It’s time to fish meat on the ‘mud line’
Catching carp in just inches of water is a winning tactic right now
ONE of the most exciting tactics you can fish at this time of year is what I call ‘mud line’ fishing.
For those that don’t know what this means, it involves fishing snake-type lakes in literally inches of water, tight to the mud on the far bank or against an island.
While it might not sound that glamorous it’s actually a very prolific approach.
If you get mud line fishing right, quite often you can actually see the fish swirling in the shallow water as they take your bait.
However, just because you can see the fish, it doesn’t mean they’re easy to catch!
In this week’s column I’ve come to Shearsby Valley Lakes in Leicestershire to show you how to get the best out of this very productive line!
THE KILLER BAIT COMBO
Bait choice for the mud line varies throughout the year, but at the moment there is no better combo than meat and micros.
With the water temperature on the rise the carp are looking for food, and while meat on its own maybe lacks a little bit of pulling power, once you add some wetted-down micro pellets you
“Often you can see the fish swirling in the shallow water as they take your bait”
have all the bases covered.
For a five-hour session I find two tins of meat are plenty, as I’m feeding little and often to get the fish competing as opposed to dumping in loads of bait.
Size-wise, I like 6mm cubes for carp and F1s. Anything less and small fish can sometimes become a problem.
As for pellets, I like to use wetted down 2mm coarse pellets. Carp love pellets in the spring, so it makes perfect sense to capitalise on this fact and use them to help pull more carp into the swim.
A trick you can try is to overwet the 2mm pellets so they almost become a slop.
I had a really slow start today, but by over-wetting my pellets so they created a cloud when they were fed I soon started to pull fish into the swim in large numbers.
DEPTH TO FISH
One of the most important aspects of mud line fishing is finding the right depth of water.
If it’s too shallow, the fish won’t be able to come into the swim, whereas if it’s too deep you can experience problems with line bites as fish crash around at all depths.
I’m looking for around 8in-12ins of water, and ideally this will be tight against the bank, as this prevents fish from swimming behind the float, which can also be a nightmare.
For me, the perfect swim would have cover, then a gap to the bare bank, and then more cover.
I don’t want lots of cover and no entry point into the mud bank, as this can stop me from getting into the right depth of water.
FEEDING FOR SUCCESS
This is best done little and often using a medium-sized Kindertype pot. This way I can feed and lower my float right into the loose offerings, which vastly increases my chances of a bite.
As for feed, I like to fill twothirds of the pot with meat and then put a cap on it with the wetted-down pellets. The pellets seal the meat into the pot and allow me to ship out at speed with no risk of spilling its contents across my swim.
Once the pot is in position I empty the contents and then lift and drop the float so the hookbait falls in amid the feed.
What you will then find is that straight after feeding you will get lots of indications as the fish move in to compete for the loose offerings. Once these indications stop, and if you still haven’t had a bite, you’ll need to feed again.
A great little trick I use a lot once there are fish in the swim is to ship out, lower the rig straight in and try for a quick fish.
If I get one I lift to set the hook and then empty the contents of the pot ready for the next fish.
This doesn’t always work, but when it does it’s a great way of getting a quick bite.
Lifting and dropping the rig also works well.
Not only does it give the hookbait a little bit of extra movement, but at the same time it helps keep the rig straight and prevents the hookbait from being washed out of the area.