Fish on... and it’s a good ’un for Steve Ringer! Read his tips for bagging up in the margins right now
Steve reveals it’s not too early to bag up down the edge… but you’ve got to get your tactics right
WITH days getting longer and temperatures on the up, carp are waking up and starting to look for food.
It seems they have been looking for shallow water, too, as the margins have already produced some very big weights on several of the venues I fish. That makes sense, as the shallow water warms up first. No wonder the carp are going to be happy feeding there!
Fishing the margins at this time of year is a bit different to the summer months, though. Big pots of bait are a no-no. It’s all about feeding for one fish at a time.
While there are carp to be caught in the edge there are loads of them not yet coming in, and so all feeding a lot of bait does is reduce your chances of catching the one or two fish that are there – you can give them too many options other than your hookbait.
The trick is to feed and fish for one carp at a time. That might seem quite negative, but when you realise the carp can weigh 10lb apiece it soon becomes apparent you don’t need many of them for a big weight!
WHICH BAITS?
My bait isn’t that different to what it would be in the summer, I just tend to use less of it.
To start off I have 1kg of groundbait, and I’ve had a lot of success over the years with a Sweet Fishmeal mix I created with Dynamite a few years back. That’s my ‘go-to’ mix for the margins.
I like to prepare it slightly on the wet side. This makes it heavier, so it sits on the bottom a lot
better, something I believe is very important when fishing in the margins.
I also have two tins of meat and a tin of corn. The meat is chopped into 6mm cubes, and while some will say meat is better when the weather is a bit warmer, I would argue that big carp can’t get enough of it, and that there’s no better time to use it than now, providing it’s fed in moderation.
Corn is one of those baits that carp go for in a big way, and I like it for edge fishing as it’s heavy and doesn’t waft about once the fish are feeding.
Its bright colour also stands out well, as the water in most commercials hasn’t properly coloured up yet.
RIG CHOICE
In terms of floats I have very quickly become a fan of Drennan Margin Crystals. These are relatively small floats, yet they take plenty of shot.
If there are a couple of big carp in the swim I find that a heavier float gives me that little bit more stability and my hookbait won’t be wafted about all over the place by feeding fish.
Bearing in mind that today I’m fishing in 2ft of water I have
opted for one taking 0.3g.
As I’m targeting carp from 8lb to 10lb-plus, my mainline is 0.19mm Guru N-Gauge and my hooklength is 4ins of 0.17mm.
Hook is a size 14 Guru XS spade, which is a strong, wide gape pattern that lends itself perfectly to big baits such as meat or corn.
It will come as no surprise to regular readers of this column to learn that my shotting pattern is a strung bulk of No9s with the bottom shot 5ins from the hook and the rest of the droppers spaced at 1ins intervals above this.
GO LONGER ABOVE THE FLOAT
If possible, try and use a slightly longer than usual length of line between pole float and pole-tip, say 24ins minimum.
This way, with the water still quite clear, there is less chance of fish spooking off the shadow of the pole. Better still, hide the pole using the bank or even a platform, as I have done today.
With big fish the target my elastic choice is Red Hydro – yes it’s thick and powerful but once bedded in it’s quite forgiving.
DEPTH IS CRUCIAL
In relatively clear water, when I’m looking to catch big carp, depth is very important. In the summer I would be happy fishing in just 12ins of water, but at the moment I feel a lot more confident fishing in 2ft-3ft, and ideally close to some sort of cover.
Today I’m on the big lake at Meadowlands, and with blank pegs either side of me the empty platforms are ideal to target. They offer the right depth and give cover too.
If that wasn’t enough, carp get used to finding food around these platforms so they become a natural feeding area.
HOW AND WHEN TO FEED
I see no point in feeding the edges until around two hours to go in a match situation. Feeding earlier than this is just wasting bait and could actually lead to overfeeding later in the match.
To kick the edge line off I initially feed half a 250ml pot of bait made up of two-thirds groundbait and the rest meat and corn.
Then, unless I see signs of fish colouring up the water, or tail patterns, I will leave the swim to settle for 15-20 minutes.
When it’s time to fish the spot I feed two-thirds of a large Guru pole pot of bait, a 50:50 mix of meat and corn with a cap of groundbait to keep the bait in place and prevent the loss of any of it when shipping out.
Once the rig is in place I will turn the pole over and tap out the contents of the pot.
LIFT THE RIG OUT
As soon as I’ve fed, I lift the rig clear of the water for five seconds before slowly lowering it back in again, right on top of the bait I’ve just fed.
I remove the float from the swim straight after feeding in order to minimise the chances of line bites and foul-hooking, which is something that tends to happen when feeding over the top of the float.
Once your rig is in place it’s then just a case of waiting for a bite. If there is a carp present in the swim then generally you will get an indication in the first minute to tell you.
If, however, there are no signs after five minutes I prefer to look elsewhere to keep my catch rate ticking over.
RESETTING THE TRAP
If I do catch a fish, though, it’s
simply a case of resetting the trap by feeding with the pole-mounted pot and then waiting.
What I am trying to do is feed for just one or two fish, catch one and then repeat the process.
Because I am feeding when I go in, I always know I am fishing on top of bait, even though in terms of margin fishing it’s a relatively small amount.
This stops me from worrying about whether I have been cleaned out – I can fish safe in the knowledge that there is definitely some bait on the bottom.
VARY YOUR HOOKBAITS
As far as hookbaits go I like to keep it to just two. The first is my secret ‘cube-and-a-half’ of meat.
My meat cutter is getting a bit worn and the end row is slightly bigger than the rest, which is actually something I like because it creates these slightly larger cubes which are great to use on the hook.
My second hookbait is double corn. This is a big, stand-out bait that has caught me an awful lot of carp over the years and often produces a quick response.