float fishing for carp

[Severn Wolf]

quote:

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hmm, what if your target fish or/and a good head of carp feeding at say 150 yards out into 15 feet of water?? would it not then be skillfull to cast a lead to them with a pva bag attached or stringer etc and land the biggie of your dreams?

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You could always drag it out there with a baitboat

[15th try for a screenname]

I think more and more people are coming around to the idea that big carp are not always found in the centre of the lake at the bottom and so they try to land a 2oz lead a foot away from the opposite bank :confused:

I find it much easier and more fun to take one rod and a landing net and creep up to the bank and p-l-a-c-e the bait into the margins with a small float on, this tactic will often outfish traditional methods of heavy leads etc - I caught a 13.5 lb common in 14 inches of water they are fairly easy to spot, just lob a load of freebies in the margins next time you go and watch for clouds of mud or reeds and grass being pushed aside as they root around, I have seen big fish in water so shallow that their backs are showing!

They are easily spooked in shallow water though and I always try not to allow my shadow to fall on the surface or break the skyline with my outline - not easy if there's no trees or bushes in the vicinity as I'm no stranger to a fish supper!

[Severn Wolf]

Common, I really would like to see you fish a pva bag at 150 yards. Next time you`re going to do it give me a call please.

 

We`re not talking about range fishing, carp anglers have this ego thing about max chucks. How many times have you gone down your local water and spent a couple of days looking in the margins? Not many I`ll bet. If you did you may be surprised to see the amount of fish that DO move in very close to feed, its probably one of the safest spots on the lake, especially when the carp boys turn up.

 

Carpers do fish the margins but invariably its with 3oz leads, not really true margin fishing.

 

Theres a world of difference between hunting fish and sitting back waiting for it to happen......

 

[ 05. September 2005, 05:13 PM: Message edited by: Severn Wolf ]

[fantasticfisherman]

thats the sort of thing i like to do because you always get a sudden rush of adrenalin when you see a big carp slurp in your bait(if the waters clear that is )

[Common 40]

Severn Wolf:

 

We`re not talking about range fishing, carp anglers have this ego thing about max chucks. How many times have you gone down your local water and spent a couple of days looking in the margins? Not many I`ll bet.

you would lose your money mate, I allways look for feeding fish and mostly cast at them where they're showing if thats at range then sorry but the float set up would be a waste of time

 

chuck 150 yards with a pva bag i admit is an exaggeration but the whole point of my post in case you didn't get my drift is carp also show in the deeper parts and sometimes at range, I aint knocking a good float set up but I dont think it will "out fish" standard methods ..just my oppinnion.

[fantasticfisherman]

different circumstances require different setups ledgers for long range, floats for short to medium range

[Mark Quinney]

I agree that distance is sometimes required to target the fish, but I also feel that many so called carpers purely punch out a big rig as far as they can as they feel the further they can cast, the bigger a man they are. I always look for fish close in, and have many times set up near to "The Chuckers" and heard them tut as I get into fish quickly, where their distance baits have had no attention...Floats Gracefull in appearance....and disappearance...

[jeepster]

tis true, virtually all my big fish come from the margins

[UK-Fishing-Tackle.co.uk]

Nearly every lake I've fished has good fish at the margins, but most tend to be quite old and established lakes.

 

Now, the modern (often marginless), man made carp lakes (you know, those that are about 2ft 6" deep all the way across, with about 100lb of carp per cube metre of water!!) are a different matter altogether. Where carp have no natural shelter, perhaps the middle of the lake is the safest place for them to congregate.

 

Float fishing is good fun - the only trouble I have is being a bit over eager (i.e. I usually fish in roach mode for carp, and can snatch at the takes a bit quickly at times).

[Steve Burke]

It's very much horses for courses.

 

On a heavilly-stocked water a matchman's approach of spraying maggots at a float usually outfishes the specialist's ledgered boilie approach - sometimes by a large margin.

 

On a more lightly-stocked water such as a large gravel pit ledgering is likely to produce better results, especially on long sessions when it's too tiring to watch a float continually.

 

However, float fishing for carp is a very under-rated method for specimen carp on big waters, especially on short sessions or for part of a longer session. Unfortunately, many modern carpers have made so much disturbance that they've spooked the carp out of floatfishing range anyway!