UK Carp & Coarse Fishing

Trip 6 Carp Fishing – 2022

Posted on February 16, 2022 by richardhandel

After 7 days of looking after my eldest daughter, she caught covid 19 (no doubt from school). I knew at some point, it would grace our house again. She was pretty lucky with the symptoms and only had a high temperature one day with not much coughing. It was the lack of taste that really got her, everything tasted of cardboard or very salty. But we are all free of it, she has tested negative for a couple of days and can go to school tomorrow. This gives me the opportunity to get down the lake in daylight hours on Thursday evening, not sure if I would have had the motivation to set up in the dark, the lake fishing particularly hard this January.

I arrived about 1230 in the afternoon and was a bit surprised to only find one other day angler fishing. I popped in for a chat, and he hadn’t seen anything. I took a drive around the lake and a walkabout, looking for signs of anything and not a glimpse of a carp.

I settled for a swim which is close to the area where the carp had been seen, but a different swim this time and with a slightly different approach. I’d made up a bucket of ground bait balls and frozen them, I like them not to break upon impact, and I also tend to stick them in my spomb, I can’t use a catapult as it hurts my elbow these days!

I only baited one spot and was going to use the other rod with a single 12mm pop-up on. I would change it around during my session. I’d brought my zig kit and was going to set up a rod during the day tomorrow, I really think this is the way forward. Once I get to grips with how best to set it up.

I love my new Summit tackle distance sticks.

Over the next 48 hours, the pressure is due to rise and then drop again, tonight is going to be cold, but Friday night is going to be 7 degrees and with sunshine tomorrow as well. I’m hoping this will wake this carp up.

The stars are out again and the mist is forming over the lake again, it’s definitely going to be a cold one.

As the morning progressed, the sun came out, and Ian arrived for a few hours fishing, he brought me a pasty and a sausage roll. We sat chatting about things and it was soon his pack-up time. The rods were on the floor, he suddenly grabbed the right-hand rod and was into a good lump that was kitting right. The carp was clearly going to end up beyond the bush. Ian had his tip under the water, but it needed to be much deeper, so I quickly grabbed my waders and got into the water, the line had gone through the bush sticking out into the lake.

Ian passed me the rod, and I stuck the tip way down as much as possible. The line was over the twiggy bits at the end, I was still gaining line on the fish. At this point, I was pulling pretty hard, this was only going to end one of two ways – lost carp or in the net. I was hoping that as the fish got closer and pulled on the line, it would come free of the bush. By now, I was waist-deep and the rod underwater nearly up to the reel! I needed the line to pull free and finally, after what felt like a lifetime, it was out. I quickly handed the rod back to Ian and made my way back and sat on the edge of the swim. I was watching this lump of a carp trying its hardest to get back under there again. After another few minutes, it was wallowing on the surface, just as worn out as Ian! I slipped the Nsr50 under it.

He was over the moon and extremely keen to get back again soon, he nearly went Pike fishing on a different lake today.

I hadn’t got around to the zigs at all today and was planning on leaving my rods out until tomorrow when I packed up. The weather conditions were improving by the minute and thanks to Ian’s capture, my confidence levels were high.

Morning arrived and the wind had certainly picked up over the dark hours. The wind is forecast for the coming week and with that, the warmer weather. Next week’s trip could certainly have better conditions for catching carp.

Until next time

Richard

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How do you use your Deeper Sonar?

Posted on February 16, 2022 by richardhandel

How do you use your Deeper Sonar?

Do you keep your feet firmly on the bank and cast?

Or do you take to the water and jump in the boat?

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Just One Rig For Me

Posted on February 15, 2022 by richardhandel

Just one rig for me is a strange title and it opens myself up for a lot of criticism from other anglers. But my aim is to be open about my fishing, make things simplistic for the everyday angler, make things less confusing and show you don’t need a tackle box full of made-up rigs for every situation you come across. My life needs to be as straight forward as most, as those of you who read my blogs will know I’ve written about my depression and I’ve found that over the year, the best way to combat this is by making everything I do straight forward. Cutting out the complicated things and simplifying my set up is part of that. I have utter confidence in this rig in all situations and with all types for hook baits. It has certainly helped me catch a lot of carp over the years.

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You need to break down the rig into its component parts to understand with a few small adjustments, the rig is changeable, capable of being fished in many different situations and with all types of hook baits.

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So, let’s break it down and give you an overview.

1) Hooks, a little unknown fact is that in most people believe that the Jrc 360 hooks was the best patten of hook for this type of rig and it has gone. However, you may be wrong there, Spotted Fin have the pattern right and still today produce this very same hook.

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2) Hook Beads, I personally like the translustane rubber one that has a very tight fit, but you must be able to move them up and down the hook. This is to be able to adjust how your hook sits in the water. Beware if the top one become too loose, it can move up and cover the micro bead on long range casting with big hook baits.

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3) Gap between the beads, I personally like to be able to open and close the gap up and down the shank of the hook. This is why I use two beads and not one. It also, in my opinion, makes the rig look nicer. If I’m using a small pop up you can have the bead at the top of the bend or if you fancy further down, it gives you more of a chod rig look to you rig – instead of the more traditional pop-up look. You can play around with the beads to adjust your set up to suit the lake and how the carp feed, more than it would be possible with just one hook bead on the hook.

4) Shrink Tubing, I like to use 2mm black and very stiff tubing, as this keeps the whole set up in place. I’ve found that some brands are too soft. So, these days I get it via eBay in packs of 10, only use enough to cover the ring swivel and a few milometers up the hook shank. You need to go a good bit up the shank otherwise when you catch a carp it will come away and make the rig unusable.

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I actually make these up in packs of four in my tackle box, as I don’t carry a rig board. I prefer to make up the hooking material part of my set up when I’m on the lake, depending on which swim I’m in and the type of hook bait that I’m using each time. This saves on wastage and costs less in the long run. I’m sure most people have made up rigs they just don’t use and still have on a rig board, I did for many years.

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5) Hook baits, this rig is well suited for bottom, wafters, pop ups and in conjunction with changing the beads and hook link materials would work as well as any other rig out there. This is in my opinion before a get loads of messages contradicting my thoughts and findings.

6) Hook Link Materials, there are so many combinations as the market is full of great hook link materials these days. Firstly, bear in mind that if you use soft material, there is a chance of it tangling and you will need to combat that issue, but really soft materials do certainly work well and not spoken about much. Going back to the point about different lakes and carp behave differently, if I use a hinge type Ronnie rig set up on the Airfield Lake (that I write about fishing in my weekly blogs on my website), I will bet you any money, I will get a very high amount of hook pulls. Whereas I only use a stiff boom, which is very infrequently these days, it only took me a few years to work that out, but in the beginning when we were on there the hinged rig and D-rig, it worked perfect ok.

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I’ve even played around with a loop at each end allowing the hook to rotate a lot more. I’m simply experimenting to get the hook point to prick the carp’s mouth and cause a take rather than a carp shaking its head to eject the hook without any indication.

7) Tangles, so far this rig is 99.99% tangle free. For me, I don’t believe there is a completely tangle free rig. You always reel in at one point in your fishing to find a tangle, caused by something, but this can be reduced with this set up – I believe.

8) Bird Life, the other great bonus with this rig and the previous one – the 360 rig, if a bird or even a carp picks up the bait and the drops it, it will automatic reset itself and you can sit there knowing that it’s still perfect and there’s no need to recast, spooking anything out there.

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9) Confidence, once you have confidence in this rig, your fishing will improve along with your success rate. Anglers go on about keeping it simple and the less component parts the better. I look at the Ronnie Rig as two parts really – the hook section and the ring swivel with shrink tube which is really an extension of the hook. It creates a long shank style hook, like the original pattens which were band many years ago. Then just add a bead, micro swivel, quite simple really. I make these all at home and carry in single packets to protect the hook point and the hook link material.

I’m not going to tell you which situation and what type of hook bait to fish with or even where and when, simply because I believe each carp lakes fish completely differently and the carp completely behave in their own way. This is something you will have to find out for yourself but remember the most important part is to keep adjusting the component part of your rig to get a better understanding of each capture, where the carp has the hook in its mouth, how good the hook hold is (each time) and take a note how you set up the component parts of your Ronnie Rig.

I hope this helps

Richard

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The discount code applies to the entire order when purchasing the Deeper Sonars PRO, PRO+, PRO+ 2, CHIRP, CHIRP+, CHIRP 2, CHIRP+ 2. The code is valid in all countries.CODE DEEPER-H-SNL5Q

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LIQUID TUNA:

Posted on February 14, 2022 by richardhandel

LIQUID TUNA:

This hydrolysed soluble tuna extract, full of proteins, is easily digested and has been made by the same company to replace the discontinued famous L030 liquid. Called Tuna L030 or L030T, Pure Tuna Liquid by some brands our Liquid Tuna is the same thick salty paste in an easy to use squeeze bottle.. http://ow.ly/cCvY30dFu1V

Description

This hydrolysed soluble tuna extract, full of proteins, is easily digested and has been made by the same company to replace the discontinued famous L030 liquid. Called Tuna L030 or L030T by some brands our Liquid Tuna is the same thick salty paste.

This thick, rich salty liquid is one of the best carp foods available on the market today. Our Liquid Tuna is not cut with any other product and has no additives. It is a pure extraction and due its low viscosity it has a binding effect if used on boilie mixes. It can be watered down (Which we do not do for you!) to make it easier to pour over pellets and include in groundbaits and is a highly desirable food source for carp and other fish.

There is no limit to its inclusion but 30ml per kg of mix is a good guide to start with.

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Looking Back Over 2015 Part 2 of 10

Posted on February 13, 2022 by richardhandel

Looking Back Over 2015 Part 2 of 10

With the success of the previse session of looking back over the year’s, I’ve decided to go back even more. This series off podcast will feature 2015 grouping multiple trips in one long podcast, from pike to carp fishing and easy lakes, to the big water I love to fish so much.

Trip No 11 Carp Fishing (2015)

This will be my last on this lake as it closes for the traditional Close Season.

I will be back on the big lake next week. They have been doing a lot of work on over the Winter months. I can’t wait to have a look.

I have picked a swim away from the prevailing wind, as there is still a bit of a chill in the air. A very friendly syndicate member has helped me out with a few spots in the swim.

After a good lead around, I picked a couple of likely ones and flicked a couple of pop ups out with 2 bait stringers on and after dark, baited up with the throwing stick. I did not wish to use the spomb, as it would make too much disturbance near the sanctury area.

My first fish turned out to be a bream and after quick recast I was back in the sack. At around 0245, I had a slow take on the same rod and this was most definately a carp and after good battle, I had a nice 18lb 2oz common in the net.

0630 The alarm was off again, unfortunatley, this was my phone and the call to work again.

Till next time

Richard

Trip No12 Carp Fishing (2015)

My first trip out on the big pit, as it only opened last Sunday (clever plan to open up on mother’s day lol).

The weather is not quite what I expected after 14 degrees and sunshine the last 3 day’s. Admittedly, there was a frost one night, however we are getting cold North East winds.

Anyway, I have picked the most shelterd area, this would have also warmed up nicely over the last couple of day’s.

With the kettle on I sat back to forget about all about work things I need to sort before I am off.

I have a few liners in the night, but that was that and off to work we go.

Till next time

Richard

Trip No 13 Carp Fishing (2015)

What a difference a day or two make. Since my last trip out, the N/E wind has been blowing and the temperature has been down during the day and night. This afternoon, the sun is shining and warming up the lake nicely and I have seen a couple of fish crash out on the back of the island.

Bit out of my range, however, a good sign that there are starting to move.

I had a good look round all the lakes and a chat to a couple of people. The only fish which have come out this weekend, have been on the bottom section. Unfortunately, there were still 4 anglers on the lake fishing and I don’t fancy the swims which were free. Also, other parts of the complex were completely free of anglers.

I finally settled for a swim, a small bay which was in full sun light all day and had been sheltered from the N/E wind. It had a good depth of water, well for here anyway, 5ft.

Both rod’s had small bags with pop up rigs. Cast 10ft off the islands to my right and left and the bottom of the margin shelve, with 6 pouches off boilles over the top.

With the sun going down it was getting very cold. I tucked myself up the the bag and watched the lake until I fell asleep.

I was woken up by a couple of beeps which turned out to be a coot. Joy.

Time for work

Till next time

Richard

Trip No 14 Carp Fishing (2015)

I am out for my Thursday night session and as work is winding down, I was able to leave work at 1400, which was fantastic news. I was driving around the lake, looking for suitable swims by 1430. This gave me a great opportunity for a proper good look about. Unfortunately, there were a few day anglers on the lakes. I already had got a bit of a plan in my head, I was going to use the strong wind to help get the lead out towards the island. After a conversation with a friend on the phone Sunday night, he reminded me of this tactic.

And after some practice and changing over to my 13ft marker rod, I made it. Think I may need a pair of 13ft rod’s now, ssh don’t tell the wife. (She is my editor anyway, so may find out!)

And with a bit more effort, I also managed to get the spomb out as well with a little bit of bait out. I was feeling happy with myself, even with arm ache! I also may need some casting lessons from Mr Rob Nunn, he is pretty awesome when is comes to getting baits past 200 yard’s.

At around 1630 a couple of fish rolled and one of them was a very nice mirror. Now this give me even more confidance, with the sun setting, the temperature was doing its normal thing of dropping fast.

At around 2230, I had a slow take on the right hand rod’s. As I pulled into the fish, I could tell it was a big lump as it plodded along. After about 1 minute the fish become firmly stuck behind a bar, there are still some large lumps of stone lying around the lake bed, I think the fish had found these. The only option was to loosen off the cluch and put the rod down, after what felt like a life time, the line was off again. I pulled into the fish again and could feel the fish, the line was still lodged round a boulder. I could feel the fish shaking it’s head, the line went slack, the rod tips pulled back and the fish had shed the hook. Oh drat and bother I said to myself (or words to that effect!)

And that was, for the rest of the night.

Till next time, better luck.

Richard

Trip No 15 Carp Fishing (2015)

Wow, the weather is just perfect this Sunday – a big storm is pushing though from the West, it has strong winds with it, hopefully it will stur up the Carp. There has also been a lot of rain, I am hoping that’s not going to put them off too much. The temperature is also up and it all feels a lot more like carp fishing weather.

I have picked a swim on the side of the wind, so that there is a nice blow on the water in front of me. I am also in casting distance of the east bank, this is taking the full force of the Westerly.

I am only using single hook baits and small bags until this evening as the clocks changed today I have an extra hour of day light before I need to settle in for the night.

I woke in the morning and couldn’t believe I blanked with these weather conditions. It may have been too cold in that wind for them, perhaps I should have been at the back of the wind?

With the barrow loaded, it was time for work again.

Till next time

Richard

Trip No 16 Carp Fishing (2015)

I am out for three nights this week (which is very nice indeed). I am fishing on the back of the wind, even with the warm weather we have been having. I still feel there is still a bit of a chill in the wind.

The swim I am in gives me access to the right margins, this is full of overhanging trees and the margins are very deep here, some are 8ft .

Two rod’s have been placed along here, my third rod is on a very nice clear bar, with weed on each side.

I have spomded out and catapulted out a smallish amount of bait over all areas I have chosen for the first night and I will see what happens.

Night/Day 1

The first night past with no activity, other than the odd beep. The temperature had dropped a lot and there was thick fog. It must have arrived at some time in the night and finally burnt off late morning.

In the afternoon (when the fog had burnt off), I had a walk around the lake and was very pleased to find a fair few fish sunning themselves. Also, the water temperature had risen from 8 degrees to a tiny bit under 10 degrees (c), not that the carp wouldn’t feed when the temperature is as low as 8 degrees, it just lifts the anglers confidence level up. I am hoping tonight should produce a fish or two, as the night temperature would not be dropping so much.

Night/Day 2

Now that was a big shock. I was hoping for some action last night and especially with all the movement in the day time. Last night was not what I expected…. I had a great night’s sleep with no so much as a bleep! There was less fog this morning, the sun was already out and by mid morning I had seen a fish move along the bar. This was a good sign and I was hopeful, this weather would turn them on a bit more.

Night/Day 3

Last night was my best chance of a fish, the night temperature did not drop below 8 degrees. Around 8 am the wind picked up and a strong S/W wind blew a big rain storm though. Dispute all this, I had a three night blank. I did have a very enjoyable trip out fishing and it was nice to relax and not think about work.

Till next time
Richard

Trip No 17 Carp Fishing (2015)

This is my first trip of 2015 on the inland sea. It is looking stunning as always, it’s still daunting though – I am fishing a tiny part of a vast water.

I have found two very nice humps to fish, which have some very smooth silty areas at the bottom of the drop off. One rod is at the bottom and the other is on the top of a bar on very clear gravel.

I have baited up with solar baits, MLX boilies and Bait-Tech ground bait mixed with chopped boilies all spomb out. With a mix Bait-Tech pellets and Polony oil.

Time to sit back and enjoy the view.

Unfortunately, it was a very quiet and cold night, the first frost for a long time.

Till next time

Richard

Trip No 18 Carp Fishing (2015)

The weather is absolutely fantastic at the moment, may be not for fishing, but I am not going to complain. The kid’s have been in the paddling pool after school every day this week, playing in the garden and that’s what Spring should be all about. After a long Winter, it’s nice to be able to sit around in the garden.

Any way, I am out fishing again. I am also hoping that the Carp like the sunshine, as it has been a few trips since a carp graced my net, it could get a bit embarrassing soon.

I had a good walk around and found some fish. They were moving up and down this margin and along the tree line.

I have got one rod in the middle of this small bay, with a load of chopped boilies and ground-bait all mixed up with a load of hemp oil.

The other rod is off the end of the island. This is a very popular patrol route, I lost a fish from here the other month.

I awoke first thing (around 6 ish) and was surprised not to have had any fish in the night. There were a few fish showing out by the island, I was still feeling confident that I may pick up a fish – before work time.

The conditions had chanced for the better as well. All was looking good and no sooner than I had thought this, the right hand rod was off. It was attached to a very unhappy mid double common, these fish fight very hard due to the shallow water, it fantastic fun.

Till next time

Richard

Trip No 19 Carp Fishing (2015)

Evening all, I am out for my normal Sunday night session. This time I am on the inland sea, it will be my last for a few weeks as I can’t get out on a Sunday due to a few family commitments.

I have picked a different swim this time as I felt much more at home in this one and the swim I was in on my last trip was looking very worn out by angler’s. That’s never a good thing in my book.

I have cast a single hook bait out by the entrance to this bay and spombed out two small loads. On my other rod I have found a very smooth silty area in between some very thick silt and put about a kilo of mixed size baits out, we will see what the night brings.

The sun is off for another day.

Unfortunately, I had no joy in the night and it was soon work time again.

Till next time

Richard

Trip No 20 Carp Fishing (2015)

I arrived at around 1500 hrs for my Sunday night fishing trip. I had a good drive around the complex, had a nice chat with a few of the members and in the end I settled for a swim in a small bay with the the wind pushing in. I had seen a couple of fish moving around the snags.

I baited up with a mix of boilies and ground bait, it had oil’s and other stuff mixed in, to complete the big attraction that I like to have.

My rod’s were placed to the right and left of me just at the bottom of the margin slope.

I settled down to watch the lake and read my book.

At about 2015 hrs the right hand rod was off, it was attached to a very unhappy common around the 14 lb mark, very pretty looking fish.

I recast the rod with another bait and a small bag of pellet, soaked in bait-tech Polony oil (boy that stuff smells great).

I turned in around 10 pm anticipating another take through the night and was rudely awoken by a half pound Roach. Now don’t get me wrong, that’s a nice fish and I do plan on fishing for them this year, however, on carp tackle it’s not really cricket, is it?

Anyway I redid the rod again (same rod as before in fact), did think the other rod would have gone off by now. Anyway, as it was only 0445, I thought it best to try and get my head down again. Well I had forgot how loud the bird’s are this time of the morning. So loud, I am typing this at 5 am. I was hoping to be asleep. I know some people say watch the lake, but when I am fishing the margins, I find if I am asleep and making no noise (as in making a brew and walking around looking for fish), I don’t disturb the swim. As I am no more than 10ft away from one bait and 20ft away from the other.

Till next time

Richard

Part 3 of 10 will follow in a couple of weeks

Until then Richard