UK Carp & Coarse Fishing

I have noticed over the years, that for some reason (or other) anglers will spend thousands of pounds on fishing tackle and then only a few quid on bait.  Why I don’t know.  As all of this expensive kit is sitting on the bank, but it will not put more Carp on the bank for you.  The key to this is bait and attraction.  I know non match angler’s don’t like match angler’s much, but folks, you are well and truly missing a trick.  These boys & girl’s know how to go fishing and attract enough fish to win a match.

Now, if your sitting reading this on a day ticket water, aren’t you fishing a sort of match – against all the other anglers around you??  And if your reading this a lake by yourself, aren’t you fishing against all of Mother Nature’s food sources that are in the lake?  So, why oh why, don’t you stick more bait out?

I am not taking boillies, that’s a small part of the puzzle.  Get talking to the match anglers and understanding the art of attraction.  Don’t feed the Carp from the get go, attract them at first, then feed them and hold them in your area.  Why would they move off one feeding area to another (unless it smells and tastes better)?  Just look at human beings, we have become addicted to fast food,  sweet food etc – all the bad stuff and we know this and can’t stop ourselves.  Now, Carp are a bit different I know and not as stupid as us, they understand what their body needs are and will be picky,  however it can be done.

Don’t go cheap on the attraction, you see all these articles and videos of anglers pouring in a whole bottle of liquid attraction to their ground bait mix.  There is a reason for this and it’s not all about selling it to the everyday angler (which I am).  It does actually work and that’s the real reason.  So, next time you are in the tackle shop spending 400 quid (but don’t tell the Mrs the real cost) on a new bivvy, ask yourself, should I not be spending less on the bivvy and more on the bait?  Do I want to catch more Carp or be more comfortable on the bank and look good with the latest bivvy?  The answer is up to you.

To mention only one of these types of company, Spotted Fin is a perfect example of a company who spend thousands of pounds on research and testing on attraction and ground bait.  The reason I mention this company is their main area is Carp & Match fishing and has been for years.  So you would think they would have the upper hand in that area of the bait industry.  Which I can assure you they do.

Till next time

Richard

Do people still glug their hook baits or is this a thing of the past?  Personally,  I have been glugging my hook baits for so long I can’t remember when I started.

The principal is that you glug your hook baits to stand out from the rest of your freebies in your baited area or when you’re using single hook baits.  It boosts the attraction of your bait within the area you are fishing.

I tend to do them in 1-kilo bags.

You can glug your baits with a flavour of your hook bait or add oils.  Over the years, a couple of my favourites have been;

Oyster sauce

Toasted sesame seed oil

You need to test a sample batch to check that the boilie absorbs your chosen glug.

Over the past few years bait companies have introduced some great booster sprays.  This is to give your bait an instant boost or you’re can leave them for days, weeks, months or even years.

I tend to boost the ready-made version of my bait and then store in the fridge (that’s my fridge and not the family one).

There are also available food dips designed for this purpose in mind.

There are also some great liquids which you can boost your hook baits, two of my personal favourites are;

and you can mix them together.

These particle hook baits are a mix of pop-ups, wafers and bottom baits all done in one tub, if you don’t fancy doing them in kilo bags.

These are a few old baits I still have around in my fridge, not 100% sure which baits there are, probably liver & squid.

Hope This Helps

Richard

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There is a bad trend within the fishing world of dumping leads.  I feel this is a bad trend due to the safety of the fish.  Now, I have been fishing for over thirty years and I understand that some fish have died because of being tethered.  However, are we using this as an excuse to dump 100’s of leads all over the place? We moan and complain when we see rubbish in our swims, but we are very happy to dump leads in the name of fish safety. Or is it because the hooked to landed ratio has improved?
There is also an issue with Spomb’s laying around on lake beds as they don’t float, I have put small poly balls on the end of my one, and so it will float.  It is a simple and cheap answer.

I also have a big issue with fake baits.  When your hook link breaks, there is a bait sitting around for as long as it takes for a carp to pick this up, gets hooked and possibly tethered up.  At least if this happens with a traditional bait, it would break down in the water.  Now here’s the rub, I have had the need to start using them over the past six months.  This is due to general pests who interfere with carp fishing and your bait presentation.  The only safe way I feel that I can combat this is by changing the hook link after every fish.

As anglers, we need to take more responsibility for all this rubbish lying around on and off the bank.