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TODAY I’m fishing the White Bishop Pool at Bishops Bowl in 4ft of water off the corner of the rushes so I have gone for a 4x10 MW Steady float.

A light float gives a nice slow fall of the hookbait – what I want, as quite often the fish under and around features are well off bottom.

A slow fall of the hookbait is therefore important, as fish will spot the hookbait falling through the water and follow it down before hopefully taking it.

MAINLINE AND HOOKLENGTH

I’m likely to catch carp from 3lb-8lb today, so my mainline is 0.15mm Guru N-Gauge to a 6ins hooklength of 0.14mm Pure Fluorocarbon. Its low visibility gives me a real edge.

HOOK CHOICE

I like to fish a range of hookbaits with this tactic so I choose an all-rounder hook pattern – a size 16 Guru F1 Pellet.

ELASTIC CHOICE

Even big carp tend to be slightly sluggish in the cold, so my choice is White Hydro. Every fish hooked needs to come out at this time of year in particular, and this is the perfect elastic to ensure that every bite will get a result.

SHOTTING PATTERN

To ensure the hookbait sinks as slowly as possible I set up a slow-fall shotting pattern of a loosely strung bulk of No11 shot, with the bottom one 6ins from the hook and the rest of the droppers spaced at 2ins intervals above this.