The Top 10 Carp Fishing Tips

Carp fishing is by far the biggest growing sector in the angling industry and we asked our resident blogger and angling expert Wayne Box to come up with his top ten carp fishing tips to help you put more fish on the bank! So grab a cuppa, sit back and let us give you a little head start with some special carp fishing help.

I fish a lot of different carp fishing lakes and in recent times I have been visiting a selection of day ticket carp venues for a bit of a change of scenery. I have noticed there are a range of abilities and experience levels amongst my fellow anglers but the most interesting thing is that I have seen the same mistakes made over and over so here are my top ten carp fishing tips to help you turn a potential blank into a red letter day!

Which carp lake is best for me?

This one of the best tips for carp fishing and often gets overlooked by your average day ticket carp angler but choosing the right venue can be the difference between a good fishing trip and brilliant one! Pick a venue that is suited to your ability and this is where you need to be brutally honest. If you have only been fishing for a few months then you don’t want to be searching for 50 carp in 50 acres of gravel pit, you need to be targeting a well stocked commercial carp lake where a few bites can be had in all but the harshest of weathers. Likewise if you need to improve your casting then don’t be wasting your time on venues where you need to cast 100 yards to reach the fish. Do a bit of research, the internet is chocked full of information on most day ticket lakes and this will give you a good head start.

 

Carp angling watercraft top tips.

Watercraft is simply the skill in ‘reading’ the lake and the weather conditions to try and predict where the fish might be at any given time, there is lot more to it than that but it’s a good starting point. One of the most important things is to check the weather before you go. If you turn up intending to fish bottom baits over a spod mix but the weather is scorching hot and the fish are up in the water, you are going to struggle to catch. The weather in the UK can change without warning, so be prepared for all eventualities, make sure you have some zig and floater fishing gear and bait with you just in case. Upon arriving at the lake have a good walk round, you will have checked the weather so if the wind has been pushing down one end of the lake all week but is due to change during your trip, it might be worth choosing a swim with this in mind. Sure you might have a quiet first night or day but when that wind changes you can bet that the fish will follow it and you will already be in pole position for when they turn up! Once you have settled into your swim, keep your eyes on the water. If you are not tying rigs, baiting up or casting out then flick the kettle on and sit and watch the lake. The fish will tell you where they are by jumping out the water and you will see patches of bubbles break the surface as they feed. Don’t be afraid to move swims to be closer to the fish!

 

Be prepared – carp fishing tips.

One of the best carp fishing tips that many have learned the hard way; ‘Any fool can be uncomfortable’. Make sure you have what you need to be comfortable and warm on the bank. Even in the summer, the temperature will drop at night so a decent carp fishing sleeping bag is key. Again, check the weather, if rain is forecast make sure you have some spare clothes, waterproofs and a decent bivvy or brolly system. Keep a storage box of spares in your car just in case, in my spares box I keep a spare gas canister and my old stove, spare batteries, 2 litres of water and some tinned food, some spare PVA, spare leads, hooks and hooklink materials, some spare pop ups as well as a complete set of spare clothes and water proofs. I rarely use it but it is there if needed, the last thing I want is to run out of anything that might end my session or stop me catching fish. The spares box lives in my van tucked out the way and is only brought out if required. Take enough bait with you to last the duration of your trip, for a 2 night weekend session 5kg of boilies and some pellet and particle, along with your chosen hook baits and any dips, glugs or syrups. Imagine being on the fish and catching loads only to run out of bait, there are no excuses!Keep your rods rigged up and tie a few rigs before you get to the lake, that way if you arrive and drop on some feeding fish you can be angling in a matter of minutes, I have caught loads of fish by casting single hook baits at showing fish while everyone around me is still putting up their bivvies!

 

 

What is the best carp rig?

The simple answer is there are none! Each rig serves a specific purpose for a specific situation and those situations change daily so don’t be worrying about the latest fancy rigs, stick to the rigs you can tie effectively and you know how to use. One of my favourite anglers is Ian Chilcott and he only ever uses one of 2 different rigs! A pop up rig and a bottom bait rig that he never changes and boy does he catch some carp! Try to understand how the rig you are using works for you, how it catches hold in the fishes mouth and how it sits on the lake bed when you cast it out. Learn to tie a zig rig and learn how to fish them effectively, throughout the early spring and most of the summer zig rigs are a devastating tactic but they need to be fished correctly to be at their most effective. In your rig box you should have a few bottom bait/wafter rigs and a few pop up rigs, keep it simple and learn to tie them properly before moving onto anything complicated or tricky. If the fishing is hard then I can almost guarantee it is not your rig or bait, the fish just aren’t feeding or they are feeding but not in front of you. If you blank, don’t blame your rigs and bait and start changing everything.

 

What is the best carp bait?

Something I see a lot of are anglers who chop and change the bait they are using because they are struggling to catch fish. As I mentioned above it is more likely to be due to the fish not feeding or the fish not being in your area. Pick a good quality boilie in your chosen flavour profile and stick with it, if you catch a fish on it one day, it will catch fish every day! Familiarise yourself with particle baits as they can be a great bait, a great carp fishing tip especially for the summer. Hemp, maize, sweetcorn, tiger nuts (where allowed) will all have the fish grubbing about on the lakebed for days and they are relatively cheap compared to boilies. If you are really struggling to choose what boilies you want to use, then again do your research, check the catch reports and you will soon start to see patterns emerge as the fish are getting caught on the same bait time and time again. There are no wonder baits or baits that guarantee you will catch, let me get that straight right from the start but a good quality bait in the right place on a well tied rig will catch ANY carp in the entire world!

 

 

Learn how to use a marker float. 

Another one of my favourite carp fishing tips. Knowing what is on the lake bed will undoubtedly help you to catch more carp and using a marker float is a key skill in carp fishing. Ensure your marker float set up is as effective as possible, use a heavy 4oz lead it will help massively to punch through any low lying weed that a lighter lead might slide across giving you a false impression that lake bed is clear when it certainly is not. Use a marker float that is really buoyant and the biggest edge is to make sure your marker reel has braided line on it. Braided line transmits every bump to the rod tip so when you are pulling across a hard gravel bottom you can really feel it! With a mono line that sensation is dampened and often missed entirely. Learn how to ‘feel for the drop’ by feathering the cast and stopping the braid from coming off the spool just as the lead and float are about to hit the water, as the lead sinks on a tight line have your rod at 45 degrees and you should feel the ‘donk’ as the lead hits the bottom, even in soft silty lake beds you can still feel a slight bump as the lead touches down. If you land on a firm patch or gravel you will feel the lead hit the lake bed with a ‘crack’, that is when you know the lake bed is clear. With a bit of practice you will soon learn the types of lake bed you are fishing over and of course the depth as well. Make a note of the depth as you might need it if you decide to fish zig rigs in your session.

Be a bit different – carp fishing tip 

There is a great saying in fishing; ‘if you fish the same as everyone else, you will only catch the same as everyone else’. This is great when everyone else is catching but when the bites stop coming, it is time to make some changes. It might only need a simple change such as fishing with more bait or less bait, a different colour hook bait or changing from a pop up rig to a bottom bait rig. The most important thing is how to recognise when you need to make changes and that is where skill, experience and knowledge come in to play. If you are not catching but everyone else is then there is something wrong, make a change. If you can see other anglers catching on zig rigs are you are not catching on bottom baits then you need to make a change. It sounds simple and obvious but so many anglers will sit back and wait, expecting miracles to happen and often they just don’t! Keep your eye on what is going on, trial and error is also a great way of catching a few fish when no bites are forthcoming. Keep chopping and changing the colour of your hook baits until you get a bite, simple changes can make all the difference. This is also one of the biggest edges and best carp fishing tips I can give you in the winter months

Blanking is learning!

Not so much a great carp fishing tip but more a pep talk! A blank session doesn’t have to be doom and gloom. Sometimes no matter what you do the fish just haven’t read the script and it is important to not get downhearted. Make a few notes on where you were and what you did, what was the weather doing during your session etc. You will soon build up a picture of what works at certain times of the year or in the different weather conditions. I know we all go fishing to catch fish but it’s called fishing and not catching and even the best anglers in the world don’t get it right all the time so don’t beat yourself up if things don’t go to plan.

Never stop learning!

Keep reading the blogs, keep reading articles and watching videos. Every now and then you will pick up an absolute gem of a tip and it will work for you. Make use of the downtime when the fish are not feeding or during lunchtime at work by watching a few videos on your phone or reading some blogs (this one obviously!).

Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

My final carp fishing tip is to not be afraid to ask questions. The vast majority of anglers you will meet will not only share information with you but they will only be happy to sit and chew the fat for a while! If you are thinking of buying some new carp fishing tackle then do a bit of research and don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and give us a call at Total Fishing Tackle, we won’t ever hard sell you something that you don’t need and we are only too happy to talk through your rig or bait questions. Everyone was a beginner at one point after all.

So there you go, ten of my best carp fishing tips that if you adopt they might just help you put a few more fish in your net.

Cheers for now.