May Carp Fishing

TFG Blog
May 062011

Well this month got off to a blinding start. I have had two of the best sessions I can remember, one after the other and it’s a sure sign now that the fish are actually starting to get their heads down on a bit of bait.

At the turn of the month everything still seemed to be happening on zigs, we had a lot of high pressure and the water was still cold so I suppose the fish were high in the water most of the time. Also there were a lot of insect hatches starting on the lakes and this, obviously, puts food at all layers, meaning the fish only have to swim along at any level and dinner is literally drifting up past their noses, making angling with bait extremely difficult. I started off over at Monks again, right down in the deepest corner of the lake and decided to fish two of my baits about seven foot from the bottom and the third would go out on a little yellow pop-up. Although I personally had not managed a single bite on the bottom yet I was confident this would change soon, and I knew there had been a couple of fish out the previous weekend over bait so the change was in the air.

The first day went as pretty much as planned, two mirrors on the zig rigs but still nothing on the bottom. I still don’t know why, call it a hunch if you like, but I wound in at dusk and put all three rods on pop-up’s and fished them on the bottom in sixteen feet of water. Looking back it was a strange choice considering the lack of bottom feeding I’d witnessed but, in hindsight, it was the best move I could have made.

The next morning, just after first light and before the sun had breached the horizon, the first rod was away. My first bite on the bottom for months and it fought like a tiger, charging all over the deep clear margins and trying every trick in the book to shed the hook, but it wasn’t happening and a gorgeous looking mid twenty mirror soon rolled into the net.

It was then, as if a switch had been thrown and the fish went crazy, I couldn’t seem to put a foot wrong over the next twenty four hours. Throughout the morning I had two more takes both on the bottom, despite changing one rod back to a zig as a tester rod, just to see if that would work as well, and the evening was even more manic.

As it got to tea time I was sitting there with the five fish under my belt and feeling more than a little smug but, if the truth be known, I was a bit concerned that they were all under thirty pounds and the water I was fishing was a renowned thirties lake, what was I doing different?

The answer came in a manic feeding spell lasting an hour, just before dark, during which time I had three takes and landed three more mirrors only this time it was two thirty four pounders and a thirty five, now that is good going. Obviously I wasn’t doing anything to target the smaller ones, it’s just the way the cookie crumbles, sometimes they are all bigguns and sometimes their not!

One thing I am very fussy with when I’m fishing a water with a good head of carp, is to get the baits back out as quickly as possible after a fish and, to make sure the last spot I’ve caught from becomes the middle rod. By this I mean. If I was fishing three rods in a row over a similar area and I caught on the left hand rod, I would bring in the right hand one and leap frog it onto the left, this means that, despite where the shoal might be in the swim, I would have rods both sides of the most recent bite area, giving me more chance of bringing all the rods into play. This certainly worked on that evening and two rods, including a re-positioned one produced all three fish. One of the bites came within seconds of casting, quite literally before I could get the rod back in the rests!

As usual the night went by without further event, which was fine by me as I was knackered, covered in fish slime, and happy enough with eight fish to show for my efforts but, I couldn’t help but wonder if I manage the magic ten in a session before I went home. I don’t think I’ve ever caught ten big carp in a trip before, except on longer sessions in France of course but this was just a standard forty eight hour trip and, due to the strict time limit rule on the water I had to off by ten am the next morning.

First thing on the agenda as the sun came up was to re-cast all three rods, I find I get far more bites on freshly cast rods than I do on ones that are just left out there for hours on end, why I don’t know but it definitely seems the case.

With only a few hours left I made sure all three were perfect and then started a slow pack up, I already had somebody waiting to move in when I’d gone, which wasn’t surprising really as there had only been two other fish caught on the whole lake. With an hour to go I had a savage take on the middle rod and a very lively, but obviously not massive fish shot off across the swim, forcing me to thread the rod underneath the lines a few times as he charged up and down in front, trying to get into every bit of weed he could find. At twenty three pounds he was, actually, a bit bigger than he had felt during the fight and a welcome addition to the chore of packing up all my stuff.

With my session practically over I loaded everything on the barrow except the rods, ten minutes left to catch my tenth carp seemed a bit much to ask really but, as it turned out, it was just enough as the same rod ripped off for the last time!

This fish was big from the start, sometimes you can just tell by the fight and this one kept deep and slow, plodding around on a long line and refusing to come any closer to the bank, a sure sign of a better fish. It seemed to take an eternity to coax him in towards the net but, in reality, I suppose I was extra careful as I really wanted to get this last one in safely.

As soon as he rolled over in the gin clear margins my suspicions were confirmed, he was definitely the biggest so far and was incredibly wide across the shoulders.

Slowly he came closer and higher until, eventually, with a big gulp of air he slid over the net cord, all thirty eight pounds of him!

What a way to end a session, and what a session it had been, ten fish and eight of them on the bottom, they really were on the bait now although I doubted I’d ever have another session quite like that again, or would I …

Author: Dave Lane – TFG Blog

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Planning A New Season

TFG Blog
Apr 142011

In my last feature, I summarised the last few weeks of the river season, and it’s now time for me to look forward to the year ahead.

From now on, I shall be posting a fortnightly report on the site, letting you all know what I’ve been catching, or not catching as the case may be.

So, let’s kick off with an overview of my general plans over the coming months. Obviously, they are all fairly fluid depending on circumstances, but they certainly do represent my wish list for what I hope will be some exciting action.

Next week my spring fishing commences with my last ever sortie after the big carp of Acton Burnell, as the venue closes for a break on April 15th. I’ve been in the syndicate since 2003, taking over fifty 30lb plus fish and ten 40s, but I’ve now decided to relinquish my membership.

There are two main reasons for that decision. First, it is expensive and, as someone now on fixed pension income, I can no longer really justify the cost. Added to that, the water is over eighty miles from home and with the ever escalating cost of fuel it is time to sever my links with what really is a fabulous fishery.

Secondly, though, after seven summers of intense carping, I want to free up more time for more diverse angling adventures. When you pay a very high price for syndicate membership, you feel you have to go all the time to justify the cost. In some ways, that is quite restricting.

So, next week will see me bidding an emotional farewell to a water I have really grown to love. If the gods are smiling on me, I may even get another 40 plus to send me on my way.

From then on during the rest of April and the first three weeks of May it will be tench time, and for that fishing I have two waters lined up which both have an air of mystery about them.

The first is a local, much cheaper, carp syndicate, at which none of the other members fishes for anything other than carp. And there are some stunning carp; the best so far is a 37lb mirror. Of more interest to me, though, are the tench and bream. They have both been caught into double figures accidentally by carp anglers but I intend to target them intentionally with more appropriate tactics.

As I very rarely catch tench in the dark, I shall fish with both bream and carp in mind during the dark hours in the hope of a welcome bonus.

The second water is a local park lake, which is a bit busy but which produced last season a string of big tench to a friend, with fish to an unbelievable 11lb 9oz being landed. The fish have all been caught at short range on lift float tactics and corn in the lilies during short morning sessions. By mid morning, there are apparently too many people around feeding the ducks, but it could certainly be worth a few mornings of early rising.

After a break in Tenerife with Fran, my plans for early June will be more tench fishing until the 16th, after which I plan to have a few sessions after a big river carp on the Ouse. It’s been several years since I fished for river carp and it’s a lot of fun. I’ll be joining a friend who’s been targeting a particular stretch for a couple of seasons. As well as carp to over 25lbs on his overnight sessions, plenty of bream to nearly double figures, as well as 8lb plus tench and the odd big chub, have visited the landing net.

My other main target species for the summer months is the barbel. It’s been eight years since I’ve fished for summer barbel, concentrating on the winter fishing exclusively. Again, I will be mainly focused on the river I adore, the Great Ouse, but I really must have some serious sessions on the Warwickshire Avon. It is no secret that I am a hopelessly addicted specimen hunter and I still feel that the Ouse has the potential to unearth another real monster. But, the Warks Avon is certainly catching up and with it being relatively close to home has to be seriously examined in light of the fuel consideration.

If I have time before the end of the warmer weather, I’d like to squeeze in a few trips after catfish, crucians and rudd. Although I’ve had lots of huge cats in Spain, biggest 186lb, my biggest ever English cat is a 50lb 12ozs specimen from Lakemore in Cheshire in 2009. Lakemore is a lovely well run fishery, very intimate and scenic, with a good head of cats to over 80lbs. Still on catfish, the second week in August sees Fran and I back in Mequinenza as guest of Catmasters Tours; I’m really looking forward to that as always.

As for rudd, I intend to get the float rod out and have the odd session spraying maggots at a gravel pit which has produced several three pounders in recent years. My biggest rudd weighed 3-5 and I must be in with a shout of coming close to that target. For the crucian fishing I suppose I ought to travel to Marsh Farm, to try and beat my best of 3lb 3ozs, but closer to home I’ve been told of a water that has certainly produced genuine crucians to 3lb 8ozs. As it’s only 15 miles from home, rather than the 90 odd miles to Marsh Farm, it has definite attraction.

I’m 66 now and, believe it or not, I’ve never yet caught a zander. That certainly needs correcting and from early autumn I shall be putting in some time at Coombe Abbey, which is just two miles down the road. I have now acquired a Microcat Mk11 bait boat for this fishing, as almost all the Coombe zander are taken at long range. Without a bait boat you are at a serious disadvantage, as it is virtually impossible to cast a small deadbait over 100 yards. Autumn will also see my first serious crack at the giant Ouse perch. I’ll always start with my favoured method of laying on with large lobs, but if the signal crayfish are troublesome I’ll switch to slow sinking lobs, minnows or spinning with my old red tasselled spinners.

Sometime during October or November I shall make a couple of trips to the Test, with two targets. The first, obviously, is some grayling fishing, looking for a fish over 2lb 4ozs. I do very little centrepin work, long trotting, and of all rivers, the Test is one of the most enjoyable to fish in this style. But I will certainly be switching to a cage feeder from mid afternoon to dark, using liquidised bread in the feeder and flake on the hook. The Test holds some enormous roach to well over 3lbs and lots of fish to beat my current best of 2lb 11ozs are caught every season.

December is when I have found that the midland reservoirs really come into their own for pike deadbaiting and I’ve had some tremendous fishing in recent seasons. One of the most interesting comparisons I’ve been able to make between the pike fishing of gravel pits and reservoirs is that the pits I’ve fished get quite hard after the first frosts. Reservoirs, on the other hand fish really well in such conditions, and I’ve had some great sessions when it was positively arctic.

From January until the end of the season, my fishing will become much more weather driven. If we have any warm floods, barbel fishing will be high on the agenda, and chub, of course, will always figure highly at this time of year. Before next season is over, I’ll be looking for another personal best on the Ouse with, hopefully, an eight pounder in the net. Can’t believe I’ve just written that. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever seriously contemplate catching an 8lb chub. But now, with a 7lb 13oz fish to my credit and four confirmed ‘eights’ from the Ouse last season, I must take advantage while the chance is still there.

There, in outline, are the plans I have made for the coming twelve months and, every couple of weeks, I’ll keep you updated on my progress. No pressure, then!!

Author: Tony Miles – TFG Blog

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Helicopter Rigs

TFG Blog
Apr 122011

Helicopter rigs are being used more and more nowadays, particularly with the recent rise in popularity of the ‘chod rig’ so what makes a ‘safe’ helicopter rig?

To create a helicopter rig it is usually necessary to tie a leadcore leader to the swivel that forms the first part of the hook-link, therefore there is no way that a fish can shed the leader without the rig if a breakage occurs. This obviously applies to monofilament as well but at least 12lb or even 15lb line can possibly be broken free, whereas 45lb braid with a reinforced inner core of lead definitely cannot!

More recently clear or translucent leaders made of plastic coated monofilament have become very popular as a replacement for leadcore but, realistically, they have the same effect when a fish tries to break one. The monofilament inner of these leaders is usually between 35lb and 50lb so they are virtually impossible to break.

Here at TF Gear we have also just recently developed a new style of coated leader, the ‘Lock Down’ that boast a supple braided inner core rather than a stiff monofilament one and this is a big step forward in leader design but obviously must be used safely as well.

Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not saying that leaders are a bad thing; in fact I use one for practically all of my fishing.

You just have to ensure that, if you do use a leader, it is used safely and in my opinion one of the safest rigs that you can possibly use is one where the hook link can actually detach from the lead core after a breakage, and this is the helicopter rig.

The beauty of the helicopter rig is that, once the top bead has detached from the rig then the hook link can travel up the lead core and pull free, leaving the fish with only a short length of hook link to worry about.

Carp are very adept at working hooks free but the real problems arise when enough line/lead core is trailing behind the fish to ‘tether’ it to objects such as snags or large weed beds.

The fish, once tethered, cannot gain enough slack to eject the hook and due to blind panic, ends up tearing the hook free, damaging its mouth as it does so.

To see if your current method is safe enough first try this simple test.

Take your standard rig and leader/tubing set up, the one that you have on your rods at the moment, dip it in the water first and then hold it up by the bend of the hook (carefully or in forceps) hold it out in front of you and then drop your hand sharply about a foot and stop suddenly.

Don’t snap your hand back up again in a flick, just stop abruptly, if the lead does not detach in one way or another and go crashing to the floor then your rig is, quite simply, a hazard to fish safety and has the possibility to permanently damage a carp!

Carp have no hands and therefore can only use their mouth to ‘pull’ the components apart.

Nowadays I never use leadcore leaders, I have been using either a clear mono coated leader or the braid coated ‘Lock Down’ leaders for every one of my fishing situations and I don’t think I’ll ever feel the need to use leadcore again.

If you are using leadcore though, the following method of tying a helicopter rig is about as safe as you can get and I am confident that the hook link can detach every time.

It uses a soft top bead that can easily pull free and leave allows the hooklink to travel freely up the leader, although there are certain ready made heli-leaders that take away all the hardship of creating your own.

The components that I use are a length of lead core, there are many different ones on the market but I prefer one with a nice broken coloration that blends in well with the bottom.

Then you will need a piece of 1.6mm shrink tube, it comes in 50mm lengths and I cut it into sections of two different lengths, 10mm and 15mm.

Next up are two rubber beads but not just any old beads will do, as the choice of beads is the crucial factor that will ensure the safety of the rig.

In the past I have always used the small, soft, green beads from ESP, one 5mm bead and one 8mm version, they have a ‘soft’ and ‘supple’ feel to them and they pass easily over any knots or loops due to the large bore of the hole through them. This is a crucial factor with the top bead and a ‘standard’ bead with a small diameter bore will NOT be safely ejected!

First splice the lead core to form a perfect loop on one end (by perfect I mean one without a visible ‘tag end’) this can take practice but basically you need to tuck less of the braid back in than the amount that the needle has passed through, thereby ‘loosing’ the end along the way. On the other end attach a snap link swivel or lead clip of your choice, also with a splice but slide the swivel onto loop before pulling back through.

Alternatively buy a pre-spliced leader and add your own components.

The first component to go on is a tail rubber and this slides down onto the lead clip. Next thread one of the shorter 10mm pieces of shrink tube onto the lead core and shrink it in a pan of boiling water, positioned about 100mm back from the tail rubber, when it is has shrunk and has cooled, slide one of the longer sections over it and shrink this also. If this outer piece is positioned centrally, this will create a section of thicker tubing with a tapered slope each end to help the bead pass over it.

The tubing should be quite tight and able to be moved up the lead core only with difficulty using fingernail pressure.

Then, using a hook lip baiting needle and the looped end of the lead core, thread on the small bead (large hole first) a size eight uni-link swivel (using the link not the swivel) and then the large bead (small end first).

The components should be arranged as shown and the large bead should not be pushed right onto to shrink tubing, only just located over the end until the tube is just visible, to leave the rig nice and safe.

If after reeling in you find that the top bead has detached from the tube then ‘slightly’ more pressure is required when locating the top bead. Large baits and distance casting will create more air resistance and will in turn need a firmer fit and the tension of the large ‘release’ bead can be increased by pushing it on a bit further, but always test it first and use the least ‘bead resistance’ that you can get away with.

This is an easy way of producing an adjustable and very safe lead core rig.

The shrink tube can either be left where it is, pushed into the end of the tail rubber, or positioned higher up the lead core to combat silt or weed or for ‘Chod Rigs’.

The bottom bead can either sit on the shrink tubing to hold the hooklink away from the lead or it can be pushed right over the tube to sit against the lead clip. The crucial ‘safety bead’ though, must be on the shrink tube and not below it.

To attach the finished rig to the mainline simple form a double overhand loop to the end of your mainline and pass it through the splice loop before feeding the whole rig and lead core through, in a loop to loop method.

As have I pointed out earlier though, I now use ready made leaders for all of my fishing; they are so strong and have such perfectly formed loops for attachment to the mainline that I cannot see the need to create my own. The new ‘Lock Down’ leaders have the advantage of being the most supple coated leaders on the market today, being the only ones with a braided core and, working with TFG I have recently designed a ‘super safe’ helicopter bead that is supplied, ready fitted, to the ‘chod’ version of these leaders.

The top bead has an increased hole diameter and slides easily over any knots and the suppleness of the inner braid means the leader will lay perfectly flat along the contours of the lake. By changing the colour of the inner braid we can create semi translucent leaders with a green, brown or black tinge throughout the inner for perfect camouflage.

There is also a swivel version of each leader for use with in-line leads or lead release clips.

Author: Dave Lane – TFG Blog

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Lead Clips and In Lines

TFG Blog
Apr 112011

Without doubt, the most popular method of leads set up in use in the UK at the moment is the lead release clip.

A lead release clip can also be used safely with leaders but, unlike the heli-rig, the leader will remain attached to the rig should a breakage occur.

The principal behind the release clip is that pressure from the front (hook end) of the rig will pull the clip free of the lead should it snag up on anything.

I personally prefer that the lead can detach with just a sharp jerk of the rig and submit my rigs to the same test as I use for the heli-rigs, if you can’t jar it off with a little flick then I am not happy with it!

A lot of anglers are paranoid that adjusting the clip so as it is more sensitive (safe) will mean lots of lost leads but remember that they can only detach when the rig is pulled from the hook end. Occasionally when the lead hits a shallow feature at speed it can ‘knock’ the lead free but it is a small price to pay for piece of mind, isn’t it?

On very weedy waters the clip can be trimmed back by cutting the arm back with scissors or just pushing the tail rubber lightly over the clip and, by using a heavy lead, it will discharge as soon as a fish hooks itself. After a fish looses the lead they tend to rise to the surface a lot quicker and it’s not unusual to strike and get an instant boil on the surface of the lake, even in fairly deep water.

When I am fishing Zig rigs I take this one step further and trim the clip back quite severely and, also, I only push the tail rubber up so that it actually sits just under the arm, rather than trapping the arm shut. With careful casting and a slow lowering of the lead to the bottom it will stay on the clip perfectly but, as soon as a fish takes the zig, the lead will fall off. I do this because playing fish on a long hook link where the lead could be left swing around six seven or even ten feet away from the carp can often lead to hook pulls.

For the lead to pull free of the clip; the clip must not be able to pull free of the rig swivel or else the whole lot, lead, clip and all; simply slides back up the line and can cause all sorts of problems during the fight, especially if weed is involved.

This is where the pin system on some lead clips comes in handy as it holds the clip in place on the swivel, I would never consider using a clip that didn’t actually fix to the swivel in one way or another.

Most lead clips are a plastic component and plastic will wear and tear in use, especially if you are catching a few fish or fishing at range with big leads. Keep an eye on the tail rubbers and replace them at the first sign of splitting at either end. A spilt at the pointed end will result in tangles as the hooklink will have something to catch on as it spins around the rubber. A split at the fat end of the tail rubber will seriously affect the pressure needed to release the lead and you may well start dropping leads on impact when you cast.

Also the arm that the lead is mounted on, in time, will weaken slightly and this should also be checked regularly, the clips are not overly expensive and you get ten in a packet so replace them as needed.

If your preference is for an in-line lead set up, which in reality is the most tangle free of all, then I would recommend removing the hard plastic insert and replacing it with a softer safety sleeve, these can be bought in packs of ten and are not overly expensive, they will add to the safety of the finished set-up. A lot of in-line leads are supplied with ‘hard’ plastic inners and most of these fail to pass my ‘bounce’ test for safety, I find the soft versions far safer. Obviously though, as with a helicopter set up, the in-line lead will always stay attached during the fight and, because of this, I wouldn’t recommend either in extremely weedy conditions as the lead can snag up and hinder the fight.

Author: Dave Lane TFG Blog

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The Final 3 Months

TFG Blog
Apr 062011

It’s fair to say that my winter fishing never really had chance to kick off until after Christmas, following a series of domestic disasters that stopped me getting out.

Finally, in late December, with the new van fitted out, the garage roof repair organised, and my daughter’s back operation behind us, I was able to go fishing with a clear head.

With only a few weeks left to fish, my original winter plans were shelved in favour of pursuing just two targets, a chub to beat my current best of 7lb 5ozs and my best pike for twenty years, which would require a fish of 25lbs plus.

My very first day of winter chubbing was destined to provide me with the first target. There is one stretch I fish which is a blank waiting to happen, by which I mean that bites are always very scarce.

The plus, though, is that the fish when they come along are usually exceptional. The conditions when I arrived were far from ideal, with the water as low and clear as in summer. Because of that, I chose the deepest swim on the fishery, where a midriver right hand bend forms a classic crease.

I’ve had good fish from there in floods but never fished it under such low winter conditions. I made my first cast at around midday, and was still biteless as the light started to fade. Then, out of the blue, the tip of my fishing rod shot round and I found myself in contact with a strong fish which I first thought must be a barbel.

I soon realised, however, that the culprit was an extra big chub, but I hadn’t realised just how big until I saw it slide over the rim of my landing net. Here was one truly massive chub; I had a possible 8lb in mind. I wasn’t too far out. After carefully twice zeroing the scales, I confirmed a new best of 7lb 13ozs; what a fantastic fish.

After that leviathan on my first serious chubbing trip of the winter, I made another three two-day trips to the stretch, fishing past midnight on each day, but that seven pounder remained the only bite I had.

That was to change on the last day of the river season, when I fished from midday until the official season close at midnight. I managed two solid bites in the evening, landing good fish of 5lb 14ozs and 6lb 9ozs. So, I’d landed just three chub from the stretch since December, but what a great average size.

In between the slow chubbing sessions, I enjoyed some much more active deadbaiting at local waters in the search for that elusive 25lb plus pike.

In total contrast to the river experiences, I never had a single blank. In all, I landed 16 pike under 10lbs, plus another 18 fish in double figures. Seven of those fish were over 17lbs, the exact weights being 17lb 10ozs (2), 17lb 12ozs, 18lb 6ozs, 19lb 4ozs, 19lb 6ozs and 19lb 8ozs.

You can see from those statistics that not only did I fail to get anywhere near 25lb but I didn’t even beat 20lbs. On my very last piking trip I thought I’d done it at last when I had a fantastic scrap after hooking something heavy on a whole mackerel. Bizarrely, it turned out to be a mid double mirror carp fairly hooked on the bottom treble. The fishing was tremendous nevertheless and I felt in with a real chance of an exceptional fish at all times; one of the waters had produced a 33lb fish.

At the time of writing, I’m just off for a week’s holiday with the wife and then I’m beginning a spring tench campaign. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Author: Tony Miles TFG Blog

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Maggots

TFG Blog
Apr 022011

More and more, nowadays anglers are turning towards maggots during the colder weather and, in the right situation they can be an outstanding bait.

So, let’s first look at why the maggots can be so effective.

Being that maggots have little or no smell as far as we are concerned I am guessing that the ‘ammonia’ they give off is in some way attractive to fish and it is this that draws the carp in to investigate.

The colour of maggot you choose does not seem to make a great deal of difference and I choose to mix reds and whites just to give a contrast but I am sure just plain whites would work equally as well.

Obviously, once they find the bait then it appears to be a food source that so closely resembles their natural food, how can they not stop and eat it?

When a few anglers on one lake start to use maggots in quantities of a gallon or more each per session then the natural balance can be tipped and the fish seem to feed almost exclusively on the little wrigglers.

I’m still not sure if this is a good thing or not and I would imagine a carp would struggle to extract as much protein from a handful of maggots as it would from the same amount of boilies so, how they affect weight gain over the winter months remains to be seen.

So let’s assume you’ve taken the plunge and you’re walking out of the fishing tackle shop with a gallon of maggots in a bucket, what now?

Storage of maggots is actually a lot easier than you might think, having used them a bit recently I was amazed how simple it really is. The first thing they need to be is cold, really cold, as this stops them moving and I actually put the whole bucket into my bait freezer for a couple of hours as soon as I get them home. Once they are really chilled down I set about ‘bagging’ them up and I do this in strong freezer bags with no air remaining in the bag at all, this is very important.

You need to be putting between one and three pints of the cold, inactive maggots, in a bag and forcing out all the trapped air before sealing it up tight with a knot or (preferably) a plastic cable tie, maggots (especially if not cold enough) will crawl around a knot and escape, leading to messy fridges and even messier divorce proceedings!

Once you have them all bagged up like this they will last in a fridge for days and days on end, as they go into a sort of suspended animation and, although they may look dead they are just waiting for the return of air to re-activate, but they must be kept cold, this is the key.

Once you are ready to use them just open all the bags and tip them into a big bucket with plenty of room, give them a good shake and somewhere between two and four hours later they will be just like new, all wriggling around and full of life.

There are various ways of getting a quantity of maggots out into your swim, obviously the range you are fishing will be a big factor but spodding is probably the easiest way with live maggots. A lot of people are under the impression that they will crawl away when they reach the lake bed but, in reality, they hardly move off at all, especially in the winter when the water is cold.

ou will need to either use a solid spod or tape up the holes to stop the bait falling out on the cast. Also it helps to use a small plug of ground-bait to stop spod spill. Remember that maggots are quite an expensive bait and every miscast spod, or spillage is costing you money!

As long as you are confident on your swim choice and not intending to move, then it’s a good idea to put out the bulk of your bait at the start of the session, saving about a third of the quantity for topping up the swim. I think that the carp need to find a big spread of maggots in order to throw caution to the wind and really get their heads down.

So let’s take a look at maggot rigs as, I think it’s wrong to go to all this trouble and then just fish a pop-up boilie over the top, also I think you’ll catch more by offering them something they will eat without even noticing, while they are pre-occupied munching on the maggots.

There is no real reason to deviate too far from whatever rig you usually use and are confident in, by using plastic maggots on a hair you can fish all sorts of presentations, in fact if you pre-tie some on a small sliding ring then it’s so easy to just mount this onto any hook you like.

Plastic maggots are easy to work with and you can create nice little line-aligner rigs by simply sliding one around the hook and over the eye and knot, utilise the kink in the maggot by twisting it around to bring the line off the front of the hook eye to create a flip-rig, this will enhance the hooking properties of the rig no end.

For pop up presentations use a simple cork ball instead of a boilie and then super-glue a few real maggots (or a mixture of real and fake) to the ball by doting the ‘blunt end’ of the maggot with glue and holding them for a second or two against the ball before casting.

The indication of a bite when using maggots will be very similar to any other bait but, whenever possible, it’s advisable to use a small drop on the bobbin to let you know if you are being pestered by small fish, particularly if you have live maggots on the hook as you do not want to, when fishing, reel in the next morning to find them all sucked dry by bream or roach.

Luckily the silver fish seem to be less of a nuisance in the winter months and, in deep water, I rarely have any problems with them at all.

One thing that I have found with maggots is that they seem a lot less effective when they are being used over weed rather than silt or hard clean lake beds. I think that this is mainly a presentation problem, as the fish still can be seen rolling and bubbling over the bait but I assume the rigs are not always presented so well and the maggots, by their light nature, will hang at all levels in the weed and the fish will not always need to forage below the weed (where your rigs are) as they might with heavier baits such as boilies.

So, in summary, I do think that maggots can be a very effective bait indeed, although they seem far more so in winter.

I think that they can be worth the extra effort but, without doubt they are more expensive, fiddly and time consuming than boilies. I am not convinced at all that the fish gain as much benefit from them nutritionally speaking but they can really turn a blank session into a productive one at times.

Author: Dave Lane TFG Blog

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Zigs

TFG Blog
Apr 012011

Over the last two years I have really started to appreciate the difference that fishing a bait in the mid-layers during winter can make to your catch results.

In the past I have mucked about with zig rigs and, occasionally, I have boosted an otherwise slow session with a bonus fish or two, but I realise now that I have only ever scratched the surface of the true potential of this method.

I have wasted entire winters sitting on big, deep pits waiting for bites that never came, looking back now, with the gift of hindsight; I could kick myself for not at least trying to fish zigs for a few hours each day. After all, what have you got to lose if you are not receiving any bites on the bottom or, if you are waiting for a specific bite time that occurs once a day, what about the rest of the time, what are the fish doing then?

The truth of the matter is that the fish spend massive proportions of the time somewhere in the mid to upper layers of the lake and are perfectly catchable with the right approach. Personally I think that they are only physically comfortable on the bottom for short periods of time in the winter, hence the short and exact feeding times. There is no set depth (or height) at which a zig is ultimately successful and a bait fished at the wrong depth will produce as little results as one fished on the bottom, basically you have to hit the right level and be prepared to change it when the bites stop. On waters where you are only expecting the odd take, even with the zigs, it can be a leap of faith to change something only a short while after catching on it, changing the depth of a zig can, in the right conditions, bring instant results but, if you go the wrong way, it can guarantee no more action.

The obvious solution to the problem of finding the right depth is to fish all three fishing rods on zigs set at different depths and this, nowadays, is how I generally fish throughout the colder months, at least during the hours of daylight anyway.

Bait choice is easy, coloured foam works as well as anything I’ve tried and my own personal favourite is black and yellow mixed, although different colours seem to work better at different times. I would always start with black and yellow and maybe experiment if I thought I wasn’t getting the results I expected.
Plain black is also a very popular and effective bait, strangely enough it is also very good at night, quite how that works I don’t know, a non flavoured, non coloured bait dangling in mid water in the pitch black, but it does!

Small baits seem to be the most effective, really just enough to float the hook is all I use, a small piece of foam can last you the whole winter so it’s very cost effective as well.

I usually fish bottom baits at night, and up until about ten o’clock in the morning, as there is always a good chance of action on the bottom at these times and then wind all three rods in and attach zigs. Nothing else in the set-up need change, it is a simple case of cutting the rigs off and attaching the zigs, even the same areas can be fished and often, if you have being getting any action on the bottom, this is the best plan.

So, what depths are best and when, it’ll vary from lake to lake I’m sure but, in my experience, a good starting point is always mid water.

I find that on lakes with depths of only five or six feet, zigs are not anywhere near as effective, the deeper pits of over ten feet are much better. I just plumb the depth in front of me and start of with one in the middle, and one higher and the other on lower, for example in sixteen feet I would start with zigs set at six, eight and ten feet from the bottom. If I had a bite at eight feet I would then swap one of the other rods to eight feet as well but leave the other to see if the bite depth changed.
Quite why fish take zigs I have no idea, and the strangest thing is that an actual edible bait seems to be the worst thing you can use, plastic, cork, and foam will out-fish a real bait every time!

Tying zig rigs couldn’t be easier really, at the end of the day it’s just a very long hooklink with a simple no-knot arrangement on one end and a swivel on the other, the more important aspect is to pick the correct material to tie it from.

For a hooklink you need something extremely supple, nylon is the beast and as light as you can get away with, a heavy link will drag the bait down and sag in the water, also it obviously more visible. Avoid fluorocarbons as they have a higher density rating in water and are more prone to sinking, low visibility soft monofilaments are the best.
For hooks I still use the old ‘Super Specialist’ because they are fairly fine wire and have the correct specs for zig work; you need a straight (or reversed eye) and a straight point, this gives you a better hooking arrangement.

Rather than mess around with adjustable zigs (similar to a plumbing rod set up) that are prone to tangle, I simply tie up a few different hooklinks and nick the hooks in the top of the bivvy, on the pole sleeve, leaving the links draped over the bivvy, this way I can pick any length I have and attach it quickly with a tucked blood knot to the swivel.

A common problem with zigs is tangling due to the long hooklinks, that and catching the trees and bushes on the cast, not to mention your jacket, unhooking mat, bivvy or anything else that gets in the way, the solution is simple, a tea mug!

I just position a tea mug about ten feet behind my casting position and drop the hookbait inside, this stops the zig blowing about behind you before the cast and ensures it doesn’t snag up on anything. The bait always leaves the cup perfectly as the cast is made.

I tend to cast a bit higher than normal with a zig, using a bigger arc on the cast stops the hooklink wrapping around the mainline and it is imperative to trap the line before the lead hits the water. Trapping the lead a few feet above the water will allow the hookbait to travel onwards, separating it form the lead and cutting down on the chance of it wrapping during the descent, a good zig cast should leave two splashes on the surface, a big one from the lead and a further, smaller one from the bait, and this second splash should be farther out than the lead, indicating that you hooklink has straightened out on impact.

Lead arrangement is also crucial, a big lead will tend to tangle more but, if you properly control the cast by feathering and trapping the lead, then the bigger weight will help to ensure that the lead is ejected from the lead release clip as soon as the fish hook’s itself and moves off. A release clip is essential as the effect of having a lead swing around up to ten feet or more from the fish can cause the hook to bounce out again, not to mention problems with weed and snags. I trim the clip right back and set it on the softest setting to make sure it always falls off when a fish is hooked.

The longer the hooklink you use, the more problems you are likely to encounter during the fight, particularly when netting a fish. Basically any hook-length over twelve feet long will probably need another angler to man the net as there just isn’t enough pull left to get the fish over the cord when the lead clip is against the tip ring, even ten feet can be tricky so be prepared. For serious zig angling an extended net handle is a good idea and will be well worth the investment.

Finally, bite indication can be a bit strange with zigs, if you imagine what is actually happening as a fish takes a bait six or ten feet above the lead, the lead can just swing back towards you, be dragged about on a slack line or, hopefully, be taken away from you as in a normal take. To cover all eventualities I fish with the bobbin halfway up to show both drop-backs and forward takes although sometimes you just get a gentle bouncing of the bobbin. Generally if you get any sort of erratic indication that last more than a couple of bleeps there is a good chance a fish is on the end, so be prepared to strike some bizarre takes and indications.

Author: Dave Lane TFG Blog

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Spodding

TFG Blog
Mar 312011

I think that of all the different methods of bait application, spodding is the one that causes the most problems to a lot of anglers. I remember years ago, when I first started experimenting with spods, I hated it as it just seemed such hard work and nothing ever went where I wanted it.

Nowadays I can easily spod far further than I can cast a baited rig and I find it the very best method of delivering bait tightly at range, particularly if there are seagulls around.

The first thing you need is the correct equipment as spodding really is a method onto itself and you cannot just ‘make do’ with an old beach-caster or stiff carp rod that happens to be laying around in the garage, a purpose built rod such as the Delta XS Spod rod will be ideal.

The reel has to be a quality piece of kit that will withstand all the hard work and abuse and have a decent spool size and retrieve ratio, a bit pit reel will perform the best and it should be loaded with floating braid, this is because it can cast further and also, because it floats, it is easier to flick the spod across the surface on the retrieve whereas a sinking mono will drag the open end of the spod downwards, under the surface where you don’t want it.

Its imperative to use a shock-leader, the pressure you will exert on the line is tremendous and normal braid or line will snap like cotton. I use something around forty five pounds and also braided although, to be fair, thick mono is a lot kinder on your finger but I like the way the braid comes off the spool myself.

To cut down on the damage you can do to your finger tips a simple finger stool from a tackle shop will help.

Once you have the spool fully loaded and leader attached it’s easiest to tie a strong snap-link of some kind to the end, this way you can easily swap spod types but, more importantly, you can pack the rod away without having to either cut the spod off or try and cram it into a rod holdall or sleeve.

The actual casting of a spod requires a different type of action to normal casting, not just by the rod but also by the angler as well. The trick is to build up resistance to the spod before pushing into the actual speed part of the cast, it’s a slower cast altogether relying on the weight of the spod to compress the rod in the early stages and then the tip speed to do the final launch, but it’s very important to load the rod right up during the build up.

There are many different types, shapes and weights of spods so pick the one that will get the correct distance with the least effort and carry enough bait to cut down on casting time.

Sometimes you can get away with a monster spod even at range and sometimes you will need to be more streamlined, I always have a big selection and try a few until I am happy I have the right one for the job.

The most important thing to avoid is ‘spod wobble’ this will dramatically reduce the distance and completely destroy your accuracy and this one factor is where most people who give up trying were going wrong in the first place. Incorrect loading of the spod is nearly always the reason for this, too much weight at the back of the spod and it tries to overtake the front, resulting in your spod flying through the air with all the grace of a bag of spanners!

The front of a spod is buoyant, therefore it’s light, so you need to compensate by leaving a gap in the top/back of the spod rather than filling it right up. Also, if you have different fillings then put a handful of the densest one (like pellet) in the spod first. If you imagine a line cutting the spod in half lengthways, then the front half has to be heavier than the rear or it simply will not work.

Once you have your correct spod and you can comfortably hit the range then you need to use the line clip to ensure you don’t overcast and to help slow the spod in flight, reducing the amount of noise it makes as it hits the surface. By hitting the clip in the air you can stop the spod above the water and simply lower it down onto the surface, nice and quietly, well, by comparison to just letting it smash into the water anyway.

Boilie rockets are also a kind of spod and you will find that a rocket filled with boilies will go a tremendous distance but, a little tip, always fill the rocket to the very brim with water after loading it, as this will stop you loosing a couple of precious baits on the cast. Without the water one or two will drop out at about twenty yards range, increasing the amount of casting you will have to do and scattering loose baits all over the swim.

Bait loss or ‘spod spill’ as it is known happens with all types of spod but it is so easily rectified, ensuring all your bait ends up exactly where you want it. Just mix up a bowl of groundbait in to a very light, fluffy and only just damp consistency and lightly press a ‘plug’ into the top of the spod before casting. As long as you don’t ram the groundbait in there or have a mix like concrete you will find that it falls out instantly on contact with the water.

Another common problem is retrieving the spod to find half the bait still inside it, either that or seeing it flying out as you bounce the spod back across the surface and this is usually down to one of two things.

Firstly you should test a fully loaded spod in the margins to see just how long it actually takes for it to empty out, it may be longer than you think, also if you are casting at range and there is a wind on the water you need to ensure that the line from the rod tip is totally slack as any drag on the line can keep the spod on it’s side, drastically increasing the ‘emptying time’.

The second reason for bringing back bait is incorrect loading, especially with boilies and full round boilies can be a nightmare for ‘locking up’ against each other in the spod.

Try either breaking the boilies up a bit into random pieces or adding pellets to them, filling the gaps and keeping the baits apart or, even better, break some, leave some whole and mix them all with the dry pellets in a bucket and just scoop the lot in by the handful.

Either way it still helps to give the spod a little tweak, bouncing it a bit before letting it have a second chance at dropping its load before winding in.

For particle baits such as hemp, spod mixes of seeds etc, sloppy mixes and smaller items you will not be able to use a spod with large holes in it but, rather than have too many variations in your tackle box, simply wind some electrical tape around the holes, mainly at the bottom of the spod and this will keep it all in nicely. The fewer holes you have then the more resistance you are likely to encounter when you try to break the surface on the retrieve but, once it’s up on the top, you can keep it there by holding the rod tip as high as possible and winding like a madman.

Spodding isn’t only about smashing out bait at massive range though; small spods can be used really effectively at close quarters, like a bait dropper really. Baiting small holes in the weed, overhanging bushes, little gravel marks or just a nicely presented package of bait at close quarters can all be achieved with a small spod on a normal rod and sometimes as little as an underarm flick. It’s so much more accurate at say, thirty yards, to drop a little spod of hemp in a hole than it is to spray it everywhere with a catapult.

All in all there are many different uses for a spod and I always carry a set up with me, I don’t always use it regardless though, often you can scare off fish that were otherwise extremely catchable. Like all parts of carp fishing it’s a case of picking the right tool for the job in hand and this will change from day to day and from lake to lake but, if you do find the need to spod, hopefully employing some of the above methods will make the job a bit easier for you.

Author: Dave Lane TFG Blog

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