Boost your carp skills with technical guides, tips and techniques that focus on improving tackle, baiting and tactics for success on the water.
A great account by Jason Rider of four years fishing 14 acre Boux, set in the Morvan Regional Park. Famously the lake where Tim Paisley had his first fifty, it’s still a haven for carp anglers to this day… 2008 My first impressions of Domaine De Boux in April 2008 were nice enough but I had no […]
Being totally addicted to getting out there and wetting a line, a lot of my angling has to involve very short sessions after or before work if I am able to get my ‘fix’. This past week has seen me on the bank 3 times for short two to three hour sessions, but during those […]
Here is a question Shaun Harrison received about silkweed which he thought would be of benefit to share… Shaun, I’ve got a question about silkweed which I’d be very grateful if you could answer when you have a spare moment as I’m sure you’re a very busy man. In your opinion how do you think […]
Having read a blog that Shaun first published on the blog last year, I made my own enquiries to purchase some McNett Gruntlines. Now, any additional fishing paraphernalia has to earn a place in my tightly packed tackle bag and my Gruntlines certainly have earned that place since I purchased them. Gruntlines have many uses […]
More often than not we all come across a water where the carp simply will not feed away from the far margin, over hanging trees, or snags. Cast short of your target and you may as well leave the rods on the bank. Generally the reason for this is through angling pressure or the over […]
Unfortunately for us, the angler, the line we buy is loaded in different ways and what works with one make of line doesn’t necessarily work with another make of line. The only fool proof way of loading line without twist that I have found is the method I use myself and works with every type […]
Late winter and early spring is one of my favourite times to be out on the bank. With the longer daylight hours it seems the whole of the natural world knows it’s time to start altering their habits once again and everything slowly unfolds back into life. I am sure the longer hours of daylight […]
Steve Bedford goes through the basics of carp behaviour, areas to fish to and different weed types… Carp naturally prefer slow moving rivers, streams, canals and still waters. You’ll often find that carp in still waters tend to grow bigger and have deeper bodies than those in moving waters and carp in rivers often grow […]
More and more of you are heading out to France for an early season session around March and April, fantastic times for fishing. Occasionally however this means you can be arriving at a lake with still fluctuating water levels. So what can we do when faced with more water than we bargained for? The first […]
We’ve resurrected this post from a couple of years back, there’s some really wise advice in this short list of tips. Written by Lee Johnston, owner of the beautiful Glehias. 1. Information, Information, Information. Always speak to the Lake owner and find out as much as you can before your visit. Email or phone as many questions as […]
I haven’t done a diary type blog piece for a while, the simple reason being that I have hardly done any fishing. The constant high river levels of the winter, the fact that my boat moored on a large water was wrecked by the high winds (meaning no pike fishing this winter) and for the […]
I have to smile to myself, I have just read a message on facebook which has prompted this Blog. Someone was saying how good it looked for a fish at the moment but they haven’t got a day off for another week. Well, do you really need a day off? I love short 2 to […]
How long should you make your hook links and does it effect your catch rate? Paul Cooper discusses the length of hook links and types of materials used for carp fishing. What are the main materials available to create hook links? Firstly I do not want to go into naming brands and makes, as I believe […]
With spring almost upon us, more and more of us will be thinking of, or actually booking a French carping holiday. The question of what bait then comes into the equation and for a lot of anglers the biggest question can be shelf life or fresh frozen? It really is a big ‘leap of faith’ […]
Baiting strategies can either make or ruin a carp angling session. How should I go about creating the perfect carp restaurant? There are a few tried and trusted methods to create a baited area which I’ll explain below. The first that I shall talk about is the main one that most anglers travelling to France […]
Tiger Nuts have been used by anglers for many years and are one of the most well known baits for fishing. Join Hinders experts Kev Hewitt and Bryan Jarrett as they go through a step by step guide on how to safely prepare Tiger Nuts as well as sharing their top tips on using this […]
I’ve been using an assortment of shelf life and frozen baits well before becoming a bait consultant for Quality Baits. Despite the success I’ve had with the shelf life baits I still favour frozen baits over all and here is why. As we all know one of the main problems with frozen baits is its deterioration […]
Here’s your step-by-step guide to handling big carp. Originally written by Mark Lambert for anglers fishing Villefond, it’s worth a read if you’re targeting those french carp. Firstly don’t panic, once the fish is hooked it shouldn’t come off so relax and play the fish. Very large carp won’t be bullied, you will just end […]
The guys from Solar Tackle give you their top 3 baiting tips… Tip 1 – Packing your boilies with attraction is a great way to get your baited area noticed quicker, and visited more often, than the guy in the next swim. By soaking your baits in a proven, amino liquid such as Solar’s Marine 17, […]
Does resting a swim increase your catch rate? On certain waters and situations I believe that it does. Now, what do I mean by resting a swim? Basically, it means removing all lines out of a swim for some considerable time to allow the carp to gain confidence in feeding on a baited area. I have used […]
