UK Carp & Coarse Fishing

“Unlocking Success: Targeting the Best Carp Features”

Posted on June 5, 2024 by richardhandel

“Unlocking Success: Targeting the Best Carp Features”

Introduction: In the pursuit of carp angling success, understanding and targeting the right features can significantly enhance your chances of landing prized catches. Richard shares his insights on three top carp features that are not only simple to find but also proven hotspots for carp activity. Read on to discover how focusing on these features can be a game-changer in your angling endeavors.

Chapter 1: “The Sanctuary of Overhanging Tree’s” Overhanging trees are a carp haven, offering a sanctuary and a potential food source for these elusive fish. Richard recommends running a lead through the swim to identify the optimal spot, often the gravely area under the trees. Bright and smelly baits, such as Frank Warwick’s Masala pop-ups, prove effective in catching the attention of carp passing through these areas. Fishing with heavy tackle becomes crucial to navigate potential obstacles like fallen branches and zebra mussels.

Chapter 2: “Navigating Gaps Between Islands” Gaps between islands serve as carp patrol routes and are prime areas for potential catches. These spots often go unnoticed by other anglers, making them a strategic choice. Carp tend to cut corners, favoring the corners of islands. While baiting these areas, Richard suggests considering the middle, especially if the lake experiences angling pressure. Similar to tree areas, bright and attractive baits can lure carp as they move through these zones.

Chapter 3: “Mapping Humps, Indentations, and Gullies” Humps, indentations, and gullies are underwater features that require careful observation. In the past, marker rods were the primary tools for identifying these spots, but with advancements like Deeper sonar, the process has become more efficient. Richard emphasizes how these features, once identified on the sonar, can be a game-changer. Indentations, in particular, serve as holding areas for carp. Understanding the underwater highways created by gullies adds another layer to successful carp fishing.

Chapter 4: “The Versatility of the Ronnie Rig” In terms of rigging, Richard introduces the Ronnie Rig as a versatile option suitable for various situations, including pop-up, wafter, and bottom bait presentations. An evolution from the original 360 rig, the Ronnie Rig, often using the 360 hook from Spotted Fin, has proven to be effective in enticing carp in different scenarios.

Conclusion: Targeting the best carp features, whether under overhanging trees, between islands, or across underwater humps and gullies, can significantly boost your carp fishing success. Richard’s insights provide a valuable guide to anglers seeking an edge on the bank. By understanding and strategically approaching these features, you embark on a journey toward more fruitful and satisfying carp angling experiences.

Be Lucky, Richard

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Good Start

Posted on June 4, 2024 by richardhandel

It’s not the best start after being away from the lake for a couple of weeks.

Richard

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Preparations Work

Posted on June 1, 2024 by richardhandel

Preparations Work

Prep work is very important, it’s not always about the next trip out on the bank, it can be for the upcoming weeks, months, or even years. You need to think ahead and plan what bait you will, e.g., boilies, particles, or any extra/replacement tackle you may need for the future. I don’t generally buy much other than end tackle and bait these days, but I certainly keep myself up-to-date with new products, as you could easily miss out on something that would benefit your fishing.

I’ve written about not carrying too much kit when I’m fishing. I keep all my old and worn-out tackle bags and store all my stuff in these up in the loft. During the last Christmas school holidays, my youngest had friends over (teenagers they like you to keep away – it’s too uncool to have a parent around), I was up there having a sort-out. I realized I may need to manage this area a bit better. I may be overstocked on a few items of end tackle, dating back to the 90’s! I found a spool of Kryston Merlin, the old green spool, I’d not used it, but I do have a bad habit of if I like a product and it works well, buying a load of it, just in case they stop making it or alter it.

Anyway, I digress (as always), I was up there just checking on a few end-tackle items and got completely carried away with a big clearout. I found is a good thing at times.

I like to make sure that I’m always stocked up on all end tackle products for a good six to eight months. I can then throw myself in a fishing campaign without any thought or things like that, this also applies to Gas, spombs, marker floats. Anything that can be lost or consumable products e.g. end tackle.

Bait is a bit more complicated, depending on the space you have available. I’ve got a large garage, with 3 chest freezers and a tall fridge freezer to myself. Admittedly, they’re now all off as I switched over to using shelf-life boilies a few years ago. I found that if I wanted to bait up, I didn’t like doing this in full view of other anglers, I feel it is not the done thing if there are too many people fishing on the lake. It became clear that carrying a few bags of shelf-life boilies in your car and when the moment was right to do a spot of prebaiting, they were ready to go. This stopped having to remember which of the frozen boilie bags had been defrosted and put back in the freezer and therefore needed using. When have young kids at the time, you can get distracted, which resulted in some confusion with the labeling of the bags and shelf life boilies were the way forward and didn’t make any difference in my catch rates. Pellets are quite simple to store. I still put the bags in big 25-litre plastic tubs, to keep the mice raiding them when I’m not paying attention to signs of them taking up residency in the garage. My boilies are still stored in the switched-off freezers along with ground baits, ground-up particles, and boilies I’ve made up.

It is now Boxing Day 2023, the house is all fast asleep, and I’m up planning my Spring campaign, as you do. I like to write down my approach to my chosen water, this year still being the Airfield Lake, I’ve written before that this place is something of a headbanger, the carp revert back to their old ways over the 5 months it’s closed. Plus depending on the weather in late March or early April they can be very frustrating and unpredictable, the only certain thing is they will spawn at the beginning of May. As it’s an old fish farm (some 20 years ago), full of different strains of carp, that don’t all spawn at the same time. This makes the month of May a complete write-off for some years. Once this is all over, they spread out far and wide, all over the complex. This makes tracking down the larger carp hard-going or if you are lucky, as I’ve been for some years, very easy. I just wish they would stay in the same area each year – that would help a bit.

I’m currently trying to fathom out a different approach to the start of the season, which may turn out to be a different lake. A week before the Airfield Lake opens, I will be itching to be there as always. There’s just something about that place that never fades, it’s such a magical place, full of mystery, we have all seen something special there and a few unfortunate people have lost something special. Until it’s on the bank, weighed and measured (as it where), we’ll never know. A few years back, there were some very nice carp transferred across, legitimately and with full permission of the authorities, they have just vanished, and there are a bunch of theories, but no actual evidence and I just really don’t know. There’s only one that I feel is probably the most probable, but that’s for another blog, as I’ve digressed as always.

I have gone for Classic Corn Boilies this season as they have been the most productive for myself and Ian since they were launched. I also feel I need a change on one rod. Steve, one of the syndicate members, used Tiger nuts for a couple of seasons, with similar success to myself. I’m currently thinking along the lines of a natural nut or pea approach as I need to trick the larger carp into feeding on my hook baits. As I’ve mentioned above, the carp that were transferred in from The Island Sea, a not fished for and are on naturals all their life, except for the odd guesting angler. I like to write a list of possible options and familiarise myself with them again, as I’ve no doubt used them before at some point in the past 40-plus years of fishing. It’s always best to do some research, this year I’m thinking of Nuts or Pea type of approach, I don’t believe anyone else would have used these before, or if they have it’s only a couple of people. It’s highly important if you’re planning on cooking them yourself, you follow the correct process to safeguard the carp, if you can get them pre-cooked, it will negate the above and save you a lot of time.

Deciding now will give you time to source the best product, at the best price and even order a kilo just to see what they are like.

It’s also a great time of year for tidying up and cleaning some of your kit unless you like me, I continue to fish every week, all year long and my kit is in constant use. However, I try and fit a garage tidy-up, as that is where the bait and particles, buckets, spomb and other kit like that are. The rest is in my loft or in the understairs cupboard, which is where constantly used stuff resides.

Once I’ve made up my mind, it’s worth considering purchasing bait, etc, over the coming months to spread the cost. If you’re lucky enough to be able to start pre-baiting, get a plan in place for when you can do this, how frequently you can get there, and which areas are best, but please respect other anglers.

If you’re like me and have to wait until the lake opens before you can step foot on the grounds, pre-baiting is out of the question, and observing any carpy signs beforehand. I feel your pain, however, for me, it makes fishing the Airfield Lake more exciting each year and have that close season count down, which is quite special in some respect.

It’s also a great time of the year to schedule a time to have your reels serviced, change over your mainline and braided lines on your spomb, marker rod’s etc. I keep 90% of my tackle in the loft and often need to give it a good sort out. I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to tackle and I have forced myself to sell some bits over the years. It’s still amazing how much I hang on to, under the impression I may need it one day. Currently, I’ve got a collection of 5 bivvys, 6 brollies, I can’t see myself ever needing anymore.

I hope this has helped in some way

Until next time

Richard

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Trip 17 Carp Fishing – 2024

Posted on May 30, 2024 by richardhandel

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The wife is back from her trip away last week, and I wanted 3 nights before heading back out for a few nights. The family has kindly given me the option to fish 4 nights this week. Unfortunately, next week I’m limited to one night, as my wife and old school friend are off to London for the weekend, which is why I’m so fortunate to have a very understanding family.

The weather has finally made a change. It’s now about 8 degrees warmer than last week, and the wind is unfortunately all over the place, but the pressure has dropped. I was really in two minds about where to go. The Airfield Lake was calling, as the carp undoubtedly will spawn in May as always; they are like clockwork.

As I hadn’t been anywhere near the Airfield Lake for weeks, I decided my best option was to check out there first and see if the water levels had dropped, finally giving me the opportunity to get on the big island. If this wasn’t the case, I planned to have a good look about and then decide whether to head over to the Estate Lake again. I didn’t really want to do, as I’d spent a lot of time there recently and it wasn’t fishing well either. I’m sure it probably will switch on with the weather conditions changing.

I arrived just after 11:15 AM, knowing that there would be a few day anglers about. However, I was just interested in one area or one bank, being The North Bank, which, if the weatherman is correct about, will be the perfect area to be in.

My favorite swim was free and fishable. I worry about it being free these days, since the removal of the large tree making it possible to actually land carp from the bank, instead of always wading out. This did make the swim quite special and nearly only fished by myself. After spotting a few carp showing in the area, there was no stopping me from getting the gear.

I pitched up the bivvy first to make sure it would fit on what dry land was available. It was close, but it fitted. Let’s hope we don’t get a lot of rain tomorrow night.

I had already flicked a lead about before getting my tackle out of the car, as the weed beds had been problematic this year. Apart from the bar in front of the swim, the rest was all clean.

Just for good measure, I got the marker rod out and cast about looking for the perfect two spots, one on the margins and the other somewhere over the first bar. I then baited up both spots quite heavily for the previous week’s conditions. I can only assume they will go on the feed with the coming weather condition changes. The wind will blow from every direction known to man, which could be an issue when the rain arrives. Hopefully, it will stick to the northwesterly as predicted.

With everything all sorted, it was time to enjoy the sunshine in the afternoon heat, along with a glass or two.

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I’m not sure what the first night will bring. It’s been a few weeks since I fished here, probably before the Easter holidays, nearly a month ago.

The first night was as expected, with no action on the rods. This is something that often happens. I put this down to the amount of bait I tend to put out the first night to actually get as much of the noise over and done with. Then I can only introduce a lot smaller amount, knowing there’s always some bait out there. Instead of topping up the swim daily with a greater amount of noise, this will seem a strange way to do things; however, it appears to work here, especially when you are doing 3 nights or more. Single nights are a completely different approach. I will put about 4 spombs over each spot at some point today.

Around 1:00 pm, it was time to get a little bit more bait out and put fresh hookbaits on for the next 24 hours and the pending rain, which hopefully will induce a bite or two over this period. We may even get the odd thunderstorm, and I can believe that, as you certainly can feel something in the air.

Ian popped over for a chat about 5:00 pm before the light rain started. I didn’t plan on staying up too late as thunderstorms were forecast. However, I woke up about midnight very hot and had to stand outside my bivvy to cool down. You could tell something was building in the air. Around 3:00 am, the storm arrived. Most of the lightning was over the New Forest; we just got the light show, plus not all that heavy rain. Looking at the radar at the time, we were very lucky.

I faded away, and I fell back to sleep and woke up just at 8:00 am. Within minutes, my left-hand rod was away, and I was into a mid-double common, which was soon in the net.

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Nice 12-pounder.

After redoing my rigs twice as I was not happy the first time, things have to be 100%, otherwise, I have to change it.

Ian popped over for his morning coffee just before 9:00 am. He unfortunately lost a fish at around 7:00 am this morning to the all-too-familiar hook pulls we get.

I was doing some filming around noontime, thinking it’s nearly time for me to remove a snag. I noticed in the water to my left and put some more bait out and redid everything for the afternoon. As I’m not familiar with bite times, I thought it best to hang on until around 1:30 before heading over to Ian’s swim for the afternoon, along with lunch and a glass or two. When I heard a carp crashing in his swim, I grabbed my camera and quickly headed over there filming on the way. I was too slow to capture him playing the carp, as it was safely in the net. I took a look, and it looked like an upper 20 or a scraper 30.

We weighed the carp and took some photographs and a short video.

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The carp took the dial around to just over 28 pounds, brilliant result, plus a daytime bite.

Lunch was postponed as the carp had picked up his other line. It was a complete mess.

We had just the line just above the hook to be able to get the fish onto the mat and back into the water as soon as possible with as little stress as possible. It was then time for poor Ian to sort it all out. I headed back to my swim and would return in a couple of hours for a late lunch.

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The afternoon was spent with Ian eating burgers and washed down with a couple of glasses. I was back in my swim by 4:00 pm, as I’ve found this can produce a carp around 5:00 pm, not tonight though. The night was warmer than expected with a good blow on the water. I was up by 7:30 in anticipation of the 8:00 am take. I couldn’t believe it rattled off again. I wonder how many carp I could have caught from there over the years.

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After a longer and harder battle this time, a lovely 16-pound 5-ounce common was in the net. Nice result, I must say.

With the snaps done and the carp back in its home, I soon had another bag on the spot, hoping I can produce another take at some point today. If not, what are the chances of a third 8:00 am bite?

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It’s now around 4:30 pm, and I’ve been around to Ian’s swim for a couple of hours and ended up attending to some vegetation maintenance due to him losing carp. I hope this will fix the issue if not the estate manager will need to take a look and if possible remove the tree that’s causing the big issue.

Before I headed over there, I topped the swim up with about 6 spombs. I’m very surprised that the range rod hasn’t had any action yet. The only theory is that Ian is closer to a gravelly patch than I am, as he has had 4 takes now in open water over my zero take. Something to think about before my next trip out; it’ll be interesting to see what happens tonight.

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Just before 9:00 pm, the right-hand rod rattled off, about 30 minutes after Ian called me over to take a photograph of a lovely 21-pounder that he had just caught. My carp was a lot smaller, unfortunately, probably just making it over the 10-pound mark.

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At 3:55 am, the very same rod was away again, this time attached to something more powerful. It came in pretty straightforward; I was able to play it out under the rod tip without too much hassle.

It took the scale dial around to 17 pounds 7 ounces, my biggest of the trip so far. The carp had a huge tail, giving it all that power. It’s now just before 4:30, and there’s light in the sky.

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Dawn is slowly breaking over the forest, absolutely stunning to watch. Somehow I need to get a couple more hours’ sleep, as I’ve a dishwasher to fix when I get home later on this morning.

Just before 5:00 am, that very same rod was away again. I can’t believe it, really, no bites for the first three nights, then boom, 3 carp on the last night. I’m really glad I stayed on. This fish took the scales to 17 pounds on the nose.

I quickly got that rod back out, hoping I had a good chance of another bite before home time. Plus, there’s a chance of my 8:00 am take that I’ve had over the past two mornings.

I nearly dozed off again, but the fog rolled in, and the temperature dropped considerably. For some reason, I couldn’t get warm again, ended up with the stove on drinking coffee.

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The 8:00 take never happened, probably due to the Tench I had about an hour before. I waited until 8:30, then started a slow pack-up and was on my way home by 10:30 am.

Ian had nothing overnight, and I left him there doing another night and a good chance of a carp or two over the next 24 hours.

Until next time,

Richard

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“Choosing the Best Bait: Unveiling the Edge”

Posted on May 29, 2024 by richardhandel

“Choosing the Best Bait: Unveiling the Edge”

Introduction: In the ever-evolving world of carp fishing, bait choice plays a pivotal role in success on the bank. Richard shares his insights on moving beyond mainstream bait trends and exploring the advantages of opting for smaller, less-known bait companies. Read on to discover how this strategic shift can provide a unique edge and elevate your angling experience.

Chapter 1: “Following the Trend vs. Seeking the Edge” Richard begins by reflecting on his journey through bait trends over the years. While initially following the crowd, he observed the industry’s advancements and the growing sophistication of carp. Recognizing the need for innovation, he made a shift towards smaller, individual bait makers, seeking an edge that could set him apart on the bank.

Chapter 2: “The Element of Surprise” One of the key advantages of choosing lesser-known bait companies is the element of surprise. Richard underscores how using bait from companies not widely recognized on a particular lake can catch fellow anglers off guard. Until others catch on to the effectiveness of a specific bait, you enjoy the benefit of secrecy and surprise.

Chapter 3: “Avoiding Local Companies for Uniqueness” To further enhance the element of surprise, Richard advises against picking local bait companies. By choosing options that aren’t common among anglers in your vicinity, you reduce the likelihood of fish associating a specific bait with danger. This strategic move aligns with the understanding that fish can develop preferences based on familiarity.

Chapter 4: “Discovering Spotted Fin: A Game-Changer” Richard highlights Spotted Fin as a bait company that has taken the angling world by storm. By opting for innovative and quality bait options from such companies, anglers can stay ahead of the curve. Spotted Fin’s products have garnered attention for their effectiveness, providing anglers with a reliable choice for their fishing endeavors.

Chapter 5: “Experimenting with Unique Additions” Sharing a personal experience, Richard recounts how he enhanced standard bait with a Maple flavoring from a supermarket bakery aisle, leading to success on the bank. This emphasizes the importance of experimenting and trying unconventional approaches to baiting. Sometimes, a simple tweak can make all the difference.

Chapter 6: “Navigating the Internet for Unexplored Options” Richard encourages anglers to explore lesser-known bait companies through the internet. Choosing companies not widely used in your region, especially if they’re from a different geographical area, can provide a valuable edge. Online platforms offer accessibility to unique bait options that might not be readily available locally.

Conclusion: In the pursuit of the best bait, Richard’s journey reveals the strategic advantages of opting for lesser-known and innovative bait companies. The element of surprise, coupled with unique offerings from companies like Spotted Fin, can elevate an angler’s success on the bank. As you navigate the world of bait, remember that sometimes, the best edge comes from exploring the unexplored.

Richard