Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Make noise and catch – Mike Salisbury
A bit of commotion will attract carp on well-stocked waters, not spook them, says Mike Salisbury
A20lb carp from a commercial may look similar to one of the same size from a low-stock syndicate water but they are very different creatures. Fish residing in waters facing less pressure still hang on to many of their natural instincts while specimens that have made a home in venues that see considerable more footfall have had to adapt to their surroundings. As a result, different tactics are required to catch fish from each type of water. Kodex’s Mike Salisbury believes there is one major aspect you need to change when tackling a commercial. “If a stone was dropped into a lake where the fish don’t face much angling pressure they would spook in an instant. Your chances of catching a fish from that area would most likely be ruined for the day,” explained the 43-year-old. “But in a commercial it is the exact opposite. The fish associate any disturbance with food being introduced. Rather than spooking the carp, the noise will actually draw them towards your swim. “With this in mind, I always try to make a bit of a racket when fishing for carp on day-ticket waters because I know they will eventually become curious and come into my peg.”
Catch more up in the water
Now that the warm weather has finally graced our shores carp will spend an increasing amount of time in the upper layers. When the sun basks down on them they will come close to the surface to soak up the rays and this is why it makes sense to target them with bait suspended above the lakebed. “Most day-ticket waters permit the use of least two rods so I fish one with a multi-rig and a 15mm pop-up hookbait and cast this a few rodlengths out. “I’d expect this to produce a few fish later in the day when they move into the margins. During the day when most are struggling I am confident of getting bites using zig rigs.” Mike will generally start the session by setting his zig rig so that the bait is suspended at half the depth of water. If he fails to get any action he will either shorten the rig to go deeper or lengthen it to go shallower until he starts getting bites. Speak to fishery regulars and bailiffs to help you gauge what depth of water you have in front of you. This will help you make better decisions on what depth to fish and ultimately lead to you getting a bend in the rod quicker.
Ring the dinner bell
Once you’ve sorted the depth it certainly isn’t a case of chucking the rig out, sticking it on the alarms and hoping for the best. It is now that the hard work starts. Mike will never sit still as he tries to provoke a response. “These fish are attracted by the noise that baiting creates so out comes the spod rod and every 10 minutes I will cast out two spods packed with bait,” he said. “What you include in the mix is important. The aim is to create an attractive column of food up in the water as opposed to using heavy baits such as boilies and big pellets that will sink to the lakebed quickly.” Mike’s concoction is simple. He includes plenty of Bait Tech’s The Juice groundbait which has lots of water added to it to create a soup-like consistency. Hemp oil is also included to make a slick in the water that will linger in the column in between top-ups. “Keeping the bait going in is really important but by using this mix I am confident that there is always some food in the water column and lots of scent to keep fish interested.” As the blend includes very little actual food content fish will come to investigate and if the zig is sat at the right depth they will take the trimmed down 15mm pop-up hookbait in an instant.
Swim selection
Oxfordshire’s Clattercote Reservoir is a classic example of a day-ticket water perfectly suited to Mike’s tactics. When the carp were first stocked at a fairly small size, match and pleasure anglers would plunder the fish using tactics such as the pellet waggler and Method feeder. The noise created by these approaches is the reason they associate any commotion with a meal. Nowadays the carp are much bigger and much more suited to specimen anglers, with fish between 15lb and 25lb regular visitors to the bank. Upon arriving at the 130-peg water Mike has a decision to make as to where he thinks the fish will be sat.
“Rather than spooking the carp, noise will draw them towards your swim”
“It is a featureless lake and the biggest indicator as to where the fish will be sitting is the wind direction. The fish will always follow a warm wind as it will bring any natural food with it so having the breeze in your face is always a good starting point,” he explained. Casting beyond any anglers around you will always give you more water to attack on your own and Mike relies on a 3.25tc 12ft Kodex CX-i to make sure he can hit any distance required. The rig itself is made up of 15lb mainline and a Kodex Zig & Floater hooklink to a size 8 MGP Genomic Wide Gape hook. There’s a common misconception that targeting big carp involves hours of inactivity waiting for a bite alarm to sound. But there is nothing slow-paced about Mike’s approach. He was constantly adjusting the depth of his zig rig and casting out spods filled with his sloppy bait mix to keep a cloud of scent in the water column. As everyone else sat motionless, Mike kept working hard. And despite several hours without a bite he stuck to his guns, his approach eventually coming good with carp of 20lb and 23lb gracing the net. “If I’d have simply chucked the bait out and sat back I wouldn’t have got a bite today. There’s no doubt that ringing that noisy dinner bell is the key to catching more on wellstocked waters,” concluded Mike.