Hi, I was fishing Willinghurst Lake near Guildford at the weekend, it was my first time fishing there. I had sweetcorn, boilies, lunchan meat and chickpeas for bait and I was getting nothing on any of them, not even a bite, while everyone else around me was pulling out carp and tench. I wondered over to the fella nearest me and asked what he was using, he said he was on pellets, 4lb line nad a size 16 hook. Now I admit to being new at carp fishing but I thought that commercial fisheries were all about big hooks, strong line and big bait. I borrowed a few pellets from him, took everthing down to match setup and had my first ever carp, a 3lb common. Is this usual for commercial lakes?

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Hi mike,
When it comes to commercials I think the best thing to do is match the tackle to what your likely to catch. Most people go fishing to enjoy themselves so if you fish to heavy all you are going to do is drag the fish in. Not much fun!!
On the other hand you dont want to be fishing too light as you will be leaving hooklengths in fish which is never a good idea.
The plan is to fish light enough to get bites but heavy enough to get what ever you hook out while enjoying the fight.
Ant

at comercials that i have fished size 16 or 14 with either pellet/soft hookable ones my fave being bam(bad ass madras)and monster crab both in the 6mm size + sweetcorn luncheon meat and always have a slice or 2 of bread.

fish on commercials can often be wary of big baits and big hooks, if i was fishing a new lake i would fish fourteen hook and 4 to 6 pound line and see what comes out. i am confident that i could catch everything from 8 oz rudd to double figure carp and every thing in between.

Small baits and hooks are normally the rule on my local commercial too, but last Saturday I broke one of my own rules and put out a second rod in the margins, float fishing a bunch of worms on a 6 hook direct to 12lb line.
Only had the one bite on it all day, and of course that was while my attention was on the other rod. I'd engaged the freespool and was suddenly aware of line streaming out against zero resistance. The fish went into a reedbed before I could stop it, but I suspect it was a hefty carp. Or a catfish?
I won't be fishing two rods in that manner again, but I will give bigger baits (especially natural ones) more of a trial.