'Arthur Ransome from Rod and Line 1929)'

The first thing when deciding on what tactics to use is to establish the pressure that the resident carp population are under. If it is a small intensely fished club lake where the carp are caught several times a season, one's approach will be, through necessity, totally different to fishing an overgrown water where the carp have hardly ever seen an anglers bait. The club lake will almost certainly dictate that an angler uses finely tuned rigs, high quality bait and a considerable number of sessions before regular success is forthcoming. The hardly fished water will required totally different rigs, baits and a far more relaxed approach!

So where do we start? How about L.A.M.B?

Location

Approach

Method

Bait

Location

     First find your carp. This may sound plain daft, but at a guess, 80% of the carp anglers I see base their swim on the distance from the car park or whether a Bivvy can be put up in it. Fine for comfort but not exactly a recognised carp catching technique!

     If it's your first visit to a water then walk around it. Not just one bank, but ALL around it. Sometimes you will be lucky enough to see most of the carp in one particular spot, other times it will be a swirl or patch of bubbles or just that 'feeling' that the carp are nearby. If it entails a 30 minute walk with all your kit, then it's a 30 minute walk. I have carried all my gear around the tortuous banks of a South West reservoir - no carp porters due to fences and woodlands, gorse bushes and waist high grass - that took a timed 45 minutes as this is where I saw the fish. The result was a number of fish that had followed the wind to the furthest end of that particular water.

     Follow the wind. If the winds blowing a gale, fish into it. It may be uncomfortable, you may get wet and frozen to the bone, but you will catch carp. If there is no wind blowing and you have not seen any signs of fish, try the NE bank first as this is where the prevailing South Westerlies will have blown against. If the wind changes, then move!

     If it is a very busy water that you are fishing then all the 'going' swims may be taken for days, or even weeks, at a time. In this situation you either get as close to the feeding areas that you can in the hope that the pressure will force fish over to you, or you work out what days are 'changeover' days and ensure that you are at the water when the 'hotspot' becomes available.

Approach

     It's taken twenty minutes of trudging around a lake with all the kit and now everything is ready to be set up. There is one golden rule 'be as quiet as you possibly can'. I have lost count of the number of times that I have had considerable numbers of carp feeding in front of me, and catching them, only to have everything turn upside down with the regular THUMP-THUMP-THUMP of the mallet men...

     How anyone with an IQ level greater than 5 cannot work out that if you bash metal pins into hard ground with a hammer then all the carp in that area will depart at speed, is beyond me. Personally I would make the owning of a mallet on the bankside a criminal offence!

     Remember that not all carp live in the middle of the lake. Try to set up as if there are carp feeding three feet from the bank. Don't forget that sound also carries through water so shouting and blaring radios will also cost you fish.

     Never forget that the two opening son the side of a carp's head contain eyes. if you walk around in a bright white shirt or shine halogen beams into a lake the carp will see them and become significantly harder to catch.

     Don't fall into the trap of fishing your baits all at the same range. Fish the margins, carefully note swim contours to see if definite feeding areas appear.

     If you are new to a water, watch the locals like a hawk. Take note on how they are fishing and then do something totally different as often the biggest fish will be the first to fall to a new approach.

Method

Do not follow everyone else sheep-like. Just because everyone else is using stiff links, 3oz leads and short hairs, does not mean that it is the most effective method on that water. Learn to think for yourself. Try different rigs. Try different trace materials. Only when you are feeling 100% comfortable with what you are using can you begin o think about what others are using. A large number of carp anglers slavishly follow the advice given in the monthlies; what might be suitable for a 100 acre gravel pit with a low population of thirties, will not necessarily be applicable for a 1 acre club lake where the biggest carp weighs 15lbs. Read the material by the likes of Tim Paisley and Jim Gibbinson, both offer excellent advice on rigs and how to use them. Buy their books - the money spent will be well invested.

Bait

A good quality bait with low flavour levels will over an entire season easily out fish high flavoured ready-mades. The ready-mades may get a rapid initial response but catches will slow down after the initial success. Make your own bait. Start by using a mix from Nutrabaits, Essential or Mainline and you will not go wrong. Read all you can on the various bait theories; it may prove to be heavy going at time but if you have a better understanding of what a carp actually needs to eat in order to grow, then you can apply this to your mix. There is also the added satisfaction of catching fish on a mix that you have made yourself, rather than from something straight from a boilie bag. Don't forget to try particles. Ensure that they are prepared correctly and fished correctly they will often significantly out fish boilies. Don't forget 'old' baits such as corn, luncheon meat or bread. Just because nobody is using them does not mean they have totally 'blown'. the carp may have been bombarded with boilies for years, yet have totally forgotten about corn or meat. Once again.... be different!