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Carp on the pole


DarrenW

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On a fishing trip this weekend on a small water i encountered 3 large carp which in turn, snapped my rig one after another.

 

I was fishing a pole at around 6 metres. The first to snap me was on a size 6 elastic, as i was fishing for silver fish and to be honest i knew i was not going to land that fish after its roaring run.

 

After that incident i replaced that top for a power top 2 with a size ten elastic (thinking i may still hook silver fish too)..shortly after i hooked into another good size carp which stretched my elastic until it bottomed out and the hook pulled from the fish.

 

As i only had two tops with me i had to fish on with the 10 and, hooked into yet another carp, which in turn bottomed the elastic out and snapped my rig.

 

Could anyone please advise me on what size elastic i should be using for carp in the 5lb to 12lb range? and also the strength of the rig/hooklength and advisable hook size for fishing maggot or pellet?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. :wallbash:

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A few more things to think about before you can fully get to grips with the problem.

How deep is the lake? On shallow lakes, carp tear off a lot quicker and harder than on deeper lakes. Are the fish commons or mirrors? Commons tend to fight much harder than mirrors.

Are there any snags around?

 

Hook pulls are usually caused by; 1. the fish being foulhooked, 2. the hook not being thick enough for the strength of line/elastic you're using.

 

I'm quite happy fishing for carp using a soft number 10/12 elastic in the summer, step down to a 8/10 in the winter. I'm usually fishing further out than 6m, probably more like 11-13m, where you can swing the pole around and the fish don't run off quite so hard.

Don't try to bully the fish in, keep the pole tip low to the water, or even under the water a little, you will feel when the pressure starts to relax, then you can ship back slowly. It is not a race to land the fish as quick as possible, you should enjoy the fight, even in a match.

If the elastic has bottomed out, try angling the pole slightly to one side, the fish should kite around, instead of just running straight. If it is running straight, it's probably foulhooked and will likely come off anyway.

 

I would step up the elastic by one more grade, but make sure it is set very soft. Use at least 0.16mm diameter line, straight through to the hook, which should be a thick, strong type like the Drennan Barbless Carp Feeder. Try to fish further out/along the bank, so you have at least 9m of pole over the water. If you have to fish shorter, have sections ready to add on to go out to 9/11/13m.

 

If you are determined to have a day's silver fish fishing, use 0.12mm line to a number 8 elastic with a hook like a Kamasan B510. Still expect to have to add sections to land a carp, but at this time of year, you'll be lucky to land carp much over 5lb generally.

 

Good luck, Darren...

Edited by coarsefish-torbay

The Mahseer Trust, working for one of the world's iconic fish and the rivers they live in

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www.coarsefish-torbay.co.uk

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I think I have no 18 elastic in my pole. This is because I occasionally use it to stalk double figure carp!

 

The best tip I've got for pole fishing is to have a stretch of of a foot or so of doubled elastic as a last ditch bit of stretch for a large fish! I also have elastic through 3 sections, and so there is plenty of stretch if needed!

 

This is the carp I caught a few weeks ago on the pole from under a tree on the canal! Once I had it away from the tree it was just a matter of keeping the pole up over the fish.

 

post-560-1182160604_thumb.jpg

 

Rich

Edited by Richard Capper
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Thank you very much for the info. Being relatively new to the pole it can be difficult to get things right initially.

 

The water was 3ft deep pretty much all over as i plumbed most of the swims. I,m not sure if all the carp are commons but i managed to land a 4lb common last year from the same lake on a waggler and a 1.14lb hooklength using the drage of the reel.

 

At the weekend i was catching baby mirrors on the pond around 10 oz.

 

As for snags there looks to be only 1 or 2 over hanging trees to get into.

 

When the carp were hooked the just tore off all over the place, i just held on with the pole slightly submerged putting no pressure on the fish at all, the fish just ran until the elastic would stretch no more, i even added a section on the second fish.

 

The hook was a drennan feeder carp which was quite thick guage.

 

My maver pole (which i did not take) is fitted with hydro elastics in 10/12 , 14/16, would these be more suitable for Carp situations?

 

Anyway, thank you agin for some very helpful information.

 

Regards,

Darren

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In my experience, in anything but snagy water ten elastic will do for any fish up to 5/6/7lbs and I have regularly landed them up to twice that size. The big problem is, as you have spotted, stopping them bottoming the elastic. Whilst doubling up some elastic will help if a carp is bottoming out the elastic the best tips I can offer are:

Firstly always have some spare sections ready to add or better still have them attached to the pole ready to come into play when you hook a fish. If you are fishing close to the bank still fish a long pole just go along the bank.

Second if you are at the limit and the elastic is about to bottom out lay the pole on the water(dont let go though!!). The change in preasure or whatever it is will often/usually slow the beast down, dont know why but it works.

When you strike try not to do so too hard. Lift into the fish gently and as a rule the fish will not charge off.

My whole approach to playing carp on the pole (and to a degree with running line) no matter how big, is only to pull when they dont. If a carp goes charging off I will take preasure off and point the pole at the fish rather than add preasure and as a rule the fish will stop pulling. When the fish stops pulling I will add preasure, eventually the fish will charge off again so I cut the preasure and point the pole at the fish and the fish will slow down. I then start applying preasure again. And so on untill eventually the fish is ready to net.

Obviously there are times for hook and hold but most of the time the gentle aproach will land far more fish

Edited by A Worm OOE
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Thanks for yet more advice, its very helpful.

I think its more my inexperience that lost me the fish and i suppose its trial and error, although at the time it was rather frustrating to get 3 fantastic opportunities and to blow it. I,m sure i,ll get there in the end though!

 

Thanks again.

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Personally carp stuffed comercials arent my cup of tea but I would sugest that maybe you take a visit to one where a lot of fish can be guaranteed just to give yourself an intensive practice session in playing carp. This is especially true if you want to try the "non confrontational" method of playing fish, as it does go a bit against your natural inclinations.

Edited by A Worm OOE
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