PAUL GARNER
Make your own floaters
WATCHING a big grey submarine sidle up to your hookbait and engulf it, sending your rod and reel into overdrive, has to be the ultimate angling adrenaline rush.
On some days the fish will throw caution to the wind and sample just about any floating bait but, more often than not, it can take time and effort to encourage them to feed confidently. The longer you feed the carp without fishing, the more confident they will be and the easier to catch.
FLOATING FEED
Many different types of pellets naturally float, thanks to their honeycomb-like structure. This makes them the most convenient surface baits to use, and carp love them too.
Ideally, we want the carp to be feeding on larger pellets of around 11mm, because these lend themselves to being used with the strong hooks and line necessary to land everything you hook.
But carp can be wary of these large pellets, so I often feed a mixture of different sizes. As the fish gain confidence I reduce the number of small pellets in the mix and try to wean them on to the bigger ones.
A spod is the easiest way to introduce floating baits at range, but this can cause quite a disturbance. One of my favourite tactics is to dampen some 2mm Riser pellets until they become tacky, and then make them up into balls that can be catapulted quite a distance.
HOOKBAITS
Floating pellets can be softened to make a useful hookbait (see the Ten Minute Make), but if I need a hookbait that will last indefinitely then the best choice is a pop-up boilie.
I like to find a bait that has a similar colour to that of my pellet feed, as surface carp feed mainly by sight.
By trimming down a 15mm pop-up you can produce a realistic doppelgänger for a floating pellet.