Seasonal Changes
As we near spring, I’m sure every anglers thoughts turn more to fishing. First up, where will you be fishing over the coming months? The same waters as previous years or somewhere new and exciting? Perhaps a syndicate ticket has finally come up for you. Could be plans to target a day ticket water with rumours of big fish. Or will you be escaping busy waters and have plans on fishing the rivers and canals in search of an uncaught big fish
With the amount of floods over the last 20 plus years, sadly 100’s of fisheries across the U.K. and Europe have lost valuable fish stocks in to the rivers and canal systems, where many of these receive very little pressure and in some cases no pressure at all. We’ve personally seen catch reports of 40lb+ carp from rivers that I’m certain found their way in during the floods. Big fish like to find peace and quiet with no angling pressure so the quiet canals and back waters you drive over on a regular basis may just hold something very special.
Making the decision where to fish can make or break your fishing year, choose wisely and you could have a fantastic year ahead, choose poorly and it could be a frustrating year. I’ve seen it time and time again anglers jump from productive waters onto low stocked, highly pressured waters in the hope of catching one of the big fish, but after a few months leave demoralised. Make your choice carefully, if you like the buzzers to burst into life on a regular basis, is heading to a low stocked water the right decision ?
My advice would always be to have a backup water, somewhere you know well and confident in fishing. Don’t stick with a water if you’re not feeling it and getting in tune with the style of fishing needed. Take a break and fish your back up for a while then return for another go. We’ve all had waters that have proven frustrating over the years, any angler saying otherwise would be lying.
Once the waters are chosen, it’s time to work out the tactics you will be employing, whether it’s distance fishing, heavy baiting or stalking the itch to get started will be on you soon. Anglers back on the same waters who are chasing a target fish or anglers hoping to get off the mark in the first couple of sessions on a new water. What’s important is to choose your bait wisely, choose well and stick with it. One or two blank sessions doesn’t mean the bait doesn’t work, it’s choosing the right spots and being there at feeding times which will help in where and when to place your baited rigs.
For example one water I’ve fished for several years, the feeding times during the warmer months has always been around 9am to 11am. Strange but you could almost set your clock by it, then you see on a Sunday morning, anglers packing up from first light and the lake being deserted by 9am. Leaving it to the die hards who don’t mind getting in trouble for getting home later than promised from fishing the weekend.
When I join a new water, I like to walk the lake several times before my first session, also sit quietly in a good viewing area and watch for a couple of hours. It’s amazing what you learn watching nature, carp giving away their location, birds being spooked etc. all clear signs and giving you starting points. Don’t go off others advice, learn for yourself as when it comes together it feels far better than following someone else into a supposedly going swim and fishing over someone else’s spots. Carp are not fools, they soon associate so called hot spots with danger. The older and wiser carp tend to back off these areas after being caught several times.
Bait Choices
Which one to choose, be honest with yourself and work out how often you will realistically go fishing. Look at your previous years as a guide. Unless you’re making a life changing decision such as retiring then the majority of us will roughly get the same amount of times per year give or take a few days / nights.
I’ve become realist over the last few years, I used to convince myself every year that the upcoming year I was going to fish more often. I was only kidding myself, with a busy family / work life, my fishing tends to be 48 hour session every third weekend with the occasional night or day session between.
My fishing over the last few years has been split. Spring and summer I’ve been targeting Grenville’s, the reason being the 200 mile round trip, getting there before dark on a Friday in autumn / winter isn’t possible, so for this reason I move onto Hull & District waters which are only 30 to 40 minutes drive from home. I’ve also managed to get a ticket on a much sought after northern water with several gems, I’ve not had the opportunity to fish there yet but I’ll be visiting soon.
So for myself, on a bait front I choose one bait for the year, the last 2 seasons it’s been a swap over to Trigga Ice which has served me well with several big and beautiful carp.
This year, early spring it will be the Trigga Ice once again, but May onwards, we have been working long hours between getting orders out on a new and exciting bait. Tank tests and first tests have been carried out and field testing will start shortly. Field testing being a strange situation, myself and Jason are genuinely excited about this one after taking over 2 years to source special ingredients which we know will elevate a very good bait, loaded with premium quality ingredients into something very special.
Field Testing
Targeting big carp waters with a totally untested bait can seem strange and one few anglers appreciate. We hear it time and time again, anglers who would love to field test new baits. With the majority saying I’ll put it on one rod and see how it performs. Well that’s not the way field testing works, it needs to be on all rods to get a true reflection on effectiveness, so watch this space moving forward.
So for me once the final show of the year is finished which is the new Doncaster Carp Show on the 5th and 6th April, my fishing year finally starts. It will be the long journey back to Grenville’s as a weekend warrior, hoping to work out where the carp will be hiding this year. May also sees my pilgrimage back to the mighty Lac du Der, fingers crossed this year I don’t drop on the carp spawning again. It’s always a gamble heading to Europe in May but it can also be the most productive times of the year.
I wish you all a fantastic year and hope to see your catch reports flooding into Nutrabaits HQ.
Tight Lines
Rich Hughes
