Angling Lines blog

Paul Cooper, an exceptionally consistent carp angler

Here’s an article from one of our field testers, Paul Cooper.  Paul is one of a small band of very good anglers we send out to France to evaluate new venues for us.  They often arrive with very little feedback to help them and they are under a lot of pressure to get the best returns, both for the owner and for Angling Lines.  Paul is a very consistent carp angler who always seems to produce the goods and extract the best possible return from any lake we’ve sent him to.  So I asked him to share with us how he does it;

The approach to a new lake in France can be a bit daunting at times especially when there is little or no literature available on the venue.

Before any new venue hits the Angling Lines website they go to great lengths to provide customers with as much information as possible on the venue and stock.  To this end I get called on by Angling Lines several times a year to test fish new lakes and help provide the information.

In order to get the best possible return from my week at the lake I have developed a plan on how best to attack the fishing;

1. Before setting off from home I check on the weather web sites such as Metcheck, to find wind directions, air pressure and temperatures.

2. On arrival at the lake I speak to the bailiff or lake owner to get the heads up on possible productive parts of the lake.

3. I study the water for signs of feeding or patrolling fish continue reading…

PVA and other water soluble products which either melt, separate or shrink in the water are incredibly useful products for many carp anglers. Most would be totally lost without several different forms in their tackle bags. From PVA bags, mesh stocking tubes, string, tape and foam nuggets… all are fantastic carp catching aids when used correctly. It would be nice to think you could cut down on the gear carried and just use a couple of these but quite frankly you’ll need all the variations for different styles of presentation.

1. PVA String – Very useful for tying rigs up and quick simple stringers as well as tying PVA bags off. When using string for stringers I actually run a baiting/stringer needle through the baits a few times to enlarge the hole. This helps to allow the water to penetrate and actually melt the string. Put the baits on tight and you may find you wind in the whole stringer – particularly in the depths of winter. It is essential the water can get at it properly to do its job effectively. continue reading…

The Chod Rig has to be one of my most my favoured rigs. I’ve opted to use it for the majority of my sessions lately, and with some personal touches I think it’s as perfect as I can get it. Instead of using leadcore I use a 48-inch Tungsten Ex-Heavy Leader from TFG and instead of using beads, due to a lack of them in my tackle box, I’ve replaced them with two 6mm boilies that have been air dried for a week. After looking into it I am confident they will stay hard in the water for up to 24 hours.

Before I cast out I like to put two foam nuggets on the hook to prevent any debris getting attached to it as it finds the bottom of the lake and attach a small PVA bag of my Quest favourite boilies. Then I can wait for the action, but hopefully I’ll not be waiting too long!

The beauty shown below fell to my chod rig November this year. It works for me so go out and give it a go!

Samantha Collins-Ratcliffe.  (reproduced with thanks from the Quest Baits Blog )

During the long hot summer days, and we, it seems are heading for a long hot summer, with temperatures soaring to over 35 degrees this week, sitting behind a set of rods waiting for it to happen is more likely than not to end up in a blank session. You may well pick up the odd cruising fish, or get action at night, but with night hours now at their shortest, the time span is at its minimum at this time of the year.

So what is the answer?

Well to do what most anglers new to the sport don’t even consider…Go and find the fish! Using one’s eyes is an aspect of carping many seem to over look.

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Following on from my article on early season tactics and zig rigs. Here is an article by Ian Gemson from Smart Carping on how to set up a Zig rig.

by Ian Gemson

The Zig-Rig a simple method for fishing bait mid water that has accounted for many large carp.

The Zig-Rig allows a buoyant bait to be fished from the lakebed (legered) at any set depth from a couple of inches above the lakebed right up to the water’s surface. This allows the angler to be able to present the hook bait at the depth at which the carp are either cruising or more importantly feeding.

The Zig-Rig can be used in many situations where hook bait presentation at certain depths is critical, like on the surface during hot weather, or as another example, just above light weed where normal hook bait may become hidden within the weed. Other uses may be sub-surface where carp maybe cruising, say a couple of feet below the surface, or even sub-surface where wildfowl may become a nuisance.

My preferred Zig-Rig setup is a 8lb Drennan double stretch mono hook length tied to a buffer bead setup in a running rig style,, which is fished on the lakebed (legered) and setup with a bite-alarm and indicator as you would normally.

The Zig-Rig is a tremendous rig which is very easy to setup however it is often overlooked in the carping fraternity.

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