I have been reading for the last few years about an elusive carp by the name of Black Eye, which I am sure many carp anglers will be familiar with. The target fish resides at home pool in Bledington, Oxon. I think at one stage the lake was a syndicate and was very difficult to get a place due to the demand. Now the lake can be booked for a weekend or week depending on availability. In the past I have read about anglers having success with tiger nuts. I will be going for boilies and mixed pellets, hemp and sweetcorn. If it is sunny I will have my dog mixers at hand for some floater fishing, which is in my opinion the most exciting form of carp fishing.
After watching Quest for Black Eye with Terry Hearn I was totally inspired to give this lake a go. It reminds me of another private lake in Gloucestershire with a clay base to the lake which the carp love. I am a big fan of small lakes where the fish are visible in the water. I would be happy with catching any fish from this particular pool. I have found that with these small lakes the carp seem to stick to the margins to avoid being caught at depth. They can also rub their scales against the clay to absord the minerals they love and also find natural source of food like bloodworm. I have also found better results recently by using a back lead even if I am fishing in the margins. I have got my favourite blow back rig sorted now and am 100% confident using this on any water. I think it is so true keep your rigs simple and you will catch. I am not interested in any of these complicated rigs, in my opinion if you free lined a bait you would probably catch more carp than any fancy rig to be honest.
I look forward to adding some pictures of my experience at this legendary home pool and hopefully a picture of a capture maybe even Black Eye (I should be so lucky!)
As the weather begins to improve carp start to become more competitive for their food. As the water temperature starts to increase the carp tend to be seen near the surface of the water. On highly pressured waters the carp are rarely sighted so high in the water. To get the best results from floater fishing you need the correct rod, reel and end tackle. In my experience a 2 ¾ lb rod is ideal, which will be strong enough to absorb the sudden explosive energy as the carp takes the bait and bolts for safety. A standard Shimano bait runner reel with braid main line is best as the bite indication is superb as there is no stretch like monfilament. Drennan double strength line or Korda Kruiser Control line is best for hook length at a breaking strain of 10-12lb. The new Korda mixa or wide gape hooks are a perfect balance in weight to a dog mixer and this ensures the bait does not sink when cast. I have found that a size 12 hook produces the best results also a wide gape hook by GT or Korda can achieve very good results too.
There are a number of controller floats on the market but I would strongly recommend a Drennan, Nash or Korda Interceptor distance & Korda cruiser controller float. If you aim to cast mixer bait more than 30 yards please use a 15g+ controller float to achieve this. The new Korda range features an “Interceptor” float that is designed to achieve greater distances than the standard controller float.
Pedigree chum or Tesco dog mixer are the best bait for floater fishing. A trimmed down pop up will achieve great results too. I have found in the past that Dynamite baits halibut pop up trimmed to the size of a dog mixer works extremely well. This is probably due to the intense fishy oily smell of the bait that leaks on contact with the water. A very cheap buy effective method involves using a stale loaf of bread soaked in good quality honey. This produces incredible catch results provided the carp are feeding confidently.
Observing carp feeding off the surface is very interesting. In the past I have noticed that the carp tend to be attracted to the bright orange controller float tip. This confirms why bright pop ups can be so effective when all other baits are not producing the desired results. There are occasions when the carp will try to feed on the float as though it is a source of food. As soon as they realise it is not a food source, they quickly turn and disappear to the depths of the lake unlikely to be seen again for quite some time. Sometimes the situation calls for floating putty instead of a controller float. The best product is “Kryston Polyfloat”. This putty can be moulded round the swivel connecting the mainline to the hook link. As a guide the Drennan double strength hook link should be between3-6ft in length. This ensures the feeding carp are not spooked by the controller float or putty. The other essential piece of gear is a pair of polarised sunglasses and a pair of binoculars to help locate the carp. Many anglers underestimate how important finding the carp can be. This is essential before delivering the free offerings and casting your hook bait. These tools will help it that quest and give you the confidence to achieve a bite on the most difficult waters.
Once the carp have been found the key is to get the carp feeding confidently off the surface by catapulting dog mixers up wind a few yards in front of them and using the wind or lake current to let them drift back over the heads of the patrolling carp. This is why fishing into the wind can be such an effective tactic. As soon as the carp appear to be feeding on the bait confidently you have won half the battle. Now is the time to cast your bait a few yards in front of the feeding carp. Try to ensure the mainline does not to cross the path of the carp and spook them. If the carp are competing for food they are less likely to be aware that a hook bait is in close vicinity. Slowly wind the reel so that the bait moves into the feeding zone. The trick is to take your time and not rush this as any sudden movements will spook the fish immediately.
If it is the case that the carp are very wary of the controller float then there is a trick to achieve a good distance cast without the need for float or floating putty. To produce the necessary weight on the hook bait to achieve a good cast simply get some Korda PVA mesh and tie a knot in one end. Then carefully fill the PVA mesh with about 30-40 dog mixers. Ensure they are tightly packed like a small football. Now tie a knot on the other end of the PVA funnel web and snip of the excess mesh. Simply attach this to the hook. If you want the PVA to be secure to the hook a good method is to place the hook within the mesh and then fill with dog mixers, this then ensures the PVA full of bait does not fall off when cast. When the cast hook bait hits thewater the attached PVA starts to melt and the dog mixers disperse over thewater surface. It is now very difficult for the carp to identify the hook bait amongst 40 other dog mixers. It won’t be long until you are playing a carp to your net and there is nothing more exciting than catching carp using this method.
This technique is deadly and in the summer can work well in the margins of a lake or in the fast flowing run of a river. It simply requires that the hook is tied to the line with no shot or ledger weights. It therefore means the fish is not suspicious of any weights or shot on the line and has more confidence when taking the bait. Moving bait such as a worm or maggots flavoured in curry can work extremely well in these conditions.
I have caught a number of large Carp right under my feet using this tactic. On one occasion I saw the fin of two carp in close below my feet and thought for a while how best to catch them. In the end I chopped up some Spam into cubes, which is deadly for Carp fishing and dropped them in. I could see the fish were feeding as the water swirled and bubbled. It was mesmerising and any Carp fisher will be able to appreciate the adrenaline rush when they see this site. I thought for a while and decided to drop a spam cube direct to the hook and carefully dropped the line over the edge into the water with the rod well back out of view. I then dropped a clump of spam in and the Carp were feeding hard. In the summer there is a real buzz when the carp come to feed as it is a very competitive. They appear to kick up the mud from the bottom of the lake with a lot of energy. I remember waiting patiently then the line started to drift. All of a sudden the line had sliced a line in the water as it speed off. It was a good 16lb Mirror Carp and the largest in this particular farm pond. Carp of this size seem to move very fast through the water and it can be a struggle to land such fish without snagging the line on lilies. I think the best way to secure landing such fish is to use a size 12 hook and 10-12lb good quality line. The hooks I use tend to have a pre tied plastic spike that hooks into the spam bait so it does not sit on the hook. The beauty of this is Carp suck the bait and by having this form of hair rig ensures that the hook does catch the fish.
When playing a fish of 15lb plus it is also an idea to use a real and set the drag so that line can move off the real. Some people chose not to do this as they find the fish falls off the hook. This is not the case and as long as the fish is moving about this is recommended. It takes the strain of the rod and also lets the fish tire quicker so it can be reeled in. It also recommended to move the rod side was left or right to counteract the movement of the fish. This ensures that the fish moves to the nest faster. One other good tip is not to rush landing the fish as this is how many prime specimens are lost. This is where a free lining tactic works well. It is highly recommended to experiment in the summer when the fish will take most baits such as sweet corn, luncheon meat, boilies, dog biscuits, so experiment and you will get a bite. The key thing is to make sure you make as many changes as possible when fishing to ensure you catch the best fish in the river or lake. Also be careful to use the right colour line if the water is clear make sure you use a clear line and if it is green make sure you use a line that blends in well. Anglers underestimate how clever fish can be when they notice these obvious tactics and bait formats. If you want to use more bait to attract fish place a string of bait on the hook with PVA string. This string will dissolve after 5 minutes and leave an attractive heap of bait near the hook bait that the Carp will not be able to resist.
This technique is deadly and in the summer can work well in the margins of a lake or in the fast flowing run of a river. It simply requires that the hook is tied to the line with no shot or ledger weights. It therefore means the fish is not suspicious of any weights or shot on the line and has more confidence when taking the bait. Moving bait such as a worm or maggots flavoured in curry can work extremely well in these conditions.