Small pit with Heavy Silt

[joso]

Hi All,

 

I'm hoping to do a day on a pit which has some really nice carp pushing 25lb, it's pretty small in size and average depth is about 9ft. The bed is mostly covered in heavy silt and I was just wondering if anyone can give me some tips or recommend a rig that would present itself well in there. I've fished it in the past with good success for bream and tench but never really managed to crack it with the carp in there so any advice on fishing on silt would be great.

 

Thanks

[Guest old wrinkley]

Just a thought - how about using a surface bait, crust or something. If not and you want to fish the bottom you could use a sliding float weighted down with a Swan shot or two

[Dick Dastardly]

First find out how deep the silt is in the exact spot you wish to fish.Easiest done with a boat using either the "grey line" feature on the sounder or a pole to push down into the silt.Cant use a boat then no worries.Set up a float with a lead tied on the end that will sink it (use a good sized lead of at least 4ozs the heavier the better all though some reccopmend using the same size as the lead you will be using).Slide the float up to around (but below by at least a foot) the depth of the swim.On to the eye of the lead tie on a length of white wool (use natural wool rather than synthetic) run this up the line and tie it to it( I normally slide a length of sillicon rig tube on to the line before tying the lead on and put the top end of the wool through this)

 

Chuck it out into your swim and leave it to settle then wait 10-15mins.When youve wound it in the silt will have stained the white wool giving you a good indication of the depth.

 

Armed with this info you can then set up the hook link on a silt or "chod" as they seem to call them now rig so your bait fishes where you want it.Depending on the type of silt I either fish the bait on the surface of it or just under. Silt varies a lot and not all types hold food.Avoid the very black evil smelling silt as the carp tend to as well!!

[joso]

Thanks for that budgie,

 

I'm a little worried about the last sentence though, as I believe it is the black stuff,. Am I right in thinking there will be patches around the lake that aren't silty that I can fish on or would it be best to avoid fishing bottom?

 

It's a strange little venue and the carp have barely seen a hook but I do know of someone who caught one of the bigger fish on the bottom, can't get hold of the tactics he used though .

Edited August 30, 2008 by joso