Carp Hints and Tips
London to Birmingham is an hour and a half by car, 1 hour by train and 2 weeks by boat. The latter being by far the best way to travel in my opinion, it's more fun and you get to soak in the sights whilst drifting lazily along. Boats have been a part of [...]
Spring is finally here and for me that generally means one thing, it’s time to start targeting the population of canal carp that inhabit the Midlands canal network. Don’t get me wrong winter is a great time to be canal carping as a good friend of mine has been proving recently, but with pike [...]
Have you ever wondered why carp prefer to sit at a certain depth? Or even why they would be at one end of the lake or the other? Understanding what makes a carp tick takes effort. For instance, I’ve been reading the water temperatures for years now across all the seasons and a picture [...]
As I have progressed through my angling career, I have learnt so much along the way, which has certainly helped me become more of a successful angler. With spring just around the corner the carp starting to wake up after another winter. To try and help you catch more this spring, I thought it [...]
Photography is becoming more and more popular amongst anglers these days. We all want the best possible shots of the fish that we catch and why not?
As you can see from my last blog, I’m not one to shy away from spending time on the bank in the cold. Being there and observing the water, all paints a bigger picture for me...
With winter here and temperatures dropping rapidly, many anglers will be looking at their tactics and thinking about cold water baits and fining down their rigs ready for those tricky cold water carp. So, with thoughts of a winter jet black mirror in the folds of my landing net I thought I’d write a short [...]
It can take years of personal findings to perfect a rig, but with all the rigs shown in magazines or websites for you to try, I have noticed there’s always something missing… You’re own confidence and understanding! I’m going to take you through my findings from over the years, I will try my best to [...]
I am not an angler that spends sleepless nights over minute changes that I could make to my rigs, I would much rather they are simple and effective. For this reason, my favourite rig is the snowman rig, with a few little tweaks that separate it from a bog-standard snowman rig, and make it work [...]
In my experience there is nothing better than donning the waders, coupled with a prodding stick and venturing into the wet stuff analysing viable spots on the lake bed in which to present a bait on to start priming for later sessions to create a feeding spot. Having a long handle rake is helpful to [...]
Mark Casper is without doubt a hugely successful big fish angler. He has an enviable track record when it comes to big carp captures from some of the most prestigious waters in the South East of England. From low stock inland sea’s to highly pressured big fish circuit waters, he has an uncanny knack for [...]
The Naked Chod is by no means a new rig and is one that has been well documented for several years now. I have seen the rig used to great effect, yet I have also seen it used incorrectly and in situations where it isn’t really the method I would adopt given the circumstances. The [...]
Right, in Part One I tried to set out a really solid basis for you, the consumer, to understand the really critical information related to the key specifications that generally govern hook design, strength and function. In this second part I’m going to try and offer some more general guidance on what patterns to use [...]
Just look through any magazine or catalogue and you’ll find a dizzying array of hook patterns available – some of which are designed for specific purposes and some that are based on general fundamental principles that offer good mechanics with a wider range of rig applications. The hook that you choose for a certain application [...]
Cool water carp fishing can be challenging in comparison to other seasons. The fish are generally grouped up in numbers, meaning location becomes even more important in the early spring months. With very few shows or signs of fish, location can become difficult and this is where a mobile approach using very little bait can [...]
NAME: Mike Willmott EXPERIENCE: Just the 40-years! FAVOURITE LAKE: Springwood Pool ALL-TIME BEST BAIT: Easy - B5 MY NUMBER ONE RIG IS: The one that catches my next carp! WEIRDEST THING YOU’VE SEEN A CARP DO? Leap out and try to head butt me whilst hanging just above the lake surface from a tree over [...]
Well, I think it's fair to say it's been somewhat wet this winter for this country, with so many floods and even certain fisheries closing due to unsafe access to swims and their banks simply underwater. The one good thing has been that due to all the mild Atlantic wind pushing into us it has [...]
We often get asked what the differences between the different copolymer mainlines that we sell, so we thought it was high time that we offered you a little guidance on the key differences between our three carp focused mainlines; Pro, Hydro Tuff and GT80+ mainlines. I think it’s fair to say that Gardner has always [...]
Despite a lot of rhetoric, it sometimes seems blatantly apparent that a lot of anglers and writers out there don’t realise the importance of the reaction speed of their rig and what is going on inside the fish’s mouth in the moment of the hook point taking its initial tentative purchase. Watch the fish’s split [...]
NAME: Paul Hatton. EXPERIENCE: I cut my teeth on hard waters such as Redesmere in Cheshire but I simply enjoy catching good looking carp, they don’t have to be huge. I have fished lots of different waters in the twenty years I’ve been carping, I am now confident in my approach and I can adapt [...]
