James Cook, email

QSome people talk about using critically balanced baits that only just sink under the weight of the hook, and others about using ‘over-weighted’ pop-ups. Is there a place for both?

AGood question! Generally, this is down to personal preference but to my mind there are a couple of instances that would dictate me choosing one or the other.

One thing that is always in my mind is the huge amount of water displacement a feeding carp can cause. A lightly balanced bait will be bouncing around everywhere when a single big fish is feeding around it, and you have to remember that a carp cannot see in front of its nose – it is a total blind spot. If a carp can detect a bait there and tries to take it, it may have a tricky job if the bait is floating around like a balloon in a field on a windy day.

So, for fishing over bait, I prefer to have the bait more weighted so that it can be more easily taken by the carp. I would be more likely to use a finely-balanced bait when I was fishing either a single bait or a bait over a wide scattering.

In this case the fish is not going to be causing lots of turbulence in the immediate area – it should be simply detecting the bait and then upending to take it.

In such a situation it’s possible that a finely-balanced bait could surprise the fish enough to give it some problems.