Hobbies, Big Carp Fishing Secrets Of Catching Wary Fish In Small Lakes!


by Tim Richardson - Date: 2008-10-17 - Word Count: 1400 Share This!

So many time we all fall into a rut of doing things simply because they worked before, but forget to our cost that carp are dynamically learning creatures with a very strong instinct to survive! We can think and not simply learn by association and that is a gigantic edge over wild creatures like carp; but often we don't think enough to achieve the great catch results that are most often just waiting to happen. So don't miss out...

It has been said on many occasions that the biggest edge in carp fishing is being different. This relates to the fact that carp learn all the time by association in terms of all our angling activities, tackle, baits and physical presence in and around their environment. This is often apparent by the fact that carp can literally stop feeding freely when they feel the vibrations from a tackle barrow trundling down the bankside, or even when sensing fishing lines passing through the water...

This power of association is so acute in some fish and on some fisheries, that the slamming of car doors by anglers at the carp park can either turn fish on or off depending on what they associate it with. The same goes for night feeding fish on day fishing only lakes that can start feeding literally the moment they sense most of the angling lines are being reeled out of the water at dusk! A very simple example of this is a small pond containing only 9 small carp, which will feed freely on ground bait upon first introduction; but the moment the first line enters the water, they simply disappear...

It might seem like a waste of time, but I've caught enough big carp by setting up for 3 days and nights and not fishing until the third night. The time is not wasted though, as small amounts of small baits are introduced every half hour during the day, and every few hours during the night in order to get the bait stimulation source familiar to carp in the area in safety with no lines in the water.

There was one small by very tricky water I used to fish where 70 percent of short-term anglers would blank all the time. I used to fish primarily 3 day and night sessions there as it was obviously the only way to get fish to take baits because they were so spooked by a new angler setting up in a swim and introducing bait and casting out. This was the kind of smaller fishery where casting 3 rods out was just enough to ensure you might get a take in the swim within 48 to 72 hours, but much more than this and you would blank!

(This sounds extreme; but this really is the case there, and it is proven to be so consistently over the years.) The best approach I found with such waters, was to set up as light of foot and slowly and carefully as possible. The most successful baiting-up method very frequently to fire a wide swath (as opposed to pin pointed,) of small, often crushed and fine particle-sized bait items, introduced in very light scatterings, extremely regularly, and right from the moment of first arrival.

This often meant setting up right in the middle of the regular non-feeding times which on this water were 10 am to 3 pm daytime. No bivvy peg mallets, or those close encounters of the third kind of LED head torches were used and high decibel alarms were turned right down.

(I believe carp hear their vibrations sounds when you are attaching your indicators at the rod for example.) I go to the extent of using a low tone low volume sounder box leading from the alarms and the alarms are turned so low you can't hear them so any sound vibrations are removed from my activities at the rod and indicator. I also set-up my rigs and indicators with the alarms turned off and only turn them on when everything is ready; which is when they get double-checked at the sounder box and rods.

With very wary fish and at many busy carp waters, those alarms such as the Fox ones which go off at high decibels (5 times,) the moment they are turned on create huge disadvantage. This is not just via tight lines either, but I believe via air across the water and even via the ground in the case of fish in near proximity. Just because it is popular to show off the sound of who got the loudest most expensive alarms on the lake, it doesn't mean they are not shooting themselves in the foot!

I don't know about you, but for me, fishing is a very rare opportunity to escape the rat race and madness of everyday humanity and relax in a totally unexpectant neutral and natural environment that has no opinions! I now personally avoid the waters where from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave, there is a cacophony of blaring bite alarms. This is from those peace-shattering alarm fiddlers constantly spodding and casting, maddening mobile phone tones (and their users, shouting down them at all hours,) and ignorant shouting right across the lake because certain individuals cannot handle boredom or are addicted to the sound their own voice!

To my mind, these are not carp anglers but out of place football or pub groupies and might as well bin the fishing rods, get a football season ticket, or go down the pub instead and watch it there, where you have to shout to be heard and where they'd feel right at home! Don't get me wrong though, I'm not strictly a purist; I fish for results like any angler, and have been known to be exceptionally competitive with it; but not to the ignorant cost of my fellow anglers! But happily, the actions and behaviours that induce a truly peaceful fishing environment catch you far more of those big wary fish, especially on highly pressured smaller waters.

So many articles focus purely on the rig end of fishing activities and bait introduction, when what is critically very often over-looked and equally important, is your own impact upon fish, just by your presence at a water. What about being aware enough of how you change fish behaviours by your presence and fishing activities, in order to develop many productive corrective behaviours - that genuinely catch you more big fish!

When I see someone trundling up to a swim with a heavily-laden tackle barrow in clothes designed to make you look like a walking bush, it does make me laugh. Where fashion meets artificially created popular demand, things can well over the top! Just how many more fish does looking like a tree trunk catch you; if you are not stealthy?! Some of the biggest carp I've ever caught from very small waters were caught by being stealthy, acting as if the fish can see me at all times, and very light on the feet. Also in such situations very rarely casting-out, and using dim pencil torches at night; instead of shooting 100 million candle power lanterns at the water from my head each time I turn round are definite edges!

I've actually had a carp fishing fashion freak, (an advertising and peer pressure-conditioned carp angler) say that my 3 rod set-up (with metal pegs on the line to create alternative line pressures,) looked Mickey Mouse (a deliberately insulting phrase!) But when you design your whole individual fishing approach including your thinking and all tackle, bait recipes and angling practices tools to solve each specific challenge you face on a particular water; you can achieve successes that are not normal!

I personally take someone inferring that my set-up is not fashionable, dangerously non-conformist and too different to normal, to be a sure sign - I'm doing something very right...

By Tim Richardson.

Seize this moment to improve your catches for life with: "BIG CARP AND BIG CATFISH BAIT SECRETS!" And "BIG CARP BAIT SECRETS!" And "BIG CARP FLAVOURS AND FEEDING TRIGGER SECRETS!" Visit: http://www.baitbigfish.com Tim Richardson is a big carp and catfish bait maker and proven big fish angler of over 30 years experience. His unique homemade bait making, bait enhancing, fishing secrets guides are now proven cutting-edge tools for success; for anglers just like you in 46 countries.


Related Tags: fish, how, homemade, big, make, fishing, bait, rods, recipes, secrets, tackle, rod, alarms, carp, baitbigfish, rig, fox, rigs, bivvy, particle, richardson, tim, indicator

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