BLAST IN THE CASTERS!
It’s the bait that’s taking commercial fisheries apart as temperatures soar and carp feed up-in-the-water
IT’S time to catch your biggest-ever net of carp as shallow fishing tactics are smashing records at commercial fisheries.
As water temperatures continue to rise, pleasure and match anglers alike are taking lakes apart with baits suspended up-in-the-water – and among the most devastating of these are casters.
Oakfield Fishery in Aylesbury, Bucks, is known for producing huge weights and Steve Waters smashed the match record with 318lb 10oz of carp during a contest on Red Kite lake.
Fishing casters on the pole from peg 7, the Drennan Oxford angler netted fish to 10lb with a rig made from 0.20mm mainline, an 0.18mm hooklink and a size 18 hook. Winning hookbait was a single banded caster.
This is his biggest-ever match weight, and Steve is urging anglers to get out to their local commercial fishery and give the tactic a try.
“I concentrated on the 14m line and just kept the casters going in over the top all match. This is a personal best weight for me and such an enjoyable way to catch a big weight of fish,” said Steve.
“The most important thing to remember when fishing like this is to keep bait falling through the swim all the time and keep in touch with the fish by altering your depth to find out exactly where they are feeding.
“I have three or four rigs set up at different depths because the fish won’t just sit at a certain depth all day long.
“Another thing to remember when fishing with the pole is not to use an elastic that’s too heavy. Something like a No10 hollow is perfect. As soon as you hook a fish you want to move it away from
the rest of the feeding fish to avoid spooking them.”
Another one of the huge number of UK fisheries that have been producing triple-figure weights is Coventry’s Packington Somers Coarse Fishery.
Drennan’s Jon Arthur came agonisingly close to breaking the fishery record when he fished casters shallow on Molands Mere to win a recent contest with an impressive 189lb 10oz net of carp and F1s.
He, too, fished at 14m and the winning hookbait was a single caster. “Don’t be put off by anglers that like to brag about feeding gallons of bait,” said Jon.
“Bigger F1s don’t want gallons of bait fired at them.
“Lashing in larger quantities will only push the fish down, and it makes it harder for them to find your hookbait.
“For larger carp I like to use two or three dead red maggots or a piece of worm, which seems to help pick off the carp among any silver fish that may be present.”
“Don’t be put off fishing casters by those who like to brag about feeding gallons of bait”