Once you have mapped your chosen lake, you have a few options when you arrive for your next trip. I do both depending on the time available to me when I arrive.
Option one
Get the Deeper out and flick it out into your chosen area and double check your spot. This is a very good idea in the summer months when there is plenty of weed growth. It’s also very handy in the winter to find any new areas that the carp have been cleaning, silty spots, if the carp have been digging up the bottom and making any new feature.
Option two
You can use your lake book and check for horizon makers and calculate the number of turns to your chosen spot.
Step 1
Instead of using the whole map of the lake you will need to us the individual recordings.
Step 2
Once you have selected your swim out of the list of areas you have mapped, open up that one.
Step 3
Now scroll along the sonar reading until you have found the spot in the swim you want to cast to. This will be marked by the Deeper image on the screen.
Step 4
I find it best to zoom in on the swim and the press the ruler icon on the right-hand side (just below the satellite icon). This will make it easier to view where you are on the map and calculate the distance from the bank to your spot.
Step 5
Once you have the distance, you can then zoom out to find a horizon maker. If not then you can always use the night mode on the Deeper and then you will be able to find the right feature on the horizon.
I have been fishing winter nights since the mid-80s and I am so glad that the tackle industry started to revolutionize, it was very bleak and cold in those days. My feet still feel the cold a lot and I am sure it down to those days.
I have put together a list of ways to improve your time on the bank in your bivvy. I am still working on keeping warm outside the bivvy! I am sure that’s also down to, to many winter piking days in wellies and inadequate clothing.
1. Always use a ground sheet and even in the summer, damp rises.
2. Use an old piece of carpet or a thermal blanket under you bedchair
3. With modern bivvy/brolly systems, there is a skirt then you can tuck under the groundsheet.
4. Use items of luggage as an insulation around this area of the Bivvy e.g rod bag, rod sleeves bags etc, this will help keep the draft out and even more insulation on the ground.
5. Also with modern brolly/bivvy use the door letterbox style and don’t open from the bottom up. Tuck the flap under the groundsheet and make sure the zips are full down.
6. Use a bivvy mat or any old door mat.
This all helps to keep you warm through those hard winter days.
In the fishing world, there are things you would love to ask but can’t. The first question on your lips when you walk into other anglers swim is, have you caught any fish? It’s all about knowledge and it’s not a bad thing to know. Another question is which spot it came from? I’m sure this would help you build up a picture of where the fish come from in each swim. You would then like to know as well, was it a bottom bait, pop up or wafter? This will help you to bank a carp or two.
These questions are just no-go areas. Some people will be happy to spill the beans and I am one of those. I believe it’s us against the Carp and not each other. Copying someone else’s tactics certainly doesn’t mean you will catch and should not detract you from your achievement. It’s simply about building knowledge about the lake at the particular time of the year.
I must admit, it has certainly got a lot better since I start carp fishing (in the early 80’s). People would ask you to leave their swim when they baited up or even cast to another spot just to throw you off the sent. I must admit, I did catch a lot of bream and tench in those day’s.
Back then, bait was never a question as we all made homemade boilies but times changed and everyone got obsessed about being on the going bait. I think that stage has passed, as there are a few top quality bait companies about these days. Unfortunately, a few rough ones with substandard quality ingredients hang in there.
Being part of a Syndicate of the like-minded angler’s really help these days, everyone is being pushed for time in the modern world we live in. Which is where I am very lucky, the knowledge of which swims are fishing well is passed around quite freely. This can be a real obstacle on some waters.
No one asks about which rig you are on anymore if you stick to the common subscribed rigs you will not go far wrong. There can be an edge to being on the right rig for the lake and that also goes for any of the above. Knowledge is the lifeblood of a successful angler, but never lose sight of the real goal. This is to catch fish, enjoy yourself, relax and forget the stresses of everyday life, don’t let fishing get sucked into that side of your life.
With the last mild night for the foreseeable future, Winter is just around the corner. I had to push myself to set up in the day, I had not planned to do that anymore. I’m just getting too old but seeing the forecast there was just no way I could miss this opportunity.
I had looked at the forecast over the past few days and the wind was going to be pushing from the East or North East. I just didn’t fancy any swim with the wind in my face. I was hoping to get in the same swim as last week, they seemed to be held up out there and possible to the right. If that failed, I would head for another area which has produced fish for me on the past. As luck would have it, it was free.
I knew where I was going put the right-hand rod and that was the same spot that I had the thirty from last week – at the bottom of the margin shelf in 8ft of water. It would not be an easy cast as it was only a gentle flick and it’s even harder at night.
The left-hand rod, I was looking for a hard area passed where I had fished last week, the fish were clearly showing at range and just of the far margins. I knew the rough direction that I need to aim for, from the horizon marker. I would just have to lead about a bit to get the perfect range. I managed this on my second cast and clipped up and sorted out the hook bait. I had been doing very well on the Spotted Fin Prototype hook bait, so this would be my first choice of hook baits for the weekend. With the bait on the spot first cast, I felt it touch down with a nice soft tap.
I had tipped the margin rod off with a couple of white Evolution Carp Tackle maggot, like last week, it’s always best to stick with what’s working.
It was time to get the kettle on and a bite to eat.
I was feeling quite confident as the evening progressed as I had received a few lines early on – they never materialized into anything. I was up at first light, I really needed to make sure the right-hand rod was in the perfect spot. I then also took the opportunity to rebait the other which had seen all the action. I just had to check it out and make sure the rig was perfect, sure enough, it was.
Trying to do some products shots
As the day progressed the sun was shining and more people arrived to fish the Saturday night (much to my surprise). After not seeing much by noon and the wind was from the east for a bit, I got the Deeper out and let it drift across the swim. I discovered that the carp were clearly a lot slower to this bank than I had thought. So, the long-distance rod was reeled in and recast for the afternoon or maybe longer, we shall see.
Could not resist the temptation to put a bait on them.
With no joy after 2 hrs and the carp back topping on the far margins again, it was time to get the rod all sorted for the night. I decided the best option was to put the rods out on the same spots as the night before.
Think is going to be a cold one
At about 1930, the left-hand rod was screaming off and I quickly picked up the rod. I connected to thin air and after checking the hook (which was still super sharp). I can only assume it was a heavy liner or a trailing carp, which is never good. The rest of the night passed me by with no activity at all.
With a lovely but fresh sunny morning, it was time to pack up and head home.
Well, it’s been just over two weeks since my last trip. It’s so nice to be back on the bank. The wife was away for 5 days over the weekend, then I had a sick child, a school closure and the Autumn tidy up in the gardens. Work was pretty full on (also for the next week or two), so it’s just Saturday night only unless I fancy a night time set up.
I arrived just before 9 am and was amazed to see only 3 swims had anglers in. I got my bucket and placed it in a swim that I quite fancied (with the way the wind had been blowing last night), a good old storm had to push through and with any luck, this would have stirred them up.
With the weather looking its best, the pressures very low, I am feeling confident. However, not being here for the past two weeks, I am a bit out of touch and with that in mind, I settled for a swim with a large amount of open water. My plan was to keep an eye out over the next few hours and then decide on the best spot. The two swims in this area took the full force of the wind. I put out a couple of single hook baits, in the chance of a passing carp this morning and then I would spomb plenty of bait over the area.
After a lot of looks and a recast for a few hours, I proceeded by a lot of markering and finding the perfect spot with the Deeper.
I was finally happy with my rod positions for the night, the right had rod was on the spot you see above with about 10 pouch fulls of catalyst boilies over the top, with a prototype wafter with a couple of fake maggots from Evo.
For a little twist, the other rod was left where I had cast it first thing this morning. It had 10 spombs of boilies & particles over it – being mindful of the bream.
It was all pretty peaceful until around 8.10 when the right-hand rod trotted off and I was into a nice lump. It clearly didn’t know it had been hooked and rolled into the Nsr pretty easily.
That was until it came to photo time and I got coved in gunk. I used a whole bucket of water on the fish, which ended up over me.
31-14 Common
I got the fish and the bait back. I put a few more pouch of catalyst out and got a brew on. I settled down to watch the rest of my film on Netflix, my best friend on these long winter nights.
The night passed with no action, other than some very extreme rain showers which woke me up a couple of times.
That was that. Despite my effort and flicking a single hook bait at a couple of showing fish.
