RINGER TO THE RESCUE “Can you give me a few tips to help me catch the bigger fish?”

Micky Bland, Brentwood

TO BE honest, there will always be an element of luck involved when it comes to the size of fish you catch.

That said, there are a few things that you can try – little tricks that have always worked for me in the past.

Give them a big bait

First I’d take a look at your hookbait size, particularly when it warms up. Carp have big mouths, but specimen carp anglers will tell you that bigger hookbaits produce fewer bites but can be more selective.

In this situation I’d fish paste and big hard pellets. This might mean stepping up in size to 8mm or 10mm, just to try and pick out a few of the bigger carp. This isn’t guaranteed to work, but it won’t do any harm to try!

Fish past your feed

Feeding is something else you can put a bit of thought into. Once the warm weather arrives it might be worth looking at how you feed your swim and, even more importantly, where you fish. For example, smaller carp tend to be drawn to big beds of bait, so fishing just past the feed can pick off the bigger, warier fish, particularly early in the session when the carp haven’t really settled.

This is something I do a lot when fishing bomb and pellet. Rather than cast right on top of my loosefeed I like to cast 2m to 5m past it where the bigger fish will often sit. Later on, when the carp really start to go on the feed, this becomes less effective and it may be better to adopt the big hookbait approach and fish on top of the feed where the carp want to be. In this instance a bigger hookbait might be double 8mm or even double 10mm pellets.

Set a trap

On the pole it can sometimes be worth feeding for one fish at a time. Instead of putting a big pot of bait into the swim, try feeding just enough to catch one fish – just six to eight grains of corn, for example, rather than 50!

Less bait doesn’t tend to attract so many fish into the swim, but often it’s the odd bigger fish that will respond.

It’s then a case of catching a fish and resetting the trap. This approach relies on you fishing the swim constantly, as you need to know just how much bait has been eaten so you know you are always fishing over a small amount.

If you do decide to feed heavily on the pole, the same principle can apply as with the bomb in terms of fishing around the bait as opposed to placing your hookbait right on top of it.

One other tip to try when fishing the long pole shallow is to go a bit deeper. The smaller carp tend to be more competitive, and feed very high in the water.

The bigger carp, however, have seen it all before and sit that little bit deeper, picking off any loose offerings that make it past the smaller fish.

Try fishing 3ft deep instead of 2ft. It really does work for those bigger carp.

Bank on the edge!

Finally, you might want to think about exactly where you’re fishing.

When it’s warmer, it’s no secret that the bigger fish like to come in close to the bank to feed, especially later on in the day when the light levels

“The margins are where I’d always expect the bigger carp ”

start to drop. If you’re pleasure fishing, then making a switch and targeting the margins in the late afternoon will definitely see you catch a bigger stamp of carp, because you’re targeting the fish exactly where they want to be.

In fact, I’d say that the margins are where I’d always expect the carp to be bigger – anywhere else in the swim then yes, you can do things, but you’re still relying on an element of luck when it comes to picking off those bigger carp specimens.

A bit of luck…

On some fisheries you’ll find the bigger carp swim together. On one day you might catch 10 fish for 30lb, then on the next trip you’ll catch 10 for 80lb.

That isn’t something that is achieved by design, it’s purely down to the shoal of carp that’s in front of you.

On some fisheries you might find the bigger carp tend to favour certain swims, too, so that’s something that’s well worth keeping an eye on if you can pick your fishing position.