There is no doubting that on many lakes carp love the margins, however I suspect if you walk round most venues and watch the majority of anglers, they will frequently be ignored in favour of casting further out into the lake. Taking that approach can definitely cost you fish at times, and with a bit of thought regularly catching from the margins doesn’t need to be difficult.
Nice and stealthy
Probably the most obvious thing to start with, if you are looking to catch from your near margins you need to make sure you don’t scare the fish a million miles away before you even cast in. When walking round at the start of a session I’ll always work on the basis that there might be fish close in, and so tend to enter each swim carefully and try to keep off the skyline as much as possible. If they are further out, I haven’t lost anything by taking a stealthy approach, but I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve found fish right at my feet. Likewise, once I’ve chosen a spot unless I’m fishing close to snags I’ll often set-up slightly back from the waters edge, and if I’m doing a night for example look to position my bivvy behind any trees or cover that will make it less obvious I’m there.
Step off the beaten path
When looking for opportunities in the edge it can also be worth thinking carefully about swim choice, and sometimes the less popular options can be real hidden gems. I’ve lost count of the fish I’ve caught from tiny gaps that are just large enough for one rod or from overgrown swims that aren’t big enough to easily get a bivvy in etc. Areas such as these that tend to be neglected can be treated with much less caution by the carp, and therefore they are often a lot easier to catch.
Surprise Single
Moving on to bait now and suggesting using a single hookbait in the margin might possibly not be the most obvious one to start with, especially as it’s so easy to feed almost anything you might want at such close range. However, I’ve caught a surprising number of fish from the edge on singles, and so it will often feature in my thoughts as an option. I’ve got no idea whether it’s due to the fact that the carp are used to picking up random single baits that have often been thrown in when anglers re-bait, or the fact they often find odd natural food items that have blown in from bushes or trees etc. Whatever the reason it can be a very effective tactic, especially in shallower areas or when you have fish just casually cruising around on warmer days. I’ll often start with a bright option, such as a Liver Supreme corkie wafter. However also don’t ignore the new hard hookers, and these have worked well for me on venues where bream or crayfish activity can be a problem.
Sloppy groundbait
Another one of my favourite baiting approaches for margin work is to mix up a wet sloppy groundbait, and the Nutrabaits range of Carpet Feeds are perfect for this. Just keep adding water/liquids to the groundbait until you get a porridge like consistency. This sloppy mix is easy to feed by hand at close range, or using a baiting spoon and pole and creates a real cloud of attraction that seems to just stop fish in their tracks. Although it’s become more popular when zig fishing, it’s an approach I still rarely see used to target the margins. It is another great option on warmer days, and I’ve had great catches over the years including three thirties one afternoon when the temperature was well over 30 degrees while the rest of the lake didn’t produce a bite to more usual tactics.
Lowering in a floating bait
One of my favourite ways to catch carp is off the top, and it’s even more exciting when the fish are right at your feet. It’s also one of the few times when you have any control over which fish you catch, and if you are careful it’s possible to try and put a bait in front of the fish you want. By fishing at close range it’s often possible to freeline, which really cuts down on the disturbance when casting and at times as you can hold the line off the water you can get away with using higher breaking strains than you would usually. Bait wise I’ll often use larger floating pellets in these situations, flavoured with the ever reliable Blue Oyster UTCS.
Martin Skoyles
