FIVE WAYS TO WIN with carp shallow

Warm weather and bright sun means one thing – it’s time to break out the shallow rigs and empty the lake

TARGET FEATURES

SHALLOW fishing is not just something to do in open water. If you’ve got a feature like an overhanging tree or a reed bed on a snake lake, and if there’s enough depth (upwards of 18ins), you’ll catch shallow up against it. Carp and F1s feel safe with foliage over their heads and it will also let you hide the pole tip away from the fish to stop them spooking.

It’s important that you can see the carp moving in the peg if you are to catch them – if there’s no movement, this means there are no carp off bottom and you’d be better off fishing on the deck.

MAKE A NOISE WITH BIG PELLETS

YOU need to make plenty of noise to get the fish curious and into your peg when fishing shallow, and this is easy to do with large pellets. Go for hard 6mm pellets, but don’t go mad with the amounts – two or three catapulted each time will make enough sound but won’t present the fish with too much choice, as can happen if using smaller pellets in larger quantities.

TRY THREE RIGS

THERE’S no point in setting up just one rig and sliding the float about all over the place as the day goes on. This means you’re never sure where your starting depth is and you can soon lose track and waste valuable fishing time.

Instead, set up three rigs at different depths – say 1ft, 2ft and 3ft deep – and then if you want to see if the fish are sat a little deeper or shallower, all you need do is pick the top kit up with the right rig.

Generally, go shallower if you are getting bites but not hooking fish and go deeper if you aren’t getting any indications at all.

PICK THE RIGHT FLOAT FOR THE JOB

HAVING your hookbait fall through the water at the same speed as the loosefeed is crucial when fishing shallow, so that means finding a float of the right shotting capacity to make that happen. Around a 4x12 is ideal - a 4x10 float will make the fall too slow, while a 4x14 is too fast.

Stability is not important because the rig shouldn’t be in the water that long.

Pick a slim-bodied float with a bristle unless you are fishing very shallow - less than 12ins - where a short, stubby dibber will work better.

GO FOR CASTERS

SOMETIMES big is not always best on the hookbait front. Carp can get tired of seeing pellets, too, and when this happens, or if your venue holds lots of F1s and quality silverfish that will feed shallow, a change to casters can be better.

Small fish can be a problem, but plug away and the big ones will arrive and push the tiddlers out. Be patient and keep the feed going in – the quality fish will turn up.