Carp Fishing, Keep It Simple...

Carping here in the UK, is the biggest growing angling discipline at the moment. The country has over the last 15 years or so seen a carp boom. Fishing for carp has never been easier. The introduction of commercial fisheries, selections of mind blowing baits.

When searching for tackle its very easy to be drawn in by all the fancy adverts, claims that this tackle and that tackle will catch you more fish. Flash tackle and high price tags only catch anglers, not fish. Shop around for your tackle, not necessarily is the most expensive the best.

The same advice I would give for lines, hooks and weights. The carp world at the moment has gone camouflage mad. As a match angler, I personally think the key is bait presentation, bad presentation will spook wary carp. I have seen it myself, especially where a bait has had extremely good results on a venue and then every angler and his wife has started to use it. After a while carp seem to get very wary of that bait on that venue and it's what we term as a blown bait. But fish are like people, they all have very different tastes, Bream like sweet stuff, like sweet biscuits mixed in with the groundbait, Gudgeon like garlic, Chub like strong cheese, Barbel like luncheon meat. I personally have had good results on the most simplest of baits. The good old lob worm, a natural bait loved by all fish. This is a bait that achieve outstanding results on any fishery. Bread is another simple bait, I have caught loads of carp on this, especially in an area where there are ducks who get fed on a regular basis by the public. In fact I have caught carp on a simple 12mm cork ball dipped in fish oil. So for me I do believe that the most simplest of baits can be effective.

Carp fishing to me has now become a sort of lazy mans sport, I watch countless people set up their gear, cast in and then go to sleep. I'd get bored very easily. I always carry a spare rod and reel, If need be set up a float and have a cast about, especially in the margins. Another thing I see on a regular basis is carp anglers on a small lake, casting out big 3oz leads into the middle of a lake, when a 1.5oz lead would be ample.

I have caught more carp from margins, or from beside a feature than anywhere else, its ok casting into the middle of a lake if you know that there is a feature there, sometimes its good to set up a marker rod with a decent feature finding lead and spend a few hours playing, investigating. Finding depths, under water features, like ledges, shelves, holes, drop offs. All these features will hold fish. I try to build up a mental picture of a lake. Doing this sort of thing, is time well spent.

Carp angling in a way has become a lazy mans sport, with groups of so called anglers going fishing for the weekend. They are no more anglers than I am a Nun. It's an excuse for a group of lads to get together and get drunk and make complete idiots of themselves. Some have got more money than sense. If they can't boast about big fish, they will boast about the tackle they have. Which has lead up to a sort of snobbery on the bank of late. With all the latest tackle, top brand names. It surprises me why half these anglers don't leave the price tag on their equipment. Ok it impresses some people, personally, I'm not one of them.

Specimen hunting is a form angling that has been around for years. But now for commercial purposes we categorise these pursuits. Carp here in the UK have been around for a very long time. Big record breaking fish was here and were caught on tackle, well if you was to turn up to a commercial fishery nowadays with it, you would be ridiculed to say the least.

In 1952, Walker caught by design a record carp weighing 44lb and followed it up with a string of other monsters - carp were, at that time, regarded as almost uncatchable - he became the most famous angler in Britain. A record that remained unbroken for 30 years. Split cane rod. Hmm.

How did Dick Walker become a legend? Apart from the obvious, he became a legend in own right, because of his ideas, his rigs, and his ideas on bait presentation. He used his brain. For years angling was a simple affair, but Dick Walker started to use a little bit of methodology in his fishing and started to use his own techniques, he began to study his prey. Work out how they they lived, how they fed and how to fool these fish. Bearing in mind, there was no high tech lines, no hundreds of hook patterns to choose from. All of his tackle was a simple as you like.

Another angler who well deserves a mention is Chris Yates, who would tell any angler looking to target big fish, it's not the tackle, it's the angler behind it.

My advice to any would be angler is to buy what you can afford. Use what you feel comfortable with. Ok I have a distinct advantage over a lot of anglers, I have lots of tackle at my disposal. But nearly all the stuff I sell, I test before I sell it. Some stuff is better than others, but I have had the pleasure of using some delightful tackle that has felt spot on. Performed better than i could have imagined and to my delight is very inexpensive.