What is left to try

[matty49]

How many blanks you had? How many hours have you put in so far? Are you getting activity over the baits? Are you getting liners? Knowing this will go a long way to us being able to suggest things.

 

( 1 ) Had a few blanks over a weekend period.

 

( 2 ) Yes i am getting activity over the baits. Infact i am having loads but they never seem to take it for some strange reason. I have tried changing the shapes of baits, hook size's, bits and bobs but nothing seems to help get them on the hook.

 

 

From your previous posts it appears that you`re fairly new to the carp scene. I doubt that in the short time you have been at this game you`ve had the opportunity to experiment with everything.........

 

Been carp fishing for about 7 months. Nearly every weekend... Friday - Sunday, so i have put alot of hours into it. I fished for anything for about 2 years prev before i got into the carp scene.

 

 

Cheers for all the help/advice guys, much apprechaited

Edited July 12, 2007 by matty49

[RobStubbs]

( 1 ) Had a few blanks over a weekend period.

 

( 2 ) Yes i am getting activity over the baits. Infact i am having loads but they never seem to take it for some strange reason. I have tried changing the shapes of baits, hook size's, bits and bobs but nothing seems to help get them on the hook.

 

What do you call activity ? I would suggest that changing things is probably going to confuse things more than help you. Bait shape is pretty much irrelevant. Your bait size should match the hook so for example a 16mm bait best suits a size 6 or 8 hook - depending on the model / pattern. One thing that can help is going to small boilies - 14 or 12mm may help.

 

Also how much messing about do you do whilst fishing ? By that I mean I leave my baits in the water, in the same spot, generally 24 hours, but 48 hours isn't unnusual, are you doing likewise or do you keep recasting and baiting up ? Carp generally don't like too much disturbance so if you are chopping and chaging all the time, you could well be scaring them off.

 

Rob.

Edited July 13, 2007 by RobStubbs

[Severn Wolf]

Man, I wish I could just have a few blank weekends! Not caught one of my `target` carp (10 in 25 acres) since last April (2006) and that equates to a 73 night blank.......

 

As Rob mentioned, what sort of activity?

 

Try to get in your mind the situation you need to achieve. The carp has got to enter the area and have absolutely no idea its being fished for. This is where lines need to be kept slack, bankside noise kept to a minimum and the swim left in peace so the fish can settle. Any fish thats on guard is going to be tough to catch, its just natural instinct. By regular recasting and baiting up you`re just negating the previous few hours of quietness and in effect starting again. I know theres plenty of waters where regular recasting and baiting works and on some places actually draws the fish in but I`d guess you`ve already been fishing with impatience so the opposite tactic could work.

 

Robs suggestion of leaving a bait out for 24 or 48 hours is a good one. Once again, try to think whats happening down in the swim. If no fish have been in there then the original baits are sitting on the bottom all washed out. A nice fresh bait may look good on the bank but in the water its goin to stand out like a sore thumb. Again, on some waters this works so can`t be dismissed as a tactic but I have a lot of faith in `old` baits.

 

Make sure you have full faith in your rigs. By that I don`t mean that they`re the latest `in` rig but that they`re capable of doing the job. PVA bags go a long way to easing the mind that the rig isn`t tangled but again, most anglers will probably be fishing with pva so why no be different and try a scattering of baits in the swim to keep any feeding fish on the move so increasing the chances of them making a mistake? A fish feeding in a tight area of bait won`t have to move far so no matter how good the rig its not going to be working at 100%. To minimise tangles just put a few mixers in a pva mesh bag, this gives you the best of both worlds.

 

When do you see anglers recast the most often? Just after they get up and last thing before the sun goes down. When are the traditional best times for fish acivity? Dawn and dusk. So anglers are disturbing the swims at both the prime times for a take.......thats another thing to think about. Cast once a day in a `quiet` time. This regular recasting lark really baffles me. If you`re happy with the cast and know that the rig is not tangled (thanks to pva) then theres no need to move the rod. All you`ll be doing is reeling in to rechuck it to the same spot.........loads of disturbance for no benefit. Leaving a rod out for a considerable period is tough on the mind as doubts creep in but you`ve got to keep faith that everything is fine. I fished a five nighter one winter and one of the rods stayed out the whole of the session. I`d love to say I had a take but it wasn`t to be. On reeling in the rig and bait were fine and that gave me a load of confidence in the tactic.

 

 

So, in summary, I`d advise that you leave the rods out a hell of a lot longer. Also:

 

I have tried changing the shapes of baits, hook size's, bits and bobs but nothing seems to help get them on the hook.

 

Don`t. Pick a bait size, pick a rig, pick a hook and stick with it for at least a couple of trips.

 

 

I think the reason you`re not catching is that you`re trying too hard! Carp fishings about patient impatience and believe me, its very difficult to force a situation with these fish. Set the traps in the knowledge that you`ve done everything to the best of your abilites then sit back and wait.

 

When your names on one it`ll happen regardless of the rig, the bait or even the swim.

 

Good luck!

[JackPike]

Try king prawn is allowed

[matty49]

Make sure you have full faith in your rigs. By that I don`t mean that they`re the latest `in` rig but that they`re capable of doing the job. PVA bags go a long way to easing the mind that the rig isn`t tangled but again, most anglers will probably be fishing with pva so why no be different and try a scattering of baits in the swim to keep any feeding fish on the move so increasing the chances of them making a mistake? A fish feeding in a tight area of bait won`t have to move far so no matter how good the rig its not going to be working at 100%. To minimise tangles just put a few mixers in a pva mesh bag, this gives you the best of both worlds.

 

Funny you should mention that as it deosnt matter what ever rig i use , at one point they tangle. My rods are in the lake for a good 9 hours and havn't had a bite so my mind starts going is it tangled?? i leave it another couple of hours and yet still no movment so i have to reel it in to keep my mind at rest. When reeling it in, good job i did because indeed it is tangled. I have never used PVA bags and only started to recently read about them and pay attention to them and i think im going to give them a go this weekend and it will help keeping my mind at rest about my rig not being tangled so i won't have any problems leaving it in the lake longer then i want to.

Edited July 17, 2007 by matty49

[Severn Wolf]

Bream can play havoc with rigs and tangle them like no other fish without giving a single bleep!

 

Get some pva mesh rather than bags, much more cost effective. A bag is a bag and regardless of the amount of bait you put in it you`ve still got to use a whole one. With the mesh you only use what you need.