Day-Ticket Carp Tips
Tom Maker’s brilliant bag rig
SOLID PVA bags are my go-to tactic for trying to get a quick bite at any time of the year, but particularly so in autumn.
I’ve always been a big fan of single hookbaits in the colder months, but solid bags are like using single hookbaits on steroids!
They allow me to cast into areas where I have seen fish or think that they are holding up, safe in the knowledge that, whatever the lakebed looks like, I am fishing effectively. That’s because, with the rig being enclosed inside the bag, I know that it isn’t caught up in any weed or detritus. I can cast it virtually anywhere and know that I have a small parcel of food surrounding my hookbait.
Depending on what you include in the bag, that food is sending out a host of different food signals for the carp to home in on.
COMPACT CONTENTS
I like to use a variety of small items inside my solid bags, including powders and fine pellets, not only for the attraction they pump out, but also so that I can compact the contents right down. This makes the bag incredibly aerodynamic, allowing it to be cast further. I think that most readers would be amazed at just how far you can punch a small solid bag!
I nearly always use a 2oz lead, because if you go much bigger, such a with 3oz-4oz lead, when added to the weight of the bag mix it would be too heavy to cast to any sort of range. For a hookbait you want something small, bright and with an element of buoyancy.
It needs to sit just proud of the mix that on the bottom once the bag has melted, so that it is the first thing that will enter the carp’s mouth when it sucks it in.
Magic Maggots
When the water really starts to cool down towards the end of this month, I’m a big fan of adding some red and white maggots to the mix instead of small pellets.
Combined with a bright powder, such as Manilla, the whole lot stands out like a beacon on the bottom, pulling any passing fish down. This effect is highlighted even further when the lake is covered in dead and dying weed, leaves and other dark, decaying matter.
Rove aRound
Rather than setting out my stall and targeting one particular area, in autumn and winter I prefer to cast bags around the swim, to different areas, until I stumble on some carp.
In the colder months the fish in many venues will be held up together in one particular area, often in deeper, open water, so when I manage to locate them, either by receiving proper bites or line bites, I can then put all three rods on to that area in order to maximise my chances.
Solid bags are also great for fishing tight up to overhanging trees or bushes. Even if they clip the branches slightly on the cast, you know that there is nothing that will get caught up, as the rig is safely tucked away inside the bag.
Solid bags are still a vastly underused tactic on most waters, simply because many anglers can’t be bothered with the hassle of tying them up.
However, once you’ve got the knack of it, the process can be remarkably quick. It’s a skill well worth mastering, because in my opinion it beats a single hookbait presentation hands down!