MAT WOODS How to fish a D-Rig
Mat Woods goes after some sun-seeking carp
WHEN the temperatures skyrocket, catching carp can be quite a difficult prospect – but not for Korum’s Mat Woods. Here are his tips for making hay while the sun shines…
“I reckon I’d make a good carp. Like our cyprinid friends, I love the sunshine, I love a warm wind and I definitely like good food! But for many, the onset of warmer temperatures brings the summer doldrums. The fish are all held up in the weeds, snags or lily pads, or cruising around on the surface – seemingly uncatchable. Well for me, it’s my time to shine, excuse the pun. We all have our moment in the sun and mine, is when it’s scorching hot and it’s almost painful to spend the day bankside.
The carp are using up more energy than they can consume. So now is a great time to get them grazing, satisfying their appetite for food, vitamins and minerals.”
The fast lane
“Something you can spot quickly in summer is the carp’s patrol routes, what I call the fast lane. It might not be a route that every carp is taking – it’s for the ones that are active and obviously looking for something.
During most of my summer sessions, I spend the daytime just watching – maybe trying to nick a bite off the top or down the edge, but mostly I’m in observation mode.”
The smoking room
“Male fish recover from spawning quicker than the females. They’re active, they’re hungry and in need of replenishment. That’s where we come in. It’s time to let them ‘ave it!
I prefer to offer a smorgasbord of bait at this time of year, rather than fishing one-dimensionally with boilies. I’m more likely to have a mix of particles, pellets, naturals – everything I can get my hands on. I want to bait very tightly, in large volumes, somewhere near to the ‘fast lane’ where I’ve seen active fish. Once you’ve located a likely looking zone – something that’s quite easy when they’re swimming around higher in the water – trust me, it’s worth the gamble over a ruck of bait.
Once I’ve found a nice spot and filled it in, I leave it and carry on observing. This gives me time to get the rods wrapped up at the correct range, sort a few rigs, put my bivvy up and have a little mini barbecue and a cold one. It’s my chill time, letting the fish get confident around the area, free of lines. I often don’t cast out until it’s getting dark. As the air cools, the chance of a bite increases dramatically.”
Vitamin D
“One thing to remember when baiting so tightly is that the carp will feed on
your spot very differently. I find they visit for a while then disappear, only to come back again and again.
Some fish will visit more often. Some might only come in once or twice during your session. The key is to have enough there to pique their interest and take their guard down. In such situations you need a presentation that is both mechanically sound, and allows you to present a small, light hookbait. For me, that’s often a German Rig, but in recent times, in clear water, I’ve found myself using a D-rig a lot more often. The setup is always the same – the only things I change are the hooklink material, and the length.
If the bottom is firm, I go stiffer and shorter, but if it’s softer, I follow suit with my hooklink. I use either a stiff bristle filament, a fairly heavy fluorocarbon of around 25lb, or a lighter 10lb-12lb mono. If there’s a bit of light weed or debris, the mono hooklength comes into play. For anything in between, like silt or sand, the fluorocarbon is bang-on. I fish them on a helicopter rig with a nice big loop at the swivel end, but they’re equally as good on a lead clip.
The best thing about a D-rig is using it with a small wafter bait. I like to hook a dumbell sideways, so it’s obviously not ‘another round ball’ the fish have grown wise to. As soon as they pick it up, the hook hangs prone beneath, as it is the heaviest item there. It’s so simple, but so effective – especially when fishing over a tight patch of small baits.
Sunny daze
Don’t be deterd by the harsh summer weather. Your bites are likely to come through the cooler hours, so make the most of the visibility the sun affords, use your powers of observation, then give the carp a vitamin hit they can’t refuse, with a rig they can’t spit out!