Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Big- water carp trap!
Fooling large, wary carp on wild waters might be a tall order, but Tom Pickering’s advice will help you bank a winter monster
“
ILOVE taking on big waters,” says Tommy, as he pours a drop of Yorkshire tea from his flask. “It really does feel like ‘ man against nature’ – and you know you need to get everything right to catch.”
Five minutes later, the tip pulls around and the former World Champion and England Feeder Team Manager leans into something substantial. The big, slow pulls on the rod suggest that whatever’s on the end is going to be large.
Following some huge head nods and long, powerful movements of a big fish, Tommy rises to his feet to give himself the best angle to exert pressure over his unseen adversary.
“You really have to be on your guard with big fish,” he cautions.
“Sometimes, they give the impression that they are coming in easy, before going mad under the rod end. If you are not prepared, they can break you.”
There’s no such luck for this 15lb common. Although it does try a couple of last ditch big head shakes, it is soon nesting in Tommy’s net. His broad smile says it all.
Fish Location
We’ve joined Tommy at the 65- acre Boddington Reservoir not too far from Banbury, in Oxfordshire. Not only is it a two hour- plus run from Tommy’s Doncaster home, he’s also walked for a good 15 minutes along the bankside to get to the spot where he’s decided to fish.
“Fish location is everything in winter. They shoal up tighter and denser than in summer, so you need to find them, and make sure you sit somewhere where you have a chance of getting a bite. The good news is, once you have worked out where they go in colder weather, they rarely move so you will soon have a few regular hotspots to head for.
“I was given a helping hand today by looking at recent match results. I could see this area performed very well. This was confirmed when I arrived at the peg as I could see fish moving,” he adds.
“Unsurprisingly, all the fish look to be well out in the lake today. With the water temperature well down, the colour drops right out of the water, and so the fish naturally hang further from the bank, especially in daylight hours. So we have to cast to the fish, and I will cover how I do this now.”
Go big or go home!
Strong gear is a must when it comes to this kind of work. For one, it gives you the ability to cast as far as you need to, but it also means you can have confidence that you will land what you hook. In terms of rod choice, it’s a 13ft heavy feeder rod.
This is matched to a 5000- size reel, loaded with 5lb line
( 0.17mm).
On the end of this, Tommy has a 26ft shockleader of 10lb ( 0.26mm) line.
So, what is a shockleader? Basically, it’s designed to bear the force of the cast and give you confidence while playing fish under the rod end, although you can still use a light mainline that helps you cast further.
“Heavy mainlines are thicker, which means they have a greater surface area and this causes increased resistance on the cast. Plus, when you are fishing, having this greater surface area in the water means you are more susceptible to wind and tow, leading to a bow in the line and sometimes meaning you need a heavier feeder.
Therefore, the use of a shockleader is a massive advantage. It gives you all the positives of a heavy line on the cast and when playing fish at close quarters – where you need it most – plus the advantages of a lighter line in terms of casting distance and lower resistance in the water.”
The right feeder
“I love the Guru Hybrid feeders and think they are as close as you can get to a perfect commercially available feeder. But they are still not right, and I have to carry out a little alteration myself to get them just how I need them to be,” reveals Tommy.
“As supplied, they have open holes in the bottom. I don’t like this, because I believe that as the feeder falls through the water the pressure through these small holes pushes off the bait. To combat this, I use a glue gun to fill up these holes with glue.
“I know a lot of people favour elasticated feeders for this kind of work, but for me a simple inline feeder does the job fine. I have this free running on the line, going down to a quick change bead.
“In terms of hooklength, it’s 4in of 0.19mm mono, running down to a size 14 hook.”
“The most important thing to get right for this style of fishing is the baiting and loading of the feeder”
Loaded for action
The single most important thing to get right when it comes to this style of fishing is the baiting and loading of the feeder. This starts with the hookbait, and for Tommy the Fjuka Neeonz have been a standout offering over the last couple of years.
“I think there are two key characteristics that set them apart. Firstly, the hyper- fluorescent colour. If you chuck your feeder in the edge and have a look at it as it breaks down you will see just how much these stand out. I’m sure this plays a key part in pulling inquisitive fish down to the bottom to investigate.
“Secondly, its texture. These are super soft, and in water they actually start to break down. The plus point of this is when a carp sucks them in, it tends to actually eat them, as opposed to a harder offering which is easier to spit out.”
Although the Neeonz are often directly hooked, as you might do with an expander pellet, Tommy prefers to hair rig his for this sort of fishing. Why? Because it leaves the maximum amount of hook and point exposed, so when a fish sucks the bait in, it is hooked.
Coppens micro pellets are then moulded around the feeder. These are easily prepared by soaking. To do this, cover them in water and then drain off the excess as the water in the tub starts to discolour. Let the pellets stand to swell and you’ll end up with a soft pellet with a hard core. This means they can be compacted around the feeder, but when they are in the water they swell up and push off to form an attractant- rich pile of bait.
“I boost my micros by adding a sprinkling of Fjuka micros in white, red and yellow. These add a nice essence of Sensei ™ attractant to the pellets, and also a fleck of colour, to make my trap seem all the more appealing when sat on the bottom.”
It is important that you really take your time when loading your feeder, so your trap works as effectively as it possibly.
“First, I take a handful of my micros mix, and press it firmly on to the feeder. The idea is that after a firm squeeze, the bait is level with the rim. Next, I add my hookbait, so the hook is pointing down, and the Neeonz hookbait is lying on top of the feeder. Finally, I add another couple of sprinklings of micros, and softly squeeze these into position so that the hookbait is covered, but not damaged. The end product should be streamlined, so it flies through the air, and then sinks, as aerodynamically as possible.”
Go the distance…
With the fish clearly visible between 50m and 70m out, Tommy’s first move is to have a quick cast around with a bomb to check that there are no snags present and to set the line clip. Today, this is at 60m to start with. By starting slightly shorter, he has the option of following fish out if they back off.