Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
ADOPT A QUICK HIT MINDSET
IYCF editor explains why there’s no need to spend days on end targeting quality carp. In fact, a few hours is often more than enough
TJames Furness
HERE’S a common misconception that you need to spend at least 24 hours, preferably 48 or even longer, for a carp session to be worthwhile.
If you’re fishing a low- stock venue or one that’s a long drive from your home, then yes, a lengthier stay is clearly beneficial. But I’d hazard a guess that most of us don’t regularly fish lakes which only hold a handful of carp or require half a day in the car to get there.
I used to love fishing midweek overnighters and the occasional weekend session, but, as I’m sure many others can relate to, work and family commitments dictated time on the bank became increasingly limited and my carp kit was left to gather dust in the corner of the garage. I had foolishly convinced myself that if I only had a few hours to fish, it wasn’t worth the effort of going at all.
Of course, this was nonsense! After chatting to Rich Wilby earlier last year and listening to how well he was doing on quick sessions first thing in the morning and squeezing trips in between the school run, I decided to stop making excuses and rebooted my entire approach!
The short session mindset
The first thing was to change my expectations. At one point, I was only really interested in catching big carp and would need to know that there’d be a good chance of banking a specimen wherever I chose to fish.
I now know that I’d much rather be catching a few smaller fish than none at all. I also accept that there’s no chance of breaking my pb on the lakes I currently fish, but that’s not the aim. I can simply enjoy getting a bend in the rod and putting a few fish on the bank.
Find a suitable venue
The key factors to look for in a suitable shortsession venue are one that’s close to home and has a decent stock of carp. Although mainly frequented by match anglers, many commercial carp fisheries will have one lake which is home to some slightly bigger examples which can be targeted using ‘ speci’ tactics. And there are now so many of these complexes across the country that many anglers will have one close to home. As an added bonus, many offer half- day tickets so you won’t
have to fork out for a whole day if you only plan to fish for a few hours.
Other types of venues worth investigating are park lakes and small club waters because many of these will have good numbers of carp to double figures. My village has a residents- only water that perfectly fits the bill. I’d fished it previously with my son for the hordes of small silverfish and, although we’d been smashed up by the odd carp when using light hooklengths and small hooks, I’d never really considered fishing it for carp. It now seemed like the perfect place. A quick enquiry asking the bailiff about its carp stocks cemented my plan.
“There’s loads,” he replied. “Lots of smaller carp and low- doubles with a few upper- doubles and possible twenty- pounders.”
Perfect. I joined the club’s Facebook group and a quick scroll through the pictures supported the bailiff’s assurances. There were some really pretty, scaly carp – no monsters, but all stunners to look at.
Taking the bare minimum
The next task was to pare down my kit. When you know you’re only going to be fishing for a few hours, you don’t actually need much tackle. The brolly and bedchair could stay at home and I wouldn’t need loads of spare leads and bait.
By the time I’d thinned out the usual kit, my dedicated short- session equipment comprised a pair of 10ft rods and reels; a small holdall containing bite alarms, buzz bars, bank sticks and rig wallet; a Ridge Monkey Modular bucket which carried pellets and boilies in the main section and stored a couple of tubs of hookbaits and essential rig bits in removable boxes; a lightweight chair, unhooking mat and landing net. Even the brew kit was dropped in favour of a flask!
This could all be easily carried without the need for a barrow and could be left in the garage ready to go when an opportunity arose.
“To maximise every minute I would have on the bank, I tied up all my hooklinks, leaders and PVA bags at home”
Rigs and baits
To maximise every minute I would have on the bank, I tied up all my hooklinks, leaders and PVA bags at home. Once at the lake and having found a few fish, I could get a baited rig in the water in a matter of minutes.
Plenty of locals feed the ducks and there are always a few carp hanging around ready to mop up any pieces of bread the ducks miss. I therefore decided to start by using small white wafter hookbaits because I knew the carp were confident feeding on this colour. My rigs were bog standard blow- back set- ups tied with 7in of coated braid to a size 8 wide gape hook and a piece of shrink tubing steamed at a slight angle over the eye. Simple, but it works!
Before casting out, I would nick on a small PVA bag filled with pellets and a couple of crushed boilies. Once the mesh melted, the hookbait would stand out over the pellets and be an easy target for carp to home in on.
I’d pre- tied a mix of lead clip and helicopterstyle leaders depending on where I set up. If I was going to fish tight to one of the large beds of lily pads, or towards overhanging trees, I would use safety clips so that the lead could be dropped. Anywhere else where snags weren’t an issue, I’d go with the helicopter arrangement.
Good fun and plenty of carp
Since adopting this short- session mindset, I’ve had some really enjoyable sessions. By having everything prepared and ready to go, I am able to squeeze in sessions around work and once the kids are in bed.
I quickly sussed where fish gathered at certain times and, even if I only had an hour or two to spare, I felt confident of catching. The longest I’ve fished for is three hours but I have caught some cracking little carp. No monsters, but really pretty fish that I would never have caught if I’d waited for the chance to fish for 48 hours again.