 15% in it's summer weight

Arriving early at the “WWD” (not so warm) on New Year’s Day, the location where we all “concluded” was going to be the only place to land carp at this time of the year. Water: 37 F. Most of the Basin is iced over. We were gonna have to work for fish. Around 1 pm, nothing has been biting. Domm gets the idea to give the Muddy River confluence a look (this is where Domm and Jerome did so well just a couple weeks prior). After a little persuading, 4 crazy NE carpers were off to the Muddy (Jerome, Vinny, Domm, and Bill), with 2 others, Chris and Bob, deciding against it. Making a long story short, we managed nearly 2 dozen carp to 13+lbs in 2 small openings in the ice in just about 3 hours! Water temp: 36 F!!! Could it be possible, ice fishing for carp? We surmised that this was basically just that, and it was a plan to successfully attempt it here, soon.

Myths of winter carp shattered.

The author of the article with a nice mirror carp.

I and many other hardcore, cold climate carpers have fished to varying degrees throughout the long winters, we have to in many cases or acute carpless psychosis sets in. One well believed myth is that carp are attracted to the deepest water during the cold winters (once water dips below 39 F). Over the last 4-5 years, I have personally caught many big carp (from big fish waters) in very shallow water, even during the dead of winter, so I “knew” this wasn’t always the case. I was still surprised there were so many actively feeding carp here at the Muddy, where its only 5’ deep even 100 yds from shore! The next 2 weeks, temps stayed mostly above freezing, enabling me to account for over 100 carp to 24lbs! Water staying mostly around 39 F, the carp continued to be attracted to this confluence.

End of January saw a major cold snap here in the NE, totally shutting off any attempt to open water fish. It wasn’t until the first weekend in February that gave us our opportunity to attempt the “undone”, ice fishing for carp! Now I can’t say it has never been attempted, as there have been catches of carp through the ice, I even managed 2 small fish from a tiny local pond one March. But the importance of this endeavor would be substantial: actual planned ice carping!

Vinny's rod gets a bite

Fran Slasinski, Vinny Jeffreys, Jerome, and myself were ready. Fran and I have been ice fishing for other species for many years (Fran more), Vinny has been out with me many times, but Jerome had never ice fished. First things first, how to tackle hole cutting. These, while smallish carp, are still big fish and standard 6-8” holes just weren’t gonna fly. Fran surmised that his hand held 6” auger would do well if 3 holes were cut in a triangle shape and the centers cut out with a hand chisel. This made sense.

We cut the first 4 holes close to where the action was best during open water, in about 4-5’ of water. Ice was OK, about 7-10” thick, which isn’t bad considering this is a river. I had no traps (type, tips, leans, whatever one calls them), as mine were in NH with my father, so a small rod and reel would do for Vinny and I. Fran cut 2 more holes and had 3 jigging rods (you’re allowed 5 lines through the ice here in MA) and a pair of “type”. The holes were chummed and Vinny stays close to shore and manages a hook-up on corn! Oh no… lost it….but we’re pumped!

Well, nothing for the next hours or so…then Vinny’s shallow hole scores. Vinny is fighting it with a semi-long rod, and awkwardly lands an 8-9lb common. Success at last! After about half an hour, Vinny had to go feed the meters, and Jerome took over his rod watching duties. Guess what…another hit on his hot rod, Jerome lands a 5lb range common! Meanwhile, Fran had several flags on his traps, but none materialized more that just a short chew-n-screw, leading our forward thinkers to surmise that the slight tension of the flag tripping device caused the finicky carp to drop the bait. So, open bails we go…..I managed to hook up with 3 fish and land 2 nice mirrors in 6lb range this way! Again, a few other flags, no fish…we HAD to be right…right? Not too bad for our first time exclusively targeting carp through the ice, 2 commons and 2 mirrors!

Gaeton Dragone fights a carp as father Mike looks on.

Fran, being a bit snakebitten but a true ice warrior, was back the next day to even better results: he managed at least 4-5 carp to over 10lbs, with at least 2 on traps! We weren’t so right afterall, they would take if aggressive enough. Moreover, before the ice left for good, Mike Dragone and Son Gaeton from CT both managed their ice carp! So much learned, only to realize so much we don’t know about our friends below the ice…let me explain.

Work in progress

Now that we have “proven” carp can be targeted through the ice, what now? What do we really know? First and most important, we KNOW carp in any water have to be found in winter. We knew this to a point, anyone who fishes open water in winter realizes how tough it is until you find where they winter. Once found, however, they seem to school tightly, making them much easier than once though to catch during the big chill.

We also surmise that, though open water in winter they can be very active, they were much less active once the ice covered the water. Even in the same locale as open water. I personally believe the lack of oxygen transfer during ice cover has a lot to do with this. They do move and feed, even in the harshest weather, but once ice covers the water, the carp seem to slow even for winter.

A carp is "born" through the ice.

We can, from open water winter experience, assume stable and warming weather has a positive impact on feeding carp in winter. This is usually the case, but we just don’t know if it makes a big difference under the ice.

What about depth? Well, the old adage that carp are only found in deep water in winter is not always true. What then attracted them to this shallow confluence? Well, it could be as simple as an outflow of what seems like run-off water from the city. Only a couple degrees difference, seemed to attract them to such shallow water and stay aggressive even during that cold spell.

We can also assume that a target water should have an abundance of carp in it, as waters with few carp are very tough to find in winter. Plus, lack of competitiveness would have a negative effect on winter carp feeding. The Charles has an overabundance of fish, therefore they have to feed more aggressively in the coldest water to survive.

Vinny Jeffreys with his catch.

What else? What will the winter of 2005, 2006 bring? First winter 20? New records for CAG members? The current ice fishing records from the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame list a 31lb fish for their jigging rod record, and but a 7lb 15ozer for their tip up record. At least the tip record can and should be beat.

This might be the last carping frontier! Ice fishing for carp, is there any other way for us northerners to survive a long winter without picking up a bowling ball?

Smell

A carp’s sense of smell comes through a set of nostrils (called ‘Nares’) located just in front of the eye on either side of the head. The water is channelled through the nostrils by a raised flap of skin in the middle of each Nare and down through a set of thousands of miniscule hairs which can distinguish between sweet, sour, savoury and saline substances. These sensory cells are extremely sensitive, giving the fish a far more acute sense of smell than a human. The fish is trying to detect low levels of chemicals (such as amino acids) that its natural prey such as bloodworm, crustaceans etc. emit into the water. When you consider the carp can detect bloodworm in several inches of silt you can see just how acute it’s sense of smell is. Smell is used by the carp essentially as a long range detection mechanism. As the fish comes closer to the source of the smell the taste buds kick in to action.

Taste

ust like humans carp have a sense of taste via a set of taste buds. However this is where the similarity ends. Like its sense of smell, the carp also have a highly developed sense of taste. In the first place it is important to remember the old maxim that ‘carp don’t have hands’ therefore the carp acts almost like a vacuum cleaner when feeding, using its sense of taste to reject items that it does not want to eat. Furthermore a carp’s taste buds are not just located inside the mouth; carp have taste buds on its barbules, pectoral and pelvic fins, underneath the head and even have a small number of taste buds located along the side of the body. These external sensors allow the carp to more accurately pinpoint the sources of food. Thus the carp smells the bloodworm in a silt bed, swims over the silt and then pinpoints the area within the silt that holds the bloodworm. This silt, along with other detritus, is sucked into the mouth. At this stage the main taste organ on the top of its mouth, the ‘Palatal Organ’, comes into play and traps the food against the bottom of the mouth, with waste such as silt and sand being blown out through the gills. Larger waste items are spat out through the mouth. All this happens in seconds, and it’s estimated that about 97% of what the fish takes into its mouth is ejected. Carp will also clean food items by spitting them out to rinse them and taking it back in. Accepted food items are then passed back to be crushed by the set of pad like teeth at the back of the mouth (the ‘Pharyngeal Teeth.’)

Sight

While we can never quite be sure exactly what a carp sees, its eyes are able to operate in much lower light levels than our own and can also detect a wide spectrum of colours. The position of the eyes on both sides of the head give them a good sideways field of vision, in fact almost 360 degrees ( apart from near the tail ). Above the water their forward vision is quite sensitive to changes in light and movement, so when stalking carp use slow movements, avoid standing out on the skyline and try to blend in with your surroundings ( hence the use of camo clothing! ) Better still approach them from behind. Research has suggested that carp have a total circular window of vision above them of around 97.6 degrees (48.8 degrees on either side of the body from a line drawn vertically through the fish). Outside of this window it’s suggested the carp sees reflections of the bottom of the lake with the water surface acting as a mirror. The eye position also has implications for feeding since carp cannot see items immediately in front of and below their mouths, when it relies on the barbuls’ sense of touch and taste to detect items. A few inches and beyond in front of the mouth however is where the carp’s sense of sight is most acute since it can focus on items using both eyes. Each individual eye can also see reasonably well on both sides of its body round to a few inches either side of the tail.

Hearing

Carp do not have a visible set of ears; rather they are inside of the carp’s body on either side of the head just above the gills. These ears, located at the rear of the brain, consist basically of a fluid filled sac that contains set of tiny hairs on an ear bone (the ‘Otolith’) which detect vibrations in the water outside. The ears are also conncted via a set of bones to the swim bladder, which acts as an amplifier, so all in all the carp has a highly effective aural detection system capable of detecting frequencies from 60 to 6,000 Hz.

Lateral line

Like all fish the carp has a pair of lateral lines the run down the sides of its body. The lateral line is a canal filled with fluid dotted along its length with miniscule openings. Inside this canal are sensory cells called ‘Cupula’, which are jelly like structures with fine hairs branching out of them. These allow the carp to detect water flow direction, vibrations and changes in pressure.

Clearly then a carp has a highly developed set of tools that allow it to survive and flourish. The one conclusion I will draw is that obviously we need to be well aware of just how sensitive a carp is to noise and vibration. I’m forever amazed here when I see anglers using mallets to bang in tent pegs and bank sticks, though less amazed when they complain about how badly the place is fishing! Sound travels alarmingly well under water, so keeping noise and vibrations to a minimum is going to help.

Softly, softly, catchee monkey!

Acknowledgements

‘Strategic Carp Fishing’ – Rob Hughes & Simon Crowe

‘Carp Sense’, Total Carp March – June 2004 – Simon Scott

Author with 22lb. common caught on a “bread fly” while stalking the margins. Photo by the “carpist”.

Fly fishing is a sport that is rich in tradition. Proven techniques, equipment, and fly patterns have been utilized effectively for years. As much as tradition is a part of fly fishing, exploring new materials, techniques, and patterns is what excites many anglers.

Creating new patterns utilizing traditional and modern materials is a very rewarding experience. Carp offer the modern fly angler an opportunity to be creative, and develop unique fly patterns specific to their quarry. Many fly standards such as crayfish, nymph, and streamer patterns can effectively take fish. These patterns are also readily available in fly shops across the globe. Bait anglers know the effectiveness of such baits as corn, trout pellets, animal chow, bread, nuts, and grains. The creative fly tier can mimic these baits using the vast array of materials available today. In order to look at some of these patterns, let me break them down into two categories; surface, and sub-surface.

Surface Fly Patterns

An assortment of carp flies tied by the author. Clock wise beginning at the top: Bread fly; Corn fly; Pellet fly and Glo-bug.

Fishing for carp on the water’s surface can be one of the most exciting techniques for fly, and bait anglers alike. Watching a carp rise to your offering, take, and then disappear in a boil is very exhilarating. Floating baits such as bread, pellets, dog chow, grains, and berries can offer some great surface action. These baits can be effectively copied by fly tiers using buoyant materials such as deer / elk body hair, various bird feathers, and synthetics. Deer and elk body hair are hollow allowing them to trap air inside, which allows patterns made from them to float high on the surface of the water. Various bird feathers also help to create effective surface patterns, especially those created from waterfowl due to their naturally oily coating. Cul De Canard (CDC) feathers collected from the rump area of a duck are extremely buoyant, and can be used to create some wonderful top water patterns. Many synthetic materials are available today, and offer fly tiers wonderful versatility. Many of these synthetic materials are buoyant. The addition of liquid fly floatant (generally silicone based) will also assist fly patterns in riding on the surface.

Sub-surface Fly Patterns

Basic fly tying materials including synthetic yarns, chenille, thread, bobbin, head cement and hooks.

Flies that are presented below the surface of the water are very effective, as this is where the carp encounters most of its food sources. Many of the same patterns, and materials used in the creation of surface flies, can be utilized in making sub-surface patterns. This can be achieved by the use of heavy wire hooks, or the addition of lead or weighted beads to the hook shank. The addition of materials that absorb water or the application of a wetting agent to a fly will promote rapid water absorption, causing the fly to sink. In deep or moving water situations, the use of a sink tip fly line will help keep your offering below the surface.

When creating new patterns, keep in mind that making an exact replica is not always important. Pay close attention to the proportion, and silhouette of the pattern that you are tying. Fish will often time key in on the impression that an object makes on the water’s surface, or the size of a particular food source.

Most important is to just have fun, and experiment. Fly tying is a great hobby, and catching fish on a pattern that you have created is very rewarding.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tying the Bread Fly:

Attach white thread on the hook shank just before the bend. Tie in a length of white synthetic (Glo-bug) yarn. Wrap a base of thread forward to just behind the eye of the hook. Now wrap the yarn forward forming a “body” and tie it in just behind the hook eye. Pull the tag end of the yarn back over the body forming a “wing” and apply several wraps of thread over the yarn just behind the eye of the hook. This will build a “head” which will help hold the “wing” down over the body. This step helps to make the fly a little bit more aerodynamic! Trim the “wing” to just behind the bend of the hook. Tie off the thread and trim. Apply a coat of cement to the head to secure the wraps. This fly will initially float, but as it becomes saturated it will sink very slowly. It has been effective for me on the surface as well as sinking slowly through the water column.

Starting with autumn, let’s see how an average lake changes throughout the year.

All the water is above 42°F and most of it considerably warmer. The first frosts and cold wind lowers the surface layer and sinks, warm water rises and replaces it and is chilled in turn. This circulation process continues until all the water reaches 39.2°F, at this temperature water is at its heaviest. Any cooling beyond 39.2°F does not sink, instead forms a thin layer at the surface and only in very shallow lakes reaches the bottom which otherwise remains at 39.2°F. When the weather is cold enough the surface freezes at (32°F). Providing the temp at the top is between 32°F and 39.2°F this cold layer stays on top and the bottom is the warmest place in the lake. All circulation has stopped.

When spring arrives the surface is warmed by the sun and when the surface reaches 39.2°F it sinks, this thin layer circulates until all the water in the lake is 39.2°F and circulation stops. A layer of warm water now forms at the top and both temperature and depth increases as time passes. This water will be warmed as far as the sun’s rays penetrate and the warmest place will be at the top. Between the warm upper layer(epilimnium) and the cold layer(hypolimnium) is a thin layer of rapidly reducing temperature called the thermocline and usually somewhere between 15 and 20 feet deep, depending on the size of the water.

One effect of wind is the lowering of temperature; proof of this is to wet a hand and hold it in the wind. During wind, not only will the top water be cooled it will be blown along with the wind. As it is blown along it sinks and a current is caused which travels along the surface in the direction of the wind, and then, falling to the top of thermocline, goes back to where it came from. Wind has several effects. It mixes the warm upper layer, so that its temperature and oxygen dissolved in it are fairly constant and pushes the whole of the warm upper layer to wards one side of the lake to a greater or lesser extent, depending on its force and duration. When these are great, the thermocline will be tilted toward the windward side of the lake and the cold bottom layer may rise to the surface on the leeward side. If the wind ceases suddenly, the thermocline swings back to level and beyond, sometimes it overshoots and continues to swing back and forth for some time before settling down. The bigger the lake, the longer time cycle of the swing.

In shallow lakes, the upper warm layer reaches the bottom in the spring, and the cold layer and thermocline are both eliminated. The deeper the lake and the more coloured its water, the longer this will take, and in deeper lakes and reservoirs the thermocline and cold bottom layer remain all summer, only increasing in temperature by a degree or two, through conduction. The actual depth of the thermocline varies widely in lakes and can only be found by experiment.

Many kinds of plants continually die, sink to the bottom and their decay and that of other organic substances will use up oxygen. This cold water never comes to the top except in very strong sustained winds, and gets very little oxygen. If a water is fairly small and much decay takes place, its oxygen may be partly or wholly used up. In very deep lakes where its volume is many times the layer above it, or where plant growth is poor and little decay takes place, it will retain most of its oxygen throughout the summer but will still remain cold. Fish will avoid it and plants will not grow in it

In autumn, the effects of wind, rain and radiation loss continue to cool the warm upper layer until its temperature falls below the cold water beneath it. This then rises to the surface, and circulation with re-oxygenation takes place until the conditions are reached where this originally started.

Footnotes:

A particular case must be mentioned in considering the tilting of the thermocline by wind. In reservoirs made by damming a watercourse in valleys and other waters with similar bottom contours. A wind with sufficient strength and duration blowing towards the deep end will cause the lower layer of cold and perhaps deoxygenated water to spread over a very wide area at the shallow end, The more gradual the slope of the bottom, the greater this effect will be. An opposite wind will have much less effect, causing the cold water to rise at the deep end over a small area; but if the wind drops rapidly, the swing back will produce temporarily the effect of an opposite wind.

You will realize that the effect of these changes on fish will be enormous. Dividing lakes and ponds into two categories; the shallow ones in which the thermocline and the bottom layer are eliminated early in the year, and the deep ones in which these layers remain all summer. In the shallow lakes, water temperature fluctuates greatly, since the volume of water is smaller, and such lakes are much more temperamental than those with deep water reserves. In these, fish can always find some part of the lake where the temperature lets them feed, whereas in a shallow lake all the water may be too cold or too warm. When fish have stopped feeding for reasons as this, you have to calculate when and where they will begin, but in shallow lakes it is easier to see the fish or signs of their whereabouts.

The effect of wind on fish will be great in all lakes, but greater in deeper ones. If it tilts the thermocline, fish will be driven out of parts of the lake and may be concentrated in others. Wind and rain increase the amount of dissolved oxygen in water as well as lowering its temperature except sometimes when it is already very cold, then rain or a warm breeze may have the opposite effect. Where there are wide areas of very shallow water with adjoining deeps, radiation losses at night or the cooling effect of wind may reduce the temperature of the shallows faster than the circulation caused can carry the chilled water to the depths and replace it by warmer water from them. There will be a current along the bottom travelling from shallow to deep and a return from deep to shallow along the surface. The effect upon fish will be great and must be considered if their movements are to be understood and predicted.

In calm, still weather, further temporary stratification by temperature occurs, in which the upper two or three feet of a lake, irrespective of depth becomes very warm. Something you will notice when swimming in lakes. Under these circumstances, this temporary layer above will circulate when wind or radiation losses cause cooling, until it is eliminated. Circulation of the water below will only then commence, and meanwhile there may be considerable loss of oxygen due to decay. Under these conditions in shallow smaller lakes, fish will be found very near the surface or in shallow water and will tend to move towards and feed in that part of the lake which gets re-oxygenated by any breeze that may spring up. As temperature rises, fish need more oxygen, but at higher temperatures less is available. Very hot weather conditions have different effects on fish in different lakes. In shallow lakes they are driven to the surface; in deep ones they go down to the thermocline where it is cooler and their oxygen requirements are less.

Most anglers know that many species of fish feed more freely at dawn and dusk. This was thought to be due to the cooling of the water in the evening, but it now known that some species of fish commence feeding in the evening, even in the depths of winter with ice forming at the water’s edge. Some train of thoughts came to the conclusion the angle of the sun causes these effects. Because of refraction, the light from any source that makes an angle of less than 10 degrees to the surface of the water will fail to penetrate. On a clear day as the sun falls below this 10 degrees angle there will be a sudden and sharp reduction of light that penetrates the surface and a sharp reduction in underwater lighting. Once this happens it will be more difficult for predatory birds to see below the surface, whereas fish will be better able to spot them above the surface or on it. Fish will feel safer once the sun sinks below that critical angle of 10 degrees.

Compliments of Terence Mardell

©2003-2004 Terence Mardell all rights reserved

To illustrate this, here's a photo scanned from the UK Total Carp magazine running a competition to win a 'complete' set of carp fishing equipment fit for the 21st century carp angler.

Now dear reader, while it is common here to see people with about as much equipment as this, it is not all necessary. What I'm going to do however is introduce you to the basic tackle myself and thousands of others use week in and out, since to anyone completely new to carp tackle the range of stuff can be mind-boggling ( not to mention a bit expensive - the above gear is £3,000 worth. Fear not - you can kitted out in good equipment for a lot less )

Lets start at the basic kit with the 3 Rs - Rods, Reels and Rests

Rods Generally Carp rods here are 12ft - 13ft in length. There are obviously many different manufacturers/prices and quality rods. There are 2 basic things you need to take into consideration. First is the rods test curve ( TC ). Generally taken as a guide to rod strength, TC is the amount of weight needed to bend a rod tip round so that it's at 90 degrees to the butt ( handle/bottom end of the rod .) Most carp rods are 2.5, 2.75,3,3.25, 3.5lb TC range, with 2.5 and 2.75 being the most widespread. Generally the higher the TC, the more weight it can cast over a bigger distance. This brings us on to 'action.' This is the way the rod bends under pressure. Rods that bend all the way down the length under maximum pressure are 'through action' rods. Rods that bend in the top half only are medium tip/progressive action, those that bend only about in the top quarter are fast taper tip action. Carp rods can be any of these, generally lower price rods tend to be progressive action rods.

Reels

The most widely used reel for carp angling here is the 'baitrunner™' style reel. The handle on the top right of the reel can be engaged to allow the reel spool to be free running. When a carp takes off with the bait, the spool runs freely allowing line to be taken. Turning the handle of the reel disengages this, and you can then reel in as usual.

Rests

Since carp angling is a waiting game you need a good rod rest. There are 3 main types of rests.

•Banksticks.

The most simple set up ( and the cheapest )

•Buzzer bars

Single banksticks or sometime 'goal post' (2 banksticks ) that have 'buzzer bars' that hold 2,3 or 4 rods.

•Rod Pods

Good for ground where banksticks can't be used. Obviously the most expensive option, although some lower price models exist. Note many do not come with 'buzzer bars' or alarms as pictured here.

Which brings us onto....

Bite indicators

•Alarms.

These come with a variety of features and styles. basically its an audio alarm attached to the top of the bankstick etc. that also acts as a rod rest/holder. It emits a sound when the line runs over a wheel or digital indicator to let you know you've got a bite.

•Visual indicators.

Most common of these are bobbins.These help you know whats going on in more detail. Attached to the line as shown, if the bobbin goes up you know the fish is heading away, down its coming towards you. Also shows the various knocks and tentative bites you can get. There are a variety of such indicators, but these are most commonly used here.

Useful accessories

Carp angling is a long waiting game. While many fish for just a few hours or a day, its also very common here to spend days or even weeks fishing. Whatever, you're going to spend long periods looking and waiting, so some home comforts help. Also you need something to carry your gear around in.

This is my usual set-up for a full day session.

A. Shelter. Can be anything from a fishing umbrella to a full sized tent ( or 'bivvy' ) This is a Fox Evolution brolly shelter that erects in a minute or two. Pretty necessaries here during cold weather, but works well also for shade.

B. Rucksack - for carrying tackle and bait etc.

C. Stove and kettle - when its cold nothing beats a nice hot drink or even food.

D. Table ( got this for £5 from Walmart )

E. Quiver ( rod/equipment carryall )

F. Nice comfy chair

Rods, rests etc are carried around in holdalls. Usually rods and reels are transported fully made up with end tackle to save time when you get to the bank. Most carp rods are 2 piece, so you just fold them in half and use some kind of strapping or end pouches ( see below ) to hold them together

From left to right Rod carryall/holdall - carries up to 6 rods, 3 made up ( the large pouch on the bottom left of the bag is for the reels ). Mostly I use this for longer trips. Single rod bag. - allows you to fully protect a made up rod. Quiver- I use this for short sessions. The rods go on the outside, the shelter, table and unhooking mat in the main compartment, and there are two outside compartments for banksticks, net handles etc. I apologise now for any mad generalisations I've made, but this is just meant as a short intro to tackle 'euro' style. Happy spending!!

The principle is easy, like all good things. Basicaly you have a free running lead set-up, however instead of a leader you attach a very bouyant float to your mainline. It works like this - ( cue advanced computer graphics....)

1. You cast out the set-up, and reel in untill you feel the float hit the weight swivel.

2. You pay out line from the reel a foot at a time ( it helps if you have a mark on the rod to get the length right ) counting as you go.

3. Once the float hits the surface you have found the depth.

Here's what I use to construct the set-up

1. Marker Float. There are specificaly made floats like these, but any large and bouyant float will do as long as you can fix it to the line so it doessn't slide about.

2. Lead weight - the heavier the better ( at least 3oz/85g )

3. Cork ball - don't worry if you can't get these. Just trim down a piece of wine cork.

4. Large rubber bead

5. Run ring. A wide bore swivel will do the job also.

6. Stiff monofilament ( the stiffer the better )

Step 1

Tie about 6" of stiff mono to your weight. Thread on the cork ball and tie on the run ring. Then slip the corkball over the end of the run ring. The corkball helps keep the run ring up in the water, making it easier to pay line through. The joy of this set up is that once you've tied it, you can store it made up like this for future use.

Step 2

Thread your mainline through the run ring and the rubber bead. Tie the mainline to the float, and push the bead over the knot on the float.

Job done

Many UK carpers keep a separate rod made up just for marker work. Because its best that you use the heaviest weight possible, rods with 3.5lb plus test curves are popular. There are even rods made specificaly for this task. Furthermore its best to use a braid mainline due to its lack of stretch. This set up will also help you find out the composition of the lake/river bed. To do this you wind the float back tight to the lead with the rod directly in front of you. You then horizontaly pull the rod back through 90 -120 degrees to your side, watching how the rod tip behaves. If its a smooth pull, you're pulling the lead over silt. If it taps noticeably you're pull over gravel. If the rod is hard to pull round you're in weed.

Furthermore you can use it as a marker for casting to and aiming groundbait once you've found the depth and spot you want.

Useful little set-up eh?

A. Binoculars - fish for spotting thereof ( and spying on what other people are up to

B. Penknife

C. Good, sharp scissors ( esp. if you use braid )

D. Boilie stops - holds the boilie/bait on the hair rig.

E. Bait needle - for threading baits onto a hair rig.

F. Bait drill - used for making a hole in esp. hard baits ( eg nuts and pellets ) so that they can be put on a hair rig.

G. Superglue. For repairs etc.

H. Gardiner loop tying device - creates perfect small loops on the end of a hair.

I. Forceps - for unhooking fish.

J. Sink tubing - helps prevent tangles and also pins the line down to the bottom so less chance of a fish being spooked by the line.

K. Heat shrink tubing - necesary for many parts of rig creation ( eg boomarms and line aligners )

L. Imitation baits - tougher and bouyant. Shown are imitation corn, maggots and dog biscuit.

M. Rubber bait bands - for attaching small pellets direcrly to a hook.

N. Cork balls - can be used as a bait in their own right, or for moulding paste around.

O. Splicing needle - for threading small baits onto a hair and rig making.

P. Metal putty - for moulding around line to hold down baits and the line itself. More versatile than split shot weights.

Q.Clip swivels - allow you to change rigs and leaders quickly. The leader can just have a loop in one end, which goes into the clip.

R. Float stops - for creating semi-fixed bolt rigs on a running lead setup.

S. Degorgers - for unhooking fish that are deeply hooked.

There are a few choices when it comes to bait, the big two are bread crust and dog biscuits. These are fairly instant baits so I would suggest trying them first. Next on the list would be floating trout pellets followed by pop-up boiles, marshmallows and corn pops cereal. Bread is nice because it is highly visible and will shed small flakes as it softens up in the water adding to its attraction. Dog biscuits will disperse their oily scent in the water pulling the carp from the depths. The kinds of dog biscuits to use are the small ones that they mix with meat.

There are many terminal rigs for surface work. As a rule of thumb the less you have on the line the batter off you are, but there are times when some weight is needed to help you get your bait to the fish. Surface rigs with floating weight are generally similar to sinker set ups with the exception that the sinker now floats. The float/casting weight is called a Controller and there are many variations that are meant to fool the fish by blending in with the surroundings. Others can even hold the leader off of the surface with just the hook touching so the fish can't see the leader! One of my favorite surface controllers is widely available in the States already, the humble bubble float. These are clear plastic floats that can be filled with water to give them weight for casting. The best bubble floats are pear shaped making them easier to strike the fish.

A fairly long leader is normal to keep the bait as far away as possible from the controller as you don't want the fish to see the float. The leader may also be greased with fly leader floatant to help keep the bait up on top.

Hooks need to be light but strong and sharp (check out he Kamasan B982 X Strongs), sizes depends on the bait. For bread crust I like to use a size 2 or 4 which is pushed through the dark crust into the white middle, the whiter part is then squeezed onto the hook to help keep the bread on while casting and when in the water. Pellets and biscuits should be fished tied tight to the back of the shank of the hook, dental floss works well. Alternatively the dog biscuits can be soaked in water or flavoring for a couple of hours to soften them just enough to get them on the hook. If you can get away with it then no weight except for the bait approach will pay off, as it is less likely to spook fish.

Another very good way to present surface bait is right at the edge of the water next to the shore. In this case all you do is poke your rod through a gap in the bushes, place the rod on rests letting the line hang straight down with the bait held just on the surface. This is the ultimate presentation as there is no line in the water for the fish to be wary of! When doing it this way it is best for you to keep low, sit back a little way from the shoreline and rod. The best time to try the under the tip method will be early morning and at night, just make sure that you have a good baitrunner or the line clipped up!

Slip sinkers can be used with surface baits. All you do is tie your leader to a swivel, then comes a shock bead then a slip sinker. Once the rig is cast in the line is payed out until the buoyant bait pops up on the surface.

In an actual fishing situation the first thing to do is put out some free baits with the aid of a slingshot. Then the free offerings should be observed, bluegills will usually show up straight away picking away at the bait. The you may notice a large swirl, sometimes you may even hear the slurp as the bait disappears. Once you have seen a few of the freebies disappear then you need to cast out to these feeding fish, accuracy is imperative. It is best to over-cast, then draw your bait slowly back to where the fish are feeding. For my surface fishing I like to use my North Western Kevlite float rod with a fairly light line, its action is perfect for getting the bait smackon.

Once the hook bait is in position get ready for heart stopping action! Quite often the fish will home in on the bait only to nudge it, then disappear without taking. Your heart sinks, then all of a sudden you see the broad back of this big fish coming right back toward the bait again. Your pulse is now racing, then you see a huge swirl and the bait disappears. You strike, the surface explodes with the fish causing a bow wave as it leaves the scene of the crime, line flying off the spool!

Grass carp are often taken on surface baits, ducks can be a pain, same goes for turtles! The first carp that I ever caught was from the surface, I will never forget that fish.