PAUL GARNER Give zig rigs a try for carp
Try my cloudy mix and buoyant bait for spring action
CARP are sensitive to temperature, and even when the water is still quite cold in spring the energy they can absorb from sunlight on highpressure days is enough to stir their appetite.
These are also days when catching on the deck is tough, so it’s worth experimenting with other tactics.
There are lots of ways to catch carp in the upper layers, but one of the easiest, especially if you’re sitting it out for occasional bites, is using a zig rig. The baits are pretty simple, but there are a few edges that can get you more bites.
HOOKBAIT OPTIONS
Carp are inquisitive and will sample anything they find in the water column. Naturally, they’ll feed on emerging caddis flies, mayflies, tadpoles and a myriad of other creepy-crawlies, so it’s no wonder that they see almost anything suspended in the water as a potential meal.
Fortunately for us, this also includes pieces of foam, popups and just about anything else that’s buoyant enough to support the weight of the hook.
When I’ve been filming zig rigs underwater most carp approach the bait from the side, so ideally, you want a bait colour that will attract their attention from this angle. On sunny days black is often best, but on cloudy days experiment with brighter colours like orange and yellow.
My favourite hookbait is a piece of shaped rig foam threaded on the hook. This has the advantage of having the hookpoint and the bait as close together as possible, so as soon as a carp picks up the bait it gets the hook too. The foam also helps to disguise the hook.
Although you’ll catch plenty of carp on a static bait, the invertebrates that carp eat wriggle around, so try adding a maggot to the hook.
CLOUD ON THE HORIZON
On well-stocked venues, you can massively increase your zig catches by feeding over the top to attract and hold more fish in your peg. This is a busy, often messy, way of fishing, but on venues like Drayton it can be incredibly effective as the carp home in on the feed cloud.
A sloppy spod cloud with a
porridge-like consistency that hangs in the water for as long as possible is essential. By clipping the zig rod and your spod rod at the same distance, you can ensure that the hookbait sits slap-bang in the cloud from every spodful of bait.
I tend not to add any feed to the spod cloud as this will sink, possibly taking the carp with it. My aim is to try and concentrate them in the upper layers where my hookbait is waiting for them.