SUCCESS IN THE SILT
JACK FUNNEL has had a remarkable year targeting big fish from open-access waters. This month he reveals how he tackles day-ticket venues once the carp have moved into winter feeding mode...
CARP anglers have never had it so good. We have an evergrowing list of brilliant day-ticket venues at our disposal, and an evergrowing head of big carp to target.
Safe to say, wherever you live in the country, there will be an open access venue where you can rock up, pay your dues, cast out and be in with the chance of a huge fish for little more than the cost of a kilo of boilies.
BEHAVIOUR PATTERNS
One of my favourite day-ticket waters over recent years has been Farlows, which is located just to the south of London. It’s one of the original gravel pits of the Colne Valley, and it holds an impressive stock of large and beautiful carp.
I have fished the lake on and off for a few years now and – I’ll let you into a little secret – working in the on-site shop has helped me glean a lot of information on the venue. However, what I’m keen to stress here is that the tactics I adopt in autumn and winter to keep catching on Farlows are applicable at just about all day-ticket waters holding large carp.
The behaviour the fish adopt, and their reaction to the seasonal changes in weather and angling pressure, can be applied at any carp water, with similar levels of success.
Farlows is quite a big lake, broken up into various bays, and featuring plenty of islands, weedbeds, snags and other areas that the carp can tuck themselves away in. It has pretty much everything you want from a carp lake and, as always, finding the fish is key to success.
The resident carp are not particularly shy, however, and will often show themselves, even in winter.
SPOTS WITHIN SPOTS
They are creatures of habit and have certain routines depending on the time of year and the conditions. For sure they love any form of cover, such as weedbeds, but in the colder months, when the weed has died back, they will break up and venture off elsewhere.
I have found, particularly at this time of year, and during sunny days of high pressure, that the fish love spending time in the bays and shallow water.
However, in proper ‘carpy’ conditions, such as big winds, low pressure and rain, they will often be found in the main bowl of the lake in open water.
Once I have located the rough area the fish are holed up in, I have found that the clear, silty areas at this time of year can be by far the most productive. A lot of people still target the gravelly areas, but I have had far more success fishing in the silt. More to the point, most of the ‘bars’ in Farlows are not actually gravel as such, but are actually covered in mussels. These areas might produce the lovely ‘tap-tap’ on the rod-tip when pulling back on the marker rod, but most of the time it isn’t gravel, and the fish can be very tricky to catch off these mussel-encrusted spots, so I try to avoid them. Even when I’ve located an area of silt, I find that there will still be ‘spots within spots’, so to speak. I am looking for a decent drop on the rod and a smooth pull with the lead. You will find bits of blanket weed or thick, smelly chod on the silty areas, but around them will be small clear areas that the carp have clearly fed upon.
FEWER RODS, MORE BITES
Even though you’ll be fishing in the silt, I would still advise using strong tackle. If the fish takes line or goes over one of the mussel-ridden bars, it can quite easily cut you off if your tackle isn’t up to the job. I like to use a 15lb mainline and a 20lb fluorocarbon leader.
A lot of the time, when you do get a take, the fish will kite and the line will have picked up the odd bit of weed. This can then take out the other rod, which is why I only try to fish two rods instead
“At times I’ve only fished with one rod, as that’s the one doing the bites and any more rods in the swim could hinder my chances of landing them”
of three. There have been times when I have only fished with one rod, as that is the one that is doing the bites and any more rods in the swim could hinder my chances of landing them. This isn’t the case in every swim, but sometimes it can be like this, so be prepared to adapt to the situation that you’re faced with.
BEATING THE BREAM
Once you’ve found a spot, how you bait it can be key. If, as at Farlows, there are a lot of bream in the lake, trying to avoid them is key. If the bream are with the carp in front of me, I go in with whole boilies and nothing else. There are a lot of old fish in Farlows and they like a good bait, particularly a fishmeal. This is why I use Krill.
To make the baits stand out a bit more from the next person’s, I heavily glug them in Pure Krill Liquid. Particularly when fishing in the silt, that smell lingers in the area for a long time and almost taints the spot. Even if the fish have cleared me out, those food signals are still down there.
Even in the depths of winter I won’t shy away from using a decent bit of bait. Typically.
I like to go in with a fair bit too – sometimes 3kg of boilies from the off.
A lot of the fish in Farlows are shoal fish, so holding them can be hard. Once the pack arrives, it won’t take them long to eat through a few hundred boilies.
WHITE WONDERS
Over the boilies, I have fished with pretty much every hookbait going and always go back to small white pop-ups.
For some reason, at this time of the year they are a real stand-out offering. The 12mm Signature pop-ups are my go-to hookbait and have caught me loads of fish from Farlows. I use these on the Ronnie Rig, which has always worked for me and turned just about every take into a fish on the bank.
This year I have been putting my theories and past experiences into practice and have been fortunate to catch some cracking fish, most noticeably a lovely looking common of over 38lb, caught on a 12mm Signature pop-up over a large bed of Krill boilies.
It’s not rocket science, it’s just triedand-trusted tactics that continue to produce the goods.
So, if you’re struggling for bites this winter, seek out the silt and then keep it simple. Try dropping down to two, or even one rod, and don’t be afraid to give the fish a reasonable hit of bait. It looks a lot less on the lakebed when surrounded by a dozen hungry carp, then it does sitting in your bait bucket on the bank, trust me.
Just remember to find the fish first – it’s the most important piece in the carp angling jigsaw, whatever time of year it happens
to be.