Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Celebrate with silver on speci carp lakes – Andy May
Waters where specimen hunters set up camp are often a haven for neglected stocks of silver fish, demonstrates Andy May
Dozens of specimen carp waters have kept the banks busy in recent months by relying on silver fish anglers. The huge shoals of roach, perch and bream provide those fishery owners with an income when the carp refuse to play ball. But once the thermometer reading starts to climb, those silvers are often ignored again as the sea of bivvies reappears. But Andy May reckons that having a crack at these quality fish now will reap rewards that were tough to imagine in the depths of winter. “If you think the silver fish sport was great when it was cold then just imagine how good it is now that the weather has improved,” said the Dynamite Baits and MAP-backed star. “The carp have become a lot more active but if you use appropriate tactics you can minimise the disturbance from those lumps and have your best ever day of silver fish sport.
Lashing in bait
If there is one thing I’ve learned about Andy over the years it is that he can’t stand to be sat inactive for long periods. Give him the option of fishing bomb and corn for a day and there’s bound to be a grimace but ask him to get a shoal of roach into a frenzy and he’ll be uncontrollably giddy! “The beauty of fishing for silvers in spring is that they still want plenty of bait so I can pick up the catapult regularly and blast in bunches of maggots and casters. “I’d have no qualms with piling in two or three pints in a few hours and it’s important to fire a quarter of a pouch over the top of your rig every minute or so.” Andy starts on a waggler around 20m out but also primes a pole line around 8m, confident that it will come good within an hour if it is fed regularly.
Frequently casting and twitching the rig is key on the waggler as there is no doubt the resident silvers prefer to attack a bait that is on the move. “Using a loaded waggler is vital as this means you need no shot down the line, enabling the hookbait to fall really slowly. “This is really important as the biggest roach and are often sat well off the deck.” When it comes to the pole Andy uses a strung out shotting pattern to achieve a similar thing.
Pick your venue
Andy has sampled numerous big-carp waters that are stuffed to the brim with silvers and believes you need to be choosy when deciding where to target. “A commercial lake that is home to thousands of small carp is pretty pointless targeting for silvers now as the mirrors and commons will feed too aggressively and give the roach, bream and perch no chance. “It is all about going on a fairly low stocked runs water or specialised big-carp stillwater where there are hundreds of big fish as opposed to thousands. The carp aren’t as ravenous in these fisheries and as a result the silver fish can be singled out, stopping you hooking lumps that you have no chance of landing on light gear.” Holbar Lake at Cheshire’s Partridge Lakes is Andy’s pick of the bunch and it is no wonder when you consider that silver fish bags of over 70lb have been taken in the past.
Non-stop bagging
With the seatbox in place, landing net to hand and a tray full of bait to work through, it was time to get down to action. There’s no doubt Andy gained a few curious looks as he arranged his kit, with the venue regulars not expecting to see a match style setup erected on Holbar. Out went the waggler and the first pouch of maggots over the top. Fishing caster on the hook, the finely dotted float didn’t dip on the first chuck but it did on the second and a 3oz sample was swung to hand. “If I go easy on the feed this is the stamp you will catch all day but if I introduce it almost continuously then the bigger roach and
skimmers will soon bully them out.” That prediction was bang on as the fish gradually got bigger and in less than an hour the roach were averaging between 6oz and 8oz, with a 2lb skimmer thrown in for good measure. All the while he was flicking maggots by hand on the short pole line, adamant that the longer he left it, the bigger the fish would be there when he finally took the plunge. “You could fish the pole earlier but the commotion caused by small fish splashing around close to the bank would put off the bigger silvers from seeing what’s going on. “By constantly feeding and leaving the area undisturbed you enable the shoal to gain confidence and when you put in a rig the float is likely to bury in an instant.” With around 30lb in the net and three hours gone, the waggler line was rested and a top kit with a No.5 elastic was picked up and baited with a single caster. The float slowly settled as the strung out shotting pattern enabled the hookbait to fall at a slow pace and then wallop – missed bite! A promising sign and Andy made no mistake on his second attempt as the elastic was given a thorough workout by an 8oz fish. Things stepped up several gears from then on and within an hour and a half he had doubled his weight, with several stunning 1lb-plus specimens among the haul. “Everybody leaves these fish well alone once winter disappears but they are missing a real treat,” said Andy.