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Weekly Ramble #2: Carp Fishing Ethics, Have they dissapeared?
Firstly, apologies for this only being the second in my ‘Weekly Ramble’ series. This is just a short article for you on an issue which I’ve been thinking about for a good few months now.
Something which is becoming more of an issue now, particularly with the popularity of carp fishing is where anglers are not considerate to others around them. On my local water it seems that people just turn up and cast out. With no regard what-so-ever for the angler next door. The end result is anglers casting over other anglers.
This is even more apparent when the dreaded BAIT BOAT is allowed. Many anglers who own, and use a bait boat use them irresponsibly. They see a fish crash 180 yards down the bank, a rod comes in and the little vessel is chugging across the lake with a hopper full of bait and the anglers’ rig – crossing over everybody along the way.
Long gone are the days with 99% of anglers walked the lake before fishing. Long gone are days when 99% of anglers checked with their neighbour where they were fishing to avoid cross overs, upset and rows. Have our ethics disappeared?
It’s such a shame that our sport was once a place for an angler to go for an evening session, drop into a swim and enjoy a few hours fishing without worrying about bait boats or anglers casting over them. But I suppose, society changes and so does the sport.
What are your thoughts?
Leave a comment below.
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Posted in 
Bed’s pit in-line for a bashing!
The weekend is fast approaching and Chappers is already dreaming of his medussa rigs set to nail some of the finest carp in Northamptonshire. With Smithy now recruited and Ace on the waggon it seems the weekend ahead could be an eventfull one indeed.
The pit is a silt fest, no two ways about it. If you removed all the silt from the lake you could probably build a shanty town that every Bellinge Resident would be proud of. But we have a new plan, a new line of a attack and a new personal swim that has never been fished and is inaccesible from every other part of the lake.
The tactics are similar to the last outting on the pit which resulted in a pristine 24lb+ common and a missed run, popped up maggots fished medussa style, attached would be a pva sock teaming with the little critters! Targetting the fact that the resident carping are constantly chowing down on the naturals in the lake, we should be in with a shot.
Smithy, the sly fox has wormed his way onto the lake, baiting up a few spots with his favourite nibbles and is no doubt going to get some action. Though to be honest in that peg, i’m guessing the rats, swans and ducks will be nibbling more than the carp, but don’t tell Smithy that!
So I sit here, at work debating what to do, Ace is all “I got no funds” and Smithy is planning an interview with perhaps the two most casual, un prepared and reclusive capr anglers this side of Iraq. The line of attack is simple, turn up at the crack of 3 ish on saturday, have a mooch, get our rods out (then our fishing rods) and dangle some maggots.
Will report back this time next week, no doubt with the headline being “Smithy lands a 40, Ace and Chappers neck 40?.
Tight lines!
Chappers
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Fishery in Focus – Billing Aquadrome, Northampton
I grew up living 2 minutes walk from Billing Aquadrome, spending most of youg fishing times on one of its 9 waters or more recently on the river Nene behind the complex.
The holiday park is known to most if not all veteran carpers, the once home to the UK record carp caught by Chris Yates on the Lilly lake the complex is steeped in carp history but in modern times is pretty much un-fished by serious anglers because of the hoards of holiday makers constantly patrolling the lake, not to mention the late night parties and events held on the park. But, and it’s a big but, the fish are there, trust me I have caught several quality carp, dozens of double figure tench and bream and 20+ pike.
In recent times the owners made a consious decision to try and improve revenue from the angling on the complex and in-so moved all specimen pike and carp into one lake, which was the wrong choice. Yes the square hole in the ground lake, with no features, debris covered bottom position right in the middle of the rollercoasters and the entrance road which is constantly home to hundreds of cars, motorbikes and caravans has around 15 different 30lb carp, including an amazing looking ghost carp, dozens of 20′s and around a hundred doubles but it really is not going to produce the levels of publicity and stable income they are looking for. By all means if you are looking for a day out with the family and some decent fishing it is worth a shot, or get down there in the winter, get the rods out and get a nice hot meal from the close by pub.
In my humble opinion the lilly lake was the perfect choice to shift all the carp into, a mature reed lined lake which in summer is 75% covered in lillies, with islands, overhanging trees and hundreds of features on a 3 acre lake, right at the back of the complex.
Though if you are looking to spend some time on the complex I would reccomend the river, though don’t fish the normal pleasure angling spots, go right to the top end of the river, cross the Clifford hill bridge adn lock, then cut across the fields and down towards the river, the overhanging conker tres are home to some glorious carp. Me and Ace only managed one night down there, but we bait up for several weeks prior and spent lots of time watching dozens of carp come and go, including some 20-30′s that just happened to be replaced by bream on the night we fished, typical!
But in all seriousness, Billing Aquadrome is on the up, if you can only get out fishing if you take the family with you it’s brilliant! Or get on the Nene at the back, bait up for a week or two beforehand and you will see alot of carp. Though there is allways the lakes right at the back, I can’t remeber the name of them, but if you walk up past the kingfisher club and take the track on the left when you see the next lake, you can walk over a small bridge, on the left is a small island that looks into a one of two ajoining lakes, there are some beuties to be had in there! Just ask my Dad.
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The New Chapter…
Well, where to start?
It’s been a while since my last post, the last 2 weeks have been so hectic and I have found little time to grace the banks.
When I left you last time I was just preparing for a night on “Heron” so that will be as a good place as any to start from.
I arrived at Heron at about mid-morning, I was greeted by a strong South Westerly Wind pushing straight into the “Car Park” swim, as I stood and watched the water a good fish showed towards the far bank, ”that will do” I said to myself.
I unloaded the van and quickly got the oval up as the sky was turning blacker by the minute, I took the opportunity in the light drizzle to relax a bit and tie up some fresh rigs and make a plan in my head for the next 24 hours.
Just as the sky started to clear Pete arrived and set up next door in the “Channel”, so I roped him in to give me some assistance doing my first rod, I cast a lead over to the far bank and walked round with a bucket of goodies and a rig tied up ready to clip on.
Once round the over side I waded out and found a nice clear spot in about 4 ft of water, I then attached the baited rig and gently lowered it onto the spot and put a good handful of hemp over the top – all the while Pete was standing in my swim keeping the line straight, Job Done!
I repeated the process for the other two rods put this time on the near margin, wading out two rod lengths until I found a suitable spot lowering the bait in and putting a handful of bait over the top then slowly making my way back to the bank.
That evening we were joined by a couple of mates for a social and ordered the biggest Chinese I have ever seen in my life, once finished we sat up late into the night talking about all things carpy and later putting the worlds to rights, at some stage we all dragged our now huge stomachs onto our our respective bed chairs and it didn’t take me long to nod off.
I awoke to a glorious sunrise, the kind that makes you glad you are a carp angler. We get to see these on a regular basis, where as alot of people have never seen one in their lives, when I think about it I do feel sorry for them.
It was a little after 5 am, I fired up the Coleman and rolled a smoke and enjoyed the Dawn Chorus. I was shocked that the morning passed very quickly without incident and it was soon getting towards packing up time, I was left scratching my head……I had fish on my spots throughout the session, I awoke a few times during the night by them rolling over my baits but yet couldn’t get a sniff.
It was soon time to leave and I made the short journey home, all the while thinking about what I should have done differently.
Once home it was time to pack the bags as we were heading down to Devon for a few days, and the following morning we were flying down the M5, Clovelly bound!
We had a great few days and it was nice for my son ‘Jack’ to spend some time with his grandad, it was funny – all he said whilst we were down there was “Pub, Pub, Pub”… he’s learning fast!
Once home again it was time to get myself ready for starting a new job on the Monday, now this job is better hours, money…everything in fact! However, it does mean that I am back with the weekend anglers now, I wish I had never taken my days off in the week for granted now.
My first week went well, everybody seems nice and its only 20 Min’s from the “Beds Pit”……I can cope with that!
That pretty much brings us up to date, I’ve just returned from a baiting up session over on the “Beds Pit” and I look forward to starting my Autumn campaign on there Saturday.
I will be nipping over during the week to trickle some bait in.
So for now its time for me to go and and get the Oven warmed up and peeling some spuds ready for Sunday dinner!
Be lucky,
Smithy
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Following Up Interesting Points: Chod-stealth
I am going to trial something new, here. I am a subscriber to the CARPology Magazine, which I thoroughly enjoy reading each month from cover to cover. They’ve really got something good going on over there; must be something in the water.
However, I am going to focus on one key feature: The Rotary Letter. Something I plan to do is almost ‘branch out’ or ‘respond’ to some different points that are debated in the Rotary Letter.
This month one of the contributors was Joe Morgan, someone who is heavily involved in the industry and comes into contact with a number of different anglers, so his opinions were well voiced.
However, he brought up the subject of the Chod Rig; voicing his opinion on how much “stick” this rig has taken as it’s a rig you can simply cast anywhere – what a great rig. As Joe quite rightly points out, any rig is only good for the situation that it’s designed for, which I think some people have taken out of the picture for this rig, in particular.
Joe, like myself, does not use the chod rig exclusively, he uses other presentations, also. But he adjust it for the type of lake bed he’s fishing over, reducing the amount of freedom the rig has to move between the two semi-fixed beads.
Going back to the original point of this article is that Ian ‘Chilly’ Chillcott was quoted to say that “Choddies didn’t suit his style as ‘casting anywhere’ and catching one takes the hard work out if it.” Although I can see, Ian’s point (and quite rightly so), Joe also throws back a good point, which is: that some anglers (me included) have very little time to go fishing. If we get into a swim for a quick overnighter and the fish are already feeding why not lower in a couple of chods to ensure that you’re presented – no “whipping the water to a foam” as Joe says. It’s stealth and a key component of carp fishing, being as stealthy as possible which is tied in with watercraft.
There is more to angling than rigs – you need to have watercraft; a key angling skill which will only come with experience, you gradually piece together the jigsaw.
I am interested to hear your thoughts on the chod rig and it’s “cast anywhere” usability. Do you think it makes someone less of angler for using one? If so, why?
You can leave a comment in below, or create a new thread on the forum. I want to hear your thoughts.
Image Credit: CARPology.net
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Hitting the Brad for a Jolie good session
Angelina Dribbling Some Glug
The weekend is drawing nearer and fresh from poaching a couple of kilo’s of the finest CIA boilies from the sly fox Smithy, Chappers is feeling confident and with Ace chomping at the bit with his maggot dangling expertise we are hot on the pursuit of a Bed’s Pit carp.
Chappers AKA Yam Yam is keen to test the new peg out, jungle warfare is where he made his name in the shnaty towns of Bellinge in the mid 90′s and the tricks of the trade are sure to be poached by Ace upon arrival.
Smithy, has hedged his bets and baited up 2 pegs on ajoining lakes, ready for the quick switcheroo manouevre when the dissapointment of banking several carp for his fellow Carpit writers hits home, just watch the Smithy shaped blur dissappear!!!
But in all seriousness, this place is not easy, we are confident of some action but wether that involves running away from Ace and his dangling maggot or jump out of the bivvy for a storming run, who knows.
Tight Lines!!
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Fishery in Focus – Willowbrook Lake, Rysons, Islip
Willowbrook lake, AKA “Kelly” to Chappers and Ace is a very nice looking mature lake based in the small village of Islip, Kettering. Along with its neighbouring lake, Rysons, the complex is vey well used on the match fishing scene which is precisely why me and Ace love it.
You will spend many days on the lake before spotting a carp angler, which is brilliant! As the lake contains around half a dozen 30′s and no doubt one or two are around the 40 barrier though none have been caught. I have witnessed 2 different 30′s out this year, largely falling to pleasure anglers on the off chance there are not many anglers who actively targegt the larger residents of the lake.
It is deffinately worth a look if your looking for some runs with the off chance of a nicer carp, though be prepared to fight your way through the hoards of 5-10lb carp. The venue is available on a day ticket, though to be honest you are wasting your time before around 4pm, get down there for a few hours as the matchmen are packing up and fish a rod length out on a mixture of white boilies and tiger nuts and you won’t wait long before you get a run.
I reccomend heading down the far end of the lake, off the top of my head I cant remember the peg numbers but head to the bottom half of the lake, the top left corner as you look at the lake from the car park is known for its patrolling larger residents but don’t expect the runs achieveable on all of the other pegs. If your there during the day, options are limited, the carp switch off due to the numbers of regular matches on there but if you head to the far bank where noone fishes and hop the fence you will find a lot of carp crawling up the bank under the tree’s, a few free offerings and your in business.
For the price of a day ticket Willowbrook Lake is worth a look if your looking for some runs and the outside chance of a decent carp, though you can buy a season ticket which means you can fish day and night as much as you like for around £150. In my opinion if your starting off in the carp scene, give it a go, though you might want to take the rods out at night as you won’t get any sleep.
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Carp Rigs – It’s all a bit personal
All anglers use varying types of rigs, and many choose a single rig to use in every situation, something which I see all to often. I have various rigs in my rig wallet and generally try to keep a few ready-tied of each of my favoured rigs for those opportune moments.
I’ve seen many anglers spend more attention to the level of their buzzer bars and banksticks than their rigs – something which is a bit ‘reverse’ in my opinion. As long as my rods are in the water, with me being happy with the way I think the rig has landed, I’m happy. Couldn’t care less if my hangers aren’t level, the same goes for reel handles, spools, buzz bar, pod, rod tips. Take a look at Chappers’ “happy shopper” bite alarms as testament to this belief.
My favoured rigs are fairly simple, but it’s something I have confidence in – which is paramount – if you’re not confident you will not fish effectively.
Hooks: I generally stick to a few patterns of hooks. I was a huge fan or Longshank Nailors, but these are banned on many waters and seeing the potential damage that they have caused I decided to ditch them to set an example to others.
My preferred patterns are: Nash Fang, Nash Fang Gapers, Fox SSC, Gardner Mugga Longshank, Korda Choddy and Korda Longshank. I stick to these patterns as a general rule. I have faith in these and know how to couple these with different rigs.
Hooklink Materials: I must admit to being a little ‘narrow minded’ in this aspect. I’m not one for trying loads of different materials and I’m generally found to use a coated braid, whether it’s fully coated, combi or completely stripped. I’m starting to open my eyes a lot more, particularly to fluorocarbon and since I’ve used the chod rig, bristle filament and similar materials. My favourite material was Armaled Kik-bak, which I cannot find anywhere (please let me know if you know where I can get some). Everything about this was perfect, lovely, clear, and almost welded on coating. The braid was lovely and supple and took to marker pens and putty incredibly well. I’ve been using ESP Two Tone on 25lb since as this is the only material that I’ve found to tick all the boxes; and it’s still not perfect.
As mentioned previously I have some rigs that I default to. I have rigs to suit most situations I’ll find myself in, and if I don’t have a rig to suit, I’ll adapt one and keep tweaking it. I get little fishing time so this can be a drawn out process!
Blow Back Rig – this is a favourite of mine. I fished a competition on my local lake when I was 12 and won the competition with five fish in 24 hours fishing. 14lb 2oz Mirror, 13lb 8oz Mirror, 18lb 8oz Common (PB at the time), 16lb 4oz Mirror and a 14lb 12oz Mirror.This rig works with any bait – bottom bait, pop-up or balanced baits. But I’ve found a fantastic way to fish it is a balanced snowman. Two 16mm baits, one pop-up and one bottom bait has produced phenomenal hook holds for all carp I’ve caught on this rig. I use either this on all of my preferred hook patterns, with the exception of the Korda Choddy. Nash Fang Gaper gives you better hookholds in barbless in size 8 with 16mm baits – superb. How to tie the Blow Back Rig>>>Chod Rig – something that has featured in my fishing of late, but never banked a fish on it. I’ve had takes on it butam tweaking it to get it right. Korda Choddy and 20lb Bristle Filament for a Size 6 or 15lb Bristle Filament for a size8 hook. Superb rig. In fact, the first session of the new season last year I had a fish on within 10 minutes of casting out, but unfortunately I lost the fish in the weed. How to tie a Chod Rig>>>Balanced and Popped-up Tiger Nuts – another favourite. Two tiger nuts with a piece of cork in the middle to balance or pop-it up. Couple this with a short combi rig with a few mm stripped back. Tiger nuts are not often used as hook baits, but as a flavour in stick mixes and the like, I know of a few anglers who use 5 small tiger nuts popped up in a stack and cast them into the middle of the lake and catch fish after fish, after fish. Devastating method – carp love tiger nuts. Fox SSC is my favoured hook of choice, but for the stacker the longshank is the one. Korda Lonkshank size 8.KD Rig – again, something a bit new to me. I’ve been experimenting with particle baits a bit recently, using the newFox Armamesh. I have been creating little bags filled with hemp, boilie crumb, sweetcorn and covered in tiger nut sludge on the KD Rig. I use a small cork ball in the centre to balance out the bag. It looks so carpy, it’s un-beliveable. I’ve only used this on the last two sessions – but it looks fantastic. Something I will show you in detail, in due course.So to finish up, your rigs should be whatever you are comfortable with, you need to be confident in your rigs ability to catch carp and stick to it. Learn tecniques of adapting your rigs in different situations, this will enable you to quickly change if needed. Most anglers only use a handful of rig types but have many variations on the style, the 4 above are a graet place to start. Get on a local runs water and give them a test.
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Ace in the Clear for a Bed’s Sesh
Couple of k’s of CIA
With Ace now let loose from the clutches of his Mrs and the news that he will not be responsible for an all stars trip to the US of A, we are free to fish as we please. Fresh with the news Ace was down Capers for some needed supplies, 5 pints of maggots, 4 kilos of hemp and 40 dollars worth of PVA mesh he was on the way to the Bed’s pit to hook up with Chappers and Smithy.
Out came the CIA and Smithy’s long stick, not to be confused with Linford Christie Smithy pointed out it was a throwing stick!
Chappers: “What’s that”
Smithy: “A throwing stick”
Chappers: “Does that go further than ten feet?”
Smithy: “Yep”
Chappers: “I wont need it then”
After we had cleared that up, we gathered the bait and took a walk.
A few minutes in Ace was quick to comment on the (Now Deleted) Infamous Silt joke on a previous post, with words to effect of “is it that bad” Chappers was soon told “yes”.
So back in office, Chappers is pondering his Yum Yum baits delivery and how best to utilise it this weekend, bait up heavy on another peg? Or just do a few stalking hours over the weekend? Only time will tell.
On that bombshell, I will leave you to you Cuppa!
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Know More About Fish Bait
Going fishing? Of course, you will need the fishing net for it. However there’s another critical thing that you will need if you want to bring a good catch home and i.e.Fish bait. More than regularly it’s your selection of fish bait that creates your success rate in catching fish.
Simply, go to a neighborhood store and you will have plenty of options of fish baits to choose from. The store houses a spread of fish baits. These fish baits come at quite a cost. If you are not prepared to burn a hole in your pocket, you can simply prepare some bait at your own home.
Making your own fish bait isn’t as tough as it may seem to be. In reality, it is extremely simple and proves to be much affordable than buying ready to use ones. Besides, you have the option of choosing the sort of fish bait you want to make, depending upon your needs and preferences.
Of many various fish baits you might make, the cheese bait is the hottest. Cheese baits are preferred among the fish as well as the anglers and they simply love the smell and flavor of the cheese. Therefore whether or not you are going to fish at the lake or the brook, cheese bait could help you lure in the fish much more simply.
If you would like to make cheese bait at home, you want certain ingredients to begin with. The common ingredients for cheese bait are garlic, grounded chicken liver, pie pastry, shredded cheese and many more. Simply mix all the given ingredients together and then roll them into tiny balls of dough.Then place these dough balls one by one on the wax paper. After you are done, simply place the sheet in baking pan.
Use the entire dough to make as many dough balls as you can make. Then place the baking pan with the dough balls in a fridge. In order to get the best results, it is suggested to place the pan in the fridge for a span of minimum of 2- 3 hours. This may bind the cheese balls well and also remove the softness that will break the baits easily. In this way the storage of these baits will be no longer a problem.
Store all the balls inside an air tight container; ideally with a metal lid. Once all the balls have been placed within the jar, keep it in the sunlight for at least a week or more. Make sure that your balls are not molded or losing shape before you place them under the sun.
Though, the cheese bait is moderately appropriate to make at home, the one drawback to them is their smell which is less than nice. Ideally you must make them outdoors to prevent your inside from reeking. Don’t open the jar of finished cheese baits within your house either unless you need to deal with its smell.
All said and done, these stinky cheese baits will help you reel in the massive fish. If you simply can’t stand the smell, you can look at some other varieties of bait for fishing. Do not forget to select the right fish bait for the right fish to guarantee success on your fishing trips.
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