Boost your carp skills with technical guides, tips and techniques that focus on improving tackle, baiting and tactics for success on the water.
When fishing snags, tree lines or next to awkward features you will generally have more success if you place the rig tight under the tree coverage or very close to the snag during the day. The reason is that many carp, especially in pressured waters, tend to hold up tight under the trees or directly […]
Trevor wrote: Can you help… I’m fishing a place and need a line that sinks like a stone. Could you recommend one ? Hi Trevor, We asked Shaun Harrison and he suggested looking at one of the Fluoro Carbon lines. Shaun uses the P Line Halo when he wants a fast sinking line, whilst several […]
By Jon Perkins This is a subject which has been debated for many years and both barbed and barbless hooks certainly have their place in modern carp fishing.I beleive that on the majority of waters and in the majority of angling situations, barbless hooks are better for the carp. Most fisheries these days have a […]
When winter and early spring fishing gets tough often anglers simply give up but for those who persist there are extremely memorable catches to be achieved, often quite easily. Catch more big winter carp right now… Confidence is the key to fishing success for so many reasons and Kevin Maddocks did not refer to having […]
One of the most productive methods for multiple captures of any species of fish, is by accurate presentation of both loose feed, boilies and the hookbait to a small area in open water. The first task is to locate a possible feeding area that is within casting distance, to present a carpet of feed […]
Ian Sweenie wrote: I’m booked on Ribiere in early May any advice or tips would be appreciated as I’ve been told that they have a lot of crays in there. Hi Ian, I’ve fish Ribière on a couple of occasions both early and later in the year and have never been troubled by Crayfish. When […]
Vince wrote: Why do I end up with holes through the centre of my home rolled boilies ? I have tried adding more liquids / oil to no avail. I am using bog standard semo/soya/milk powder etc with the inclusion of finely ground nut/seed mix in proportion Hi Vince, I’ll pass on your query to […]
I recently watched the Korda Underwater videos and what struck me was just how often a fish will come into a swim feed hard, probably suck in your bait, yet give you hardly any indication at all. I remember a similar situation when I was fishing on my own venue a few winter’s ago. In […]
I got a great text message from my friend Shaun Harrison to today: “My favourite week of the Year for catching, been horrible not being able to fish it for the last three years. But made up for it now with a 29lb 15oz and a 35lb 6oz on Surf’nTurf (Note: New bait he’s testing) […]
The theme of fish weights has come up in a number of articles on this blog over the last few months, we even have a video with Quest Baits boss Shaun H. running through the technique. Below is an article by Jon Perkins a French lake owner and regular contributor to the comments part of […]
By Paul Cooper Carp fishing has come on leaps and bounds over the past 20 years with carp care being at the forefront of the conscientious carp angler. Even the sacking of carp is slowly decreasing with a more carp fisheries, banning the sack altogether. This has come about as a result of the occasional […]
As more and more UK carp anglers venture abroad to France they are confronted with a huge choice of waters and fishing conditions. The giant fish we read about in the magazines, the success stories of leviathan carp all sound very attractive. These fish do exist and the potential of some large waters is outstanding. […]
Oliver Wilkinson wrote: I fish at my local day ticket water Birkwoods Farm in Stanley, Wakefield. It’s a 10 yr old lake holding hundreds of 4lb carp but there bigger fish. My question is how do you get to the bigger fellas? All methods I’ve used catch the 4lb’ers. To make matters harder there a few bans […]
David Mills wrote: I have just started fishing. Could you tell me the best knot to use to join a main line to a hook line? At present I’m using a 6lb main and 4lb hook line. Hi David, I wrote an article on the type of knot you wish to know about a few […]
Pellets are great carp catchers. Period. Most anglers have used the usual trout, salmon halibut, betaine or corn steep liquor pellets in the past, but there’s far more to pellets than meets the eye! The great boilie revolution in carp fishing meant that in Europe, carp became very used to being caught over large beds […]
Have you ever caught a carp, weighed it accurately and then a few days later the same fish is caught weighing 2 to 3 lb heavier by another angler. Watch some of the angling video’s on the internet web sites and you can witness for yourself, examples of fish being weighed in-correctly. I have […]
How can you really get the best carp fishing results when things really hot up? How many anglers have not yet savored the joy of summer carp fishing and all the great opportunities and experiences of great catches, that summer brings? Why miss out on the action! Surface fishing is possibly your favorite method of […]
There is a statement I often here while I’m fishing, “Oh ! I’ve lost several fish because the Carp in here have soft mouths!!” Most of the time I have a hard job accepting that carp in any particular lake have soft mouths. My own waters are gravel/sand pits where the bottom is hard and, […]
Tom wrote: With regard to bivvies what does twin skin mean ? Gareth Watkins replies: I wrote a blog piece a week or so back on this subject hope this replies to your query: Ever since carp anglers started night fishing we have been searching for the perfect overnight shelter. These bivvies, as they have […]
Ever since carp anglers started night fishing we have been searching for the perfect overnight shelter. These bivvies, as they have been christened need several essential qualities. Firstly they need to be spacious enough to cover a bedchair and all your tackle in order to protect it from the rain. Secondly they need to be […]
